LetaMarie

Horse Ranch Sold in North Pole, Alaska

2008-05-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Horse ranch SOLD in Fairbanks, Alaska. 3200sq.ft. 3 bedroom, 3 bath home with 5100 sq. ft. of heated garages, 60'X 120' covered arena, 130'X 350' outdoor sand arena, three 100' X 150' pipe corrals with shelters and access to airstrip. Immaculate home and grounds. Fenced, in pasture and ready for horses! Fields have cross-country jumps. Pasture is greening up but still needs a couple more weeks of sun. It's springtime in Alaska! Close in to Fairbanks off paved road.

Trendsetters-Voicethread

2008-04-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

While Voicethread would never be my favorite, I know kids will love it. It was very user friendly and fast. I could see using it with the art pad to create stories which the students would narrate. In science it would be fun to make learning centers again narrated by the students. Students could listen to a non-fiction short story about science topics created by their peers. It could be fun for vocabulary practice. Students write a short definition, say the word, tell what parts of speech the word can be used and then use the word in an original sentence. The final product could be used as a teaching tool on smart board and volunteers could talk about the why they chose their sentence. Others could volunteer to use the word in a sentence. Could be a way to add life to an often boring subject. Students get to have some ownership their research.
I would use technology to add life to the mundane.

Panraven Project

2008-04-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Sense of Place project using Panraven about a day with my daughters at Trendsetters. Of all the media uses this was a bit more frustrating because some parts took so long. Twice I waited 15-20 minutes for photos to load. This could cause anxiety for use in an elementary classroom. A teacher would need to keep this element in mind and probably divide the project into two sections which could allow for the time delays. I could see using this media for creative writing. I'd want to be secure on copyright law before encouraging students to use photos for research projects in science and history because Panraven can be published publicly. Still I would want to introduce Panraven to students and share some of my concerns.

Sense of Place Poster

2008-04-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Using Comic Life I made a poster of photos with my three daughters. The two youngest are attending Trendsetters Hair School in Anchorage and they had just graduated from working on manikins to real people. Their older sister and I volunteered to be their first clients. We were there all day and celebrated that evening at Chilies Restaurant. Comic Life is a great tool! It could have many possibilities in the classroom. For K-3 classrooms I could envision the idea of a sense of place big class book made up of a poster of each student. With a few digital cameras that could be checked out, students could be assigned to take 8-10 meaningful photos of their family for use in a poster. It would be a fun way to teach the importance of names. Using name meaning books students could learn the meanings of their names and also learn the sense of belonging that comes from last names. This would be a great time to invite a couple elders from the community into the classroom to talk about the importance of their family names. I would seek out elders with ethnic backgrounds represented in the classroom. Because my dad made me feel pride about our family name, I want students to understand the importance of names so they too, can revel in their uniqueness. Using Comic Life students could include the meaning of their names on the poster. After printing them I would bind them together into a big class book. As a class art project we could create a title page again using Comic Life and small groups. This would make a lasting project that could be enjoyed throughout the school year. Comic Life is a great option to use for any oral presentation or any memorable event. Again even though I'm not totally comfortable with all the technology, I know students are and that gives me confidence to proceed. Life is too short to fear failure!

Flickr Slide Show-Trendsetters

2008-03-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

A Flickr slide show. Trendsetters is a hair school in Anchorage where my two youngest daughters are attending. Their older sister is already a hair dresser and the three girls plan on working in their own salon together. Galilee and I traveled to Anchorage to be Natalie's and Laurelie's first human heads. Up till then they had only worked on manikin heads. You can see we all had fun!
I could see this technology used as an awesome way to preserve memories of classroom field trips. Taking along a few digital camaras, each student would be assigned to take five-ten meaningful photos. They would be instructed before departure that we will be creating a class slide show of the field trip. The applicable scientific research would be completed the week prior to the field trip. Probably I'd "partner up" or "team up" the students and provide an outline. The students would be assigned to provide a description for each photo taken. For example if we went to Creamers Field each team could give themselves names: "The Canadian Goose Watchers", The Mallard Duck Watchers", "The Buffled Head Watchers", "The Merganser Watchers", etc. Each team must have photos for Introduction, Indentification, Habitat and Conclusion which is explained in the outline. Every major classroom event could be recorded using the Flickr Slide show. Even though I get stuck a lot, I would not let that stop me because students are naturally better at understanding technology than I will ever be.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Horse and Man

2008-03-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Horse and Man digital video.

This is a fantastic educational tool which could be used with science, history as well as other subjects. In the classroom it would be a creative way to present a topic of interest. Each student would research a topic in science or history and either take photos or search for photos online like I did. Students would select appropriate music to compliment their movie. What a fun way to prepare a presentation. Students are given another media to share their creative uniqueness. As teachers it is important to reach a variety of intelligences. While I often get stuck over simple things, I know students will quickly master the technology of movie making. I would not be shy to use this technology even though I struggle with stops because second and third graders have more ease than I do with technology. As long as I've done my job preparing a rubric and clear instructions, I know we would all enjoy the process of learning together.

Change the Subject!

2008-02-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

Mom always said if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all. Can we talk about a great read? I highly recommend the book, "Longitude" by Dava Sobel. Have your ever wondered how the longitude problem was solved? Dava does a fabulous job of writing about science and history in a novel form! Poor John Harrison, a brilliant man, but not born under a lucky star and unfortunately became one astronomer's anathema. One of Harrison's chronometers traveled with the famous James Cook, who was not only the first to feed his crew sauerkraut as a prevention for scurvy, but was also known as the worlds first great navigator. Learn the reason why. It's a must read.

The Colonial Spanish Horse

2008-02-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

Most people have probably heard of Frank T. Hopkins and his famous horse Hidalgo. Frank became the first proponent of mustang preservation and promotion at a critical time. Today we’re facing new crisis. For another class I've been investigating the historical and genetic research on the breed that Hopkins called “the most significant animal on the North American continent”. I would like to help bring to the public conscience the current crisis facing this breed of horses. BLM, the Bureau of Land Management, manages approximately 29,000 wild horses and donkeys across ten western states. Most of these wild mustangs are of mixed breeding and are not the group at risk. A few herds in remote and geographically isolated areas have been discovered to have a unique phenotype and genotype that descend from types and breeds now rare or extinct, mainly the Colonial Spanish type. The North American Colonial Spanish breed type is rare globally, and only a small reservoir exists in domestication. The few qualifying feral herds are therefore an important component of equine biodiversity. The four small herds under BLM management are the Pryor Mountain Herd in south-central Montana, the Kiger Herd in south-eastern Oregon, the Sulfur Herd in south-western Utah and the Cerbat Herd of north-western Arizona. While four existing herds may sound adequate, they are all at risk because their herd sizes are small and managing wild horses at low population levels leaves them vulnerable to a loss of genetic diversity. This is the same sort of problem which plagues endangered species around the world. Scientists are working with BLM as well as individuals to keep these herds viable. Change starts with one individual who has the desire to make a difference. Frank T. Hopkins spent his life preserving and promoting a breed he believed in, the mustang. Now it is my turn to help keep the rare genetic resource, the Colonial Spanish horse from disappearing. Following are two web sites and both have information about these rare wild horses that can be used in the classroom. The Pryor Horses and The Cerbat Horses. Not only am I inspired to use these two web sites in my classroom, but to also design my own curriculum so students can learn about all four herds and the importance of conservation through a study of the American mustang. We can’t bring back Hidalgo’s lineage, but we can be a voice in protecting others of his breed, a rare type of mustang, genetically known as the Colonial Spanish horse.

Software Resources

2008-02-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Software Title: Introduction
Grade/Age Level: Third Grade
Subject Area: The Human Body; The Heart
Platform: Both
Purpose: Using software to create a science lesson.

Preparing a lesson for a third grade class, I searched online using "Human Body" and "third-grade". To my surprise I found two websites designed by third-grade students. Wow, this is the perfect teaching tool! This lesson on the heart can be introduced using the three websites. Selecting the first website as the "Introduction", Click on "Human Body"( the chest figure), to "Our Human Body", to below "Control" select "Circulation" and finally to "Heart". If we explored around this site, students become introduced to organs and other peoples need for donor organs. This website has great links to "websites for kids".

Software Title: Body Book
Grade/Age Level: Third Grade
Subject Area: The Human Body; The Heart
Platform: Both

Next travel to another web-site designed by a third grade class called "Body Book" and travel through the section on the heart. There is a cool list of resources listed under activities that takes the teacher to a supplier.

Software Title: Virtual Tour
Grade/Age Level: Third Grade
Subject Area: The Human Body; The Heart
Platform: Both

The final website provides a Virtual Tour of the heart. Start with the Narrated Tour, then talk about the Heart Parts (moving the cursor makes the names of parts appear) and lastly look at the Animated Heart. Ask the students to think about where the blood is flowing in the different parts of the heart. Conclude with the amazing fact that the heart uses four chambers to pump blood simultaneously in four different directions. The heart is amazing!

Video "Denali School Borrough"

2008-01-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

Allowing every student access to a laptop does present some good questions. While I believe the future will go that direction for all the positive reasons we discussed, teachers will need time to prepare for the change in curriculum. Access to laptops requires new teaching tools and strategies and new ways to assess learning. Those are some huge changes which require thoughtful preparation. Personally, I would need the quality of tech support that Denali School provides its teachers. I love the idea of providing all students with laptops even the K-3. Incorporating cameras and the media component provides some awesome opportunities to make meaningful connections to individual students. We're in the information age when the world's library resources are at are fingertips. Sort of hard to get my mind around that.

Personal Introduction

2008-01-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

Hello,
I've been working toward a BAS degree for almost 25 years. Hopefully, I graduate in December. Yesterday I lost a dear friend, my big red Bashkir Curly Gelding named Gordon. It was a sudden death; the neurological symptoms suggest a possible brain tumor. Tomorrow my fifth grand child will be delivered; a girl. I just don't feel like writing.

2007-09-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is like learning a new language and I've been assigned to the lowest reading group.