Thank you

 

Many thanks to all of you for the opportunity to work with you these past 8 years.  I wish you the best as I move into this new chapter in my life.

E-Mail Scams

I have noticed a new influx of SPAM lately in my district mailbox. Perhaps you have received an inappropriate e-mail or an e-mail from someone you do not know asking for you to click on a link, download a file or send personal information.
 

Here are a few helpful e-mail  DO or DON’TS to protect your privacy.

DO

Check the e-mail address of the Sender:   Sometimes an e-mail will appear to be from a friend or someone in your Contact List BUT even if the name looks correct, the e-mail address that the message is sent from is not! Many scammers and phishers will use names that are familiar to you but the FROM e-mail address will be something strange.

 

 

Look closely at the Subject line of the e-mail and the text in the body of the e-mail:   Many e-mail scams will contain misspellings in the Subject Line or e-mail body text.   There may also be punctuation that seems out of place.  Often the grammar will not be correct either.

Go to a Fact Checking Website like- http://www.snopes.com  to see if the claims and/or announcements in the e-mail are TRUE or FALSE  .

LOGOUT:  Protect yourself by logging out of your e-mail program and any social networking sites when you are finished using them.

Be Cautious First:  If something is really important and is from a REAL contact of yours, they will contact you again!

Ask Questions:   Call or e-mail the friend that the e-mail appears to be from or a friend of that friend! Ask them if they are really trying to contact you.

DELETE DELETE DELETE:   DELETE any suspicious e-mails that you receive!  CHECK YOUR SPAM/BULK e-mail folder and if none of the messages are from confirmed contacts, DELETE the messages!

DON’T DO THIS!

§  DON’T Click on any links in the body of a suspicious e-mail!

§  DON’T Download or Open any files attached to a suspicious e-mail!

§  DON’T Respond to any suspicious e-mail!

§  DON’T Forward any suspicious e-mail to your friends, family and co-workers!

§  DON’T Believe everything you read in your e-mail Inbox or on the Internet!

 

Virtual Field Trips

How would you like to bring the world to your classroom?  One fun and inexpensive way is to incorporate virtual field trips.   These multimedia-rich sites include video, audio, panoramic views, and live webcams. Take your class on a trip to the White House, a museum, zoo or experience the 7 Wonders of the World.  You can even embark on a journey through the galaxy with Google Sky!  Missouri locations include our state capitol, the governor’s mansion, the St. Louis Zoo, and the town of Weston. Be sure to check out the last link which will show you how to create your own virtual tour.

·        Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthplace http://www.nps.gov/features/malu/feat0001/BirthHomeTour
Tour his home and learn about his childhood.

·        Inside the White House- http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/interactive-tour
Take your students on a floor by floor tour as you learn about the history and unique features of each room.  Follow your visit at the White House with a tour of the US Capitol.  http://www.senate.gov/vtour

·        Panoramas.dk: http://panoramas.dk/7-wonders/colosseum.html
Bring the 7 Wonders of the World to your classroom with views of the Colosseum in Rome, The Great wall in China, Petra in Jordan, The Taj Mahal in India, Machu Picchu in Peru, Christ Redeemer in Rio and Chicken Itza in Mexico

·        Panoramas tours of the US can be seen at: http://panoramas.dk/US/index.html

·        Forbidden City: http://stuebegreen.com/wonderland/photos/ Visit the Summer Palace, the Ming Tombs and The Forbidden City in China

·        Google Art Projects: http://www.googleartproject.com  You can view over 1000 works from 17 acclaimed art museums in the world at this link.   You can virtually walk the aisle of the museums and see works like Van Gough’s “The Bedroom”. 

·        Google Sky:  http://www.google.com/sky  Travel the sky and view the position of planets, explore constellations and distant galaxies.

·        Smithsonian Museum of Natural History: http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas Follow the blue arrow and tour the museum.

·        Smithsonian National Zoological Park:  http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/ Use the links to view animals at the Smithsonian Zoo; includes a flamingo, tiger, and elephant.

·        National Museum of the United States Air Force- http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/full/tour-pkg.html
On this tour you can see the entire museum grounds and the progression of aeronautics in the US, starting with the Wright Brothers.

·        Oxford University Museum of Natural History: http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/universitymuseum/#

Join this tour to see an extensive collection of zoology, entomology, geology and mineralogy.  Be sure to check out their 40 ft Tyrannosaurus Rex!

·        The Human Body:  http://medtropolis.com/virtual-body Take a virtual tour of the human body by exploring the different parts.  This site includes interactive activities with the tour.

·        St. Louis Zoo virtual tour: http://www.360stlouis.com/zoo/coursetour.htm
This link allows you to see panoramic 360 views of their zoo.

·        Weston Missouri http://westonmo.com/visit/main.html    Click on the panoramic images to explore this town just north of Kansas City, Missouri

·        Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City http://missourimansion.org/experience/photo-gallery/?pid=125

·        Tramline:  http://www.tramline.com/trips.htm This site has MANY different virtual field trips provided by Tramline;  including one about dinosaurs, baking bread, geographical regions, and more.

If these tours are not exactly what you are looking for to support your curriculum, then you can create your own virtual field trip.  The following resource is a tutorial to guide you through the process. http://online.howtomaster.com/training/html/itc2/itc20201/start.html

 Happy Trails!!!!!

Google Virtual Maps for the Grand Canyon

Last fall Google announced that it had a team setting out to capture "street view"  imagery of trails through the Grand Canyon.The first batch of that imagery has  been released. You can now explore more than 75 miles of trails in the Grand Canyon in Street View. Click here to watch the youtube video of the Canyon.   What a wonderful way to teach about America's landscape!  I am afraid of heights and have avoided the Grand Canyon for that reason but now I can join with the rest of you by clicking  here to start my explorations and experience the panoramic views!

Are You Looking For a Grant?

If you're looking for funding sources for a classroom project or a school grant, take a look at what Grant Wrangler has listed  Grant Wrangler is a free service that lists grant opportunities for teachers, school administrators, and students. Grant Wrangler also lists some contest opportunities. You can search Grant Wrangler by content area, grade level, and application deadline.

New Year's Themed Activities

If you do not have interest in Pinterest yet, perhaps I will convince you with the following resource. This New Year’s Board is packed full of fun ideas to use when you come back to school in 2013.  Enjoy seeing what will work with your students and have a blessed holiday and New Year!

https://pinterest.com/pediastaff/new-years-themed-activities/

22 Story Telling Apps

Matt Gomez does it again! What a great post. He includes 22 storytelling apps linked to actual class and student examples of most. You can check out the 22 apps at the following url: http://mattbgomez.com/folder-full-of-storytelling-apps