Today is Stop Cyberbulling Day, when thousands of bloggers take virtual action. As educators there are many ways we can make a stand against cyberbullying. Use the resources below learn how to keep our students safe.

• Learn what cyberbullying is by watching this presentation from the Wired Safety group, and then investigate their STOP cyberbullying site. 
• Visit Wesley Fryer’s Cyberbulling wiki  for a comprehensive list of resources.
• Listen to his Ideas for Addressing Cyberbulling podcast, available on his blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity.
• Join Stop Cyberbulling, a social network for ”discussing cyberbullying, identifying resources and solutions to address this epidemic of online cruelty.”
• Participate in iSAFE professional development, either a workshop provided by our District or the free on-line program provided by iSAFE.

Badge published by Scott Mcleod. 
Cartoon published by Quentin D’Souza on his Teaching Hacks blog using ToonDoo.

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“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling, but it wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.” – Winnie the Pooh

This month my daughter has used Spelling Time to ward off wobbly spelling. Since I can modify the provided lessons to include her 3rd grade words, and she enjoys the activities, we are both happy. I was pleased to see the feature that uses the word in a sentence because she often has homophones (ie there, their, they’re).  Yes, the words I enter are used correctly in a sentence by Jake. Jake and Alexis are the animated speaking hosts of the site. She earns points towards reward games and I receive emails with any words she is misspelling. The concept is a lesson for each day of the week, but the choice is hers. She can select any lesson on any day.

   1. Monday – Introduction to Words Lesson & Writing
   2. Tuesday – Hangman Lesson & Writing
   3. Wednesday – Word Scramble Game
   4. Thursday’s Pop Quiz
   5. Friday’s Spelling Test
   6. Weekend Review 
   7. Weekend Review

Some of the lessons include the traditional spelling writing assignment, “Write the words you missed 3 times each.” You can turn off the music when it gets annoying. I set up a parent account, but they provide a teacher account for setting up a class. This award winning site is intended for grades 1-5.

Technorati Tags: spelling time communication arts

To keep your computer running well requires some routine maintenance. Spring often brings to mind thoughts of freshing up, cleaning, and revitalizating. As a result, I feel inclined to blog about PC upkeep. Keep in mind it is best to perform these tasks more often than once a year, monthly would be best for most users.

 Windows includes a Disk Cleanup utility that will empty your recycle bin, clear your Internet cache, delete temporary files, etc.

1. Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup
2. The application will start by scanning your hard drive. This may take a couple minute.
3. When the next window is displayed, check the items you wish to delete.
4. If you need a more information, click once on the item’s title and a description will appear below.
5. After completing your selections, click OK, then Yes to confirm.
6. It may take a few minutes to remove all those dust bunnies.
7. Now it is time to Defrag. Go back to the System Tools and choose Disk Defragmenter.
8. After it opens, you can click the Analyze button in the bottom left hand corner to see if your hard drive is significantly fragmented.
9. Click the Defragment button if the service is needed, otherwise choose Close.
10. It may take several minutes to defragment your hard drive.

Other User Practices to Keep Your Station Shiny

• Keep your antivirus software, AVG, up to date and scanning regularly.
• Keep at a minimum the programs set to start automatically when you turn on your computer. The task bar shows icons for such programs in the bottom right corner. Typically, you can look in the preferences of a program to turn this feature on or off.
• Keep 25% of your hard drive free. You can check this by opening My Computer>right click on the C: drive>choose Properties from the popup menu.
• Restart you computer occasionally.

Living the American Dream. “Just Saying Hello to My Buddie.” Living the American Dream Photostream. 17 Mar 2007. 21 Mar 2007 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/showe417/424688002/>

Oh, this is so much fun. artPad is a basic, free on-line tool provided by art.com. When you first access the site, you can watch a series of strokes, as it replays the steps in creating a particular masterpiece.  It even has controls to speed up the animation, jump to the end or to the beginning. There are some amazing pieces to view. You can add to this painting, or choose to create your own.

You have a paintbrush, paint bucket, and text tool at your disposal. You can choose the color and opacity, and set the paintbrush size. Once your work is complete, you can select a frame and view it in the gallery of your choice: vintage, sports, modern or fantasy. Clicking the save and send button will assign a webpage address to your masterpiece and allow you to send the link to someone via email.

I think this site would be especially fun to use on a SMART Board.

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 Do you have a crazy “Off the Wall” story about an entertaining school-related incident? You could win a new 3M™ Digital Media System 815 just for sharing your tale. This wall mounted media system is similar to a SMART Board.

Contest Rules

• short story of 100 words or less, about a situation or event at a school
• no limit to the number of entries
• fill out the online form, or print and fill out the submission form and fax
• Limit one prize per school 
• One system to be awarded in June, 2007 (entries due June 15) and another in December, 2007 (entries due December 14)
• Winners of the prizes will be notified by phone or email during the month after the drawing date.

Technorati Tags: 3M contest media story education