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=Welcome to 13 Things You= ===I hope you are hungry because you are about to sample many treats through a "Technology Buffet". Each day, you will be given one new task involving a web 2.0 tool in which you will create something new. For these tasks, the process is just as important as the final product. You will find that one day's task is easier or more difficult than another day's task. Never fear if you get stuck on a particular task. I will be here to coach you through each task, especially those that you find more difficult. You will have two catch-up days at the end of the quarter. Upon completion of the daily task and once I have approved your task, you are to practice your typing with Type to Learn 4.===

Activity One
Classroom Architect
 * Today you are an architect. An **architect** is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. You have been assigned an important task in architecture. Your mission is to design the ideal classroom. The size of the classroom, the colors of the walls, the type of furniture and flooring, the amount of light, and the room arrangement all influence how you learn. Therefore, select the perfect classroom design carefully. Click here to begin:

Activity Two

 * It's a new day! We will be creating animated characters. Your task is to visit the Clay Animation Site. You must create at least one animated character. You can start with the idea pad button at the top right of the page on the Clay Animation Site. This will get you warmed up and familar with how to create cool animated characters. Have fun!

Activity Three

 * I am still exploring Activity Three so please jump to Acvitity Four...

Activity Four

 * It's story time! Today we will be creating our own stories using a really fun tool called Storybird.Watch the video below to see what it is all about:
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 * Now that you have watched the video at the above link, you may make your own. Note: you will NOT be signing into Storyboard to create your story. You will simply click on CREATE at the top of the page. Have fun!

Activity Five
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 * Inventions, inventions, inventions! Let's watch this video together on the Smartboard regarding Thomas Edision and his inventions, which were so far removed from technology:

Now that we have watched this video and started thinking about the ways in which Technology has changed lives, we are going to experience the miracle of technology firsthand. On the first day of class, you came in and created and editing a MS Word document about the moon. Today, you will be creating a Word document but the difference is that it will be a collaborative Word document. A what? A collaborative word document. (Collaborative means to work with others or another person on a joint project.) Multiple people will be able to view (and edit) your document from online. Pretty cool, right? Well, I think so. To get started, you must sign into your Google docs account that the school has provided for you. You will go to Google.com and sign in with your lastname and first two initials as your username and @lsdavis.org (an example for Joe Smith is SmithJo@davisls.org). Then, for your password, you will type in Davis123. From there you will click here to access the Google Docs page. (As an aside, Docs stands for "documents".) Your next task is to contribute to the Google Docs entitled What is Technology?. Click hereto do that. Next, categorize one example of technology in your homes as helpful technology or entertaining technology. Use the chart here to fill in one column. The other columns will be filled out by your classmates.

Activity Six

 * Inventions are so amazing so we are going to spend another day diving into the world of Thomas Edison and his inventions. Click hereto read his biogrpahy. Note: it is four pages. After reading his biography, consider the following questions:
 * When was Edison born?
 * Describe what Edison's education was like. Do you think this sort of education was common in the late 1800s? How does Edison's education contrast with your education?
 * At what age did Edison begin working? At what age did he strike out on his own? Why do you think so many boys left home at young ages to work in Edison's time?
 * How did Edison spend his free time?
 * What opportunities did Edison have as a telegraph operator?
 * What was Edison's first successful invention?
 * What two important events happened for Edison in 1871?
 * What was Menlo Park?
 * Edison's second major invention was the tin foil phonograph. What did it do?
 * What contributions did Edison make to the electric lighting industry?
 * Be prepared to discuss these questions in class.
 * Read through the inventions of Thomas Edison here.
 * Now, consider again the technology that you have at home and create a new Google Doc listing the items in your home that are modern versions of Edison's inventions, such as lights, iPods and mobile devices and iPads, etc. When you save your list in Google Docs, save it as Modern Technology.

Activity Lucky Number Seven

 * Today we are going on a field trip to Washington, D.C. without even having to leave our seats. We will be journeying to the Smithsonian Museum on a virtual field trip. You will feel just like you are inside the Smithsonian but you will really be sitting in your blue or green chair in the same room as Mrs. Brown. Here's how it works: click here to visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Once inside, you are to tour at least three exhibits. Choose one exhibit that you really enjoyed and create a new Google Doc entitled "My Trip to the Smithsonian". Type at least three sentences about the exhibit that you enjoyed. You should mention what the exhibit was about, what you enjoyed about it, and one thing you learned that you did not know before your "trip" inside the exhibit. Be sure to save your google doc. Once finished, you can congratulate yourself for being a savvy cyber traveler!

Activity Eight
Once you have installed Google Earth, you will choose one city of your choice in Israel to visit. Find one place within that city and read up on it using the Google Earth layers feature. Be prepared to share an interesting fact that you read!
 * We are such worldly travelers this week! Today we will be traveling the globe with the help of Google Earth. To begin, install Google Earth by clicking here. Click on the blue bar (see below) that says Download Google Earth. Follow the steps as they walk you through the process.

Activity Nine

 * I don't know about you but I am tired from all of our travels this week. For something a little more restful and a bit more comic, we are going to create a comic strip that outlines some of our adventures from earlier in the week. We will be using Make Beliefs Comix so let's get started. Create a comic strip about one of your travels this week using catchy dialogue and interesting characters. Be ready to share them with the class!

Activity Ten

 * Today we are taking chances! We will learn about probability, create a graph, and encounter some interesting facts along with a joke or two mixed in for fun. Your first step is to visit the website for National Education Statistics. This website is managed by the United States government and is meant to be a fun way for kids like yourself to learn about probability. Once at this website, you are to explore the homepage. You will definitely want to read about this day in history, the mind bender, and participate in the student poll. After exploring the fun stuff on the homepage, you will want to click on the graph option at the top of the page. Your instructions are to create your own graph that reflects the color shirts that students are wearing in the class. Once it is complete, you should save your graph to your documents folder. Be sure to title it graph. After your graph is complete, you may click on the Grab Bag tab at the top of the page. You will surely find some topics of interest here to explore. Finally, you make take a chance on the Chances tab. Enjoy!

Activity Eleven

 * BrainPOP! One of my favorite things! Please go into your Favorites to access BrainPop. Once there, click on the Engineering & Tech category. From there click on Digital Citizenship. We are going to learn how to be good digital citizens today. After viewing the movie called Digital Etiquette, you will click on Activities, Graphic Organizer and follow the instructions to complete the T-Chart. Once finished, you will click print and type your name when prompted. We will discuss what you wrote as a class.

Activity Twelve
After creating a silly portrait of yourself, Mrs. Brown will help you print it in color. Next, we will be doing some fun name creation activities. Click here to begin. Input your name and when you can settle on a design you like, Mrs. Brown will help you print this in color as well. What silly times!
 * It's getting so close to 5th grade! Today we are feeling silly SO we will be creating zany self portraits. In your My Pictures folder, you will find a picture of yourself entitled "portrait". You will visit tuxpi.com and upload your portrait to the site. From there, you will go to photo editor and you can create some silly pictures of yourself. Here's an example of Tuxpi.com at it's best:
 * [[image:13things4c/silly.png width="206" height="258"]] [[image:13things4c/arrow.png]][[image:13things4c/zebra.jpg]]

Activity Thirteen

 * Today we are combining two topics from our recent past: gaming and Internet Safety. We will be entering the world of Webonauts to learn about becoming better digital citizens and therefore, smarter Internet users. Click here to enter the world of the Webonauts.

Catch Up Day

 * As promised, these are your catch up days. These are the days that you may go back and exlore the web 2.0 tools above that you would have liked to have more time on. These are also great days to ask any additional questions about these tools that you may have. Enjoy your time exploring!