Congratulations - UltraKey

Congratulations to the 153 students who have completed the Ultrakey Level for their grade level. The number is the words per minute they are currently working on.

3rd Grade			4th Grade			5th Grade
Aayush	20		Ai Li	25		Alex	30
Andrew	20		Bolton	25		Benjamin	30
Eddy	20		Darren	25		Cheyenne	30
Ethan	20		Emily	25		Dale	30
Henri	20		Evie	25		Emily	30
Kevin	20		Jaclyn	25		Ethan	30
Kosuke	20		Jared	25		Jessica	30
Lucie	20		Jocelyn	25		Kaden	30
Miu	20		Kelly	25		Katherine	30
Natalie	20		Lani	25		Kyn-Han	30
Shannon	20		Sean	25		Logan	30
Siobhan	20		Thomas	25		Matthew	30
Vera	20		Viola	25		Tomoki	30
Wilson	20		Wayne	25		Vivian	30
Yael	20		Allie	30		Andrew	35
Brandon	25		Anna	30		Brian	35
Brian	25		Anne	30		Henrick	35
Katelyn	25		Arkady	30		Mina	35
Kosuke	25		Isaac	30		Sarah	35
Seungheon	25		JJ	30		Andrew	40
Henry	30		Kai Ze	30		Andrew	40
Isaac	30		Olivia	30		Anthony	40
Jade	30		Patrick	30		Catherine	40
Marcus	30		Sabrina	30		Christine	40
William	30		Thomas	31		Edward	40
Shani	35		Jake	34		Henry	40
Lucas	40		Angela	35		Judy	40
Nicholas	45		Emma	35		Kendra	40
			Irene	35		Kevin	40
			Jason	35		Marcus	40
			Justin	35		Max	40
			Lawrence	35		Mike	40
			Lina	35		Nathan	40
			Louis	35		Nawon	40
			Shaun	35		Rachel	40
			Amelia	40		Shereen	40
			Charlotte	40		William	40
			Ethan	40		Bryan	45
			Hyunbean	40		Darren	45
			James	40		Norika	45
			Lulu	40		Shin-Yi	45
			Minji	40		Vicky	45
			William	40		Catherine	50
			Ainslee	45		Charlene	50
			Mia	45		Dabean	50
			Annabell	50		Jesica	50
			Charlize	50		Logan Y	50
			Dohyeon	50		Sue	50
			Klaus	50		Ann	55
			Nicole	50		Anya	55
			Jane	55		Coco	55
			Janine	55		Danny	55
			Wish	55		Jack	55
			Yasmn	55		Maggie	55
			Anthea	60		Justin	60
			Jessica	65		Victoria	60
			Sally	65		Nathan	65
			Julie	80		Irene	65
						Katherine	65
						Philip	65
						Rowena	65
						Anna	70
						Charlotte	70
						Kelly	70
						Samuel	70
						Cindy	80
						Catherine	125

Migration Sites

Hello,

As you explore possible groups of US immigrants to research, here are some websites to check out that Mr. Rhoades found. Note, if you think you might want to study an Asian immigrant group, this website is a good one. Just click on the “Ethnic Groups” tab on the left to find the culture you want to look at:http://www.asian-nation.org/index.shtml

Chinese Americans - Asian Nation

German Americans -  US Dilpomantic Mission to Germany

Irish Americans - Irish Geneaology

African Americans - Wikipedia

Japanese Americans - Asian Nation

Korean Americans - Asian Nation 

Vietnamese Americans - Asian Nation

Better Searches

 



What do you notice?

Using Advance search techniques is helpful in finsing specific reliable information that you can use.

" " Quotes = keep words together

(-) Subtraction symbol = terms or words you want to exclude (no spaces)

site: = pages within a certain domain, or website example: .org or .com. or amazon.com (no spaces)

filetype: = the page or file is created in a certain file format example: .jpg .pdf .docx (no spaces)

A Perfect Moment

[caption id="attachment_2851" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Conical Hat Village Children, Image: Mrs. Gorneau"][/caption]

Biking along the rice paddies during dry season in rural Vietnam we experienced many different sites, smells, and emotions.

The weather was not desirable for a biking trip as the temperature was 13 on this dreary day that threatened rain and blew cold air. I was under prepared wearing my capris and a t-shirt. I am thankful that I had the insight to bring a light sweatshirt but I wished it had been a heavier one.

The trip started down a winding dirt path passed stalls selling a variety of products: fruits and vegetables, headless chickens and their feet, slabs of beef, dead fish, and banh chung -banana wrapped glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and fat pork. Can you imagine the smells as we pedaled by, mixed with gas fumes and burning garbage? My stomach did a few flips, both backwards and forwards.

The road took a sharp right turn and into the village paths we wound. We came to a white washed wall that encompassed a small abode. Our guide stopped us, dismounted, and walked right up onto the porch and spoke to the family in Vietnamese. Mike and I attempted to say hello, "xin chào", (sin chow) seems harder than in Mandarin as the language has 6 different tones. They laughed and said "hello" in return. This family was responsible for finishing the traditional conical hats that provide protection from the sun and rain. We watched them quickly and easily sew the palm leaves onto the hat. We thanked them and moved on through the village.

We stopped several more times and saw different stages of the process and learned that the actual hat took 6 hours to make but the preparation of the materials: drying the palm leaves and bamboo, and making silk threads took many weeks. The hat would be used for 6 months before it would deteriorate and not be usable.

We attracted a great deal of attention at the last house we stopped. The children had just finished school and were very excited to try their English on the "Người Mỹ", American. "Hello" was heard over and over again while we heard whispered; "How are you?", "My name is ...?", "I am 9", and "Where are you from?". We spoke to the children through our guide and enjoyed their laughter and shyness.

As we said our goodbyes they asked us to come to another house, one of the little boys’ house. We obliged and were escorted by about 20 kids to the home. They were amazed at how tall Mike, my husband, was. They jumped to try to be as tall as he, but did not come close to reach his head. They climbed on top of each other to see how many kids were needed to reach the top; it took 2 medium kids or 3 small ones. They stood next to him and measured their height in relation to his waist, elbow, and knees.

We snapped a photo and drove away with shouts of goodbye at our backs and the sound of little running feet trying to keep up with us.

We continued to several other stops on the trip: silk making, the oldest village gate, an ancient pagoda, and an incredibly unique lunch. While we enjoyed the sites, the highlight of the trip was the unexpected visit with the children; their smiles, their laughter, their shyness, and their playfulness with the strangers to their village.

The best events in life are spontaneous!

Tell me about one of your experiences from your vacation and add a picture on your blog!!

What can you tell from a Top Level Domain?

When you search on the Internet it is important to know about the letters after the .DOT They help us decide which sites to select to find out more info on our specific topics.

These are examples of top level domains. Do you know what these abbreviations stand for?

• .tw


• .org


• .com


• .gov


• .edu


• .mil

We will discuss these different domains in class to help us learn to find information quickly. Below are some things to think about.

The first one .TW stands for Taiwan. That means the website has something to do with the country of Taiwan and can only be used by companies, schools, and businesses that operate within that country. What is your countries 2 letter abbreviation?

Why does it matter what type of domain a website belongs to?

When you go to the mall you can tell a shoe store from a clothing store by either the name of the products they sell. You also visually recognize a business by their logo: Nike's swoosh, Apple's biten apple, or Mc Donald's Golden Arches. This saves you time when looking for items you need.

The Internet does not have the ease of displaying information with visual clues: no location, no look, and no store design.

So the Top Level Domain tells us what the website is about and how we can find it. We can use this information to rule out if it is a website we want to visit.

What domain would you choose if you are moving to a new location and you want to learn about:

• the school?


• local stores?


• the mayor, governor, president or laws?


• places that are not for profit like the Red Cross, Amnesty International, or UNICEF

If you want to learn more about the US Marines would you go to:

• www.marines.com


•           OR


• www.marines.mil

Why did you pick the one you did?

So always think about the top level domain when you search.

Three Reasons to Evaluate Internet Resources:

1. Anyone can (and probably will) put anything up on the Internet


2. Unlike traditional print resources, web resources rarely have editors, fact-checkers, and are not usually peer-reviewed (Wikipedia, Gary Paulsen)


3. Currently, no web standards exist to ensure accuracy

Look at the 3 different websites about frogs. Write a comment explaining which one has reliable frog information and why? Think about the author (are they an expert?), date it was last updated (worked on), what is the purpose of the page?

Michele's World of Frogs

Frog Dance

Frogs

Mystery Photo

Insert Picture into Blog

1. Click the first icon after Upload/Insert


2. Select the file you want to upload (My Computer, Number, Computers)


3. Scroll down click Insert into Post

You can only upload these file types:
.jpg
.jpeg
.png
.gif