My Nephew’s Birthday

Saturday was my first “nephew’s” twelfth birthday. It’s hard to believe he’s already twelve! Why I remember when he was just a pup…

Yes, my first nephew was a puppy, but not for long! Somebody told me that having a sister ages you. Enter Grendel.

She’s not nicknamed “The Monster” for nothing, you know!

I’ve taken many pictures of the hounds over the years; it’s hard to choose my favorite. But this one with McBro is definitely high on the list:

It’s sure hard to resist this little face:

Happy Birthday, old man! You deserve a nap today!!

Great Google-y Moogley

Well, my friends, my lovelies, voting has begun in the Doodle4Google contest, and, I’m sorry to report, that no one from our school was selected to participate. However, everyone can participate in this next phase of the contest. It’s time to vote! Simply go to the Doodle4Google voting page and select your favorite Doodle from each region. I’ll warn you…it is definitely NOT easy!!!

I want you all to know how proud I am of you for giving such wonderful effort to this project and for creating some pretty amazing artwork! You should all be very proud of yourselves!

How to Describe Seventh Grade

Last week I asked my students to provide the three words that best describe each of them. Here, in this wordle, is my seventh grade class:

What a Group!

Pretty cool group of kids, wouldn’t you agree?

Research Tips

I came across a link on Twitter this morning that I definitely need to share with all of my students: Ten Steps to Better Web Research from one of our favorite research sites, SweetSearch. According to SweetSearch, the Ten Steps to Better Web Research are:

1. Think before you search
2. Make the search engines work for you
3. Don’t Believe Everything You Read
4. Search engines are not always the best place to start your search online
5. Try several search engines, not just one
6. Dig Deep, the best results are not always at the top
7. Are you looking at a primary source? Why not?
8. Who created the Web site and writes its article? Why?
9. When was the information written or last revised?
10. Are the ads on the site clearly labeled, or are they masked as information?

Be sure to read the article as it explains each of these tips more in-depth and also includes a lot of fabulous links. A few of my favorite links from the article:

• Making Search Engines Work for You: Tips for Better Searches
• Google Search Basics: More search help
• Zuula (searches several search engines at the same time)
• Discovering Primary Source Material – from the Finding Dulcinea Blog

You might also check out:

• Google Search Basics Help
• Google’s Explore Google Search
• Google News Timeline – more useful for recent history
• Google Squared
• Bing’s Search Help
• Students Guide to Web Search

I hope you’ve noticed the recent changes to Google search. You no longer click on “Show options” at the top of the page to find other search options like the Wonder Wheel (which you’ll see already in the sidebar). Instead, click on “”More search tools” in the left-hand sidebar:

When you click on “More search tools”, you’ll find several more options to help you with your search:

Google Search for Hope

Can you imagine telling an inspirational story in 35 seconds or less? That is exactly what Sierra has accomplished with her very own Google Search Story. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…my seventh graders are unbelievably amazing!!

Beautiful story, Sierra!!

And the Winner Is…

8th Grade Sweatshirts

Oh, I bet you thought I was going to tell you what color sweatshirt you’ll be wearing next year. So sorry.

Stay tuned…