Website!!!

Today I made a website and it was totally awesome! I made a website that shows the life cycle of a butterfly. It took some time to get used to dreamweaver but then it seemed to go really well. I learned how to insert a you tube video which I thought was very cool. Also just seeing something you made online is very gratifying.  I am confident that if I needed to make a website in the future I could do it. Here is my website: http://www.wou.edu/~eliermann09/myweb/homepage.html

Here are some awesome pictures I have on my website:

eggs

Larva

Pupa

Butterfly Wing

Butterfly

Butterfly

Butterfly

Life Cycle

Butterfly

 

WEBSITE

Today we started out our time by going to www.webppagesthatsuck.com and boy did they! I was very disappointed to see that in 2006 one of my favorite shows Ace of Cakes had one of the worst websites. I of course did not agree with this but whatever. Then we went and explored the different ways you can make a website and I found a site I would not recommend. You really could do nothing so I was quite frustrated and ready to learn how to really make a website.

Dreamweaver: How we are making our real websites.

This is what I learned:

·      Once you get into the program you can just start typing.

·      Do not forget to title your html.

·      To link to a page highlight what you want to link, image or words and go down to where it says like and type in the html or use the folder icon to look for your html. This is for a relative html.

·      Absolute addresses have to have an http:// in front of them!

·      If you see a * behind your file name it mean you need to save it. You have new information since your last save.

·      Ariel Helvetica should be your font if you are writing a paragraph.

·      To change formatting you must develop a cascading style sheet. Go to format-CSS-Styles-new keep it on class then describe your font.  Then you need to apply it. So highlight the word you want to apply that style sheet to and go back to format-CSS-Styles- (select the style sheet you want to apply).

·      To add an image: first make your image to correct size in photo shop, choose 72 for my resolution. Then in Dream weaver insert-image-find picture-add alternate text. Then it is in your webpage.

·      Onto the layout, click insert-table.  Your width should be around 800. If you do not want to see your lines put 0. Then put 5 in cell padding. In cell spacing you can put in 0 for no space or a number. To merge a cell hit shift and select all your rectangles and then merge them, a button under row. You can also split your boxes down in the same area under cell.

·      Be smart- Once you have your format save it five times as your five different pages and then you can make each different unique with pictures and text.

·      Have Fun!!!!

Fun Friday

So what this week am a calling fun? Well...


1. My trip to the beach last week was very fun. We went, found lots of agates and even found some wonderful children's books for my future classroom. I know I might be collecting a little early, about a year and a half early, but you have to start somewhere:)

2. Our birds are back and we have been having fun trying to capture them on film and keeping the bird feeders full. It is amazing how much they can eat in one day.

A new bird this year - Western Tanager

Goldfinches

3. Taking pictures is always on my fun list. This Friday I have pictures of our Easter Tulips to share!

I hope you have a wonderful week and I hope you will come back next week to check out some more Friday fun.

Many fun things!!!

Today was a great class to just learn a ton of informational applications. 

First we learned how to log onto the remote desktop. Go to - remote desktop connection type in ts.wou.edu and put in your user name choose MASH and type in your password and you can access all the programs that  WOU has available to us.  We are now on a virtual computer and the only way to get something off the virtual computer and to your real computer is to Email it!

Then we searched for games and such you can use on a smart board. I found a great website called:

http://www.amphi.com/departments/technology/whiteboard/eleminteractivesites.html

It had many links to all types of smart board fun. http://www.literacycenter.net was a great site for finding activities that would be a great literacy center. The smart boards are such a great resource for teachers if their school has one.  I found an awesome tool to help your students learn to tell time in a smart board literacy center.

The we got to explore the ipod touch and check out the different applications that could be used in the classroom. Mine did not allow me to use these applications but I found many different applications that I could see being very helpful.

Next we started making our own iPod application I choose to do my application on owls, and the fun fact “The Antarctic is the only continent with no owls.” This was a confusing project, but it started by running the program called Xcode. We had to find two pictures and then we resized them in Photoshop.  Then we went into Xcode and added our pictures and added our icon file and then went into image view to add our picture and then text view to add our text. Then you click build and go and you are ready to go. I had to do it twice because I lost my text but I am glad I did because it was really simple the second time around. I feel like I could do it again if I wanted to. It was a great class.   

Fun-Day Friday

I am so excited to link up to my favorite blog. This is my first link up!!!

Anyway, I am going to share all the fun places you can take your kids in the summer. Last summer my cousin came to stay for a week, so we quickly found all the great fun places that are perfect for kids.

1- The Carousel and Neighboring Park

2- The State Capital

3- Bauman Farms

4- Chuck E Cheese's

5. Your backyard, for a bonfire!

6. Macy's-okay maybe not for your boys, but if you have a girl trust me this will be a big hit!

7. The Library

8. Silver Falls State Park

9. Enchanted Forest- I will be honest I have never been, but I have heard it is amazing and we are definitely going this summer.

10. The ZOO!!!

I hope you and the kids in your life have a wonderful summer!!

Podcasting WOW!!!

We started our class by looking into the resources for teachers in itunes. I found podcasts from the Georgia Department of Education that showed how math centers could be used in the classroom, and this is a great resource for teachers to learn from. I also found that Nick Jr. had great podcasts for kids to watch. I really liked the one that was all about patterns and they used snacks and a song to describe what a pattern was it was by Team UmiZoomi. They called the podcasts “Mighty Math Moments.” They not only had one about patterns, but also one about how to count by tens and another one that showed how numbers were everywhere.

When looking under iTunes U, I found a Math 111 principles of mathematics podcast that was from a instructor of a university who provided multiple handouts and podcasts from her class. I also found animated drum lessons provided by Little Kids Rock who said they believe every child deserves music education. They also have guitar lessons taught by an instructor, which will help me with my summer goal of learning to play the guitar. (I hope)

Then we got into making our own podcast and we used Garage Band. I did a podcast on the nine ecoregions of Oregon, since I will be teaching a lesson on that subject later this term. Garage Band was a very easy program to use, it really utilized the drag and drop format that is so prominent in a Mac. Really all I have to do was record an introduction to my podcast and then I recorded 9 short descriptions of the 9 ecoregions. I then inserted maps from the Student Atlas of Oregon. 

I really like podcasting and can see how it can have many applications in the classroom. I can use not only podcasts I find online, but also podcasts I can make for myself. Also podcasts would be an excellent way to allow students to create multimedia presentations for themselves. They could carry around their report in the palm of their hand.

Clickers, Search Engines, and Website Oh My!!

Today was a fun day that was relaxed and very interesting. We started out by working with clickers, a great addition to any classroom. We read the article "Media Literacy: Eight Guidelines for Teachers" and then we were all poised 2 critical thinking questions for each guideline. This was a great way to get us thinking about the article and using the clickers. Clickers are a great tool to have in your classroom to check comprehension when you are teaching.


Next we looked at different search engine. I looked at DogPile, which I was actually impressed with. I might not switch over from Google, but I might use it once and awhile. I also learned that DogPile draws results from Google, Yahoo, and Bing so you are getting the best of three worlds.


We also looked at websites that are fake and I research one that sold you a piece of land on the moon for the low low price of 24.99, I thought it was a great deal, but without transportation how would I get there!


See you next week!!!