May 27, 2011

Happy Friday!

I have three GREAT finished projects to share with you!

Shutter Cal

Action Shots 301

Photography Portfolios

Shutter cal is a really fun website that allows you to upload a new photo everyday. My students LOVE taking their photos, so for the month of May we have been taking and uploading a photo a day. When you click on the photo you will be able to read their journaling for the day.

This was the first time I tried this project. I only allowed five minutes at the beginning of the period. I think they turned out GREAT!

Hope you enjoy!

http://edge-survey.wikispaces.com/ShutterCal

Last week I showed you a samples from our "action" shots. This week students used the scribble tool on their drawing toolbars to trace their action. They then designed a background to complete the project.

Open publication - Free publishing - More action

As you know students in room 301 have been working hard on their digital photography skills. As a cumulating of this project students have used the web tools provided at http://www.wix.com/ to design their own websites! You just will not believe the quality of work these students have produced.

Here are two of the many excellent selections.

http://www.wix.com/juliamuse/juliawashere#!gallery

http://www.wix.com/kyriahcarpenter/kyriah-carpenter#!

Would you like to see the website your son/daughter designed? Ask them to long into their edmodo accounts and show you. http://www.edmodo.com/home

WOW! Can you believe how fast this year has gone? Just four more days of learning. Next week we will be looking at some incredible augmented reality webites!

Action!

The year is winding down, however the laerning continues in room 301. We are continuing our Digital Photography unit. Many times students have these very "smart" digital cameras and leave them on the "auto" setting. Today's cameras have so many fun settings that need to be explored. Last week we discovered the "continuous shot" mode. This setting allows the photographer to take a shot every .5 seconds. You can get some really great photos this way!

Last week, students took "action shots" and this week were are doing a simple graphic design project with them. I will be sharing their projects with you later in the week. In the mean time, I thought you would enjoy a quick slide show of a few of my students getting their action shots.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• STUDENTS ARE DESIGNING A WEBSITE WITH THEIR INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS. WE WILL BE SHARING THOSE ADDRESSES WITH YOU SOON.
• WE WILL BE PLAYING THE "SKYPE" GAME ON FRIDAY. I HAVE SET UP SKYPE APPOINTMENTS WITH SEVERAL CLASSES AROUND THE UNITED STATES. THE STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO SEE AND ASK THEM FIVE QUESTIONS. THE GOAL IS TO SEE IF WE CAN DETERMINE WHICH STATE THEY ARE SKYPING FROM.

Digital Photography

I am sure you have heard that my class has been working on digital photography. This is one of my favorite things to teach. My students really enjoy being outside and looking at their everyday environment in a different light.

Last week we took our photos and this week we will be working on building individual websites to show off our talents. I thought you might enjoy a little sneak peek at what my AMAZING students have been up to.

Friday April 29, 2011

I am so proud of my students and their efforts during this weeks Ohio Achievement Tests. Our seventh grade students took the Reading portion this morning, however much of the week was spent in preparation for the test and reassuring our students that we believe in them.

Tuesday afternoon we had the privilege of listening to Jim "Basketball" Jones speak to the student body. Jim Jones was a special education student in high school but graduated at the top of his class from BGSU with a degree in business. He sent a message of positivity, humor and always doing your best– for you! I am sure our students walked out of the assembly knowing that we do not expect them to do perfect on the test; however, we want them to do their personnel best. My students thought he was amazing.

We have one more test on Thursday. This is the math test and I am sure you can understand that there will be some students who are intimidated. I will do everything on my end to reassure them that they will do their best!

HAPPY MAY!

I am so excited for May because we will be getting into our digital camera unit. I think you will be totally amazed at the photos your sons and daughters will be taking. I have a classroom set of digital cameras for them to use; however, if they have their own camera it would be great if they could bring it in. I will be able to help them with all of the extra settings on their cameras that often times get ignored. I will have a special locked cabinet in my room for them to keep their cameras. They will need to begin to bring their cameras on Tuesday, May 3.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

April 22, 2011

In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway’s colleagues bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story in just six words. Hemingway won that bet with the following story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

I challenged my students to write and illustrate a six word story using their word processing skills. I am very proud of their results.

You will need to click on "open publication."

Open publication - Free publishing - More story

Our blog question for this week was "I wish......"

I hope you will take a minute to read and comment on your son or daughter's post.

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SPECIAL NOTE: On Friday, April 29 our seventh grade students will be taking the Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment. On Thursday, May 5 they will be taking the Ohio Math Achievement Assessment.

It is extremely important that students be present and well rested on test days. This is an extremely stressful week. I hope you will take the time to reassure your child. Let your child know that you know tests can be hard, but that taking them provides a chance to show how well he or she can do. Be encouraging. Let your child know that you know they have been working very hard in school and you know they will do their best.

I truly believe that all of my students are champions and will be doing everything I can do to encourage them to do their very best. If there is anything I can do to help you or your child be a success please feel free to contact me. pharesr@edgewood.k12.oh.us

April 15, 2011

I am so pleased to report that once, my students considered Microsoft Excel a frustrating program; however, they are starting to get the hang of things! As a classroom teacher, Excel can be a bit frustrating to teach. There are no bells and whistles or flashy graphics, but when they see how it can actually perform complicated math problems their little eyes light up! We had several small assignments these last two weeks that were leading up to their final challenge.

I gave them an imaginary check for $7000.00 and had them go shopping on amazon.com. Their goal was to get as close to $7000.00 as they could.

They had to set up an Excel worksheet to help them keep track of their spending. They all got a big lesson when they realized how much 6% tax added up to.

While we are working with spreadsheets, students also designed a survey to give each other through Google Docs. The results will be gathered into Google Spreadsheets and students will be able to see the relationship between Excel and Google Spreadsheets. Here are a few samples of their surveys.

I will be setting up a page with a link to all of our surveys soon.

Our blog question for this week was "If I had a million ...... I would ........"

I hope you will take a minute to read and comment on your son or daughter's post.

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Excel

This week I introduced my students to Excel. According to Microsoft, " Excel is a spreadsheet program which allows one to enter numerical values or data into the rows or columns of a spreadsheet, and to use these numerical entries for such things as calculations, graphs, and statistical analysis." HOW MUCH MORE FUN CAN A SEVENTH GRADER HAVE?

Our first assignment was a student made word search. The assignment required students to design and format their first excel spreadsheet. This two day project went smoothly and was a great introduction to Excel.

Next, we started to explore the charting feature on excel. Students have found this to be very helpful as they are starting to work on their science projects which require a chart. To complete this assignment, students had to use their Internet research skills to discover and chart the Planetary Distances from the Sun.

Next week students will be discovering Excel's mathematical formulas and functions.

This weeks blog question was "What is your favorite memory of Spring Break 2011?" You can read and comment by following the links below.

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March 25, 2011

What a great week it has been in room 301! My students just continue to amaze me. Their hard work and perseverance are starting to pay off. This week we concentrated on our "Mix Book" project. Mix Book is an amazing web 2.0 tool that allows our students to create beautiful, interactive books. I have chosen two samples to share with you. If you would like to see the Mix Book that your child made, ask them to show you on their Edmodo account.

This was created by Olivia M.

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

This was created by Chelsey B.

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Some of the students finished with their Mix Books early and created Google Search Stories.

This was created by Justin M.

This was created by Alexis H.

I hope you are enjoying reading and commenting on your child's blog. This week, we are talking about friendship.

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Have a great spring break! When we return we will be looking into the educational ways we can use Google Earth. Google offers Google Earth as a FREE download. I would suggest you download this amazing program so your child can show off their skills.

March 18, 2011

It's Friday afternoon and I am sitting in my quiet classroom. All of my students have gone home for the weekend and I finally have a chance to catch my breath. Honestly, I am sitting with tears in my eyes. I have the most amazing students. Please let me explain: Today's blog questions is very near and dear to my heart; school bullying. I started the day by showing this video and two others similar to it.

I then asked my students to blog about their experiences with bullying. Many times we forget how young and innocent our students are. I hope you enjoy reading and commenting on these blogs. Please feel free to comment on as many as you would like. ( Please email if you need to know what period your child is in: pharesr@edgewood.k12.oh.us)

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Let me get you caught up on what the class has been up to. We have been discussing 21st Century learning skills and collaboration. For this assignment I had the students choose a partner to work with while making a Prezi or a Google Presentation. The only rule I had was the COULD NOT TALK! I forced them to communicate all on line through a "type with me" document and by making them partners on the presentation. They worked on two computers, both working at the same time, and came out with one presentation. FUN!

Here is an example; make sure you look at the last page, it is priceless.

As you can see, we have been busy in room 301. We are starting to work on our Mix Books and the finished projects will knock your socks off!

March 4, 2011

I am totally excited about this weeks project. I am turning the tables on my students. They are going to be the teachers and I will be the student. Their assignment is to find something they are studying in another class and go above and beyond what they have learned. They are then going to make a PowerPoint or a Prezi to teach me. This project is going to exercise their research skills, their writing skills, and their presentation skills.

Another exciting aspect of this project is that most of the students are working on this with a partner. I set up one document and they silently collaborate online. We will be sharing our presentations next week.

Today's blog post was as follows:

Imagine you wake up one morning and discover you are the Principal of Edgewood Middle School. What is the first thing you would change and why?

You can read and comment on their blogs here:

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Have a great rainy weekend!

February 25, 2011

Students in room 301 had another amazing week. Honestly, I have the best students and I am so proud of all of them. We started the week by putting the finishing touches on our "All About Me" Power Points. The work my students did while creating these were outstanding and I got to know each one of them just a bit more. I neglected to have them post them to their Edmodo accounts so you could see them, however, I will have them posted by next week.

This week we started discussing problems we see in our school and solutions that uses technology. We started using "Type with Me" , which is an online document where we can all collaborate at the same time. We then took those ideas and each student designed a two- slide presentation. I have posted few of the ideas to give you an example.

Today we also updated our blogs. If you would like to be a part of this project and blog with your student all you need to do is to log in and post a comment.

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Today was also a really special day for one of my students. Mariah Gilbert was able to skype with her father who is stationed in Kuwait. My students were able to meet Sgt. Gilbert and ask him many questions about life as a Sgt. and living in Kuwait. A BIG THANK YOU TO MRS. and SGT. GILBERT for helping me set up this special time.

February 18, 2011

This week my amazing students dug back into their memory banks to remember some useful techniques they have learned in the past about PowerPoint. We then added a few new skills and came out with a PowerPoint presentation titled "All About Me." We are still putting the very last finishing touches on them and will be sharing them with you next week.

On friday we began our adventures in blogging. I am expecting this project to come alive when my students start to get comments from you. It is a very simple process, at the end of their writing you will see a comment box. All you need to do is type in your comment and “post comment”. You will need to provide your name and an email address. You can leave the Website field blank. The next time they log-in to blog, they will see your comment. It only takes a few minutes. PLEASE TAKE TIME TO GET INVOLVED! I would also encourage you to involve grandparents, aunts and uncles. What a terrific way for those living far away to become a apart of their education.

Here is the question I posed to them this week:

"There are many different superheroes with all types of amazing superpowers. They are portrayed in movies, comic books, and on television as characters far superior to the average human. If you could be a superhero, what super powers would you have and why?"

You can see their blogs here:

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Please Note: We are getting to the place in our studies that we will need headsets. Please provide your son/daughter with an inexpensive pair of ear buds to use. I just checked at Walmart and they have a pair for .99 cents.

Blogs

In the three very short days of school this week we set up our individual blogs. A blog is a type of a website that will be maintained by my students with regular entries posted on every Friday. These blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments. I URGE YOU TO READ AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON YOUR SON/DAUGHTERS BLOG. I would even go as far as asking you to share the blog with Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, and other relatives.

Today we blogged about our Dream School.

Here was their assignment:

If you could make a school look like whatever you wanted it to, what would it look like?

How would learning happen there?
Keep in mind there is no wrong answer, the right answer is your answer
the sky is the limit dream BIG money is NO PROBLEM.

Follow the link to your son/daughters class period to read their blog.

A note about user name: I take internet safety VERY seriously. This site is an open site and anyone will be able to view it, therefore I asked them to use a nickname. You will need to ask them what their user name is, or you could email me and I will tell you. pharesr@edgewood.k12.oh.us

Here are the links to our blogs:

Period Two: http://kidblog.org/PeriodTwo3/

Period Three: http://kidblog.org/PeriodThree2/
Period Four: http://kidblog.org/PeriodFour4/
Period Five: http://kidblog.org/PeriodFive3/
Period Six: http://kidblog.org/PeriodSix3/

Period Eight: http://kidblog.org/PeriodEighth/

Friday, January 28, 2011

What a great start we are off to in Computer Applications class! I am so pleased with the progress my classes are making in just the short time I have seen them. These are truly some amazing young students!
Take a look at what we have been up to:.

• We all have successfully become members of Edmodo. Edmodo is a social network designed for teacher/student interaction with an emphasis on quick communication, polling, assignment sharing, and more. The students are really enjoying the "face-book" like appearance and it is giving me an opportunity to teach about online etiquette and safety. If you would like to join with a parent account, please contact me and I will set up a code for you. pharesr@edgewood.k12.oh.us
  
• We began our journey into the world of Word Processing. The students have discovered the function of all of the tools on the tool bar, how to insert clip art and word art, and how to use auto shapes to create graphic designs. If you would like to see your child's work ask them to show you their edmodo account.
  

Our goal is to teach you to be a 21st century citizen right along with us. I will be having guest student bloggers to help you in your journey. Your first lesson is on how to comment on a blog. I hope you will take time to comment to our class. (If you are a student reading this and you would like to be a "guest blogger" please let me know.)

Meet Ivan. He is going to tell you how to comment on this blog.


Hey! I am going to tell you how to comment on this blog.

1. Click "comments" below the post.
2. Type what you want to say to our class or to Mrs. Phares.
3. Where it says "comment as" choose "Name/URL."
4. Choose it, and then you can type you're first name.
5. And add this website's url as "URL" or you can leave the "URL" field blank.

I also work on a blog for Mr. Steiner. If you would like to look at it you can click this link.

http://edge201.000a.biz

Thanks! :) Bye!

Hello Second Semester

Please allow me to take this time to welcome the parents of my new second semester students. Hold on to your hats, because I have a feeling this is going to be an exciting semester for you and your son or daughter. They will be discovering many 21st century tools they will need to be successful in their upcoming studies. We hope to bring you right along with us on this exciting journey.

You have some homework:

We will be using Edmodo in our classroom. Edmodo is a safe social learning platform that lets our class connect both at school and from home. Edmodo Parent Accounts are available and I’d like to invite you to join our classroom online.

With Parent Accounts, you can :

● Send messages to your child and me, either together or individually

● View homework assignments, due dates

● Stay up to date on your child’s grades

● Receive updates on class and school events

Edmodo is accessible not just online but on any mobile device, so remember to set up your notifications to receive alerts and check edmodo on your phone. In addition, you can download free Edmodo Apps for both iPhone and Android.

Each parent has a unique code so you will need to contact me and I will give you your code.

My contact information is as follows:

email: Pharesr@edgewood.k12.oh.us

Phone: 513-867-7430 ext: 301

Thank you and I am looking forward to learning with you.