LCDLC launches Technology Toolbox Professional development programs

The LCDLC offered their first of several technology professional development sessions to member schools and to schools outside of the consortium. Schools from Lorain, Lima, Steubenville and Tiffin connected to Avon Middle School for an interactive discussion on how to use Microsoft Outlook 2003 to improve organization and productivity.

Sessions were offered at 2:30 and 4:00 PM to meet the dismissal schedules of LCDLC member schools. Technology Toolbox is the consortiums first effort to provide Technology PD to schools through videoconferencing. The next opportunity will be October 24th with a presentation on best practice of Microsoft PowerPoint titled “Yawn, oh your PowerPoint is Finished??”. Sessions will be offered at 2:30 & 4:00pm from Avon Middle School.

Want to learn more about Technology Toolbox? Check out the LCDLC programming schedule at www.lcdlc.org/TechnologyToolbox.htm

Students make gourmet dinner for worms with home made composts

Second grade classes from Avon East Elementary School created composts to develop a better understanding of chemical change, decomposition and the difference between organic and inorganic objects. The students chose several items to place in the compost piles making predictions to whether they would decompose or remain in the same state. Students from Avon, Ohio and Miami Florida discussed the items and their predictions.

Classes started with large freezer bags half filled with dirt. After adding organic and inorganic objects, the groups added water and worms for the feeding to begin. The worms will enjoy their new dinner for a couple weeks as they are only disturbed for class observations. The students from both schools are looking forward to comparing their results.

Compost recipe

One large freezer bag with six small holes in the top
½ a bag of dirt
¼ cup of water to moisten the soil
Several pieces of lettuce
Dried leaves
Grass from the playground
1 paper clip
A piece of Styrofoam
A piece of plastic
1 banana peal
1 acorn
A handful of clover
A sprinkle of rosemary

Serve cold and wet for two plump and juicy worms.

Isopods make Avon East their home away from home

Mrs. Masin and Grabert’s second grade classes at Avon East took a closer look at isopods with their partner classes in Miami Florida. The students observed pill bugs or potato bugs as they are commonly called in Northeast Ohio before they added them to their terrariums.

The students shared the changes that took place in there terrariums with their partner classes and observed the pill bugs as Mrs Gerber explained the unique characteristics of the isopod. The students will collect additional insects to add to their terrariums and observe the environment from week to week.

The LCDLC uses video podcasts to update consortium members

You get hundreds of email messages listing program opportunities for videoconferencing. Why not just watch them???

The LCDLC has been creating video updates for over a year, but for 2006-07 school year the consortium has converted these to video podcasts available on iTunes. With video iPods becoming more and more popular the consortium started to convert their updates to MPG4 for easy viewing with quick time player. Using the RSS feed, the LCDLC has subscribed their updates to iTunes for teachers to view and for updates to come to them automatically. The LCDLC video update podcast is compatible with iTunes, Google, Yahoo, Newsgator and many more...

Want to subscribe to our Podcast??

1) Go to the LCDLC weekly update page at http://www.lcdlc.org/streaming.htm
2) Drag the XML icon or use one of the links to be subscribed to on of the RSS readers
3) Start watching!

You can also search iTunes for LCDLC. Subscriptions are FREE

Hola Avon East Amigos

Avon High School and three second grade classes from Avon East Elementary School started their Spanish classes over videoconferencing. Avon High School students from Mrs. Ventresco’s Spanish 3 and 4 classes reinforced there language skills be working with Mrs. Cogar, Triplett and Hartmen’s classes. The students learned to words hello, good bye, friend, Mr and Mrs.

The classes sang songs and answered questions asked by the High School students with the guidance of Mrs. Ventresco. Spanish lessons will be offered every Friday to the classes from Avon East. Each week the High School students will have more involvement in the lessons. The elementary students were thrilled with the class and the opportunity to learn a foreign language.

Mrs. Scaletta’s second grade classes visit the rainforests with Greenbush Kansas

Mrs Scaletta’s second grade class discussed food webs and the rainforest habitat with the Greenbush IDL program. Mrs. Pride brought out several rainforest creatures during the presentation to demonstrate the many adaptations they use to survive. The students were treated with snakes, iguana’s, tarantula’s and one cool hissing cockroach!

After the animals Mrs. Pride discussed food webs and assisted the students as they created their own food using paper strips to make a chain. The Avon students created hain links for animals found in the rainforest and at home. This great lesson was a fitting completion on Mrs. Scaletta’s rainforest unit. The students enjoyed the session and look forward to more programs from Greenbush.

Send in the worms!

The second grade classes from Avon East Elementary School met with their partner classes at Miami Country Day School in Miami Florida to share the changes the have occurred since their last meeting and to add a living organism to the soil of their terrariums.

Mrs. Gerber share information on the anatomy of a worm, while the Avon site broadcasted an earthworm on the systems document camera. Once the students observed the earth worms, they listed their worm’s characteristic and drew pictures. The students added their warms to their terrariums and set them aside until the next class meeting.

Avon Heritage South and Magnolia Texas start collaborative story project

Mrs. Erreditario, a forth grade teacher at Avon Heritage South met with her partner teacher from Williams Elementary School in Magnolia, Texas to plan their collaborative story project. The classes will use a Wiki to help share chapters with each others school and for their classes to collaborate online.

The classes will brainstorm their favorite fictional topics to be shared with their partner school in October. During a meet and greet session the classes will vote on their favorite topic and the story writing will begin. The classes will create a four chapter story in which each class will be responsible for two chapters. After the completion of the fourth chapter both classes will complete the conclusion and present their ending to their partner class.

2nd grade classes create terrariums with Miami Florida

Mrs. Grabert and Masin’s 2nd grade classes started their terrarium project with students from Miami Country Day School in Miami Florida. Using see through salad containers donated by the Avon Heinen's grocery store the student’s added soil, rocks, bird seed and dried up grass/leaves to create their own ecosystem.
Mrs. Gerber from Miami described the difference between dirt and soil as students compared samples of each other soil. Water was added to help the seed planted by the students. The classes made predictions of how their terrariums will change by the next time the classes meet.

Avon East students join Possum at his Harvest Moon Party

Several classes from Avon East Elementary School took part in Avon’s Story Time program. Story Time is an introduction to videoconferencing for teachers and students through stories read over the system. Three first and second grade classes discussed the faces of the moon and how people and animals use the moon as a calendar for the seasons. The students shared the many different ways that animals prepare and survive in the winter.

Students were read Possum’s Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter by Avon’s Curriculum Technology Coordinator from Avon Middle school using the document camera to display pictures from the story. Students were asked to list the animals from the story and why they were to busy to attend the party.

Careers in TV Broadcast News

Alternative School students from Avon Middle School learned more about careers in TV & Radio with an interactive interview with Obie Shelton, a reporter, WKYC TV 3 News. Students from across Ohio had the opportunity to ask questions about his career and how he got started as a reporter. Obie Shelton has been a Cleveland icon for many years. The students enjoyed the opportunity to meet him over videoconferencing.

This program was provided to LCDLC schools and the Ohio K-12 network through Ideastream WVIZ PBS 25 and the NOTA network.

Constitution Day: Creating Classroom Rules

Second grade students from Miss Lavelle’s and Mrs. Cruzado classes celebrated Constitution Day through a lesson on classroom rules with the Columbiana ESC. Classes from Salem Buckeye, Crestview, Kensington Intermediate School in Rocky River, & East Liverpool shared need for classroom rules and how they relate to the constitution.

Thanks to Mrs. Straub from the Columbiana ESC the students have a better understanding of the need for rules in the classroom and throughout the country. The students enjoyed the videoconference and interacting with classrooms around Ohio. We look forward to connecting to Columbiana County again and hope to see the other schools online again.

Constitution Day Presentation: It’s My Right!

Mrs. Gantz & Mrs. Haney’s 4th grade classes celebrated constitution day with the Columbia Educational Service Center, Wayne Elementary School and Rocky River. The students made a trip back in history to the writing of the constitution. The classes discussed the ratification process and the process of creating one of the greatest documents ever created.

After taking a closer look at the Bill of Rights the students were broken into groups playing the role of a student, congress member, small business owner, and parent’s point of view ranking the rights from most important to least important. Each of the sites presented the rights they felt were most important which consisted of right of opinion, religion and a speedy trial.

The Students enjoyed their first videoconference of the year and look forward to connecting to the Columbiana ESC again and to work with the other schools.

Avon Teachers get ready for their best IVC year to date!

Welcome Back!

You can easily tell that the summer is coming to a close. Classroom teachers are coming into the buildings again to get their classrooms ready for the first day of school, hallways are closed off due to wet wax and the districts Vtel & Polycom systems are being dusted off for another great year. It is great to see the classroom teachers return from vacation with new vigor and fresh ideas for their students. I am happy to hear that IVC will be playing a roll in our teacher’s plans and the project will see the return of two former project members. There have been some exciting changes to the consortium, the state and the local video systems.

Third Frontier Project and the LEECA Fiber project

More bandwidth = great opportunities! Ohio E-Tech and the Lake Erie Education Computer Association (LEECA) have been hard at work this summer upgrading the school networks. LEECA is finishing their upgrade to Columbus and the Fiber Project is near completion.

As many of you have heard through the network grapevine, Ohio’s K-12 video network has moved bridging services from OIT Video (commonly referred to as DAS) to Ohio E-Tech. We will miss the staff of OIT and the countless hours spent on the phone with their technicians. E-Tech has some large shoes to fill, but I am confident that they will provide our district with the same quality that we have come to expect from the state network. E-Tech still plans to support and maintain the ATM network, but the transition of IP is just around the corner. As with any change we expect a couple bumps in the road and ask that everyone use patience with the new network staff.

New IP numbers for Avon’s IVC systems

We have a new ISP which means all of the external IP’s have changed. New IP numbers will be posted on the TV’s of our systems in the fall. ATM & ISDN numbers are not expected to change.

Schools that would like to test their IP connectivity are welcome to dial Avon Middle School at 208.108.90.88. To help sites test their connections a camera is pointed out the window. Last year we had several schools take advantage of the site for testing, demos to staff and for presentations. We look forward to continuing this service to the IVC community.

IVC systems find new classroom homes in Heritage North and South

The Avon Local Schools student population is still growing which makes locations for IVC more difficult each year. Heritage South has converted two science rooms and the former DL room to classrooms this school year. The IVC system has been moved to the choir room and will have to split time with the schools indoor recess. The room is twice the size as the former classroom which will provide classroom teachers with great opportunities, but will need to schedule programs around the recess schedule in case of bad weather. Heritage North Elementary School has moved their IVC system to another wing of the building.

We hope to see you online this school year!

The Avon Schools and the LCDLC are hard at work planning collaborations and projects for the 2006-07 school year. We have several teachers grades K-12 looking for projects and partners. If you are looking for a school to collaborate with or have a project needing partners please keep us in mind. We look forward to see you online!

Paul Hieronymus
Curriculum Technology Coordinator
Avon Local Schools, Ohio
HieronymusP@Avon.k12.oh.us

Pirates invade Avon Heritage South for the year’s last videoconference

What could be better on the last day of school than a videoconference with the Mariners Museum on Pirates? Third graders at Avon Heritage South participated in a interactive discussion on the life of a pirate. The students compared and contract legends and movies to images and stories told by the museum.

The students enjoyed stories about Black Beard, Ann Bonnie and Mary Reed as much as the single shot musket pistols, swards and pirate money. The story of Black Beards six pistols and how he was captured gave the students great stories to tell their friends and parents. While traditional pirates have disappeared over the seven seas, everyone was surprised to hear that acts of piracy still occur today.

This was our first connection to Mariners’ Museum. Our classes and teachers were thrilled with the content and the program. We look forward to doing more with them!
Information on their programming can be found at http://www.mariner.org/educationalad/teachers/elec_classroom.php

Avon Distance Learning Coordinator participates in CILC focus group discussion

The Avon Local Schools continue its working relationship with the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) out of Indianapolis as part of a focus group discussion. A group of coordinators from Ohio, New York, Texas and South Dakota enjoyed an open discussion on many key issues involving videoconferencing as an enhancement to instruction in our school districts. The topics of best practice, professional development and concerns were the key topics.

While the discussion was centered around the CILC consortium and their roll in videoconferencing, the group was enjoyed each other comments and news of a follow meeting has been suggested by Brian Dzwonek of the 29-90 Distance Learning Consortium in South Dakota. The Avon Schools would be interested in further discussions and hope that these could lead to new partnerships and collaborations.

CSI Avon, Ohio

Mr. Kelly’s sophomore and junior health classes had the opportunity to learn more about DNA and the Human Genome through an interactive game of who done it with Heath Space Cleveland. The students discussed DNA and how genetic information is changing the field of health care. The students participated in a simulated forensics investigation using DNA evidence.

A murder had taken place on the grounds of Health Space Cleveland and skin was found under the victim’s finger nails. The Avon Students were given DNA data for five suspects. After breaking down the code of the five suspects and the sample taken from the victim the class determined which DNA was a match.

The program gave the students a better understanding of DNA forensic science. Lesson activities and materials can be found on the Health Space website. To learn more about their distance education programs check out their website www.healthspacecleveland.org/education/education.asp?detail=9

The Avon Local Schools would like to thank the Henkle Adhesive Corporation for the purchase of three distance learning programs. Through a generous donation by the company Lorain County Schools an receive free programming from Health Space Cleveland.

Heritage South students get wild with the Buffalo Zoo

Mrs. Johnson’s 3rd grade class at Avon Heritage South enhanced their lesson on rainforests and habitats through a videoconference with the Buffalo Zoo. The students named the layers of the rainforest and many of the animals that make it their home.
As the students observed exhibits of the Buffalo Zoo, the students identified the layers they lived and the adaptations they have made to be successful. The students viewed insects, birds, reptiles and Gorillas. The students are thrilled to see Barney the ball python. Placed on the document camera gave the students the ability to see the scales, and eyes. Lilly the Gorilla stole the show with her climbing skills.

One of the advantages of seeing snakes though videoconferencing is the ability to show close ups on part of the snake for all of the students even the ones afraid of snakes. This allows the presenter to show features quickly and allow the students to be moved from task to task. The Rainforest experience program with the Buffalo Zoo is a great program that has become a standard part of Mrs. Johnson’s science lesson plan.

The Buffalo Zoo Distance Learning Programs can be found online at http://www.buffalozoo.org/distance_learning.html

Avon Students use artifacts to better understand their community

Third grade students from Mrs. Friedel’s class at Heritage South connected to their partner school in Sedalia, Missouri to finish their artifact exchange project. The classes have been exchanging clues about their states and cities for the past month. The classes collected items that their students felt represented their community and sent them to each other through US mail prior to the videoconference.

Once the sites received their artifacts the classes connected through videoconferencing to share a last set of clues about their communities and presented the materials sent to each building. Heritage South sent a stuffed Eagle (Mascot), Duct Tape (Henkle Adhesives), maps of Lorain County and pictures of the Cleveland Indians, Cavaliers and the Browns. Skyline Elementary School sent a picture of stealth bomber (manufactured near by), toolbox (manufactured in Sedalia), pictures of their school and a local newspaper.

The artifact exchange program is one of our favorite collaboration projects. The students enjoy the problem solving activity to enhance geography, measurement, communities reading and writing. The program makes an excellent ice breaker for future collaborations.

Thanks again Skyline Elementary School

Avon Students from Heritage North save the villagers on the island of Montserrat

Mr. Lima’s 6th grade science classes connected to the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling Jesuit University for Operation Montserrat. The NASA E-Mission provides students with a simulation of a hurricane and volcanic disaster on an island of the Caribbean. The students are dived into three groups to track the hurricane, volcanic activity and to evacuate the community from danger. The teams are provided simulation data from the Challenger Center and our E-Mission controller Amy help guide the students through the catastrophe.

This session is an intense problem based learning activity in which the students are required to use science, math and planning skills to accurately track the dangers and work as a team to develop an evacuation plan. The connection takes over two hours to complete, but provides the students with a practical and real world learning experience.

This was Mr. Lima’s second year of connecting to the Challenger Center for this E-mission. We are happy to say that this program has become a scheduled part of our 6th grade curricula for our honors science classes.
To learn more about the E-Mission please visit their website at www.e-missions.net/om/