Grand Mesa, Grand Junction, and Fruita Area

While still camped in Jumbo Campground on Grand Mesa, we decided to ride the atv on the Scotland Trail. Once again, the map we had didn't completely cover the area, but we managed. The wildflowers up there were beautiful! I cannot count the number of lakes we saw. Many of the lakes are used for irrigation and are drained each year; there are signs on some of them warning fishermen there are no fish in certain lakes. Parts of the trail were so rough I was afraid we would damage the oil pan or something on the atv; there were

babyheads as big as...well, a baby's head and bigger! We stopped for lunch, but we didn't stay long. The mosquitoes almost carried us away! Apparently, we didn't pick a good place to stop.

The next morning we awoke to a light rain. This confirmed we would not be riding our bikes, so we spent a lazy morning in the travel trailer. The mosquitoes were also a factor in our decision not to ride. July is probably the worst month for mosquitoes on the mesa; Jerry says they will be completely gone in August.

Artwork outside The Hot Tomato in Fruita, Colorado

The Autreys provided us with a great place to park and hook-up our travel trailer next to their house. The dogs love their grassy yard! The Autreys' patio backs up to the salt wash and has a beautiful view of the Colorado National Monument. We rode our bikes from the house to dinner at one of the local favorites, The Hot Tomato Cafe. I had a slice of  Granny's Pesto Pizza. It was delish!

John and I rode the bike trails in the North Fruita Desert, also known as 18 Road. It was hot!

The dogs found some mud to cool off after a game of fetch.

We rode the atv's from behind the Colorado Monument to Gateway Canyon.

Saturday we went for an epic ohv ride with the Autreys, Brad, Sue, Tony, and Randy. We had lunch at the Gateway Canyons resort. Brad, Sue, Tony, and Randy were in jeeps, so they took the paved road back. Since we were on atv's, we had no choice but to take the 30-something-mile trail back to where we parked the trailer. Both atv's got a little hot climbing up out of the canyon, but they were back to normal after a bit.

Monday, July 19

After sleeping in until around 9:30, I began my day with the first shower I’d had since Friday. I had so much dust in my hair from two days in Taylor Park I had to add extra shampoo. Clean at last! Of course we had to take the pups for a walk and let them frolic and swim in Sunset Lake near the Jumbo Campground.

John and I did a little exploring on the motorcycle and rode down to Cedaredge to see the sites since it was dark when we had driven through there the night before. As it turns out, there wasn’t much to see, and it was as hot as Texas just not humid. On the way back to camp, we saw a couple of elk, a deer, and a dead beaver. We spent the next couple of hours hanging out in our camp site. I took a nap, and John researched what might be wrong with the truck. We drove down to the town of Mesa, where we had dinner at the Wagon Wheel. Our mouths were watering at the thought of the chicken fried steak we were about to order. However, they were out of chicken fried steak. The waitress said it had been a really busy weekend, and their order wasn’t due to come in until the next day. We then decided to get the Humdinger Fried Chicken. But alas, our dreams were once again shot down as the waitress told us they were out of that, too. She offered us 50% off anything we wanted. We ordered the ribeye, cooked medium. When it arrived, it was somewhere between tar-tar and rare. She apologized and brought us another steak. It was a crazy night, and I felt a little sorry for her. There was a group of motorcycle riders who headed to the salad bar only to discover…wait for it…there was no more salad! We had eaten at this restaurant before, and it was really good, so I’ll give them a mulligan on this one.

On the way back to camp, we saw a couple of fox babies crossing the road. There may have been more, but we only got a good look at two of them. Nope, no photos. :-(

Sunday, July 18

Lunch at the Brick Oven in Crested Butte, CO

On motorcycles we headed up to Crested Butte for lunch. We dined at Brick Oven Pizza on the patio. I know you’re supposed to have pizza at a place called Brick Oven Pizza, but their hamburgers and sweet potato fries are great! We walked around a little and explored the street market they were having that weekend. John bought a couple of quick links for his chain at the local bike shop. This was our first time in Crested Butte, but I hope it won’t be the last. I see why our Chicago friends love to go there. On the motorcycle ride back to Taylor Park, we were caught in a bit of rain. It was a little chilly, but we survived.

Here is a video of part of our ride from Crested Butte back to Taylor Park. I didn't capture the part that includes the rainy part of our ride.

After returning from Crested Butte, we packed up camp and headed toward Grand Mesa. The drive through the Blue Mesa Reservoir area was about as eventful as the one through Monarch Pass. We stopped a couple of times to let the old truck cool off. The drive up to the top of the mesa resulted in a couple of cooling-off periods as well. John’s vacation project this year is to diagnose and treat whatever is making the truck despise climbing. We’ll be staying with the Autreys in Fruita for a few days, so hopefully he will get it figured out then. He thinks it might be the clutch fan or something. I’m glad I’m married to a man who can do anything. (Well, anything except maybe put the lid down on the toilet or put his clothes in the hamper. I guess a girl can’t have everything.)

We arrived in our camp site at Jumbo Campground in the Mesa Lakes Recreation Area around midnight. Since the campground doesn’t have water hook-ups, we had to stop at the faucet and fill our freshwater tank. By the time we got everything set up, it was probably close to 1:00 a.m. before we went to bed. I was so exhausted I decided to forego a shower for another day. I know, gross. That's just how tired I was!

Saturday, July 17

John, Sherry, Rahna, and Jerry near the Cement Creek Mine.

We had a leisurely morning. When we let the dogs out for their “nature break,” of course they slinked off to the river. Caleb caught sight of the standard poodle, Molly, who was in the next camp and decided to make a new friend. He chased the poodle back into her camp where they proceeded to stir up all kinds of dust in their camp site. I think he not only scared Molly, but Molly’s owner as well. After many apologies from me on Caleb’s behalf, I managed to get him back under control. Poor boy! He just wanted to play, but I guess he was too exuberant.

With John on top of American Flag Mountain

With Jerry as our guide, we headed out on the ohv’s to Italian Creek Road. From there we took Cement Creek to American Flag Mountain. The trails weren’t bad at all, and the views from the top of American Flag were amazing. Some happy person created rock smiley faces all along the trail. We also saw a few deer, as well as a marmot sunning on a rock. He stayed there for at least a couple of hours, because he was still on that same rock when we retraced our path back to the main road.

Marmot

While on the trail, we chatted with some guys on motorcycles who told us if we wanted to see the Maroon Bells, we could see them by traveling up a 4-5 mile trail to Taylor Pass. What he didn’t tell us was how wicked the trail up there was! At one point, the trail diverged into a rocky creek. We had to travel about ¼ mile through a rocky, flowing creek. I had my doubts as to whether or not we would make it, but we did. As we traveled onward and approached our destination, we heard gunfire. The gunfire came from a group of 20-something guys who were getting hammered and shooting skeet at Taylor Lake. They came down from either Crested Butte or Aspen and were planning on going back the way we came in. Lucky for them, Jerry told them they’d probably never make it in the vehicles they were driving, so they decided to go back the way they came. I hope they had three designated drivers.

View of part of the Maroon Bells from the Taylor Pass Trail

The Maroon Bells didn’t really look like the photos I’d seen, but Jerry said it was due to the location of our view. They are really spectacular. Rahna has some great photos on her camera; I may edit this post later to add some of her photos.

Here is John. Notice I am not on the back for this part.

On the way back down the Taylor Pass trail, we got behind some super slow atv’s who didn’t seem to want to let us pass. Maybe they thought it was a race.

For supper we just roasted hot dogs over the huge fire John and Jerry built.

Friday, July 16

We said good-bye to Heart of the Rockies Campground around 10:40 a.m. A long two hours later, we pulled into Gunnison. Now, for those of you familiar with the area, you know Salida and Gunnison are only about 60-something miles apart. Why did it take two hours, you ask? The answer is in two words: Monarch Pass. Our 1996 Ford F250 Turbo Diesel doesn’t feel the love for climbing mountain passes while pulling a travel trailer containing an atv and a motorcycle. We pulled over a couple of times to let the truck cool down and add water to the coolant reservoir.

On the way down the pass, the trailer brakes weren’t connected, so our truck brakes protested by getting really hot. Once again, we pulled over. Through what I think was divine intervention, we happened to pull over at the spot on Hwy 50 that has cold water flowing out of a pipe in the rocks. After filling countless gallon jugs with water from that pipe so John could cool off the brakes and the truck, we were once again mobile. Gunnison must have been having some big rodeo event; horse trailers were everywhere. If we would have had time, we would have stopped at the Gunnison Brewery on Main Street where Jennifer Fronterhouse’s friends are the proprietors. According to Jen, they have a very tasty summer IPA.

From Gunnison, we drove through Almont toward Taylor Park. Almont is a nice little resort town, with lots of river access and cabins to rent. We arrived in Taylor Park and set up in our camp site located between Illinois Creek and the Pie Plant town site turn-off around 2:00 p.m. There is an RV park called Colorado Dream Ranch, but we didn’t have reservations and had no problem dry camping for just a weekend. We didn’t even have water in our freshwater tank in the travel trailer, but we did have several gallon jugs and sent a text to the Autreys asking them to be sure to bring plenty of water when they came later that night.

Taylor Park is an ohv paradise. Located in Taylor Canyon near the Taylor Reservoir, there are tons of places for dispersed camping, as well as national forest campgrounds. There are countless miles of ohv trails, creeks, streams, rivers, and mountains on all sides. Our friend, Jerry Autrey has been trying to get us to visit Taylor Park for the last year or so. We only skimmed the surface of the trails there. I’m sure we’ll go back, but I think I’d like to have reservations at the private campground there with full hook-ups. It was a very dusty place!

We found a camp site that was near upper Taylor River. It was more or less sheltered from the dusty road by a large rock formation. If you don't tolerate getting dirty, then Taylor Park is not the place for you! Almost as soon as we let the dogs out for their "nature break," they headed for the river.

The Autreys arrived from Fruita/Grand Junction around 10:30 p.m. We hadn’t seen them in about a year, so we had a good time chatting for a while before hitting the rack.

Thursday, July 15

My fortune cookie at dinner the previous night said something like, “Your intuition will lead you down the right path.” My intuition told me to let John ride Monarch Crest without me; turns out, my intuition was correct once again! More on that later. I drove John and his bike to the High Valley Center in Poncha Springs in time for him to catch the 10:00 shuttle that would drop him off at Monarch Crest Trail. After signing a waiver and paying the $20 fee, John helped a guy by reinstalling his hydraulic brake pads that had fallen off. Turns out, the shop mechanic was off that day, so lucky for someone, John was there “to the rescue!”

With John off on his adventure, I headed into Salida to walk around historic downtown. Brunch for me was a yummy California Scramble at a place called “The Simmering Cup.” If you are ever in town, it’s a nice place to go and hang out; they even have free wi-fi. There are a lot of boutique-type shops with many cute clothes in downtown Salida, but I didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without. I revisited Absolute Bikes to purchase some much-needed electrolyte supplies and then headed down to the river access where the kayakers and rafters were practicing. There was a raft of what looked like boy scouts that were getting coached on rafting skills. They managed to lose a guy overboard, but quickly pulled him back into the boat. A few minutes later they managed to completely tip over the boat. It was good entertainment. (No boy scouts were harmed in the incident.)

Later in the afternoon, I retrieved John from the High Valley Center. He was whooped. I believe his exact words were, “That was a beating.” Coming from him, that is pretty bad. Of course, he was riding his Salsa Dos Niner that is hardly a full-suspension, and the trail is very rocky. About this time I was feeling pretty cocky about my decision to stay behind on this ride. The ride was about 38 miles, not all downhill-even with the shuttle. About the time the trail dumped him out on Hwy 285, John’s chain broke. Lucky for him, it was all downhill on the road, so he coasted about three or four miles back to the shop.

More Fun in Salida!

Day 3-A Day on the ATV

Tuesday morning we loaded the ATV onto the cheap little trailer and headed out for an adventure. We started at the ghost-town of St. Elmo where we unloaded our trailer. Our map only covered San Isabel National Forest, so when we crossed over into the Gunnison National Forest, we were shooting from the hip. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe the scenery. Tin Cup Pass is over 12,000 feet in elevation. As we started down the other side of the pass, some old dude said, “You’re about to hit the really fun part.” I was hoping by “really fun” he didn’t mean the kind of fun we had two years ago when we had our unfortunate crash where John broke his arm. As it turned out, it wasn’t bad at all. As a matter of fact, I didn’t get off the 4-wheeler for safety reasons even one time. At Mirror Lake, we turned off on an ATV trail, which is not wide enough for the jeeps we’d seen on the previous trail. We saw a forest employee who had trained his 18-week-old black Labrador Retriever to ride on the seat behind him. I wish I would have taken a picture! After passing some old mining cabins, we drove through the ghost-town of Tin Cup. There are actually people that live there—probably hermits. This led us back to Mirror Lake where we retraced our path back to St. Elmo.

For dinner we decided to try the Salida Café, which is located next door to Absolute Bikes. It was pricey, and they charged for refills on tea. The patio atmosphere was nice, but the food was just ok. Which brings me to a question: When you go to an eating establishment where you have to go to the counter to order and pay for your food, do you leave a tip? Do you tip on the service you hope to receive? I always think the tip should reflect the service you’ve already received. Just wondering.

We saw this cool dog in the Salida Wal-Mart parking lot. He loves to ride the motorcycle with his mom and doesn't even mind wearing the goggles.

Day 4-Salida Off-Road Trails on “S” Mountain

Wednesday began with breakfast at the Patio Pancake Place. You just can’t beat the price, the food is pretty good (not the scrambled eggs, however), and the staff is friendly and attentive. John spent the next few hours changing the oil in the ATV while I used my neti-pot and took a nap to ward off impending allergies. While John was outside working on the ATV, he chatted with Jim, a fellow Texan who had been in Salida about two weeks already. He gave John some tips on places to go to eat. There is a hamburger place in Poncha Springs that is run by two Thai ladies. He says they make the best hamburger, but also sell a healthy pad thai as well.

Around 3:30 we headed out to ride the town trails on “S” mountain in Salida. The trailhead is located just across the F Street bridge. We made the mistake of asking a guy where the Front Side trail was, and he sent us to the Burn Pile trail (a.k.a. Burning Arrow). This was not the easiest climb, but we made it to Front Side. From there we took Little Rattler for a bit until we decided to split up. I rode Backbone and John rode Sand Dunes. Backbone is awesome! It was like riding a roller coaster. There was a little bit of exposure, but nothing that made me get off and walk. When I reached the intersection of Backbone and Sand Dunes, I took a few pictures while waiting for John. When John arrived, we rode the remainder of the way down the mountain via Sand Dunes. Up to this point, there was a good bit of cloud cover, so I was still feeling pretty good. John asked if I wanted to ride some more, so I said, “Sure! Why not?” About the time we began climbing up Front Side, out comes the sun. It was probably about 90°, and my internal thermostat doesn’t work as well as I would like. As we climbed, we passed Duke’s grave. Duke was a dog in the late 1800’s who was owned by the owner of the hotel. Duke would greet the passengers as they got off the train, and everyone loved him. When Duke died in 1902, his owner buried him just down and to the right of the big “S” on the mountain. There is a local ale here named after him. After paying our respects to Duke, we ride Little Rattler, Backbone, then Tenderfoot. At this point, I was bonked! We descended Front Side and finished around 6:30. These trails remind me of the Telegraph trail system in Durango. If I ride them again, I’ll go early in the morning so I don’t have to deal with the heat so much. I know, I’m a wimp.

Dinner that evening on the patio of the Twisted Cork was fabulous. The patio backed up to the tree-shaded river; it was very peaceful. I had a Cosmo and a Mediterranean salad with grilled

chicken; John had the Chicken Parmesan. It was delish!

Vacation…finally!

Day 1-Driving
A McDaniels vacation just wouldn’t be a McDaniels vacation if there weren’t some sort of harried construction project going on during the days leading up to the day of departure. The rain and the discovery of a section of rotted floor hindered progress on the travel trailer renovations. We planned on leaving Saturday, but I cast the deciding vote which determined it would be better to leave early Sunday morning rather than 10:00 p.m. Saturday night. I think John was just too tired to argue.

Believe it or not, our rig and we were departing from our house at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning. (I know; I can hardly believe it myself.) We made it to Amarillo in time for lunch at Fazoli’s. I still for the life of me can’t figure out why the Dallas area can’t seem to support Fazoli’s. We were none too happy when the one out in Irving turned into a Taco Bueno. I think it is some sort of Communist plot. But as my pal Vinnie says, “I digress.” It was around 6:45 p.m. mountain time when we pulled into campsite E2 at Heart of the Rockies RV Park. It’s often a crap shoot when booking reservations at a place you’ve never seen, but I gotta say, I did good (sic). We have almost a 360° view of the mountains, the restrooms/showers are clean, and the sites aren’t stacked on top of one another. It’s located about halfway between Salida and Monarch on W. Hwy 50, just west of Poncha Springs.

The remainder of Sunday evening was spent setting up camp. Just as we were about to take the pups for their evening walk, it started to rain. After the rain stopped, we went for a walk so the dogs could stretch their legs and we could explore the rv park. During our walk we began to hear thunder. Then lightning—I mean really close, loud lightning. All of a sudden, there was a downpour. No worries, it often rains in the mountains.


Day 2-Salida & Buena Vista
Monday morning, (Caleb’s second birthday, in case you care) we went into town to run some errands. We had breakfast at a place that was full of locals, which is often a good sign. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was on Hwy 50 and was called Pancake something or other. The pancakes were delish, but the scrambled eggs were essentially a dried omelet that I had to scramble myself. Blech. John had it replaced with an egg cooked over-medium. Much better!

After breakfast, we motored over to Absolute Bikes in search of some advice and maps on mountain bike trails in the area. A personality-challenged, heavily tattooed girl wearing really cool glasses gave us a few ideas, but she wanted to make sure we flatlanders understood that there would be a lot of climbing. Finally, I told her we’d ridden in Colorado before, just not in this area. John decided to ask the other girl and the dude that worked there and received much better information.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Absolute Bikes in Salida, but it is located right by the Arkansas River. Next door to the bike store is a coffee place, which includes patio seating and a view of the river and “S” Mountain. (“S” Mountain is the mountain with a big white “S” on it. Go figure.) We decided we would be returning to this part of Salida later on that day to explore some more.

Since I don’t want to bore the two people who might actually be reading this with the minutia of our errands, I’ll summarize this next part in bulleted points:
• Went to ranger station for ohv maps
• Purchased ohv sticker from state park office
• Sonic! (for a beverage)
After that, we went back for the dogs and took them swimming in the river by the bike shop. I thought Caleb was going to chase the kayakers who were practicing their moves, but I guess he thought better of it at the last minute. They always have a great time when swimming is involved.

With the dogs in tow, we decided to drive up toward Buena Vista to check out the area we would be going to ride the 4-wheeler. I think there are more fourteeners in that area than anywhere else in Colorado or maybe even the U.S.. (I’m sure Jan is Googling this right now.) Suffice it to say, it was beautiful.

Since we were closer to Buena Vista than Salida and we were hungry, we headed into Buena Vista (pronounced by the locals as byou-na vista rather than the Spanish pronunciation) for dinner. We were very disappointed in the restaurant selections. After driving to historic downtown, then down to the “new” section of Main Street, we decided to try a place with Buffalo in the name that was on the highway. John said it looked the busiest so it should be the best. I had a hard time arguing with that, so I agreed. We walked in and stood at the hostess stand. Someone said they’d be with us in a minute. We could hear a piano playing saloon or ragtime-inspired music and saw several people dressed in costumes. Evidently, most of the cars were there because of the hootin’ nanny they were having in the back part of the restaurant. After standing there for what seemed like forever, we decided to leave. We ended up at a place that had “steaks and spirits” in its title. Why can’t I remember the name of anyplace? I need to work on that. This is the part where we really started to think we were in the twilight zone. The hostess asked us if we were familiar with their menu. Of course, we weren’t. Sunday through Thursday they serve only filet mignon. You have a choice of sizes, but you get the steak, baked potato, bread, salad with house dressing, and a garnish. We were starving, so when she asked if that was ok with us, I said sure. (I think John started to protest by complaining to me about the downside of filet mignon when he’d rather have a New York strip, but we stayed anyway.) As we sat there waiting on someone to take our drink order John said, “This town doesn’t seem to be big on service, huh?” The house dressing on the salad turned out to be a mix of Ranch and honey mustard. Now why did they want to go and mess up perfectly good Ranch dressing? I felt a little sorry for John, because he doesn’t like Ranch at all. Ironically, he said the honey mustard made the Ranch more palatable. As we were eating our oddly-dressed salad, the hostess came over and asked us if we’d mind moving from our table into a booth. Apparently a large group just arrived, and they needed our table. Being the affable Texans we are, we agreed and were rewarded for our niceness with dessert on the house. Dinner was actually pretty good, and we got out of there for $22 plus tip—not bad at all for a steak dinner with dessert, even if the experience was a little odd.

We weren’t too impressed with the town of Buena Vista. Maybe we didn’t find the good part, but until someone gives me a good reason, I’m not making plans to return there unless I’m just passing through on the way to someplace better.

As I’m typing this John is…wait for it…you guessed it…working on a project. Last summer he bought this cheap little portable trailer (some assembly required) so we would have a way to transport our 4-wheeler to the trailhead. He’s out there now making the final modifications so we can go on our atv adventure tomorrow. Hopefully he won’t be out there all night.

In my web 2.0 class I learned that it was good to ask questions on my blog so people would make comments. So here goes.

Have you ever been to the Salida/Monarch/Buena Vista area? If so, what fun things did you do while you were here? Where are the good restaurants?

Until next time!

One Last Thing

Some of my favorite discoveries I found on this learning journey were the RSS reader, Creative Commons, Animoto, Delicious, Image Generator, and Ning. I have so many new things to explore! I was surprised there were so many tools that were unknown to me. I have subscribed to several blogs and groups that will help keep me up-to-date on new tools. I would definitely take another discovery program like this in the future.

As I work with elementary science teachers in our district and work on curriculum, here are some things I'd like to implement:

• I'm thinking about changing the purpose of my blog to focus on elementary science. I could include samples of what teachers' pages might look like as they go through the lessons.
  I would need to add my blog address to my signature in my school email.
• I'm going to use some simple slide shows as possible "Engage" activities.
• I will continue to develop my delicious bookmarks with science in mind.
• I will definitely use what I learned about Creative Commons when selecting images to use in curriculum.
  

Thing #9-Wiki

The wiki was fun, but I couldn't figure out how to get "toc" off my page! It's probably pretty simple, but I couldn't figure it out! It took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to post my own photo. When all else fails, go to the "help" tab! I think everything else in the process of creating this particular wiki page went pretty smoothly. I hope to have more time to play around in a wiki. If I weren't so pressed for time, I could really have fun getting creative with a wiki page. Maybe some night when I can't sleep I'll come in and explore some more.

Thing #23-Ning

Is it ok for me to say I feel like my brain is about to go into overload from so much new information? Ning is a great tool for creating your own social network. I am thinking this would be a good tool to use with elementary Science teachers to encourage networking and collaboration. I know teachers often have questions and are maybe hesitant to email or call the Science department. If we had a Science Ning, perhaps teachers would be a little more likely to get their questions out there and see how others have dealt with problems that pop up. I will definitely revisit the 2.0 network when I get ready to use a new technology to see what has been done and what works. There are so many ideas on that site I can't even think straight. The elementary group looks like one I might join to help me with some of this new technology I've just experienced.

Thing #22-Social Networking

Ok, this was an easy one. I am a Facebook Queen. I started out with a MySpace page in order to keep in touch with my goddaughter who moved to Michigan. I then branched out and used MySpace to stay in touch with other friends who moved out-of-state. Then I discovered Facebook, and I have to say it's not an exaggeration to say that it was life-changing. It is so much easier too stay in touch with old friends, new friends, co-workers past and present, and family members. We've had get-togethers with old friends from high school that we probably never would have seen or heard from if not for Facebook.

It is important for educators to know how social networking works because most students are using those sites. The research stated that about half of students who were using the social networking sites were using them to talk specifically about schoolwork. Since students are already using these sites, we as educators need to model how to use them appropriately.

As far as which site had the most useful features, I would have to say Facebook. I like how I have so many privacy settings and can make lists of friends and control what each list sees. I also like how easy it is to use Facebook on my phone. Facebook has some great games, as well as a live chat that is easy to use.

As for an educational application, I really don't want to attempt this with elementary school students. First of all, I think there is a minimum age requirement for Facebook. There are just too many variables out there we can't control. I have heard of teachers setting up a social networking account just for his/her class that was used for homework help and other school communication. It would not be my first choice as a tool to use in educating elementary students.

Thing #21-Other Google Tools

I really enjoy my iGoogle page. I have it set as my homepage on my computer at work. I added several gadgets. I really like how the Google Reader just feeds onto the page. I can just glance at it and see if anything new has fed into it. I also like how it gives me a preview of what is in my gmail account. I have some other fun things on there, such as the moon phases, fun facts, a Spanish-English translator, joke of the day, and TV Guide. I have the NY Times and CNN newsfeeds on there as well. I guess since I'm already using this at work, it must have some educational uses. In teaching Science, it's always good to know the moon phases. I've used the translator several times to decipher the questions from the released Spanish TAKS test. Of course I've used the reader to get some great articles with great ideas for teaching.

I've tried using the Google calendar. I have to say, I think I like the Outlook calendar better. We use the calendar feature at work to notify each other of meetings, as well as to let each other know where we are since we all travel around the district so much. I also set up a Google alert to feed my reader with education news once a week. I explored the Google sites, and toyed with the idea of setting up a travel blog, but decided it was going to take too much time to set it up; I'm leaving for my trip this weekend.

Google has some great, free stuff, but if you already have Microsoft Office or some other program on your computer that is working for you, I would just stick to that. I've noticed the Google tools can sometimes be rather sluggish when you are trying to create on them.

Thing #20-Google Docs

I've been using Google docs on a limited basis for the last year or so.

1. We use Google docs to record attendance for several schools during Saturday Science Camp. Each facilitator has editing rights to her school so she can mark "present" or "absent" for Saturday's camp. The document is shared as "read only" so principals can access their students' attendance.
2. When working on curriculum, we can collaborate with others on lesson ideas, photos, videos, etc. through Google docs.
3. I think the presentation option might be good for teacher training.

This summer we've really started using Dropbox. I think I really like it better because you can put anything in the folder and it automatically goes into your collaborators box. It's also been much more user-friendly than Google docs. Sometimes it is difficult to navigate in the docs, but when we use Dropbox, we are actually working in the document in whatever program it was created in.

Thing #19-Voice Thread

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all of this new information! There are so many ways Voice Thread can be used. I like the idea of making it a collaborative piece for students. For example, I could show a diagram of the water cycle and ask students to describe one part of it. This is a good way to get in those listening and speaking ELPS that help not only the ELLS, but all students. Groups of students from different could also collaborate on a science investigation or share ideas on what they have been learning in their classroom.

I think the possibilities for staff development using this tool are endless. Does anyone know if Mesquite ISD offers an online workshop that uses Voice Thread as a tool? Maybe the science department will be the first!

Thing #18

I did a little exploring on youtube and teachertube and really didn't have any trouble finding media that would enhance our science curriculum. Of course, for youtube, you have to override, because our district has that site blocked. You also have to be careful when using it aroundstudents because of possible comments or links that might pop up on the page. Teachertube, however, is much safer.

Here is a fun video I found that could be used as an "Engage" activity in a science lesson:



I plan on trying to use TeacherTube in the very near future to enhance lessons in the science curriculum.

Thing #17-Podcasting

I have a little bit of experience with podcasting from an online class I took last summer called "Podcasting with Audacity." I took this class with two of my co-workers. It was a lot of fun, but there was a bit of a learning curve for us. It was a good thing the three of us were there to figure things out together! I made a brief podcast that was related to 5th grade Science. We talked about including more podcasts in the curriculum, but we never really had a chance to actually do it. Maybe having podcasting as one of the "things" will inspire me to actually do it this year.

Early on in "23 Things," I subscribed to a podcast called "60-second Science." I find that I'm more likely to read the blurbs on my other subscriptions than actually listen to very many of these podcasts. Perhaps because there are so many it makes me feel overwhelmed. I will try to utilize the podcast search engines to narrow my search to a specific topic; this might help me find podcasts to enhance the lessons in the science curriculum. I tried using the "Learn Out Loud" search engine, but the podcasts I found for the topic I searched were not free. I'll have to explore a little more, I guess.

Thing #16-Library Thing

The Library Thing looks fun. I started an account, but I haven't written any reviews. This site would be a good way to have an online book club or get recommendations for new books to read. I will probably use this for my personal reading. I think it would be a good way to get students more interested in reading. I'm not sure I would use it with elementary students probably for the same reasons I wouldn't use Facebook or any other type of unrestricted social networking site with elementary students. Maybe as I explore it more I can find ways to use it safely with younger students.

Thing #15-Delicious

I started using Delicious the very next day at work. I'm working on Science curriculum, and am always searching out photos, videos, interactive web sites, etc. to include in the lessons. I had been copying and pasting the link into a Word document, but Delicious makes it so much easier! I have also shared my bookmarks with a co-worker since we are both working on Science curriculum. I also like that my bookmarks go with me no matter what computer I am on. Here is my Delicious link.

Thing 7b

Larry Ferlazzo is becoming one of my favorite bloggers. I read a post of his that described how to use photos in lessons. With the growing number of English Language Learners in our district, it is important that we find new and innovative ways to serve them. Now that I think about it, native English speakers can benefit from these techniques as well. I'm thinking of integrated his Picture Word Inductive Model into our science curriculum.

Thing #14-Weebly

After hearing the word "Weebly" all year long from one of my co-workers, I was intrigued when I saw it listed on one of the tools we could discover. It is basically a drag and drop web site creator. I played around with the free version. You could very easily make a simple web site fairly easily. I think it is possible you could have students create their own web sites to display research on a particular topic. Teachers could also use them as ways to disseminate information to parents and students. It is possible to set up a blog using this site. This would enable some of the "social features" blog commenting entails. Some features I noticed: embedding video, embedding photos and documents, forms, links, and search engines. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has created a working site from a Weebly. How did you use it with students and/or other educators?

Thing #13-Image Generators

This is a fun tool! Here is an image I made using a trading card generator.

I can think of many uses for trading cards. Students can create their own cards and use them for vocabulary flash cards. Here is one I made using another tool:

This is an image I created using Word Mosaic on Image Chef. It is supposed to symbolize that the sun is the energy source for the water cycle.

I think ELLs would benefit from these tools to help them learn not only everyday language, but academic language as well.

Thing #12-Create a Slideshow

The creation of the slideshow was not difficult at all, but getting it into this blog took a little playing around. This is just a practice slide show. I downloaded some photos of condensation from the Flickr web site Creative Commons. I've noticed people posting these on their Facebook pages, but for some reason I never looked to see what the site was all about. When I was on MySpace, there was an option to embed a slide show like this onto your site.

I think posting credit is going to be a little bit labor-intensive. I kept trying to copy and paste the credits into this post, but it wouldn't give me "paste" as an option. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make this easier?

Photo credits:

Water bottle

water on plant

condensation

Thing #11-Photo Sharing

I love photo sharing! I now know of many other places to go other than Wikimedia Commons. I didn't realize Flickr had creative commons work. I will definitely be using this and other resources when looking for ways to help students in science.

This pic was found here. We are working on rewriting the science curriculum to match the new TEKS. This has certainly opened up a wealth of resources to help our students!

Thing #10-Creative Commons

I suppose I've seen the cc symbol on web sites, but when I see those two c's together I think "closed captioning." I've heard a co-worker mention Creative Commons, but I'd never really thought much about it.

I have used many images from Wikimedia Commons in slideshows and flip charts for use with teachers and students. I guess this is just another avenue for Creative Commons, but again, I never really gave it much thought.

As far as negatives for using Creative Commons, I suppose people might become too dependent on using the creations of others. It is certainly a timesaver when you are trying to create a product for work and you don't have to stop and take photographs or spend time designing and drawing a graphic.

One of the questions asked was, "Who owns your teaching materials?" I've always thought that if you authored teaching materials while at work and while using the resources provided by that workplace, then the place of work actually owns the materials. I've known teachers who have toyed with selling their work, but I'm thinking that if they did it on school time, then they would either need the school district's permission or they would be breaking copyright. Is that right?

In education, it's easy to find schools, teachers, etc. who are in constant violation of copyright laws. I often feel like the copyright police when I go to a campus or classroom and see copies have been made that very clearly violate copyright law. I assume this goes on in the business world as well. It's an expensive mistake that I don't care to make!

Thing #8- Wikis!

The first time I heard about wikis was probably school-year before this last one. The 4th-grade team on my campus began using a wiki to collaborate on their lesson plans. The next few thousand times I heard about wikis was from my co-worker who works with high school science curriculum.

The more I think about wikis, the more I can see how they can be useful in the workplace and in the classroom. The first wiki I explored was 1001 Flat World Tales. While I think this is a great idea, I found this wiki to be somewhat confusing. The wiki is an ongoing book with students from all over the world editing and contributing. Perhaps that wiki was not the best place for my simple mind to start. I really liked Thousands Project wiki. Each month a class would post a question on the wiki with the goal of 1000 responses from all over the world. One of the questions asked, "What are the best books you have read?" Other questions involved creative thinking and problem solving. Another simple wiki was Kindergarten Counting Book. Responders add photos showing objects from 1 to 100.

Now I need to get my brain thinking about how wikis can be used in science instruction. I'm going to have to process this for a while. In the meantime, do any of you have any ideas?

Focus on the Positive-Thing 7a

As I was browsing through my reader, I found an interesting blog that suggests having students write about and share 2 positive events each week might have an effect on students lives. The author, Larry Ferlazzo, says studies have been done on couples who share positive events in their day, but he was unable to find any studies on how this positive sharing would effect students. Considering all of the negative events in our students lives, I think this is a fabulous thing to try. I am always looking for ways to create a climate of "family" in my classroom--happy family, not crazy, disfunctional family ;-) . I wonder if any of you have tried this and would want to share your results.