March 2007
Monthly Archive
Friday 30 Mar 2007
Creating a Desktop Picture
You work hard and it seems like you just don’t get to see your family enough (at least that is how I feel). Wouldn’t it be nice to see a picture of your family, friends or even pets every time you turn your computer on? The first step is getting the picture onto the computer. If you already have a digital camera, then just hook your cords up and transfer your picture onto your computer. Once it is on the computer all you have to do is double click on it and when it is open you need to right mouse click on it. Click Here for directions. If you are using Windows XP or even Windows 98 you will see all of the options come up. Choose the option- set as desktop background and in about two seconds you will see your pride and joy on your screen. Try it and see. If you want to remove the picture, right mouse click anywhere on your desktop and choose properties. Then choose the theme you want. As always, thank you for reading and have fun with this technique… Any comments or questions? Please post them below where it says comments. Have a great weekend.
Todd
Friday 23 Mar 2007
Changing your Password For Email and Logging Into Your Computer
It is no secret that everyone’s password in the district is their house address number and the last 4 digits in their phone number. Well that is not a good thing because anyone could check your email if they have a staff directory (which we all do). Hopefully no one would ever do this but the possibility is there. This is not all right with me and it should not be with you either. Passwords were originally assigned this way when the district no longer decided to use Lnoca’s email server. Our district technology coordinator (John Schinker) has made it very easy for you to change your password whenever you like and as often as you like. You should seriously consider this due to the easy access of your current password and username. All usernames in the district are last name then first initial -mine being wasilt and my password being 22605962 which is my house address and last four digits of my phone number. Oh no- now you know my password- WRONG. Please consider changing your password – if not for me then do it just to make a smaller password for you to enter daily. Remember, when you do change it this also counts for your login when you turn your computer on upon arriving to school. Click on the link below for directions on how to change your password. changedistrictpassword.pdf
As always, thank you for reading and if you have a question or comment, please submit below by clicking on comments to the right under this sentence.
Friday 16 Mar 2007
Web Page Text and Size
Have you ever been on a web page and wish you could make the text smaller or bigger. Well of course, there is a way to do this and it’s easy. For step by step directions you can print out and view, just click on this link webpagetext.pdf or you can just read on. Once you are on the internet (Internet Explorer) page- you need to go to the top and click once on view. Then choose text size. You now see options of smallest to largest. My personal preference is medium. Just choose one and your whole page will change. Keep doing this until you are satisfied. Have fun and keep on browsing. Please submit any questions/comments by posting a response below on the right where it says comments. As always, thank you for reading.
Friday 09 Mar 2007
Backing Up Your Hard Drive? Is It Really That Important?
YES IT IS!!! Everyone uses the computer these days. Whether you are a hard core computer user like me, who admittedly could not live without it, or just a user that takes attendance in the morning and occasionally uses it throughout the day, all of you need to consider backing up your hard drive. After reading John Schinker’s Blog at http://staff.bbhcsd.org/schinkerj/archives/2007/03/01/do-you-have-a-backup/ I believe you will want to consider this. The hard drive stores all of your critical information that you have created. It may be a homework worksheet, a parent letter that you use every year or even class pictures that you want to save for special reasons. If you are a serious computer user like myself, you literally have hundreds, even thousands of important files, documents and pictures on your hard drive. If your hard drive were to crash, this could be very detrimental to your life (at least for me). Here at school, backing up your important files is very easy. Every staff member with an email account has a certain drive on the server that they can use as a back up. Here at Highland Drive we all have the H drive. You can access this H drive by double clicking on my computer and then double click on H drive. This will only show what you have backed up on the drive. It is like your personal filing cabinet in the school office. No one can access this H drive (your filing cabinet in the office) without your password. To back up your important files on the H drive you can click on this link backuphdrive.pdf to follow the directions. It is my hope that all of you consider putting what is important to you on your H drive. Every night, the H drive is backed up on other servers within the district to guarantee that you will always have your information.
Unfortunately, I have had teachers that have come to me asking if I can retrieve their files because of a hardware failure. Sadly, I tell them that there is nothing I can do. The first question I ask them is – did you back it up… Hard drives crash all of the time and if you do not believe me, then please read John Schinker’s post about hard drives at http://staff.bbhcsd.org/schinkerj/archives/2007/03/01/do-you-have-a-backup/ After reading this post, you will definitely consider the importance of backing up your hard drive.
To back up your hard drive at home, you can read my comment regarding John Schinker’s blog at http://staff.bbhcsd.org/schinkerj/archives/2007/03/01/do-you-have-a-backup/
Back up your Hard Drive Please!!!
To leave a comment or opinion, please click on the comments’ link right below this sentence to the right and leave your email address, name, post your comment and then hit submit. Thank you for reading my blog.
Thursday 08 Mar 2007
Learning One New Technology Every Week
Alvin Trusty, who is the Director of Technology for The University of Findlay posted a blog about Teachers learning technology. You can read his full article at http://www.trustyetc.com/trustyblog/?p=59. I enjoyed reading this blog and it made some great points. After reading his article and my comment, please share your opinion by submitting a comment down at the bottom of this page. Just click on comments and leave your email address and name.
My comment to this blog was the following-As a 3rd grade teacher and technology coordinator/enthusiast in my building I feel your article hit it right on the nose. This is how I began 8 years ago with technology. Unfortunately, I did not write a plan down, I just let it over take my life as you stated in the beginning of this article. Ever since I started learning as much as I could I have probably doubled my tech knowledge every year for the last 8 years. The sad truth is though; many teachers are afraid and intimidated by new technologies and believe that it will take up too much of their time to learn. I have tried to change the attitudes of my colleagues within my district and it has been an up hill battle. That is why I found your post to be so appealing. I am going to RSS your site onto my blog and encourage teachers to view it. You came to our district (Brecksville/Broadview Hts.) last March and I really enjoyed your presentation. You had so much to share in such a little amount of time. This was unfortunate because a lot of the info went over my colleagues’ heads. Now that I have a feed to your blog, I plan on using your information as much as possible. Again, this article would catch my colleagues eyes and maybe encourage them to get started just a tad. Thanks Alvin!!!
Tuesday 06 Mar 2007
3rd Grade 2010-2011
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Welcome to Mr. Wasil’s Third Grade Classroom Blog. A Blog is a type of online diary that people can write journal entries and post them online. These entries may contain pictures, or file attachments, or links to other things online. When people read these entries, they can post comments about them and form an online discussion. There are three main purposes for my Blog. |
| 1. To keep my students and parents updated on daily homework, weekly curriculum and events in my classroom. |
| 2. To allow students and parents access to information that will help them succeed in 3rd grade. |
| 3. To give students a chance to express their ideas and to comment on weekly questions posted by me. |
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On the left side of this page are the categories I feel are important to my classroom. Students and parents can access spelling lists, hear the reading stories read aloud, view PowerPoint presentations, download study guides and much more. At the bottom of each post, students and parents can click on comments and post their own comments/suggestions. I look forward to reading your comments.
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Click Here To View Our Funny Class Picture
Monday 05 Mar 2007
Reading Stories
Click on the below stories to hear them read aloud. It will take 15-35 seconds to respond and then the file will open. If it does not, you can go to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html and download for free the Apple Quicktime program.
nate-the-great-san-francisco-detective.mp3
balto the-dog-who-saved-nome.mp3
little-grunt-and-the-big-egg.mp3
rosie-a-visiting-dogs-story.mp3
sayings-we-share-proverbs-and-fables.mp3
why-mosquitoes-buzz-in-peoples-ears.mp3
Saturday 03 Mar 2007
What Are Mr. Wasil’s 3rd Graders Thinking About?
This is a chance for my students to express their ideas and comments about their school lives. They may comment on how they thought the day went, if they struggled with a concept, if they liked a certain experiment or even something about their personal life that they did over the weekend. I will review their comments and post them as quick as I can. Enjoy blogging boys and girls.
Friday 02 Mar 2007
Computer Lab In Class Assignment
Look at the below figurative language sayings.
Please post the ones you know and then submit your answers. Good luck and have fun.
At the drop of a hat.
Axe to grind.
Back to square one.
Bells and whistles.
Bed of roses.
Burn the midnight oil.
Clean sweep.
Chew the fat.
Cold feet.
Coast is clear.
Down in the dumps.
Ears are burning.
Forty winks.
Full of beans. Give me a break.
Give my right arm.
In a nutshell/pickle.
In the bag.
It’s greek to me.
Final straw.
Let the cat out of the bag.
Long shot.
Mum’s the word.
On the ball.
Out on a limb.
Pass the buck.
Pay through the nose.
Read between the lines.
Saved by the bell.
Spill the beans.
Take a rain check.
Through the grapevine.
True colors.
Under the weather.
Up my sleeve.
Upset the apple cart.
Walking on eggshells.