Technology is often blamed as one of the culprits for childhood obesity, however this is not the case at Bradley Elementary where teachers and students found ways to integrate technology into their physical education curriculum and beyond. It all began when fourth grade students, under the direction of teacher Jamie Hall (picture on the left side of the photo with a student), participated in a heart rate monitor project during P.E. class. For two months, the students wore heart rate monitors while they participated in different activities. The students then recorded this information, which included their maximum heart rate, calories burned as well as their time in their targeted heart rate zone. In addition they noted which activities they participated in so they could see which ones elevated their heart rate the most. This information was then taken to the computer lab where technology teacher, Christine Raynard (shown on the right side of the photo above working with some students) utilized the data as part of the Self-Directed Learner Producer goals for the grade level. “We had been making graphs using Excel that tied to different aspects of the Social Studies curriculum. This activity allowed us to show the children how they can be active participants in creating the data that we chart. It made the computer application real for the students.” The printed graphs were then returned to the classroom where fourth grade teacher Lisa Meyers had the students spend time interpreting the data and summarizing key points. These skills reinforced the district’s reading comprehension strategy of summarizing while helping the students connect their writing to activities from two other classrooms. In addition it provided another real world example of how to utilize and interpret data that is a focus skill in both Math and Social Studies. Raynard said that the students were surprised when their heart rate information showed up in computer class. “When we printed the graphs and sent them back to the classroom they we able to see how all of the disciplines work together towards making them well-rounded students.” Through this “excel”lent integration students could see how three different disciplines could be connected and useful to each other and get them up and moving at the same time! For more great ideas on how you can intergrate technology into your curriculum, just check out My Learning Plan or contact the IT department for help in making a great project like this one a reality!

One of the most widely used features we all use in Mac OS X is folders. Folders are great tools because they are what allow us to organize files in a wide variety of ways. Of course, as with many features of Mac OS X, there are some handy ways that you can make your work with folders even faster and easier than you may already be aware of. Here are some time-saving tips that can help you make the most of folders in Mac OS X. Check them out below and see what you can use the next time you are working with folders.

USING SPRING LOADED FOLDERS
Spring-loaded folders, which have been built into the Mac OS for a long time, are a speedy way to place a file into a folder that's nested many levels deep in your Macintosh.

Here's how it works: drag a file over your Documents folder, and it will pop open as a window showing the contents of the folder. Don't let go of the mouse, just drag the file to a folder within your Documents folders, and it too will pop open to reveal the folders and files within it. You can continue to open the spring-loaded folders until you reach your destination folder.

If you select your file within a Finder window, drag the file over an icon in the Sidebar to do the same thing. Note that if you use this method, the folder contents will appear in the Finder window, rather than as a new pop-up folder.

LOOK INSIDE MULTIPLE FOLDERS QUICKLY
Need to see what’s inside more than one folder while in List view? Try this. First, Command-click on all the folders you want to expand, then press Command-Right Arrow. All the folders will expand at once!

If the file you’re looking for isn’t there or you want to close all those folders, just press Command-Left Arrow (you can do that, because your folders are still highlighted) to quickly collapse them all again!

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SOME GENERAL TIPS FOR WORKING WITH FOLDERS
You can open any folder you've opened recently; look in the Go menu.

• Hold down the Option key when you double-click a folder icon to open that icon, and also close the parent folder the icon is in. For example, if you double-click an icon inside the Applications folder, while holding down the Option key, the Applications folder will close while the program you selected launches.
• Locate a folder (or any files for that matter) faster within a Finder window by typing the first few letters or numbers of the folder or filename. The Finder window will scroll to that location.
• File and folder names starting with punctuation appear first, followed by other files and folders in numerical, then alphabetical order. If you want a file or folder to always appear at the top of the Finder window, prefix it with a punctuation mark such as _ or ~.
  
• Remember that your Home folder includes folders set up for organizing files by type. You'll find that these folders often appear as default file locations when saving specific types of files from within software programs.

Education Atlas aims to be the world's most comprehensive guide to the best education sites on the Web. On their site, the site authors have gathered and organized a wide variety of resources related to all areas of education. In addition to the wealth of content they have collected, they have also done an excellent job of sorting the content by Education Index, Subject, as well as by Lifestage so it makes it very easy to find exactly what you're looking for. Whether you're a parent looking for resources to help your own children, a high school graduate researching colleges, a teacher in need of new lesson ideas for your pupils, or a career professional seeking continuing education opportunities, with over 8000 indexed websites, you're sure to find a useful resource at EducationAtlas.com! In the K-12 education area, they offer a wealth of resources covering all aspects of public education. Some of the more interesting and timely topics include links pertaining to School Safety, School Improvement, and Rural Issues. Of particular interest of classrooms teachers may be the extensive links to all the major subjects areas taught to K-12 students, including a wide array of links related to instructional technology and how it can impact the educational realm.

One of the nice features of EducationAtlas.com is that they welcome suggestions and new additions to their website. If you have a education-related resource you feel would be of benefit to their visitors, they just ask you to email them. While they will review all suggestions, they will only add those websites that meet the specific criteria they list on their site. In their ongoing quest to remain current, EducationAtlas.com also states that they add new education resources to their website once each month. Check out the site to learn about some of the wonderful web resources it has for you to use in your classroom. For quick access to some of the key areas of this site, simply use some of the QuickLinks above!

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Eager to learn about new ways to use Mac OS X even better? Come to our monthly OS X "Talk, Tips & Tricks" session. Find out more.

Below are select technology courses to be offered by the Teacher Center this month. To learn more, log onto My Learning Plan then click the links below for more details about each class and/or to sign up right now online!

Thursdays, May 1, 15, &, 29
School Year Digital Scrapbooks

Wednesday, May 14
Citation and the Subscription Databases

Thursday, May 15
The Art & Magic of Digital Presentations - May

Monday, May 19
OS X "Tech Talk Tips and Tricks" - May

Wednesday, May 28
SchoolCenter School: Exploring the New Features of Your School Website - May

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