The Techno Cheetah » Student Resource http://technocheetah.edublogs.org A blog about the technology program at Bellows Spring Elementary School Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:14:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Tech Tip 6: Waiting for Snow http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/12/02/tech-tip-6-waiting-for-snow/ http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/12/02/tech-tip-6-waiting-for-snow/#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:45:18 +0000 Mr. Robb http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/?p=108 If you’re a fan of snow days like me, you may already be checking the extended forecast to see if snow is in the future.  But how do you know where to look for accurate forecasts?  There are so many websites devoted to weather forecasting it can be difficult to figure out which one to trust.  Although no forecast is perfect, ForecastAdvisor gives you the forecast accuracy from several major weather websites for your area.

As of this writing, The Weather Channel website has been the most accurate for the Baltimore area in the last month.

]]> http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/12/02/tech-tip-6-waiting-for-snow/feed/ 1 Tech Tip 5: Spelling City http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/10/26/tech-tip-5-spelling-city/ http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/10/26/tech-tip-5-spelling-city/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:34:36 +0000 Mr. Robb http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/?p=67 Is studying for your weekly spelling test getting to be a bore? If it is, try SpellingCity.com. This website lets you enter your own spelling words and helps you practice your words with eight different games.

If you decide to try SpellingCity, leave a comment on this post and give other students your opinion.

studying for your weekly spelling test has never been easier.

]]> http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/10/26/tech-tip-5-spelling-city/feed/ 0 Rainy Day? Make Your Own Website! http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/22/rainy-day-make-your-own-website/ http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/22/rainy-day-make-your-own-website/#comments Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:54:32 +0000 Mr. Robb http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/?p=32 We’ve been out of school for a little over a week now and the weather has been beautiful.  But as the summer moves on there will be some rainy or extremely hot days when it’s better to stay indoors.  So, when those days arrive, why not make your own website?

For students, creating your own website gives you an opportunity to share your interests with the world.  For parents, creating a website is a motivating way to keep your child reading and writing during the summer.

The first step in creating your own website is to decide what you want your website to be about.  Choose a topic that is interesting to you.  Once you decide your topic, sketch or make a brief outline of how you want to organize your website.  For example, if you wanted to make a website about video games you might want a general description of different kinds of video games on the home page and then create other pages about some of your favorite video games.  There is no one right way to create a website, so be creative and have fun.  You can always go back and add to or change your website.

There are two free websites I really like that make it very easy to create websites.  My favorite is Weebly.  With Weebly you just drag and drop the elements you want on your webpage.  It’s easy to add text, pictures, and even videos.  Google Page Creator is another tool that makes it easy to create your own website.

Both Weebly and Google Page Creator require a registration.  Students, please get your parents permission before signing up for one of these websites and respect your parents’ rules for what you are allowed to post online.

If you create a website, please let me know and I will mention it on this blog so the Bellows community can see your work.

Mrs. Trudden, technology teacher at Pointers Run and Waterloo Elementary Schools, has more great rainy day technology activities on her blog.

]]> http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/22/rainy-day-make-your-own-website/feed/ 1 Coming Next School Year: Pixie 2 http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/09/pixie2/ http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/09/pixie2/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:29:30 +0000 Mr. Robb http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/?p=27 Students in all grade levels got to a chance to use Pixie on the new laptop computers this year. Pixie is a program where students can paint and manipulate pictures to design their own artwork. Over the summer, the latest version of Pixie, Pixie 2, will be installed on the tech teacher laptop computers.

Pixie 2 has some exciting new features including:

  • the ability to export multiple Pixie slides as a movie or podcast
  • take a picture using the built in iSight camera and drag it to your artwork
  • more clip art pictures
  • the ability to record narration on each slide

Below is an example of a video podcast I made with my 2 1/2 year old daughter, Morgan, using Pixie 2. This example demonstrates the ability to record narration on each slide and combine the slides together in a video. Morgan choose the pictures and recorded the audio (dad helped, of course).
Download

]]> http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/09/pixie2/feed/ 2 Tech Tip 2: Summer Reading Resource http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/04/tech-tip-2-summer-reading-resource/ http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/2008/06/04/tech-tip-2-summer-reading-resource/#comments Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:37:54 +0000 Mr. Robb http://technocheetah.edublogs.org/?p=24 Two representatives from the Howard County Library, Ms. Debbie and Ms. Deborah, talked to each grade today about the library’s summer reading program.  “The Deborahs” gave several wonderful book suggestions for summer reading.

If you need help finding a good book to read this summer check out Book Adventure. This Sylvan website is a terrific resource to help you find books that interest you at your reading level.

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