Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Merry Month of May

With the last stretch ahead of us and as we are winding down, I want to say "thanks" for your help and support through out the year. I have one very small request and that is to be on the look out for lost and strayed books from the library.  Students claim they have all been returned and once in a great while  they miss the "blip" from the scanner. Most of the time, though they can be found in desks, bookbags and even on the classroom book shelves. We would appreciate a gentle reminder from you if you could.

I hope that the sites I've sent you so far have been helpful, and wanted to send out one more batch that I have found to be really good. Check them out when you have the time.


1. Have students who need some music?  Here is an amazing website that
contains music scores of classic music to use.  The International Music
Score Library Project has an extensive collection of music that can be
browsed by computer, timeline, genre, instrumentation or recordings.

2.  Some classes are doing research, and a big part of that is the
thesis.  If you want something extra to show students how a thesis
works, try this website called Thesis Builder.  This particular one is
for persuasive essays and is easy to use:

3. Need to convert docs to pdfs?  How about the reverse?  And don’t
forget images or videos!  This site does it all – from documents, to
video, to audio, to images…the conversions are endless but quick!  No
need to wait on email – it’s done in realtime!  www.online-convert.com (http://www.online-convert.com/ )

4. This is an alternative to powerpoint but with some zing!  With
280slides, the user can download a ppt (at this beta version, only pptx
can be downloaded), create new presentations, and then download them
onto your computer with as a pdf, powerpoint (all versions), and,
document.  You can even embed it into a website for others to view as
well.  Please remember this is a beta version, so there may be glitches,
but hopefully they’ll get it all worked out and ready to roll.
http://280slides.com ( http://280slides.com/ )

5. Need a screen capture software?  Try this great website!  It gives
you five minutes of recordable screen capture with audio to download or
save in your FREE account.  If you want to show students how to do
something using software or any other ideas you can think of, this would
be a great tool, not only for teachers, but students as well!
http://www.screenr.com/

I will continue to keep you updated on new Web 2.0 tools and sites that are helpful to us and our students. If I can help in anyway, please let me know. 

                May is..........

Better Hearing and Speech Month
Family Wellness Month
Get Caught Reading Month
National Bike Month
National Family Month (5/8-6/19)
National Hamburger Month
National Physical Fitness and Sports Month

Be Kind to Animals Week (5/1-5/7)
Children's Book Week (5/2-5/8)
Kids Win Week (5/1-5/7)
National Family Week (5/1-5/7)
National Nurses Week (5/6-5/12)
National Pet Week (5/1-5/7)
Teacher Appreciation Week (5/1-5/7)
National Teacher Day (5/3)
Star Wars Day (5/4) (May the 4th be with you....)
Cinco de Mayo (5/5)
National Etiquette Week (5/8-5/14)
Mother's Day; World Red Cross Day (5/8)
National School Nurse Day (5/11)
Limerick Day (5/12)
Friday the Thirteenth (5/13)

National Backyard Games Week (5/23-5/30)
National Geographic Bee Finals (5/24-5/25)
World Turtle Day (5/23)
Memorial Day (5/30)

May 18th is the last day to sign out books. All books and materials should be turned in my May 25th.