Printing large posters on regular sized paper

Have you ever heard of PosteRazor? There might be other tools out there that do the same thing as PosteRazor. PosteRazor is a tool that will allow you to take an image that you would print on a normal size piece of paper and turn it into an image that can be as large as you want.


Here is an example from PosteRazor. First you start with any picture file, like this one.



Then using PosteRazor you break it up into a bunch of smaller images, like this.



When you are done, instead of printing the image on one page, it will print out on multiple pages and when you put the pages together the image will be much bigger. Don't worry about the pink colored lines, they are only shown above to represent the multiple pages that you will use when you print it. If you put it together correctly you will never see them.

In order for PosteRazor to work the item that you want to make bigger needs to be a picture file (a .jpg, a .png or some other picture format). The way that I accomplish this is by creating the document using a tool like Word or Pages and then take a screenshot. The screen shot is saved as a picture file on your computer.

Once the image has been saved on your computer you can use PosteRazor to make it larger. PosteRazor talks about DIN A4 paper size. DIN A4 is the same as a 8.5in by 11in piece of paper. Click here for the PosteRazor website. Click here to download PosteRazor. Click here for PosteRazor screenshots.

Digital Pedometers

Hi!! Last month at UCET I had the opportunity to work with Harrison to present a session on Digital Pedometers.  Wow, it was actually fun.  There are so many different and new products that could be used to measure walking and in school to promote fitness.

My favorite was the iPod Nano, it is a little tiny iPod that has a pedometer when it comes out of the box. I have been getting up and putting it in a pocket, that is it.  At the end of the day I have a count of all my steps, distance and calories burned. All the data stores in a calendar history and syncs to my computer.  Not bad for something so small and hold 8 GB, FM radio, video camera, and a voice recorder.


There are several free apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone,  i am checking out three .99 ones.  (Go Pedometer, iSteps, and Footsteps)

Here are some other fun sites:  Log It is from  PE Central and allows you to record students steps online and enter competitions and track progress.  Nintendo is coming out with a new game where you take the "Pokewalker" out and earn extra with physical activity that then you sent to the game control with an infrared beam.

There is more, so take some time to look and then step away from the computer and go for a walk.....

New Ways and Ideas to Create Word Clouds

Remember how Wordle creates Word Clouds.
http://www.wordle.net/

Remember that Word Clouds are collections of words from a document or documents that show the frequency of word use by their size, and are often designed in a unique manner.

Here are some resources to continue to use Word Clouds in your Curriculum.

Forty-five Interesting Ways to use Wordle in the Classroom
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_157dpbsg9c5

19 Word Cloud Resources, Tips and Tools
http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2010/02/14/12-word-cloud-resources-tips-tools/

Other Examples of Word Cloud Sites

Tech Tools and Words Clouds
http://marisaconstantinides.edublogs.org/2010/02/10/tech-tools-pedagogy-ii-word-clouds/
Comparison of Word Cloud Sites
http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2010/02/wordle-closed-alternatives.html
More Examples of Classroom use of Word Clouds
http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/i-can-back-off-my-blogging-turn-down-my-tweeting-and-even-wrap-up-my-wiki-but-i-can%E2%80%99t-wane-my-wordling/

UEN Resources for Science

As teachers we are always trying to find engaging content that relates to the core subjects that we are assigned to teach. Just as important as the lessons being engaging they should also be tied to the Utah State Standards. Margo Shirley just introduced me to a number of resources that are provided for Utah educators by UEN. I was not aware of most of the resources that Margo showed me, so I thought that I would pass on some of that knowledge to you.

The tools that I will show you are UEN Resources for K-12 Education-Science. There are 8 broad topic areas that link you to a wealth of information for those topics. To access the general resource area click here. And to access the Science specific area click here. I know that you will find great resources to use in this UEN site. Give it a try.

Online Photo Editors

Online photo editors abound nowadays. Dumpr.net, Picnik.com, Fotoflexer.com and Picture2Life.com to name just a few. Some of the fun things you can at online photo editors are:

• Upload most common file format used in digital cameras
• Edit your photos in a few simple clicks
• Fine-tune your results
• Crop, resize, and rotate in real-time
• Use special effects, from artsy to fun
• Access many artsy fonts
• Save photo right to your computer
• Platform independent
• No download required, nothing to install
• All photos are private by default

Let’s look at some examples: First find a picture you want to use, for example this cute baby. Now let's edit the photo using a few fun photo features found Dumpr.net:

Here are a few more sites you might like to try:

• LunaPic.com
• Phixr.com
• flauntR.com
• pixer.us
• Pixlr.com
• SplashUp.com

Have fun fixing and remixing photos! Send us any examples you would like us to post.

Engaged Classroom Student Work

Dear Engaged Classroom Teachers,

I am sure by this time in the school year you have completed some great learning projects with your students. To share these great projects we will need to update the internet address of your Engaged Classroom website where we can view your student’s electronic projects.

I have created a new web page where we can share your web page to view your student projects. Please send your updated website address to your Curriculum Technology Specialist and we will make sure it is linked.

Publishing and sharing student projects is very motivating and exciting to highlight how technology is impacting student learning in Jordan School District.

http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/t4/content/view/319/38/

I would like to begin by sharing the student work of Heather Reich’s class at Majestic Elementary.

http://msreich.wikispaces.com/Student+Work

Remember, you can always call us, your Curriculum Technology Specialists, to support you and your students where needed to continue to create student projects.

http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/t4/content/view/17/33/

Thank you for sharing.

Language Arts and Thinkfinity.org

At thinkfinity.org there are a plethora of tools and resources for educators. We all know that there are times when we need an idea or spark of inspiration to help us reach our students and help them understand important and sometimes difficult topics. At thinkfinity.org you can find resources that are specifically related to Language Arts. The three main resources are: EDSITEment, Literacy Network and ReadWriteThink. You could click on the links to explore those thinkfinity.org partners or you could just do a keyword search to find any of the hundreds of resources that tie to a Language Arts topic no matter what area they are listed in.