Zoho sheet

I looked at Zoho sheet from the perspective of a 6th grade teacher who is introducing spreadsheets to students who haven't explored this tool yet.

• Advantages: In the "welcome" sheets, I found helpful sample sheets on expense tracking and temperature conversion. Students can look at these sample sheets to understand the formulas used to calculate the data.
• In the "public" sheets, there are 1,238 pages of templates in a variety of languages ranging from rubrics for writing assignments, physical exercise data and financial spreadsheets.
• There is a "translation tool" under the product links which allows students to see how this web 2.0 tool is being used by a multi-lingual global community.
• There is a section on sample sheets for students to explore and a helpful page on "keyboard shortcuts" to use.

I plan to use Zoho sheet when I work with 6th graders on a NCTM activity about calculating population density, converting between square miles and square kilometers, and comparing population density of a variety of locations.

Work on Wikis

• The assignment to create a wiki dovetailed perfectly with recent events. Last week, I attended a state-wide Youth Court conference with 4 students. I created a wiki where I will post the notes I took during the 5 sessions we attended as a team at valdezyouthcourt.wikispaces.com. I will ask the students to add information to my notes in order to reinforce what they learned at this conference.
  
• I was frustrated by the process of creating a new page on Wikipedia for our elementary school. My page is currently being reviewed before it is added. It took many steps and assistance from my son and husband before I figured out how to capture this as a screen shot. I hope that this page will be approved by the Wikipedia editors so that students at our school can add information to this page.
  

To be or 2.0 be? Using blogs in the classroom

My goal is for students to be setting individual goals for their learning (based on clear academic standards) as well as sharing the questions they want to explore. Classroom blogs work well with idea-based instructional strategies to meet these goals. For example, when students blog about their essential questions and goals for a project to an authentic audience of their peers, then they are more likely to pose thoughtful questions and create a plan to follow through on their goals. The expectations for students can include higher-order thinking skills of analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing information found on their classmates' blogs. The power of blogs is the presence of a motivational, supportive audience for students' ideas and questions. Blogs are an excellent place for students to practice their persuasive, analytical and creative writing skills.
The instructional strategies that don't work well with the use of blogs include "close-ended" questions in didactic learning since this learning doesn't lend itself to analysis and a discussion forum. Blogs also bring up issues of access to technology, since some students will be able to work on the internet from home while others will need to have an alternative access to the internet, such as the public library or after-school access to school computers.
I hope to be a full-time teacher in a 5th or 6th grade classroom next year. I can see using a classroom blog as a bridge between school and the families who have internet access, since families who are able to participate in the blog will become participants in our learning community. My goals for our classroom blog will be on "the power of discussions" and practicing our persuasive, analytical and creative writing skills.

Eating what we are teaching

In our schools, are students eating in a way that matches what we are teaching about nutrition? If you feel strongly about the lack of nutrition in your school lunches, check out this video from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/king-lunch-video
Today I will request copy of our school's wellness policy, which was mandated by the Congress in 2004. All school districts with a federally-funded breakfast/lunch program need to have this wellness policy to cover nutrition and physical education at their schools. For more info, go to http://www.schoolwellnesspolicies.org/
I am concerned about the food being served to our students in the lunch room and would like to see the students eating in a way that matches our teaching about nutrition. I know that it is a balance between what the students WILL eat and what is healthiest for them, but why are our schools still serving chocolate milk, tater tots, corn dogs,...?
The middle school I attended in Berkeley, CA is a wonderful source of inspiration for school meals that really nourish our kids and their lives. For more info, go to http://www.edibleschoolyard.org
One more video that I highly recommend on the Edutopia site: http://www.edutopia.org/night-global-village