Vote for these PS 10 teachers!

Sonic and Donors Choose have partnered fund teacher created projects via a website called Limeades for Learning:

SONIC^® and DonorsChoose.org are working together again to support public school classrooms. Last year, SONIC donated more than $600,000. By October, SONIC customers, friends and fans will have directed more than $1 million dollars to support teachers in local communities across the country.

http://www.limeadesforlearning.com/

There are 2 projects by PS 10 teachers eligible for voting.  Go to http://www.limeadesforlearning.com/ to find the projects.  When doing a search you'll find both projects under the following search criteria:

Location: New York (City)

Location: Brooklyn

Location: P.S. 10

Vote for these projects and help get PS 10 classrooms these additional supplies!
(you can also find direct links to these projects on the Mr. Casal Twitter page)

The big picture...

As we start a new school year I thought it would be nice to step back and look at the big picture, take in the full view so to speak...

New York City from space

NASA Astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock has been photographing the Earth from space and posting the pictures online.

This is a picture of New York City, at night.  It might be a bit confusing at first because it is backwards.  From Astronaut Wheelock's position in space Long Island appears on the left side of the picture. The very bright center of the picture if Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and parts of New Jersey.  If you look very close you can see the tiny sliver of light, surrounded by darkness, that is the island of Manhattan.

Click here http://twitpic.com/2izl9u/full and the picture will be big enough for you to see the dark area that is Central Park as well as the 2 dark areas in Brooklyn, Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery.

Follow all of Astronaut Wheelock's pictures from space here:
http://twitter.com/Astro_Wheels

Enjoy the pictures and think about just how much is out there beyond our school, neighborhood, and city.

Welcome back to school...

Not technology related but still important...

20 Words you should make sure you know how to spell:

1. Separate
2. Definitely
3. Manoeuvre/Maneuver
4. Embarrass
5. Occurrence
6. Consensus
7. Unnecessary
8. Acceptable
9. Broccoli
10. Referred
11. Bureaucracy
12. Supersede
13. Questionnaire
14. Connoisseur
15. A lot
16. Entrepreneur
17. Particularly
18. Liquify
19. Conscience
20. Parallel

These are the 20 most misspelt words in the English language, according to a new British study.

Good "everyday" applications...

From the "Tech Learning" blog, a great resource for not only teachers but parents and students as well...

1. NetNewsWire - I use this to stay current with news and blogs from the web. Some use Google Reader but I've always found NetNewsWire to be more than enough for me.
2. Polaris - A dream come true for anybody that uses Goggle's Blogger as his or her blogging platform. This is ideal to track network traffic, top hits, referring sites, etc.
3. iChat - When I'm online and not at work I like to use iChat as my instant messaging client.
4. Bean - A simple, easy-to-use word processor that is a bit more robust than text edit as it can handle images.
5. Skitch - A fun, easy-to-use photo editor that I use mainly for highlighting and making tutorial screen shots.
6. Screenflow - Simply the best screen casting tool around.
7. Pulp Motion - By far my favorite application for making creative slide shows.
8. PhotoPresenter - A nice alternative to Pulp Motion that is very user-friendly.
9. RapidoStart - A great way to organize all of your applications visually.
10. OmniDazzle - A presenter's dream, good for creating effects or spotlights around cursor.

Taken from:

Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff – TechLearning.com

Creating slideshows, digital art, and music - online!

Here are 3 article that list 10 sites each for creating slideshows, like in Powerpoint, art, and music.

10 sites for creating digital art

10 sites for creating slideshows

10 sites for creating digital music

Check them out (they are free) and post some comments about what you are able to create.

Enjoy!

Some fun things for the summer...

Just because it's summer doesn't mean this blog shuts down. Check back periodically for updates and useful links.


Here are a few websites you might enjoy playing with over the summer...

JamStudio

is an interactive music creation site. You create your own sheet music using various instruments and cords and can hear your composition played instantly. Free and fun.

For those of you who like to dance and prefer the mixed sounds of a DJ over live instruments check out the Fat Boy Slim Online Mixing Game. You get to create your own beats and mixes and watch the games characters dance to your creations. This was created by the DJ/musician Fat Boy Slim with the help of BBC Radio (British Broadcasting Corporation).

Mybytes is

probably the simplest of the 3 musical sites, but no less entertaining. Create a 5-track mix using drums, guitars, piano, synthesizers and more.

3-412 - Green Meadow Farms trip - reflection

3-412,

This assignment is about our trip to Green Meadow Farms today.

For this assignment you will post your thoughts on the day as comments to this blog. There are specific questions to answer at the bottom of this post.

Think about today, the activities. This assignment asks you to reflect on your experience at the Green Meadow Farms.

Make sure you comments are thoughtful and constructive (don't say "it was stupid we should just have free time" or something like that, be positive and helpful). Comments must be in full sentences with proper spelling and grammar.

Here are your questions:
What are your thoughts about the day, how did it go, did you enjoy it?

Which activity was your favorite and why?

Which activity was your least favorite and why?

Any final thoughts about the day, the activities, things to do again, things to avoid?




Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.

3rd Grade - Field Day 2010 Follow-up & Reflection

3rd Graders,
Yesterday was the 2010 PS 10 Field Day, with a "Recycling" theme.

For this assignment you will post your thoughts on the day as comments to this blog. There are specific questions to answer at the bottom of this post.

Think about yesterday, all the games and activities. This assignment asks you to reflect on your experience and to think about ways to make the Field Day bigger and better for 2011.

Make sure you comments are thoughtful and constructive (don't say "it was stupid we should just have free time" or something like that, be positive and helpful). Commenst must be in full sentences with proper spelling and grammar.

Here are your questions:
What are your thoughts about the day, how did it go, did you enjoy it?

Which activity was your favorite and why?

Which activity was your least favorite and why?

The theme was "Recycling", give 1 or 2 ideas of themes for next year.

Any final thoughts about the day, the activities, things to do again, things to avoid?





Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.

4th & 5th Grades - End of Year Review

The year is almost over. Think back on this year and answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1) What was the most memorable thing about the school year (subject/class, field trip, performance, etc)?

2) What are you looking forward to most about next year?

3) For 4th graders only - since you will be back in my computer lab next year, is there anything in particular you would like to learn about, or any tool you would like to use (PowerPoint, blogging, website building, etc)?



Also, don't forget to make sure you comment under the last 2 topics ("Movies" and "Winter Olympics"). If you have not yet commented, leave a comment. If you do not leave a comment you will get a ZERO which will greatly hurt your final marking period grade. See me if there are any problems.




Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.

4th & 5th Graders - The technology of movies...

Technology and computers are used in almost all aspects of daily life. One place computers are used, but you may not realize, is in making animated movies.

A good friend of Mr. Casal's, Craig, was the Production Manager on Dreamworks latest movie, How to Train Your Dragon. He played an important role in getting the movie from ideas on the page to the big screen. Craig has generously agreed to answer your questions, here on the blog, about the movie.

Here is the assignment:

There are 2 options - 1) Go out and see How to Train Your Dragon in the theater or 2) Watch the trailer online.

If you do not want to go see the movie you can see the trailer here:
Click on this link: http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/
Click on "View Trailer"

Once you have watched the trailer or gone to the movie you must answer the following questions, and ask at least one question of your own, for Craig to answer, about the movie.

1) How does this movie look different than others (animated or not) you have seen?
2) What role do you think computers and technology play in making a movie like this?
3) Ask Craig a question... did watching the movie make you wonder about anything? Did you
see something in the movie or trailer you want to learn more about?

*(UPDATE - Craig has been answering the questions - look at the comments section, Craig's first response is about 7 down from the top - read his post. Read all the previous comments to see if your question was already asked, and if so, think of a different question to ask.
Craig has already answered the "how do you make it 3D" and "where did the story come from" questions... look for those answers in the comments....)*



All replies must be posted by the time you arrive in Mr. Casal's Computer Lab after the vacation.

Have a great Spring Break!

Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.