Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Quintura Search Cloud
This site was sent to us by Mrs. Edwards from Nespelem School to help you find informaton on the topic that you have chosen to research! When viewing the Quintura Cloud, you can visually navigate through to find the information that is relevant to what you are researching. Click the words in the cloud to discover popular search topics or surf the web. Refine, save, and share your cloud!
Huntsville Space Center
The boys have been working on the laws of motion and applying it to everyday life. During a recent field trip to Huntsville Space Center, they got to look at the history of NASA and apply Newton's Laws to the G Force and Space Shot rides. In this VoiceThread, the boys are providing information from their experiences as they recall the events of the NASA Space Center that are captured in these pictures.
We are currently working on getting their voices added to the photos seen here.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Topics for Research?
Brainstorm topic ideas. If you have trouble thinking up creative topics to write about, here are some questions you might ask yourself:
* What am I interested in?
* What do I like to do for fun that might translate into an interesting paper topic?
* What do I feel strongly about?
* What do I know a lot about?
* What would I like to know more about?
* What are some issues or topics that are in the news right now that I find interesting and important?
* What are some issues or topics at my school that I find interesting and important?
* Can my friends or family members offer me suggestions for topics that I find interesting and important?
Evaluate each appropriate topic for ease and quality.
How difficult will this topic be to research and write about?
Is the topic too broad?
Is the topic too narrow?
Remember to get help from the teacher to find out if your topic is manageable. You also might need to do some library and computer research to find out how much information is available about your considered topic.
Pick the topic on your list that you find most interesting and important. Remember, it's much easier to write a paper that you find interesting than one you do not, so take the time to pick out a topic you truly care about.
Get permission from the teacher to make sure that your topic is appropriate and not controversial. Then, let the fun begin as the research process unfolds during English class! Follow my blog posts as I take you through the steps of researching and writing a paper on your approved topic.
On Monday, April 20th, you should turn in the following:
1. A page of notes that shows you have brainstormed as you have answered the questions above.
2. Three possible topics in order of preference.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Vocabulary for Achievement
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| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
The boys got to use their creative side to illustrate their vocabulary. They were instructed to take a VA word and use its letters to demonstrate the meaning of it. They were also to find a synonym and antonym of the word in addition to the derivatives. Each derivative had to include the part of speech since that changes when suffixes are added to the ending of the word.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Reliable Source or Not?
Click here for full screen version
After reading the following information about how to search for reliable internet sources, use this cool technology tool to help you analyze just how reliable your source is.
The Internet is a great resource for research, but you have to remember that it is a public place where anyone can post information. When you want to find a trustworthy source, you need to first take the time to make sure it is reliable. The following are the steps to take to make sure that you have a valid site:
1. Always check to make sure that the source has an author. You can check the author's background to help validate the information.
2. Check the sites URL (http://...) If the site ends in .edu, it is probably an educational site, and you should still be aware of personal opinions. If the site ends in .gov it is probably a reliable government website. You will most likely find factual information here. Sites that end in .org are usually non-profit organization sites and can be reliable and unreliable, so make sure that you are careful not to take someone's opinion as the truth. You can find information on this site that will give you facts, but you may also run across political opinions that might slant one way or the other.
3. You can also follow research suggestions from http://www.virtualsalt.com which suggests that the CARS (credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and support) method is great for evaluating sources.
Link
Saturday, April 4, 2009
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