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Summer News 2010

Summer News 2010

de Bonnie Thurber -
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Hello iCollaboratory Friends,

The iCollaboratory summer is moving along very fast.

  • In June, the iCollaboratory services moved to a new, faster server.

  • In July, the iCollaboratory Team is enhancing projects, creating documentation and planning for an exciting school year.

  • In August, the iCollaboratory Team is offering online professional development for individual teachers and workshops for districts. Please contact icollaboratory@gmail.org if you know a group of teachers or a district that is interested.

Activity Wizard News: The Activity Wizard is a form that allows teachers to point an click to select Learning Standards, Goals and Benchmarks and then, enter text describing the classroom activity, I can statements and what kind of work will meet the standards. After entering the information, the teacher can click a save button and print the activity with the standards to use as to demonstrate what s/he is accomplishing in the classroom.

Because several of you volunteered to donate to the Activity Wizard fund, we were able to hire a developer to put a new Wizard in the iCollaboratory. It will be available in time for school this fall. Please send your promised donations to Educational Continuum Organization, 665 Brierhill Road, Deerfield, IL. 60015. Checks payable to Educational Continuum Org. Thank you!

How did you participate in the iCollaboratory last year? Can you share your story at a conference? Illinois Computing Educators is looking for proposals for workshops, presentations and posters. Please plan on submitting a session at http://proposals.iceberg.org. We want you to share your enthusiasm about what education is like in the iCollaboratory! Workshops pay a stipend and proposals are due in August. Presentations are due in October. The ICE Conference is February 22-25, 2011.

Nutrition A3 is a project for teens that focuses on building good nutrition and exercise habits while having fun. Select one of six projects for your class or plan on participating in all six projects during the school year.

When will I ever Use This?
Career Exploration. Students discover the relevance of their studies through a career investigation.

Welcome to the new school year!

In September, registration opens for all projects. All teachers/educators please send a message to iCollaboratory@gmail.org requesting permission to register students. We will give you permissions and instructions you need to create accounts for your students.

  • Scariest Stories and Fall Poetry opens October 1. Students take a survey, share their literary work, and discuss it with one another. Students can use this project to develop their writing skills by sharing and discussing their narrated and/or illustrated (optional) writing in our online community.

  • What I Am Most Thankful For opens November 1. Students take a survey about being thankful and then use their creativity to write, record and illustrate an essay about what they are thankful for. They then share and comment on essays with each other.

  • December is a great month for starting a reading project that can continue through February or the entire year. All K12 students read and share their reading through writing, images, audio and video.

    • K-3rd grade students participate in The Illinois Monarch Award Internet Book Club, a project designed to enrich and extend the experiences of students while participating through the Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) in The Monarch Award: Illinois K-3 Children's Choice Award.

    • 4-8th grade students participate in the Rebecca Caudill Internet Book Club. Students submit reviews of the books they have read in the Rebecca Caudill Library and read the reviews of other students as well as take surveys about their favorite books.

    • 9-12th grade students participate in the year-round Abraham Lincoln and Read for a Lifetime Internet Book Clubs. Students submit reviews of the books they have read in the Abraham Lincoln and Read For A Lifetime Libraries, participate in book discussions, and read the reviews of other students.
  • In January, participate in the Iditarod—A study of peoples and places in the far north.

  • In February, take a break for the ISATS.

  • In March, grades K-4 participate in Songs My Family Taught Me. Students remember songs that family members taught them and share them with other participants using images, words and sounds.

  • In April, participate in the National Poetry Month Project! Students can use this project to develop their poetry knowledge and writing skills by sharing and discussing poems they have written, narrated and/or illustrated (optional) in an online Poetry Month community.

  • In May, participate in the A Day in Our Neighborhood Project. Students learn more about the communities around us. In the project, students and teachers from around the world share information about their communities and discuss this information through the iCollaboratory website.

As you can see, the iCollaboratory offers teachers and their students a year-long learning experience.

For help or more information, write icollaboratory@gmail.com


Thank you,
The iCollaboratory Team