Catch the Wave

Elements of good photography

• Varying the angle – taking photos from up high, down low, through something

• Having elements of people, line, colour and light
• The thirds rule. The viewers eyes are drawn to where lines intersect, so the main subject(s) of the photo should be on one of these spots – (not in the middle!)

• Using the Macro Function for close-up focus

Student Activity

Take photos which show elements of:

• Line

• Colour

• People

• Light

• Looking up

• Looking down

• Looking through (frame the shot)

• Macro function (close up of something)

• Make a folder in My Pictures

• Download your photos

• Share with the class as a slide show explaining the elements in your photos

• Using your new photography skills, take photos to support learning or to record class events

Make a PowerPoint or Photo Story compilation of your students’ best photos and share it at school assembly

By JOHN HAREVELT – The Press | Monday, 26 January 2009

A “flagship” Unicef report, The State of the World’s Children, rates New Zealand’s 15 to 24-year-olds among the best-connected with cellphones and the internet.

There were 94 cellphone owners and 79 internet users per 100 Kiwis aged between 15 and 24, the report said.

DIGITAL WORLD: Sinomi Hood, 15, left, Brooke, 14, and Sam Fairs, 16, all of Christchurch, each carry their own cellphones, iPods and MP3 players. A ‘flagship’ Unicef report, The State of the World’s Children, rates New Zealand’s 15 to 24-year-olds among the best-connected with cellphones and the internet.

Read the full news article on the Stuff Website

This is a very engaging way of teaching your students (or your own children) multiplication facts … and you might even enjoy playing it yourself!
To escape from the castle dungeon your avatar must explore rooms and corridors, find hidden doors and overcome monsters. And knowing multiplication facts is the key to success! To get playing, download the software programme from the Big Brainz website. The 2 – 12 times game is free, however you can purchase the full version. The website has a video tutorial telling you everything you need to know. Trust me, this game will be an instant hit with your kids!

I’m rapt to have the opportunity to nominate a blog for The 2008 Edublog Awards. As an ICT Facilitator, my job is to work with teachers and provide professional learning in ICTs and teaching & learning. So I’m often asked to help set up blogs and to show teachers how to use widgets and other web 2.0 tools. It’s a big help to have a good blog to share … one which contains lots of neat ideas to really engage learners. Stephen Baker’s class blog is my favourite for this – so when it came to nominating a blog for the awards, the choice was easy!

My nomination is:
Best Class Blog: Stephen Baker ‘Room 5 @ Work’

Sandy and her Year 5 and 6 students at Ohope Beach School have made this Habits of Mind Poster on a display board in their classroom. This is next to the mat for handy reference and reminders. Its a great way for students to learn about the Habits of Mind and how they weave together to form a set of successful learning and living behaviours.
Do you like this idea? Use it yourself!

Zoho Creator is one of the ‘Zoho Work Online’ applications and it really is fantastic! It’s an online data base and form creator and is so useful for easy data collection. If you need to collect any sort of information from your principals and teachers, why not walk the talk by using the Internet and online resources to do this? Zoho Creator has many uses and the extra bonus is that teachers are developing ICT confidence and skills at the same time.

Recently, in preparation for a cluster trip to Palmerston North, I added a trip registration form to the eBest ICT cluster website for the teachers who were going to add their details. I alerted the ICT Lead Teachers to this form by email. The first photo shows the form and the second is a part of the spreadsheet of collected data. I then exported it into Excel. It worked perfectly and saved me a lot of time. And no, I didn’t lose anything! Click on the graphics for a bigger view.

Zoho Creator is easy to use and free. (It has been so far!) You simply drag and drop the fields you require from the selection (see below) and add your questions or choices. The result looks really professional and has many uses for principals, teachers and students. Try it out.