This week students in my basic computers classes are beginning to learn about building a positive web presence.  They are creating an online portfolio to view these click on the hours on the side or go to the drop down menus above.  As you view these keep in mind that we are just learning

Everything that students learn over the next 12 weeks in our basic computers course will be on their website!

A fun thing we will do this week was to create an avatar! Our favorite avatar creators are listed below just in case you want to make one too!

Five St. Johns students were selected to participate in the MACUL Technology Showcase at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan!

To view the article in the Clinton County News – Click Here

To see the picture in the Lansing State Journal – Click Here

To view additional pictures – Click Here

To view our blogging buddies at MACUL – Click Here

Students have been working very hard trying to earn “J” money this trimester!  They have had to make big decisions and have had to survive various disasters!  Now they can spend their hard earned “J” money… who will walk away with the prizes?

(Special thanks to those that have donated our treasures!)

Click Here to See Real Time Results!

Our first trimester of the 2011 school year is complete.

To view student blogs go to the tab at the top labeled ” Basic Computers” and scroll down to the hour you want.

Following are some of the outstanding blogs from the past 12 weeks!

• Abbey’s Portfolio
• Alolo
• Anna’s Awesome Page
• Arielle’s Astounding Site
• Bacon Spot
• Ben’s Portfolio
• Chelsie’s Page
• Damian’s Portfolio
• Erin’s Portfolio
• Just Me
• Justin’s Website
• K8E’s Website
• Kaleigh’s Portfolio (:
• Matt’s Page
• Natalie’s Website
• Syd’s Page
• Techno Peep
• Totally Techy
• Yelsew

Additional favorites chosen by the students from our online survey!

• Abby’s Portfolio
• Adam’s Website
• AKC Portfolio
• Brecken’s Website
• Brett’s Portfolio
• Bunny Bandit
• Dani’s Portfolio
• David’s Digital Website
• Digital Dude
• Dillinger’s Portfolio
• Erika’s Website
• Hallie’s Weebly Page
• Jamie’s Portfolio
• Jennifer’s Page
• Jessica’s Portfolio
• Kylee’s Website :p
• Kyleigh’s Digital Portfolio
• Man Website
• Miriah’s Portfolio
• Olivia’s Page
• Sadie’s Page
• Syd’s Site

We are approaching the end of the trimester… It is so hard to believe!

Students please take the following survey:

SURVEY: SJMS Technology Survey

We are currently learning how to easily create a visual organizer.  My picture below was created using bubbl.us , after I created it I used Jing  to capture the image as a .png file.  I then uploaded the image to my blog.  If you do not want to download Jing, just use the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard and paste it into a paint program.  My favorite free paint program is paint.net, however this needs to be downloaded too.  If you want an online paint program try Sumopaint.  Look on the student blogs to see their visual organizers!  Also, look below to try some different ones!  If you know of additional ones that I should add to my list let me know by leaving a comment!

Visual Organizers to try:

• Xmind
• Bubbl.us
• Gliffy
• Freemind
  

Timeline Makers to try:

• ReadWriteThink
• TeAchnology

Venn Diagrams to try:

• ReadWriteThink
• Creately Demo + More Stuff
• LuicidChart Demo + More Stuff

Several of my students wondered where they could find some cool widgets to add to their websites… so…here is a good place to start!  However, here are my guidelines for adding a widget to your website/blog:

1. On your HOME page make sure you add a counter.
2. If you add other widgets to your home page then they must not distract from your basic information.  Therefore you may want to add a “Widget Tab”  or a “Fun Stuff”  or a “Game” tab.
3. All widgets must be appropriate for elementary age students since children do visit your site – I call these rated G (no violence and they follow school guidelines). 
4. If it is a picture widget, that goes though a slide show, they must be pictures you have taken or public domain pictures.  They should also have something on or under them that says “Photo courtesy of __________”
5. You may not spend class time searching or adding widgets to your blog/website unless ALL work is up to date.  You may not use class time to play games, unless you have purchased ”game time” with your virtual money, and ALL work is up to date.

Following are some places to begin looking for widget if you are interested… AGAIN make them appropriate for young kids… 

 Also, if you find a great site that you would like me to add to this list please let me know in the comment area below!

Widgets and More:

• AccuWeather
• Animoto
• Befunky
• ClockLink
• ClusterMaps
• Education Atlas
• Feedwind
• Flag Counter
• Flickr Slideshow and Badges
• Google Calendar
• Google Maps
• Google Translate  
• My Web Counter
• Photopeach
• Prezi
• Poll Daddy
• Read the Words
• SchoolTube MVP
• SciencePal
• Shelfari
• SitePal Text to Speech
• Sketchfu
• Storybird
• SweetSearch
• Tagxedo
• This Day in History
• Timeline Index
• ToonDoo
• Voki
• VoiceThread
• Wallwisher
• Who Among Us
• Wolfram Alpha
• Word of the Day
• Wordle

We are “gearing up” for a new year, so you will see lots of changes on my blog over the next week before my new students start their blogs.  As you can see I have a new class name this year.  Last year we were ClasstapKids and this year we going to be SMARTeKIDS!  I thought it was kind of clever!  Choosing a name for the blog is kind of like choosing a name for a child!  Whew!!!  The first thing I want to learn this year is how to add a RSS feed to my blog and how to get feeds from others!  We are “gearing up” to learn!  We hope you stop back again!

A widget is an object that is found on the sidebars of a blog.  This is a widget that Shane found.  Just for fun have the spider follow the cursor below!

Based on the poll for the best candy, I have now the results. The best candy is………………….KIT KAT!

My dad Curt is my role model. He is the best dad I will ever know. All through his life my dad’s strength during life’s struggles, unselfishness attitude, and amazing work ethic makes him a very special man.

 My dad has shown great strength that has held my family together because he has ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He cracks jokes when we are down, and often fills my family up with joy every day of the week. Despite this, he gets stressed out and often worries he isn’t going to pull through this. But all he needs is a little love, and he continues fighting the

 My dad has put others’ needs in front of his own, and he has been my coach all my life in athletic sports. He has helped me up when I fall down and tries to make sure that everyone is having fun while learning like when we are playing a family activity he makes sure everyone is doing it right before he is doing it right himself. Because of his ALS, this is the first year he has been unable to coach, but he still gives me valuable pointers such as when you are doing a cross over you need to cross the ball over as fast as you can so that the opponent won’t have any time to think about if he/she would swat at the ball or let the ball fly right by them and leave then in the dust while you are going up strong with the ball for a layup, another valuable pointer is that whenever you have faked a guy out you want to make a choice in a split second if you want to waste the clock of drive up for a layup.

 I think my dad has put tremendous effort into being a very hard worker because his father was an electrician and that influenced him to be in construction. My dad owned his own business, and he did his work doing things with great care and detail. He has remodeled many beautiful homes, and he is respected by his customers.

 That is why my father Curt is my most favorite person in my whole life and my role model. His strength, helpful nature, and amazing work ethic make others who know him want to hang the moon in the sky too.

I have had many lollipop moments in my life.  First, when I was about two, I was running around the house and I fell on my face.  To my surprise, my two front teeth were gone.  My mom heard me wailing, found my teeth on the floor, and she shoved them back into my head.  It really hurt, and there was maroon blood every where.  I don’t remember this very well, but my mom has told me many times. Another disheartening time for me was when I was five.  I was in swim school with Sophie in the other class.  We decided to play a game where she was the teacher, and I was the student.  She grabbed my arms and made me let go of the wall.  It was the shallow end of the pool, but my head went right under. My feet hit the bottom, and I jumped. I came up and went right back down again.  Finally, my hands clasped the wall, and I could breath again. Finally, a frightening moment happened when I got my tonsils out.  It was a warm summer’s day, and my mom took me to the doctors to give me my surgery. I was placed into an ash wheel chair and pushed into an immense room. Then I was escorted to  a giant bed and a balloon full of sleeping gas was gently placed over my mouth.  I started to wail, and the next thing I knew I was in a different room with a bunch of other smelly beds. I could not feel my throat.

These were definitely some trying times in my life.

I would never have thought that at my young age I would meet somebody younger than me that would be an inspiration in my life. My inspiration is Ms. Emma Wiser. Emma suffers from an auto immune deficiency disease that has yet to be named. Despite her potential life threatening disease, she maintains a positive outlook on life, pushes herself to do well in school, and participates in extracurricular activities and always wears a smile on her face. She continues to look to the future and reach for the things she wants to accomplish in her life. Emma, together with her family truly shows what faith is all about.

Emma illnesses began early in her life. When Emma was just two years old, she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Her case was very severe and caused her to be hospitalized until she was stabilized. As the years went along, she began to develop additional health problems such as high blood pressure and kidney disease. She was also found to have a low white blood cell count. All of these health problems caused a need to have a visit to The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where a team of doctors reviewed her medical history and are still trying to provide all the answers. To this day, they say she has a rare case and no cure is available. She has to go twice a week for something called IVIG therapy to keep her white blood count stable and keep her healthy. She has to check her blood sugar six times a day and she wears a diabetic pump. She now also takes regular blood pressure medication. All of this and she is only ten years old.

Despite the numerous and ongoing medical concerns, Emma has a quite normal and very active life as a 5^th grader. She is an excellent student and keeps up on all her work even if her illnesses keeps her at home or have her exhausted. She has remained in tap class since the age of three and works hard to have her routines perfect for the dance recital every year. In addition to dance, she plays basketball at her school and softball on a spring and summer league. Staying active is good for her as long as her body can keep up.

Even though Emma’s future is unknown because of her health, she like any other young person has hopes and dreams that she works toward. She wants small things like to play on her high school softball team and large things like to someday be a doctor and find cures for diseases so other children do not have to suffer. These dreams keep her going when her illnesses knock her down.

Emma Wiser is a true inspiration. She deals daily with an unknown, incurable disease and still manages to participate in fun activities and do well in school as well as look to her future with hope. I am not certain that she even knows the many times that I have thought of her and all that she deals with when I have wanted to complain about how I felt. Emma has put life into perspective.

One day I went squirrel hunting with my neighbor. When we got there to the place was big. We went out in to the woods. And sat down and I waited. It was fun but it toke a lot of time. Then there was nothing so we moved to the other side of the woods. We got there and I heard a noise it was a squirrel. But I did not see it. Then 5 min. later the squirrel made a noise again. But there was nothing. So I stand up and I shoot my gun. We where done for the day so we had to walk all the way bake. That day was fun. We went home.

Have you ever wanted to make your own toy? I’ll teach you how! It will only take five steps.

You will need some supplies to do it. They will be a block of wood, a carving knife, two wooden rods, four wooden circles and a power drill.

The first thing you do is take the block of wood and the knife. Shave the block of wood down to the shape of your car. Next take the power drill (with help of parent) and make two holes on each of the bottom corners. Make sure the hole goes though the other side. Then stick both wooden rods in each hole. Be sure that a little bit is sticking out on each end of the holes. Finally take the power drill (again with help of parent) and drill a hole in the center of each of the four wooden circles. Make sure that the hole is the same size as the width as the rod. Then put the four circles on all four ends of the rods. If you want you paint the car or make windows and doors.

If you did it right you should have a cool, speedy car! You can race with it or just admire it. It doesn’t matter.

I’ll never forget that trophy moment that happened to me when I was ten. My sister, Kaitlyn and I were at our grandma and grandpa Hoover’s house. It was winter at that time, and there had recently been a heavy snow fall, and we decided to have some fun.

First, we were meandering around the yard, and we happened to notice the hill was covered in frigid snow! My sister and I bolted through the deep snow to the back door. We told our grandma to get out the azure, circular saucers.

Later, after we had lunch of PB and J sandwiches, we went outside to the hill. Our grandpa had piled a huge pile of snow for us to get speed when we went down the hill. The first time I went down, it was sluggish. We had to pat down some of the snow with our hands that was in our path. A few more tries, and I went faster each time. Then, we finally were on a slick run. I thought about making a ramp. Which I did. It went well, except for that time when I got to the top of the ramp, my saucer flew over the top of me and I flipped over and landed with a thud on my head. Finally, we perfected the snow hill! But it was almost spring, so the snow melted. We were so persistent!

This year I hope to do it again. That was my glorious moment in the snow.

If you want to start snowmobiling you might be in for a challenge.  To get you started I would like to tell you some stories.  Some people get their heads taken off by running into a wire fence wile snowmobiling, but don’t let that story stop you.  You need to maintain balance, especially on old snowmobiles.  Also, you need to wear the wright  clothes and equipment.  Sometimes people can’t see because the wern’t wearing eye protection.

edited by Quinn,  Picture by Pasi H

The best time to fish would probably be in the morning.  In the morning the water is nice and cold, and most fish will come up to shore and look for smaller fish.  This is where the right bait will come in.  If you have a regular worm you will get blue gale through perch.  If you use a night crawler you may get huge rock basses or nice size pikes.  Depending on how far you go out the bigger the fish will get.  Watch out, if you catch a pike they may cut your line with their teeth.   This has happened to me about ten times.  Most likely if you go out five yards on a boat and start fishing you’ll get a bass.

I’m thankful for a lot of things.  I’m  thankful for my family. I’m thankful for them because they love me and take care of me.  I’m thankful for my dog too.  He runs around with me when no one else wants to.  I’m thankful my friends.  They play with me and help me.  I’m thankful for my sisters.  They help me with my homework when I don’t understand it.  I’m thankful for my brother.  He will go outside and play football with me. Those are the things I’m thankful for.

       I’ll never forget the time in fifth grade when I caught a baby bird for my brother. It was a cool evening, and I was walking by the fire when I heard my brother, Thomas yelling, “Here, birdie.”

I was in the middle of running to find him when this petite ebony ball of fuzz fluttered right into my face! I heard Thomas scream, “Watch out.” But it was too late the baby cowbird pooped all over my brand new teal and maroon spring jacket. Thomas guffawed so hard he was drowning in his own tears. After I was done screaming, I caught the bird. But then it flew under the porch. So I had to crawl under the dank porch to catch the bird. Before I could catch the bird,a warty toad jumped right into my face. I caught the bird and got it out of there. My parents let us keep the bird. We had kept the bird in a fish aquarium.

The glory didn’t last long because the bird died three days later. He is buried in our backyard next to our dog.

Edited by Alli