Google Docs Spreadsheets

When I was introduced to Google Docs a couple of years ago. I didn't think much of it. But know that we are actually learning how to do different things on I think that it is a valuable tool for teachers. You can not only share documents, but you can also create surveys and quizes online. You could use the survey for parents. This will enable you to gain a better understanding of what parents understand and expect.

Comfort Food Survey

Everyone has a comfort food that you just need sometimes. What is yours?

Confectionary Delights

Can I just say that I love the smell of bread baking in the oven? It is high up on my list of favorite smells. I attempted making bread a few weeks ago and it tasted good although not very pretty.


I also tried my hand at decorating a cake for valentines day. I am still in the beginning stages of decorating but it was a lot of fun!

Collaborative Writing....

Here are some funny excerpts from today's collaborative writing exercises:

My name is Bermice and I am an Olympic Curler. If you think curling has something to do with your hair, you are mistaken. A lot of practice goes into each part of our team and cooperative effort. We have to mentally prepare ourselves to begin practice. Then we have to maintain our gear so that it works properly. We use those brooms to the best of their ability, sweeping and sweeping. It takes a smooth gliding push to secure the gold medal. Not only that but an extreme amount of stregthen. I don’t know exactly what strengthen is, but I certainly do have a lot of it.

Day at the Olympics
Wheaties, the breakfast of champions. That is what I need to win. The box is covered in winners, so that's is proof that it works. If I would have known this sooner, I would have found a way to get on that box a long time ago! How do they do it anyway? I'll have to find a good photographer. A profile picture would be nice, what with my prominent nose and such! My goal in this life is to be on that beautiful orange box! But then again, why would I want to be on a cereal box when so many more things are more prestigious. Like...climbing Mt. Everest. Wouldn't that make me feel so ... accomplished? Or, I could be on a cereal box, where all the little kids fight over who gets to look at my picture. That does sound nice too.


I know most of it sounds silly, but Collaborative writing can be beneficial for children. It can help with writing skills and story flow. Some students may have a hard time sitting down and writing a story, but using collaborative writing, they can just write a sentence or two on each others papers. This can make stories really silly and engage the children in writing.

Copy-What?

I think that there are a lot of teachers that forget about the copyright law. I forget sometimes, too.
We can use so many resources, but to avoid trouble we need to be sure we have permission to use the material. Once I read about all of the dos and don'ts I realized that it is actually quite easy to ask permission. On the otherhand, it adds another thing to the endless To Do list. I do like that public domain info is available for any educational purpose.

Entering the Unknown

I have now been at Utah State of more than a semester and I never knew what the YETC held within it's boarders. The YETC is the technology center in the education building, for those of you who aren't at Utah State. Many times I've gone in, but only to use the computer and print things off for class.
The director gave us a little tour and seriously there are so many resources! The even have video discs which are about the size of old records but are CDs. Think about the student's reactions when you whip out one of those!
I am not certain about what grade I would like to teach in specific, but I think that I could use so many of the following sites in every grade.
Spellingcity.com is an easy way for students to practice their spelling words as well as take a spelling test. What makes it easy for teachers is that the student can print off a report of how they did.
Stellarium is a really neat astronomy program. You can view the sky from any point on earth and watch the progression of the night sky. This is super cool and brings the starts to life!
Zotero.org is an easy way to organize information that you collect from the internet. Everyone can use to easily insert footnotes and references. My only hesitancy about students using it is that they won't learn how to put a bibliography together manually.
Storyline Online is one of the favorite resources that we talked about today. You can find almost any children's book on the site. Each book is narrated by different famous people. This is absolutely fun! Reading is very important for students to learn and enjoy. Hearing their favorite celebrity reading could enhance the excitement about reading.
Needless to say I am super excited about exploring all of these.

Emergency Preparedness

This Sunday our combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting was about preparing for emergencies. We had some speakers talk about 72 hour kits, food storage, and all of that kind of stuff. As always it was a really good reminder to set goals to build food storage and put together a good and portable 72 hour kit.
After the meeting we had a linger longer. The dinner was all made out of food storage items. It was so good and filling too. On the menu was homemade whole wheat tortillas with black beans, rice, chicken, and other toppings as well as chili and cobbler. I was truly amazed at how good everything was! If anyone went away hungry it was their own fault.
I've decided that I need to learn how to use food storage better and collect recipes that will be easy to make should anything happen.