EdTechLens - TOS Review

Science especially at the elementary level is about observing the world around you. Some of that might be in your own backyard and some might be in far away places. Since we cannot travel to the rainforest it was fun to explore the rainforest. We recently had the opportunity to review the Rainforest Journey Grade 2 from EdTechLens.


EdTechLens is an online curriculum developer for grades K-5. Currently the program that they offer is Rainforest Journey, which is a life science program.

We received a one year subscription to Rainforest Journey, Grade 2.

We used EdTechLens on the computer which did mean that I sat with Miss K while she worked through this. It can be used on other online platforms as well. There are both teacher accounts and student accounts. While there are the two accounts we worked from the teacher account partly because at the beginning I was confused and just used my account and then later discovered how to login for the student account. EdTechLens assigns a student ID and you assign a password. You can either sign in as the teacher or the student. The student account will remember where the student is in the program and will not allow the student to move on until a section is completed.

There are five units in the Rainforest Journey. The unit topics included The Big Picture, Adapt or Die, Animals, Plants and Fungi, and Ecosystems. The units are broken into chapters and then into lessons. The lessons begin with a large photo of what that specific lesson is about and then there is both the written text that can be read by the teacher or the student and an audio clip that reads what is written there.  The photos were amazing as they were vibrant, close-up, and detailed. It took just about ten minutes to do each lesson. At the end of the lesson was a PDF lesson review and hands-on activities. There are also quizzes but that is a bit more than Miss K can do at this time.


The nice feature of having teacher account is it can do the grading for you. I like the idea that you can have children at different grades learning the same topic but at varying learning levels.

Science seems to be one of the things with Miss K that is not done consistently. When we began this review, I had hopes that this would engage her and that her own excitement would help me to be consistent in doing science. She enjoyed it at the beginning but that did not continue. There were times that I knew she was following along and learning some new things.

I had a technical issue of any time that I logged in with my teacher account, I had to use the "forgot password" feature. I wrote my password down and used it the next time but again it would not allow me to login. I saved my password to the cloud but even then it would not accept the password. That just added a bit of delay in logging into the program. EdTechLens is aware of this issue.

I loved the photos. It was fun to explore a part of the world through the computer where we have not been. The videos gave you opportunities to see things that are not in your backyard.

You can go reviews from others here.




Beth

Barcelona - Day 1

I gave a preview last week or our trip. Now you know the answer, we were in Barcelona.

We took a winter getaway last week with the hope of a bit of sun and warmth. It was a bit of a Christmas present. We decided to go to Barcelona. We had heard it was a beautiful city. We had never been there or even to Spain for that matter.

The first thing on our list of things to do was see the Sagrada Familia. It was right around the corner from where we were staying. We had tickets for 10:00. The tickets do have specific times to enter. We have seen various cathedrals in Europe and in some ways they do begin to look very similar. Even from the outside you know that it will be different.

The first stone was laid on 19 March 1882 and it is expected to be completed in 2026. Gaudi was the chief architect. Gaudi is a figure of modern architecture. Much of the inspiration for Sagrada Familia is from nature.

There are three facades -- the east is the nativity, the west the passion facade and the south which is not completed the glory facade. The east was done very much in Gaudi's style while the passion has a bit of cubist style.

The interior is full of light and coloured light from the stained glass windows. The columns and arches are not the typical that you see in other cathedrals. The columns look a bit like trees and branches.

You can almost feel like you are in a bit of a forest as you look at the columns.

The stained glass is a bit lighter in colour and so light flows through filling the building with the colours.

We also booked to go up one of the towers. You can an elevator up and then walk around a bit and walk down. Miss K didn't want to go up so we took turns going up.

This is looking at the fruit on the outside. You can see the workman there. It is hard to imagine that this was begun in 1882 and won't be finished for another 10 years. So when it was begun the workers knew they would not see it finished. When I thought back to how long it took to build the York Minister, 250 years I guess it does take a long time to build something this big.

Even the stairway going down has the look from nature -- it looks like a shell. The steps were narrow but not difficult to go down.

In the afternoon we went up Montjuic. We had planned to go partway up on the funicular but that was closed for annual maintenance so we rode a bus to the cable cars. Miss K loved the cable cars. 

At the top is Montjuic Castle. The current structure was built in 1751. We didn't go in but walked around the outside.

We had a nice view of the harbour.

Here is the city as we were going down the cable car. You can see Sagrada Familia.

Beth

Friday's Five

Friday's Five - a place for me to share five things.

This week's Friday's Five is five photos from this week. I just pulled these from my camera. I didn't edit them. I am just sharing a bit of what we saw and did this week.

Based on these five photos do you know where we were this week?

Beth

Grapevine Studies - TOS Review

I enjoy beginning out day with some Bible time. It is great to have something that is interactive and something hands on for the kids to do. Since I have children at two different levels, it is nice when we can do the same thing but at each of their levels. Grapevine Studies gives us both hands on and something for both child. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review Grapevine Studies Birth of John to Jesus' Ministry Level 1 with Miss K and Level 4 with J. 



We received the digital download of Birth of John to Jesus' Ministry Level 1 with the Teacher's manual and also Birth of John to Jesus' Ministry Level 4 with the Teacher's manual. I had the student books printed but used the teacher's manual as a PDF file on the iPad. The Teacher's Manual shows the colours to draw the figures. Because of the drawing and colours it is nice having it so you can see it in colour. For me that was my cost effective way to do it.

Grapevine Studies is a Bible study method and curriculum. This provides a tool in studying the Bible.   The study begins with a timeline which helps to put the passage in chronological order and helps to see the bigger picture of the Bible events. The timeline for the study went back to Adam and just covered a few of the events from the beginning until the birth of John. I like seeing how events fit into the whole story and not just picking out certain bits and pieces.

We used this about four times a week together. Miss K had her book and J had his. While they were both studying the same passage and drawing the same figures, J had a bit more to interact with and respond to based on his higher level. Level 4 has a Quest Page with things to look up in a Topical Bible, Bible Dictionary, Concordance and a Quest Question. I think it is a good way to begin to use these Bible study tools.

Here is a sample of the same story from the different levels.

We would often do four or five passages each day depending to the length and the amount of time we had. Throughtout the book there would be points that we would be reviewing the timeline and adding major events to the timeline.

It does not take long to read and discuss each passage. I would read the Bible passage and then we would talk about, answer some of the questions and draw what is happening using stick figures. The Teacher's Manual includes some discussion questions for the passage and shows the figures to draw. Each passage does not take long to do. To get the details for this specific study we did jump a bit from Matthew to Luke but that is just to be able to get all the details of the story.


This study began with Zacharias and Elizabeth and goes all the way through Jesus teaching his disciples to pray. There are 12 lessons in the book.

You can tell that this is J's page.

I like the principals that are taught in this series. The method is to read a short passage and then to summarise the passage using stick figures. This works great with various stories in the Bible.

We have enjoyed learning together with Grapevine Studies.



Beth

Mothering Sunday

 Today is Mothering Sunday, a day to remember mothers and all they do for us. I am so thankful for my mother.

This is my mother and her mother. That was taken about eight or nine years go.

I am thankful that my mother was able to come visit us this autumn and spend some time with us enjoying our life here.

I am thankful for all my mother has done for me, taught me, shared with me, spent my money (she loves to find things that I need to buy and often does a good job of finding things that she knows I will like), and so much more.

My son said we will celebrate the American Mother's Day.

Beth

Friday's Five

Friday's Five is a place for me to share five things. 

This week's topic is Five things in my kitchen as a result of living and traveling overseas.

I spent quite a bit of time each day in the kitchen either cooking or cleaning up. Even in my kitchen there are reminders of the fact that I have lived and traveled overseas. It might be the spices in my cabinet. I never used curry like I do now after eating so many delicious meals at Salimar, our favourite Indian restaurant in Hong Kong. The powdered milk in the cabinet -- we love Anchor Powdered milk from New Zealand.  There are little reminders around my kitchen of places we have been.

1. Kyocera knives - I love my ceramic knives. I first discovered these in Taiwan when a friend introduced me to them. It didn't take long to love them. They are sharp but cut through fruits and vegetables so easily. They are the best knives for cutting tomatoes. I still have the first one that I bought and it is probably 15 years old but still cuts.

The pig cutting board is a reminder of my grandfather who made that for me.

2. My butter box - This is one of the newest additions to the kitchen. My mother and I bought these when we were out here enjoying the pottery shops. A box of spreadable butter fits nicely in it. That is my bit of England.

3. The fruit bowl from Thailand - I spent 6 months living in Thailand in 1992. Then later I was back every 6 to 8 weeks for a week or so. If I was there on the weekend, I would go to the weekend market and buy some blue and white dishes. This one is not too deep and perfect for fruit.

4. Stainless steel straw spoons - When we were in Switzerland, our hostess had these. She gave me four of them. It is a nice reminder of our host family and also great for hot drinks. Miss K loves using them with her almost daily hot chocolate.

5. My Vintage Pyrex - I guess I just couldn't leave America without some of this. I use the bowls for mixing and serving.

Five things from my kitchen reminding me of the places I have been.

Beth

February in Review

February is over, all 29 days this year. I can't say that we did anything special or exciting for the extra day. It was just a normal day.

My word for 2016 is Challenge, I am reminding myself as much as anyone. My focus for February was loving my family. Love is a noun but it is an abstract noun so that one is a bit harder to define. I think this challenge was a bit more difficult as it didn't have rules and guidelines like my food challenge. I want my love to reflect God's love and so I need to understand the depths of God's love for me. I will say that I have learned to listen and put the computer or book or sewing aside to listen. I have tried to love unconditionally, sacrificially but my desires, my wants just keeps getting in the way. I am glad that I took the time to just reflect on what it means to love my family.

In March I am going to focus on routines, habits, and schedules. My goals are to have myself, my children, my house running on a schedule without my brain power having to do all that. Okay, that challenge might take more than a month.

I want to focus on some habits -- most of these are remaining from the food challenge and the goal of losing weight. I am using a habit tracker for that.

I want some good morning and evening routines. I need do work my cleaning schedule which I wrote and need to follow as well as a schedule for school. I have my work cut out for me.

What else happened in February?

I read one book. I finished one book, To Kill a Mockingbird which is my classic book. I started a biography of Margaret Thatcher. When I was picking the book, I thought, "let's read the authorised biography, that this is the real thing, don't settle for less than the authorised biography." What I learned as I began chapter 1, page 1 of 758 pages of volume one of the authorised biography, is that authorised biography means the author was given accesses to all the letters, journals, papers, and other notes and so all of those things need to be included in the biography. I am now on about page 57. I might find another biography to read.

I need to read a few more books in March to get caught up on my goal for the year.

I finished half a project, J's pillow is finished. I say half because I need to make Miss K's pillow. I also quilted my Good Night Moon quilt and just need to hand sew the binding on. I am working on those unfinished projects.

We continued to practice hospitality. We enjoyed a fun evening with some friends.

I took the kids out on an outing. I have a stack of brochures of places to visit.

We put our boots on and went hiking one afternoon. It was one of the days that we had sun and so we had to go out and enjoy it.

Beth