Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Blog moved "inside"

Dear All,

After posting a link to my listserv that led to this blog, I was amazed (and saddened) at the number of school districts that block all of the blog sites.

I decided to move my blog "inside" to my own server, one of the options available from Blogger. After testing it with lots of teachers, this DOES allow the filtered sites to access it. In addition, the dreaded "next blog" tab should not work in those schools if the next blog was sitting on Blogger's server.

The new postings do not show up on the old blog, so, if you are going to do this, post a note about the move before you make the move. (Learn from my mistake!) The URL for the blog, from 1/18/06 on, is http://kathyschrock.net/blog/

Kathy

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Torino Winter Olympics:
Lessons and Resources

Here are some useful links to Olympics Web pages covering the Torino Games, the history of the Olympic events, lessons across the curriculum, and worksheets to use with students.

Torino 2006

International Olympic Committee Web Site
…the official site of the 2006 Olympics

Official Visitor Site of the Torino Olympics
…information about tickets, venues, and facts about the Torino Olympics

Kids Village: Torino 2006
(click on the button to get the site in English, French, or Italian)
...an interactive site for younger students to learn more about the Olympic games

FactMonster: Winter Olympics
...all kinds of interesting Olympic information may be found here

Time for Kids: Getting Ready for the Winter Olympics
...easy-to-read information and news about the upcoming Torino games

History

History of the Olympics
...a beautifully-done site covering the history of the Olympics through the 2000 Summer Games

International Olympic Committee: History of the Olympics
...this official site provides information, facts, and figures from the modern games as well as information about the scheduled future games

Olympics Timeline from Infoplease
...an overview of both the ancient and modern games (lots of ads here which are distracting)

Factmonster: Winter Olympics Through the Years
...a well-done timeline of Winter Games information


Lesson Plans

Olympic Curriculum Guide
...super lesson plans, across the curriculum, to easily infuse Olympic study into the curriculum

An Educator’s Guide to the Olympics
...created for the 2002 Winter Games, there are all types of great lessons, ideas, and activities on this page

Olympic Winter Sports Lessons
...although some of the lesson ideas are specific to Utah, the information can easily be adapted for use with the Torino Olympics celebration

Olympic Classroom Lesson Plans
...lessons on integrating the Olympics across the curriculum, foreign currency, and many more are found in this collection

Catch Winter Olympics Fever
...a simple online collaborative project spearheaded by a first grade class

Trumbull County Educational Service Center:
Olympics Theme Page

...a super collection of Olympic sites with history, lesson plans, and much more!



Worksheets

Olympic Unscramble
Olympics Vocabulary List
Olympics Math Problems (primary grades)
Winter Olympics-Themed Math Pages
Alphabetical Order: The Summer Olympics
Word Search: Winter Olympics

(Thanks to Cheryl Carruthers from AEA 267, Cedar Lake, IA, for sharing some of her links with me!)

Friday, January 06, 2006

Digital Lifestyle 2006

Bill Gates was the opening speaker at the Consumer Electronics Show on 1/4/06. It is interesting to read the transcript of his speech (or you can watch a video stream of the speech) and read about the upcoming "digital lifestyle" and "user-centric" upgrades coming to the Windows platform and associated devices in 2006.

As educators, it is important that we keep up with these visions and new implementations of technology, so we can begin the conversation early as to how these changes can positively impact teaching and learning!

Kathy Schrock

Monday, January 02, 2006

Hum...electronics for women

I was taking a look at the keynote lineup for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week (and really wishing I was going to be there!) and I found the list of Awards Programs. There is one category called "Technology is a Girl's Best Friend Diamond Showcase" which "honors companies that make the must-have products for female consumers" based on surveys taken by women consumers.

Interesting concept, eh? After looking at the honorees, I would say there might be some things on the list that guys might like, too! I am not sure what I think about this "special" category...kinda reminds me of these two books that I own: Girls' Toys of the Fifties and Sixties and Boys' Toys of the Fifties and Sixties or the Boys' Book of Electricity, copyright 1923, that I weeded out of my middle school library when I arrived in 1990.

Enough said.

Kathy