When browsing the new files available on the SMART Exchange site (linked under the SMART Board tab, for future reference), I came across a SMART Notebook lesson for Character Education.  Since this is something we are now expected to teach in our classrooms, I thought I'd share the link with you incase you wanted to take a look.  It's geared towards students in Grades Four and up.  If you like it, you can download it and it's ready to use!  Here is the link:

Character Education: It's in You!

I recently received news from Susan Maserek that there are new Math videos, done by Mike Fulton, posted on the GSSD website.  These videos are phenomenal!  Mike has taken exact outcomes from the curriculum (for Grades One through Nine) and made explanatory videos on how to use manipulatives to teach/explain these outcomes to your students.  Along with these videos, there are also a host of other ideas and resources related to Math for you to peruse.  Click on the following link to get started:

GSSD Renewed Mathematics Resources

The Math videos can be found along the right-hand column.  I will also post this link under my Math tabs above for future reference.

I've recently added a bunch of links to the "Tech Tools" page of my blog - have a look if you're interested.  One of the links that Michelle shared with me on Friday is to the "Page Plug-Ins" site (linked under the "Class Project Tools" heading on the afforementioned page).  There are a bunch of neat generators and flash toys that you can play with there.  I would preview the site first and carefully select which tools you want your students to be able to access and use to ensure that the content is school and age-appropriate.

Have you ever wanted to "take a snapshot" of exactly what you see on your computer screen?  The snipping tool allows you to do just that.  On computers with Windows 7, it can be found in your "Accessories" folder.  For Mac users, hit "command-shift-4" and you should be able to snip away!  For PC users with older versions of Windows, I'm not sure if there is a snipping tool in the "Accessories" folder or not.  If anyone knows where it can be found or what to punch in to bring one up, please leave a comment and let me know.  Happy snipping!

So Darla was reading my blog and noticed my post on the "Did You Know?" YouTube video.  This reminded her of a similar video that she was shown at the Summer Math Institute.  This one, entitled "A Vision of K-12 Students Today," follows the same premise as the former video.  With the push to incorporate technology into more and more of our teaching, this video may inspire you and is quite eye-opening.  Compliments of Darla, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8

Only I would do schoolwork during the Labour Day game (lame, I know), but I like to think that the Riders winning was my reward.  I created a wiki for Davison teachers to share their SMART Notebook/Response lessons.  All teachers have been emailed an invitation to join and in time, I will show you how to upload lessons to the wiki (assuming you are willing to share your hard work).  My hope is that soon we will have a nice database of lessons to share and tweak to fit each classroom teachers' needs and to save you from a bit of work.  The link can be found by visiting the "SMART Board" page of my blog and scrolling down.  I have also linked to Rockingham County Public Schools' site, which has many Notebook lessons categorized by grade.  Have a look and enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

For any blog followers that I may have out there, I have made two changes to the "Links for Your Convenience" list.  First of all, I added a link to the Maplewood site.  Second, I rerouted the link to the Saskatchewan Curriculum so that it takes you to the renewed curriculum site (I had it linked to the Evergreen Curriculum which is out-of-date).  Watch when you are doing your year plans as some of the new curriculums are not "officially" out yet but are slated to be released this month.  With some clever searching around the SK Government site (linked below), you can usually find a preliminary copy of them from which to work.

Government of Saskatchewan Site