New Widget

I am finishing up the last few assignments of my Web 2.0 class and while learning about pageflakes I came across this widget. Widgets are items you can place on your desktop or in your blogs, and wikispace. These include things like clocks, calculators, daily weather etc. I am trying out a cat widget

Family

My nephew Nicholas Wilkes recently reported for duty in Iraq. My sister Carmen sent me this photo of him. We are all praying that he stays safe while in Iraq.

Nicholas Wilkes in Iraq

Too busy

Seems like too much has been going on in my life for me to write. I am basically done with my mentor program for my student teacher with the University of Alaska.

I still have some work to complete my Web2.0 class and hopefully will have everything done for that class by the end of next week. My next task is to complete an podcast which I'm thinking about doing on snow buntings which are some of the first migratory birds to arrive in Fairbanks for spring.
I am also finishing up some classes called Writers Workshop which are a variety of workshops on writing activities to use with students.

I just finished a 3 day class from AMEREF Alaska Mineral and Energy Resource Fund. This was a fun class where I participated in mining a cookie, where we had to pick out chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut pieces. Each piece we found was worth a certain amount of money. We had to pay for our tools, toothpicks and a plastic fork and then we had to pay for reclamation which means we had to put the cookie back to it's natural state. We lost about $4,000 and I learned that mining for any substance is a complicated process. I really like the idea that the environment was included in all activities where both sides- the mining prospect as well as the concerns for the environment were addressed. Now I've got some great lessons to use with students. AMEREF is a resource for forestry, minerals, fisheries and natural resources.