RIMS CTAP 10 Tech Fair is this week – Wednesday the 16th at University of Redlands. Camp Internet will be there recruiting teachers for next year, so please bring along colleagues who may be interested in joining Camp and have them stop by the table to talk with our Star Teacher, Brian Bartlett.
CAMPWIDE DIG this week – open to all tracks – is on WEATHER plus you have your own track DIGS giving you two DIGS to work with all month long.
This week we begin working with our new METEOROLOGY section http://www.rain.org/campinternet/meteorology/ and invite you to follow the instructions to get your weather kit installed and then select students to take reading each day to form your own weather journal. We also have a weather report form online at http://www.rain.org/campinternet/meteorology/campweatherform.html . It will feed to Camp and to the Teacher’s Email if the student understands to enter the Teacher’s Email where prompted on the form.
Two New TEACHER Workspaces have been opened in the Teacher’s Web. One chat room provides instructions on creating field reports – see Field Report Chat Room. The other provides instructions on HOW TO CREATE AN INTERNET DIG – see Workshop Chat Room. Teachers Assignment for January-February is to Create an Internet Dig so jump in and begin working on the four levels to this primary teacher activity. Your finished piece will then go public for student use in March and April on appointed days.
GPS at the Huntington for LAUSD Teachers was great fun last week and more sessions will be held next week, 22nd and 23rd. Meet 8am at the Soto Street lab with GPS and Camp Field Note Book (b.y.o.lunch). GPS sessions also planned for Jan 30,31 and Feb 5th. See LAUSD calendar of sessions under News and Events on the main portal at http://www.rain.org/campinternet/lausd_training.pdf
GPS LOW TIDE WALK - All Camp Teachers and their families are invited to attend a low tide GPS Day walk in Santa Barbara, weather permitting, on Saturday, January 26th , one of the lowest tides of the year. We will convene for the GPS/GIS intro (teachers only please) 9:30 am at the Camp Headquarters, 1129 State Street for the morning hands-on session, and then reconvene (after lunch on your own) at Leadbetter Beach for a low tide family-members-welcome GPS walk with Julie Bursek from the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Come see the amazing sea life revealed during this unusually low tide ! Please RSVP to camp@campinternet.net if you plan to attend. (LAUSD teachers can attend as their Day Two training activity). Bring your GPS and Field Note Pad.
FAMILY NIGHT for January will be on Thursday the 31st, online or in your classroom. Theme is Astronomy and we have an announcement online you can print out and send home to parents. Help us bring the generations together ‘round this electronic campfire!
1. TWO NEW TEACHER WORKSPACES. This is described above.
2. NEWS AND EVENTS – We have a new area on the main Camp portal - #5 under TODAY AT that will now be your source for viewing Camp community-wide and special events with pdf file invitations or schedules you can print out. Teacher trainings, Family nights, field trips suggestions, and conference / meetings are listed.
3. NEW ACTIVITIES - We will continue to host the live Internet DIGS where students post answers to their research findings right on the live computer screen, but we have added a new dimension to the DIGS – an activity library of past DIGS organized by track.
In the Islands, Backcountry and Southwest tracks, the TRAILHEADS (main starting web page) now feature a new item ‘ACTIVITIES’ (top right and lower left links). These Activity links take you to a new library of ‘Learning by DOING’ projects that are starting off with a growing collection of Internet DIGS with live research links but with out any one else’s previous answers posted. The questions are all there, with links to research materials, but it is not a postable area so no previous answers are shown.
Now you can send your students out on any Internet Dig offered to-date, on any listed topic, anytime. They will need to record their answers manually on paper and teachers can use this exercise as an in-class, gradable, project any day of the week – and – catch up on any DIGS you might have missed. Enjoy !
Channel Activities link http://www.rain.org/campinternet/channelhistory/activity_menu.html
Backcountry Activities link http://www.rain.org/campinternet/backcountry/backcountry_activities.html
Southwest activities link http://www.rain.org/campinternet/southwest/southwest_activities.html
4. NEW BRIEFING DIGEST - Each week we send out your weekly briefings – and then any other special announcements – to your preferred email address. We also make those briefings available on the web to refer to anytime with out opening your email. The main Camp portal has the general Campwide Briefings listed under Today At, #4, and inside each track there is a link to that track’s unique briefings as they come out each week.
New this year, we are making the entire digest of each listserv also available. Now you can not only read the main briefings online on the web – you can also read the special announcements via the Camp web site. Check out your track trailhead and click on the briefing link. You will see Track Listserv Digest as a new link, and when you open that it will include a chronological list of all postings to the listserv. This way, if a special event is announced mid week – maybe an exciting Trail Guide confirmation for a Chat, you can get to the announcement on the web with out opening your email.
REMINDERS – remember to use your track calendar and briefings to get oriented each week and try to have at least one group of students cycle through their weekly DIG each week – the whole class if possible.
UPCOMING – we will be putting LESSON PLAN forms online for all teachers to complete and use as activity orientation plans. (7 are due for CSU stipend recipients by May – if you started training in summer or early fall - or July – if you started training late fall or winter) New Teacher Training in the Teachers Web Chat Room will be on How to Create and Internet Dig !