Thing 12

I am a naturalist, in that I try to balance nature in my garden and nontoxin insect removal, as well as observing nature and its blessings as well as its needs. This website directly impacts my garden at this time I have had aphids and mealybugs devouring my sunflowers and must get rid of them now they are winning the battle. thus this blog aimed right at my worst target at the moment mealy bugs. I will purchase ladybugs tomorrow if its not too late in the season.
http://gardenorganicallyblog.com/why-organic-gardening/

I chose the below re: ipod sport nano device as I am a runner and preparing for the 1/2 marathon in November thus this device can be worn on arm some attach to shoes etc.. and provide data on pace, distance, etc...
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Nike-iPod-Sport-nano/dp/B000JVFKH8

Thing 4

I completed thing 4 as directed, blog, registration and avatar creation.

Also, sent email...

BGiles UHCL

Thing 11 Book lists

I added "all kids" from Bloggers search engine in design view - I typed in book lists under gadgets... then it directed me further and I selected their automatically updated top 40 books for children ages 3-12. Nice! I enjoyed this and appreciate the sites I visited and input my children's favorite authors as well as some of my own on my book list.

I forsee this as creating class groups, girls reading clubs, boys, etc... mystery clubs, science fiction... I will have to think this thru and get more familiar with it but I think it has tremendous opportunities for collaboration amidst the avid readers in the school community and wider community as well such as the entire district. It is a good social networking tool again very positive!

Thing 10

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrvilhauer/4333346888/
The image was a struggle but alas once again it is done. The first picture I chose was from flicker and it would not work. Thus, I collaborated and found that Google Images worked excellently for this purpose.

I chose the image because of its many positive qualities and most importantly it makes me smile.

I personally like the comic strip generator and have used a similar activity in L.A. for 4th grade. I did not have the luxury of a package such as this so the children created their own from scratch. It is a fun activity that defintely gets everyones' higher level thinking in gear as creation and synthesis are up there...

http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Thing 9

Create a blog post about your experience that answers these questions:


Which Search tool was the easiest for you? Google Search.


Which was more confusing?
Bloglines search tool.

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
I found this one to be useful The Daily Almanac at www.infoplease.com/daily, A daily math warmup for grades 1&2, as well as a daily reading warmup for grades 1&2 with a running history from prior days warmups - very handy!

Thing 8 RSS feeds and readers

As an individual, librarian or student the RSS and reader save time and turn the tables regarding information retrieval it now becomes information delivery right to your reader via the RSS feed.

After viewing tutorials and using these tools it is of course the only method to use vs. searching and wasting time you don't have. The reader is the platform the feed delivers to and you are delightfully presented with what you want at your doorstep so to speak.

Thing 7 Google endless possibilities

I must emphasize the ppt feature as this has come in very handy as an educator. I went to training years back and have used this religiously ever since... If you would like to find a powerpoint to cover a topic go to advanced search and type in topic.ppt and click on advanced search a voila you have a multitude of options to choose from and a bank of endless ways to convey material to your students in an informative and engaging way.

I also explored new features as well and looked at the GMAil feature and am reluctant to switch and concerned about an online and yes I saw offline calendar - however my security alarm went off as I don't want the world to know my schedule just in case they want to know when I am not home... but as regards the Gmail it looks a lot like yahoo thus why switch if I am already set up and good to go with Yahoo - anyone?

Thing 6 mappr

This api is awesome and has endless possibilities as regards Social Studies... For instance 1st grade learns about their community and government. I always begin by teaching them about their school community (photo from flicker here), then about living on an island (map of Galveston silhouette type from flicker here), where they live on the island east end vs. west end (photo of a house from flicker here), if you get my drift and then superimpose this map on Texas, then on U.S.A... Yes, I love it. Also, something I did with 4th Grade was to make a brochure and you see where this is going... Social Studies activity which includes information about where they live with endless opportunities and photos/maps!

BGiles

Thing 5 flicker

The nature of visuals get me everytime it is addicting and I really had to pull myself away from it... I went ahead and chose a photo that relates to our midterm project it is an insect anyone able to predict what it is?

BGiles

Thing 3 clouds, rabbits and such

Twas late in the evening when I finally finished... I had difficulty navigating back and forth whilst familiarizing myself with the many different activities I was involved in. A rabbit kept trying to jump thru my back porch glass door for some reason really odd I am used to a possum but not a cottontail... Very noisy and yes I had to investigate each time I heard the thumping and bang into the door.

All I can say is I followed the directions given and still encountered difficulties but did manage to get it done. The creation and process of natural selection clothing, accessories, etc.. was very easy yet a little time consuming albeit user friendly. The exporting was for some reason challenging for me. I kept seeing the yahoo save option then finally went to the home tab and export was on the right just as stated... Once copied and pasted url in the design area (this too challenged me - perhaps I am add) but again got her done. The avatar is named as a reminder of my father as a tribute to father's day "Flash Gordon" he was a pilot and once grounded due to age, an artist that really knew how to paint the clouds as he flew in them so often his clouds are beautiful.