September 2001 Issue

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An Online Educational Community

A newsletter that educates parents, teachers, and
students.

September 2001 Issue #26
Zigmond Snook, Editor, mailto:editor@innovamultimedia.com
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Welcome to the twenty-sixth issue of "An Online Educational
Community". To read past issues of our newsletter, visit
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/archive.htm or to learn
more about us, check out our website at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com

If you think a friend might be interested in reading this
newsletter, pass it along in whole or in part.

You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a
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form at http://www.innovamultimedia.com/newsletr.htm

Each month we will focus on a different educational theme
and base our feature article and learning tips around that
particular theme.

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IN THIS ISSUE
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=> What's New
=> Feature
=> Contest - Win a Whale
=> This Month's Free Lesson Plans
=> More Great Education Web Sites
=> Whale Links for Whale Lovers
=> Webmaster's Wanderings
=> Feedback

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What's New
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Poetry in a Nutshell: Education Edition is being placed in all
High Schools in Ontario through OSAPAC(Ontario Ministry Software
Acquisition Program Advisory Committee). The deal was put
together by Irwin Publishing. Poetry in a Nutshell: Education
Edition is a combination of Poetry in a Nutshell, The Character
of Poetry, and Teachers Resources. For further information
please visit:
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/poetnute.htm

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Feature
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Turning Children On To I.T.

As the 21st. Century begins, it is of paramount importance that
we, as parents and teachers, prepare our children for the
technological challenges that lie ahead - jobs that require
I.T. (Information Technology).

Today's student must be given the opportunity to avail of the
many facets of I.T. A student graduating in this millennium
should become very proficient in the following computer skills:

- how to use a word processor

- how to create digital art

- how to use a digital camera

- how to use a scanner

- how to compose and send electronic mail with attachments

- how to use internet search engines to retrieve information

- how to create, use and retrieve information from spreadsheets
and databases

What can we do to ensure that our students acquire these
computer skills?

1. In the early grades, we can introduce children to the
components that make up a computer system (keyboard,
monitor, ...) and label each part.

2. Teach the children how to use a digital camera and then have
them participate in a project, such as:

- each student interviews and takes a picture of the many
people that are necessary for the successful operation of a
school (teachers, administration, secretary, janitors, bus
drivers, cafeteria workers). The pictures and interviews
should be displayed on a class web page.

- each student takes a picture of an animal while
participating in a field trip to a farm. Have them write a
short description of their animal (has 4 legs, a tail,
furry, ...). Display the picture and description on a
class web page.

3. Teach the children how to use a scanner and involve them in
a project, such as:

- All about Me project. Have each student bring a family
picture to school. The student has to scan the picture and
write a sentence or two about himself in relation to the
family(e.g. I am the youngest child in my family. I am 6
years old.) Have the scanned picture and description placed
on the class web page.

NOTE: When placing children's names on the web page,
always use the first name only. Permission
should also be obtained from the family with
regard to placing family pictures on the class
web page.

- Provide each student with a blank floor plan of the school.
The student has to identify the various rooms on the plan
and scan their final product. The scanned floor plan is
placed on the class web page.

4. Have students word process their final copy of written
reports, stories, etc. Encourage them to include an
illustration (digital art, scanned photo\diagram, digital
camera photo).

5. Teach the students how to compose and send electronic mail
with attachments. Twin your students with students in a
similar grade from another part of the world. Use e-mail
and attachments to exchange information regarding each
others locale\culture (digital photos, internet searches,
student's final copy of word processed stories,...)

6. Teach the students how to use internet search engines to
retrieve information on such topics as:

- provincial\state flags, emblems, flowers, and capitals

- research the rainforest, desert, Antarctica, Bermuda Triangle

- obtain information on scientists\explorers (Edison, Bell,
Columbus, Drake)

7. Teach students how to create, use and retrieve information
from spreadsheets and databases. They can then be challenged
to make graphs from entered information.

Students who become proficient at these computer skills will
certainly be well prepared to face the technological challenges
of the future.

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Contest - Win a Whale
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INNOVA Multimedia Ltd. is giving away TEN of our "A Whale of
a Tale" educational software lessons and the latest version
of LessonBuilder, a custom course creation utility, as a
FREE DOWNLOAD on our website! Visit
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lbuilder.htm to download
your free copy. When you download LessonBuilder you are
automatically entered in our contest to win a free CD-ROM
from our "A Whale of a Tale" series. Good Luck!

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This Month's Free Lesson Plans
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Teachers, check out free "A Whale of a Tale" lesson plans on
our website at http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lp_index.htm

Leap into Language 2 - "Writing and Recording Fun" at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lang2a.htm encourages
children to use the rhythms, rhymes and patterns of language
in writing activities and to use a tape recorder to tape
dramatic presentations of written work.

Leap into Language 2 - "Rhyming Fun" at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lang2c.htm encourages
children to use a variety of familiar text forms to create
texts collaboratively in shared writing. Also demonstrate
awareness that work shared with an audience need revising
and editing. Plus recognize rhyming words.

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More Great Education Web Sites
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Check out some of these INNOVA recommended resource sites:

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
http://www.ed.gov/free/
Hundreds of education resources supported by agencies across
the U.S. Federal government are now easier to find.

Web for Teachers
http://4teachers.org/
"Web for Teachers" helps teachers integrate technology into
instruction. It features various tools for teachers: one for
creating quizzes that students can take online, another for
organizing & annotating web sites, a third for developing
rubrics, & more. A webzine presents brain games, web lessons,
& stories about teachers & students using technology. (ED)

Hawthorne in Salem
http://hawthorneinsalem.org/
"Hawthorne in Salem" explores Nathaniel Hawthorne's connection
to Salem, Massachusetts, with a primary focus on "the Custom
House sketch," the first chapter of "The Scarlet Letter."
The site also presents materials from museums in Salem, as
well as lectures & excerpts from books & articles by leading
Hawthorne scholars. (NEH)

Earth from Space
http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/
Earth from Space provides several ways to search the selected
images. Each image is available in three resolutions and
includes a cataloging data and a caption. However, this site
contains only a small selection of the best of our Earth
photography. The complete database of NASA's Earth imagery
is available at the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth,
which contains more than 375,000 images.

Oceanography from the Space Shuttle
http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/CAMPAIGN_DOCS/OCDST/shuttle_oceanography_web/oss_cover.html
Oceanography from the Space Shuttle is a pictorial survey of
oceanic phenomenon visible to the naked eye from space.
Originally published in 1989, it is now out of print and only
available on this web site.

Children in Urban America
http://134.48.55.172:8000/cuap/index.html
The Children in Urban America Project, an online archive
funded by Marquette University and the National Endowment for
the Humanities that shows the many ways children experienced
city life during the last century and a half. Designed for
use by teachers, students, historians, and general users,
the site features hundreds of documents and images about
children in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, drawn from newspapers,
government and other official records, oral histories and
memoirs, and many other sources.

The Lost Museum
http://www.ashp.cuny.edu/LM/
This is the first stage of an ambitious project to recreate one
of the most intriguing places in American history. The Lost
Museum is an intellectual and spatial exploration of P. T.
Barnum's American Museum. For almost a quarter-century the
American Museum epitomized popular entertainment and education
in the U.S. It also articulated, sometimes in unusual ways,
the major issues confronting American culture, society, and
politics.

Homeschool Information for Christians
http://homeschoolInformation.com/
You'll find this is a great place to visit if you're looking
for Bible based homeschool information. Think of it as the
information source for home educators.

Rules of Grammar
http://www.heenan.net/trivia/language/grammar.shtml
Can your students correct this?

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Whale Links for Whale Lovers
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Check out these INNOVA recommended whale sites!

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center
http://www.mmsc.org/index.html
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center is a private non-profit
organization based in Brigantine, New Jersey. Since the
Center's founding in 1978, it has responded to over 2000
calls for stranded whales, dolphins, seals, and sea turtles
that washed ashore on New Jersey beaches.

The Whale Center of New England
http://www.whalecenter.org/
For more than twenty years, the Whale Center Of New England
(formerly the Cetacean Research Unit) has been a leader in
whale research, conservation, and education, reaching out to
the public in several ways. Explore the Whale Center's
educational initiatives to understanding, appreciating, and
safeguarding marine mammals and their environment.

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Whale Trivia:
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- Grey Whales live in shallow coastal waters around the
Pacific Ocean.

- Whale calves nurse on milk that has 53% fat. Human milk
has 2% fat.

- The Grey Whale population is around 20,000 individuals.

- Fin Whales are the second largest animals on earth.

- The Fin Whale's elliptic spray is about 22 feet straight
up in the air.

- The Narwhal Whale only has three teeth and one blowhole.

- The Narwhal's favorite fish is polar cod, arctic cod and
Greenland halibut.

- The Narwhal is a medium-sized whale found in Arctic waters.

- The Narwhal has a unique distinguishing feature: a tooth
that grows into a long, spiral tusk that may reach up to
9 feet.

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Webmaster's Wanderings
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Our Services
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/services.htm
Looking for a software partner? INNOVA has many services to
offerany perspective partner no matter what size the project.
Recently, INNOVA has team up with Flowers Canada to build an
interactive CD-Rom for their membership. If you are interested
in forming a partnership feel free to contact us at
mailto:jwiseman@innovamultimedia.com

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Feedback
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http://www.innovamultimedia.com/archive.htm

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