Early years Winter stage show

Now it is the late winter season in Bangladesh. Today it was foggy in the morning when 'winter stage show' was started but early year children and teachers enjoyed the whole function. It was a really warming and colorful occasion.
On the rooftop of the school it looked really bright and colorful although the stage was built very simple and on the floor level.

The main attraction of the program was 'Tuna Tuni' props prepared by KG.
Every class or section prepared English or Bangla rhymes related to winter. As Nursery class sung the vegetable song holding big vegetable format placards.
January month was a busy time for teachers as they have to work hard to make the winter Pitha or stage show programs successful.

More pictures of the winter show:

Winter season celebrations and Pitha festival

Winter season comes in Bangladesh region for a very short time. It stays in this region, more or less 2 months. Few weeks earlier we celebrated 'Winter festival' and I am sharing few of the pictures of this festival.

On 30th January, 2014 we arranged 'Pitha festival' at our school.

Few words about Pithas:
Pithas are are a part of food tradition and food culture of Bangladeshi cuisine. For pitha/peetha there is no similar word in English. It is an interesting thing that there is word in English we can translate or refer to this traditional food. We interpret pitha/peetha as a rice cake or pie. But it’s not like the traditional cake or pie what is common in the western world and in their food culture.

Pitha is not part of Bengali's daily menu. Most pithas/peethas are seasonal, specially prepeared in the winter season because of some ingredients which are available only in winter season. And pithas/peethas of the winter season are the most delicious – a special combination with the climate of winter cold.
It was really hard work to search online for pitha pictures or description and at last I stopped at the blog 'We love our Bangladesh' with a nice description and lot of pictures about pithas.
Reference: 'We love our Bangladesh' blog

I am now sharing the pictures of the festival:

Winter foods including traditional Bangla cuisine 'Pithas'

Pitha festival held on January 30th, 2014:

Enthusiast Nursery class watching 'Bhapa pitha making process'

Importance of writing in our lives

Like reading, writing is a very important learning tool.  Writing can be done through a keyboard (keypad at an electronic device such as pc, smart phone) though pen or pencils are writing tools. Now touch pads or smart phones has improved a way of writing with fingers or touch pens but can we get rid of 'writing with pen or pencil' and does 'writing' is still important for us?
There is a vital importance of 'writing'. 

Importance of writing:

Wikipedia says: "Writing helps you express yourself"

 Writing prepares you for school and employment (both of which in most cases require a lot of it).
 Writing is how much of the world communicates. If you don't write, you cut yourself off from a large community (including this one, incidentally).

Virtues of miswak

The World Health Organization recommends the use of the miswak in international consensus reports on oral hygiene published in 1986 and in 2000. The miswak is made from the plant Salvadora persica. For religious and cultural reasons use of miswak (for cleaning teeth and oral health) is firmly established and widespread in most of the Muslim countries.

Virtues of the miswak:
"The miswak is a mean of purification of the mouth and a mean of pleasure of the Lord "(Al-Bukhari).

"Had it not been for the sake of over burdening my Ummah I would have ordered them (to use) Miswak with every ablution"(Al-Bukhari).
It has also been narrated by reliable sources that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) was emphatic in the daily use of Miswak, upon waking, before and after eating, leaving and entering his house, before ablution, and prayers. Furthermore it was a practice of all the Prophets (peace by upon them). Some scholars have mentioned upto 70 benefits from the use of Miswak.

Dishonesty and lying in the light of Islam

A very common saying is 'Honesty is the best policy'. On the other hand when it come to our social life and relationships, lying and dishonesty sometimes becomes a major sin. It is also said that it is the root of every evil.
Why lying and dishonesty is a major sin and what scholars say about lying and dishonesty?

It may take care of the present, but it has no future. Worse than telling a lie is spending the rest of your life staying true to a lie. ~Robert Brault
We tell lies when we are afraid-----, afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad Williams
Lying and dishonesty always leads to hypocrisy.

Drinking Water or Soft Drinks?

With the frequent use of soft drinks and sodas, we are replacing it with water. Is it ok to drink soda drinks and leave our bodies thirsty? Our kids and teens are becoming addicted to the soft drinks, rather than taking enough water which is essential for their health.

The average American drinks more than 53 gallons of carbonated soft drinks each year, more than any other beverage, including milk, beer, coffee or water.

Harmful effects of taking too much sodas in place of water:

Did you know that just one can of Coke contains 10 teaspoons of sugar?!
This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake (which is more than double my recommended daily allowance to begin with). Within 20 minutes of drinking that soda, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat. Within 40 minutes, your blood pressure rises due to your body having absorbed all the caffeine, and then your liver dumps even more sugar into your bloodstream.

After about one hour, you’ll start to have a sugar crash, which often times leads you into a vicious cycle of consuming more sugar - and caffeine-laden stimulants, followed by crashes, throughout your day.

It is a proven fact that sugar increases your insulin levels, which can lead to not only weight gain, but also high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, premature aging and many more negative side effects. n soda pack on the pounds, it can also deteriorate the body as well.

One of the more troubling health risks soda drinkers face (as if obesity isn’t bad enough) is a higher cancer risk. Numerous studies have pointed out the link between sugar and increased rates of cancer, suggesting that regulating sugar intake is key to slowing tumor growth.

Which one is better toothbrush or miswak?

Which toothbrush do you use for teeth cleaning?
There are numerous varieties of available toothbrushes starting from cheap and ordinary to expensive, and electric toothbrushes.
Purpose of toothbrush is to clean the teeth and the material of this cleaning tool it almost same 'the plastic'.
But is it the safe way of keep your teeths healthy?
But we have a natural dental cleaning solution. It is natural toothbrush or bark of a tree.
For centuries people around the world cleaned their teeth with the natural toothbrush tree. After the advent of plastic, synthetic toothbrushes people adopted this new and cheap tool for cleaning their teeth.

Importance of Adhaan for Islamic society

The adhan, or Islamic call to prayer, is an integral part of the Muslim faith. The Adhan serves an announcement of the time of prayer.  Adaan is called out in mosques, Islamic schools, homes, and on the street in Muslim communities five times a day.  It is, at the same time, an announcement of the principles of Islam and the significance underlying them of Tawheed, the Risalah, and so on.

The adhan is also used in connection with the birth of a child, when the father reads the Adhan into the ear of his newborn child.

Adhan (call to prayer) lexically means ‘announcement,’ as states in the Holy Quran:

Ramadan -The Most Blessed Month

This is Shabaan month and next one is 'Ramadan' -the month of fasting. The most blessed month Ramadan is being observed by more than a billion Muslims around the world.

Muslims are supposed to observe fast during this month. Fasting or sawm is intended to help teach Muslims self-discipline, self-restraint and generosity. It also reminds them of the suffering of the poor, who may rarely get to eat well. The purpose of fasting is to cleanse the soul by freeing it from harmful impurities.

 Facts about Ramadan

The most blessed month for Muslims:

Did you miswaak your teeth today?

The sentence should be 'Did you brush your teeth today?', but I replaced it with the 'miswaak' a natural tooth brush. This article is about introduction and importance of this 'natural dental health tool'.

Nature has provided us with a wonderful solution to effectively and safely maintain dental health and oral hygiene. This natural toothbrush is called ‘Miswak’, derived from natural resource ‘tree’. Miswak is called natural chewing stick or natural toothbrush because it is composed of a compact group of minute natural fibres that perform exactly the same function as a normal toothbrush except that it is made of natural rather than plastic fibres.

Teaching values to new generation

Few days ago an article caught my attention which was about 'teaching values to our kids'. You will agree with me that our culture, our ethics and values are drastically changed and we are unable to teach these important lessons to our new generation. We are unable to teach our kids 'what ethics or values they need to learn'. This article and useful tips might be helpful to many parents so share your ideas in this connection.

Teaching values to your kids:
How can parents teach values to their kids?
Here are ten ideas to help you:

1. Tell them your life stories and teach through your stories 
   Kids love to hear stories about your childhood. Weave in some moral dilemmas and you've got great opportunities to teach values to them.

Video tutorial sites for teachers

Many educators are still novice to computers or internet and they want to develop their skills to get most from modern technology. This article is for all teachers who love to learn by watching video tutorials. These free tutorials are mostlty created for teachers to help them for skill development.
Good news is that these all sites offer all the tutorials free of charge. Moreover you don't need to register or sign in to watch videos. You are also free to upload your videos at thsee sites.
Most of us know that 'YouTube' is a very effective learning site where you can search and find numerous videos, although there are more sites with video tutorials. I am quoting few of the sites which I usually search or browse for video tutorials.

*** 'Khan Academy' is a non profit organization providing learning opportunities to students,teachers, home-schoolers etc. They have around 3600 videos covering K-12 math, science topics such as biology, chemistry, and physics. Each video is a digestible chunk, approximately 10 minutes long, and especially purposed for viewing on the computer.

*** 'Teacher Tube'
is a place for professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill.

*** 'School tube' is created by 'National Education Associations' for use in K-12 to empower students and teachers through the use of video. SchoolTube content is student and teacher produced, and is approved through an innovative process.

 And last one is the link to other sites where you can find more tutorials.

* 47 Alternatives to Using YouTube in the Classroom

Among these sites I miss only 'Teachers Tv' which is unfortunately closed, though you can find some of the tutorials at 'Teach Find' site which is a search site to find teaching resources, lesson plans and CPD materials using a simple search tool.

Winter festival celebration

Due to unavoidable situation around the country, school was kept open on Friday. Friday 14 of December was a working day of teachers of School. Early year teachers were asked to plan about 'winter festival' as coming week was the exam week for senior section and early year children enjoy their fun week activities.

Saturday 15, December the very next day was planned to be celebrated as 'winter festival'. Objective was to introduce and enhance knowledge of kids about 'winter clothing, winter play or games, winter food etc.
Teachers were enthusiastic about festival and though it was really hard job to prepare everything one day ahead of the festival, they agreed to do this educational and fun festival next day.

Winter pithas of Bangladesh

Rice cakes of winter pithas are counted as cultural or local food of Bengal. Pitha, in the Bengali, Assamese and Oriya cuisines, is usually a thin-flat cake prepared from a batter made with soaked and ground rice.
Saturday on December 15, 2012, a 'Winter Festival' was celebrated at our School. Pitha or rice cakes are mainly made with 'rice powder' mixing with molasis or other spices.

More about Pitha: Pithas are usually cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan and could be fried in oil, roasted over a slow fire or baked and rolled over a hot plate once made. In West Bengal and Bangladesh, special pithas are made in different processes such as steaming or stuffing, the bhapa and puli pithas being
examples respectively. Special festivals where pithas are generally made include Nabanna in Bengali culture, Bihu in Assam and many festivals in East India.

It was the first time to learn many pitha names. I am including the pitha pictures and their names in this post as our new generation needs to learn about their culture and food habits.

Predictions and prophesies about Dec 21, 2012

People around the world are worried and concerned about predictions and prophesies about coming 21st of December 2012.
This time is given many names such as:
"The Time of Trial on Earth,"
"Judgement Day,"
"The Time of Great Purification,"
"The End of this Creation,"
"The Quickening,"
"The End of Time as We Know It,"
"The Shift of the Ages,"
"The Apocalypse"
and "Armageddon".

Teachers training session "Effective Implementation of numeracy strategy in reception years"

Training sessions for teachers at our school are part of their yearly routines. Teachers are lucky to be in their best shape (as a teacher) due to having teaching training on regular basis. In our school, numeracy strategy was practically and successfully implemented few years ago. Many parents including new teachers joining early years recently needed basic training about 'Numeracy strategy'.
'what is numeracy strategy?' 
The simple answer of later question could be that 'It is activity based learning system which is being adopted and successfully implemented in Britain for years. In early years, children learn numeracy and mathematical skills through practical activities, games and tasks which have a real relevance and meaning in everyday life.

Big bazaar of Play group students

It is November 11, 2012 Sunday. There is an event of 'Big Bazaar' where students of play group of 'Our School' are sellers. You must be wondering what is this 'Big Bazaar' all about. Basically through this event was celebrated to encourage children's lovely and hard work.
Who is the buyer?
Parents of the play group were buyers at this bazaar. Parents were invited to see the creative work done by their kids.

Process of preparing art work

What is being sold at this bazaar?

Maths Display boards for Nursery

We have two terms during an academic year and during these two terms, we organize four parents teacher meetings. Parents teachers meeting is an opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss the progress of a child.
Our classroom display boards are also edited regularly, showing our teaching progress and students work. This post is about Maths display board which was displayed last term (end of session). At reception stage, by the end of an academic year, our students finish learning basic concept of counting, recognition, addition, subtraction etc. Following picture is taken from our Nursery class.  This board was displayed at the end of last year.

Effective behavior management in classrooms

We start our new school year getting a personal profile of each student entering in our classroom. On the basis of that personal profile we set up a strategy guide which helps us to treat new students. Few students having behavior problems are always a challenge for educators. We try our best to adopt the effective behavior management strategies in classrooms to acquire best learning environment.
Recently I found some effective behavior management strategies which I am quoting here. I am including lease effective behavior management strategies as well because personally I found that we need to know the difference between effective or ineffective strategies for better classroom management.

Classroom management tips

There are number of classroom tips or strategies which teachers use to create best learning environment around their classroom. Dealing with children having behavior problem is a challenge for each teacher. Creating and establishing some classroom rules is an effective way of classroom management. These rules can be established from the start of new year. Teachers can print these rules and hang around the classroom as a reminder.
These classroom management tips and strategies are adopted by experienced teachers.
Effective Classroom management tips:

1. Before you begin teaching/talking always "scan" the classroom and make sure "all eyes on me".  Eye contact is the most powerful method of non verbal communication between people. Be sure to establish eye contact with your students to gain their trust and make positive impressions. Avoiding eye contact implies low self-confidence and looking down suggests embarrassment. Direct and frequent eye contact with another person – or members of an entire classroom – exhibits confidence and interest.

Online tutorials for learning Microsoft Word

I have learned the basic computer knowledge from computers itself. Microsoft Word is a popular word processing software for producing documents. I started using Microsoft Word few years ago and still learning as there is a lot to learn for effective use of this software.
Using computers, reading related books, surfing through computer magazines is the easiest way to learn it although it takes time to master the basic computer skills. Many people still spend months and even years, just to gain PC knowledge skills. Microsoft Word is one of computer t

Now you can get access to 'YouTube' or free online tutorials to learn basics of computers.

Use of cell phone or addiction?

This post is about today's tech age, use of gadgets and how it is overlapping with our social lives, our relations. Mobile phones are used for a variety of purposes, including keeping in touch with family members, conducting business, and having access to a telephone in the event of an emergency.
The use of a mobile phone is not limited to essential tasks only,  it is being used in making video, recording information and transmitting it to a phone or a computer.

Access of internet has made this device multi functional. Facilities like on line chatting, conferencing, sending text, transferring MMS information is possible via a cell phone.
It is up to the users, to make the best use of mobile phone. But our new generation is showing the signs of cell phone addiction. They have their cell phones every time during day or night around them. Busy chatting with friends, playing games, enjoying audio video or just surfing the net, they love to stay focused towards their gadget.

Albert Einstein said,

"I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity.
The world will only have a generation of idiots."

Want to see it yourself?

With friends

At work

At a picnic

Was Einstein right? or we are just emerging as an addict generation? 

Related posts:

Top 10 Signs of Cell Phone Addiction

Amazing facts around us

This digital age has shrunken the world. Now we have access to internet which itself is a world of its own. Information sharing is easy and accessible now. I receive few emails which are stuffed with 'interesting news' or 'stuff' which is useful or worth of sharing. I am writing few posts at this blog which are taken from my 'inbox'.
A very touchy information is about 'Allah's creations and amazing facts around us'

Use of Google Earth in classroom

'Google Earth' is useful for many day-to-day and other purposes. This article is very useful for students or teachers who want to make use of this helpful online tool.
Teachers can adopt Google Earth in the classroom for lesson planning, such as teaching students geographical themes (location, culture, characteristics, human interaction, and movement).
Students can use Google Earth to explore topics like the progress of human civilization, the growth of cities, the impact of civilization on the natural environment, and the impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

What is Google Earth?

Screen friendly fonts for online browsing

In my previous article I discussed about 'printer friendly' fonts which can save your money for printing jobs. Today we are learning about 'screen friendly fonts' which are comfortable to read. Certain fonts can be clearly readable and comfortable for eyes. While online browsing, screen-friendly fonts helps protect your eyes and reduce stress.
Let's learn about screen friendly fonts:

Screen-friendly fonts:

The best choices are Verdana, Trebuchet MS and the serif font Georgia. These fonts are>;also highly readable on paper. These three fonts are modern, friendly and professional, and exceptionally easy to read on-screen. All these fonts are great to look at on screen and on paper.

Tutorials for teachers- Essential softwares for your computers

This tutorial is about essential software programs which you may need to use your computer effectively. Most of the software programs are available at no cost.

Whenever I re-install my 'Windows' I keep a folder ready at 'software' drive which is named as 'Essential software' as I need those programs to install every time I install new 'Windows'. Let's learn basics about 'Windows'
Windows is the most popular PC operating system in the world. An operating system, or OS, is a software program that enables the computer hardware to communicate and operate with the computer software. Without a computer operating system, a computer would be useless. Other programs can't run on a PC until the OS is loaded and running. Windows 98, Windows XP, and now Windows 7 or 8 are examples of operating systems.

Tutorials for teachers - Learning about software programs and how to install them?

While I was taking the computer training session for my co-teachers, I noticed that teachers are enthusiastic about use of computers and internet. During online search for education materials, we need to save our documents, but often it becomes difficult to open that file.
What kind of files we need to open?
Mostly these files are in Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Zip, Rar format. So if your computer doesn't have specific software to open these files, you cannot get results from your search. I am listing here essential software programs which are helpful to open specific kind of files.

Why Muslim Women Wear Hijaab and is there any Hijaab in Other Religions?

Hijaab (or burka) is an Arabic word meaning barrier or partition. Hijab is the principle of modesty in Islam and includes behaviour as well as dress for both males and females. The most important thing about Hijab is that it gives you an identity of a Muslim. Moreover, it is another way of obedience to Allah's (SWT) command. How the communities of world can abide a muslim woman to wear hijaab when there is no restriction for other religions to follow the dress code according to their customs or religious teachings?

In Islam, the words of Allah (God) are that the women should be modest and follow the principle of clothing. She should cover her beauty. At home or among family or in front of her husband there is no need to wear the Muslim headscarf. Many Muslim women wear the headscarf.

Teachers tutorial - Refining your online search with web directories

If you are clear about the topic of your query, start with a Web directory rather than a search engine. Directories probably won't give you anywhere near as many references as a search engine will, but they are more likely to be on topic.

A web directory or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. A web directory is a subject-tree style catalogue that organizes the Web into major topics such as education, health, science, etc. A web directory is not a search engine and does not display lists of web pages based on keywords; instead, it lists web sites by category and subcategory.

Tutorial for teachers- use of specific keywords for online search

It is an art to learn to refine our online search to get the effective results.
What are the techniques or tricks which can help us maximize our chance of finding what we want with online search?
This article helps you learn effective online search tips and techniques.
I am an educator dealing in reception years and thus I suggest early year teachers to start searching for educational stuff by using these keywords:
- Early years
- Foundation stage
- EYFS (Early years foundation stage)
- Type the subject in search field such as 'art, religion, numeracy, literacy etc.

Which are printer friendly fonts to save money with your printing jobs?

Printer ink is expensive, either black and white or color. In this article we are learning about use of 'printer friendly fonts and how we can save money with printer ink? Printer friendly fonts can help you save with printing jobs.
Fonts like Arial, Times News Roman, Courier, Helvetica, etc. are generally used in most of the cases, but which one is the most economic typeface when it comes to printing?

A Dutch printing company did some research and found that Century Gothic and Times New Roman fonts use far less ink or toner than Arial and Sans Serif. In fact, they found that Century Gothic uses around 30% less ink than Arial. They carried out a case study at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay who spent around $100,000 per year on ink; they switched from Arial to Century Gothic and saw a saving of around $10,000 per year.

Computer training- Using search engines to prepare resources and worksheets

Being an educator at any school means a lot to us. We educators get a lot of opportunities to participate in 'self development' training or workshops during whole year. After successful completion of a year, various training sessions or workshops are held to train all teachers. The purpose of these training or learning sessions is "skill development and become excellent teachers"
I was assigned to take a training session for early years teachers today.
The topic was, 'Using search engines to prepare resources and worksheets for classroom use/educational needs'.
15 teachers participated in this training. I prepared a 'Power Point Slide' to introduce the basics of search engines, keywords, searching tips etc. It was my pleasure to see that after watching slide teachers were enthusiastic to apply the knowledge practically.

Best ways to download YouTube videos

We teachers need to download videos from internet often. I have tried many softwares to download these videos but usually these free to use software programs don't give you the satisfactory results. I searched online to find best ways to download 'YouTube' videos and sharing the result of my findings.

YouTube is the most popular video sharing site on the internet, allows its users to upload and share videos easily but doesn’t provide any way to download them.

Best ways to download YouTube videos:
I don't recommend using professional downloading software programs to download YouTube videos, as there are many ways to grab these videos and save at your pc hard disk.

Join Google Advanced Search Course online

It was a good news for me to get this news that 'Google is offering free e-course on advanced search which is called "Power Searching by Google". It is a great opportunity for people who browse a lot of information at net. 
>

Join this course and become a power searcher. This free course is open for everyone but you need to register TODAY
Google is providing '50-minute classes' in a total of six sessions to help us quicken our search time and also extract exactly what we need. I am sure you realize the value of this course. 


More details and registration for this free e-course on Power Searching by Google can be found at http://www.google.com/insidesearch/landing/powersearching.html 


When you pass out the sessions, a printable Certificate of Completion will be emailed to you. 
Register today. Registration process is very easy, just write your full name at provided box and if you already have a 'Google' account, you will be registered without any hassle.


The sessions start on 10th July. 

Tutorial for teachers- Downloading files from the Internet

When I was novice to computers and internet, it took weeks and months to learn the basics of internet and computers. Sometimes I found useful links or sites and saved them at my computer and found the files but after many trial and error efforts, I learned to save the files from the internet to hard disk. These simple tutorials can save your time to learn the basics of internet. Interestingly most of these tutorials are offered by renowned sites like 'Microsoft' itself.

Downloading a file from the internet: When you download a file, you transfer it from the Internet to your computer. The most commonly downloaded files are programs, updates, or other kinds of files such as game demos, music and video files, or documents. Downloading can also mean copying information from any source to a computer or other device, such as copying your favorite songs to a portable music player.

Where are downloaded files saved?
When you download files, Windows usually saves them in the Downloads folder which is located under your user name in the users folder on the drive where Windows is installed.
It is stored at the location: C:\users\your name\downloads.

When you are saving the file, you can choose to save it to a different folder. Some different types of files are saved to different folders by default. For example, if you right-click a picture on a webpage and then choose Save Picture As from the menu, the picture will be saved to the Pictures folder by default. If you're not sure where the file was saved, you can search for it from the Start menu.
When it take so long to download a file, there may be many reasons for delay: 

• Your connection might be slow. If you have a dial-up connection, it takes a lot longer to download files than if you have a broadband connection, such as DSL or cable.
• Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) might be offline or experiencing heavy Internet traffic. Wait a while, and then try again.
• If you are on a corporate network, the network settings might be the problem. Check with your system administrator.
• If you use a file or music sharing program, someone might be downloading a file from your computer. Try disabling file sharing services while you're downloading and see if the process gets faster.
• You might have too many programs open at the same time. Try closing unnecessary programs.
• Your computer might have spyware running. Try scanning your computer for spyware. For more information about removing spyware, see Remove spyware from your computer.
• Missing updates can affect your computer's performance. Go to the Windows Update website and check for updates.

Reference: http://windows.microsoft.com/

Useful links:
Find a file you have downloaded

Tutorial for teachers- Using image search engines and sites to find images and clip art

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Tutorial for teachers - How to select keywords to get the best search results?

Learning to find information quickly and effectively is essential to successfully using the Internet. Specialized search Web sites allow users to search for content that meets the selection criteria they specify. Keyword searching is an effective way to locate information on the World Wide Web.
Keywords are used to find relevant Web sites and pages. "key" has more than one meaning; here it means "important.
We are now learning  'how to select keywords to produce the best search results?'
Following procedure can help you get the best search results.

Procedure for selecting suitable keywords and use them to get the best search results:
Fine-tune your keywords: 
If you're searching on a noun (the name of a person, place or thing), remember that most nouns are subsets of other nouns. Enter the smallest possible subset that describes what you want. Be specific. Try to meet the search engine halfway by refining your search before you begin.

Example: If you want to buy a car, don't enter the keyword "car" if you can enter the keyword "Toyota." Better still, enter the phrase "Toyota Dealerships" AND the name of the city where you live.

Be Refined: 
Read the help files and take advantage of the available search refining options. Use phrases, if possible. Use the Boolean AND (or the character +) to include other keywords that you would expect to find in relevant documents.
Also learn to EXCLUDE with the Boolean NOT. Excluding is particularly important as the Web grows and more documents are posted. Run your initial query over again several times, each time adding further refinements to narrow down your list of relevant hits.

Example: If you want to find out how medical details about your grandmother's diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, try entering "Alzheimer's" AND "symptoms" AND "prognosis." If you want to find out about Alzheimer's care and community resources, query on "Alzheimer's" AND "support groups" AND "resources" AND NOT "symptoms."

Query by example: 
Take advantage of the option that many search engine sites are now offering: you can "query by example," or "find similar sites," to the ones that come up on your initial hit list. Essentially what you're doing is telling the search engine, "yes, this looks promising, give me more like this one."

Anticipate the answers: 
Before searching, try to imagine what the ideal page you would like to access would look like. Think about the words its title would contain. Think about what words would be in the first couple of sentences of a webpage that you would consider useful. Use those words, or that phrase, when you enter your query.

Tutorial for teachers: Using the information friendly search engine for your educational needs

Internet have become an essential part of educational industry, for being great source of information. Educators are now able to grab load of information within seconds use it effectively for educational needs. To make our search effective and time saving we need to look for specific search engines which are 'Information Friendly'.Information friendly are the search sites or engines which provide the specific and reliable information for our educational needs.
You are going to learn 'why educators need to use 'information friendly search engines' to narrow their search and find the specific information saving their time.
Are popular search engines, information friendly? I will say 'NO' and the reason is:

• With billions of pages, you could spend a lifetime hunting for specific information.
Popular search engines let you define search criteria in very specific ways, but not all function identically.

Recycling used text books and saving bucks

Recycling used text book is a good way to save few bucks. The recycling process can also help us save energy, water and landfill space.
If you don't want to donate or recycle your text books then you can also sell these books.
I usually donate those old books to other child. And from few years, I ask for used text books from other parents. Parents can help each other in this process of recycling. It is not only good for environment but a way of saving bucks.
Recycling tips:

• Best way to recycle used text books is to communicate other parents or teachers around your community. Ask other parents for exchange of unused text books. 
• Educators may encourage parents to grow a habit of recycling of used text books.
• There are many online sites which can help students or parents, buying used text books at very cheap rates.
• Donate to charities, public libraries or local schools. They can utilize your used books themselves or sell them for fundraising.
• Check out BookMooch, which is an online community for exchanging used books. This site allows you to give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. There is no cost to join or use their site; your only cost is mailing your books to others.
• Paperback Swap is another site that lets you swap not only paperbacks, but also hardcover books, textbooks and more.

We also need to know can how we can save money buying used text books.

How about buying used books saving upto 90%?
'Textbook.com' is an online resource offering huge discounts on new and used college textbooks. Having over 7 million textbooks, these books are ready to ship.

Useful links:

10 Helpful Ways to Recycle Used Books

How to Teach and Work with Children with Dyscalculia using alternative learning methods?

Students with learning disabilities are a challenge for educators as these children need individual attention, alternative learning styles and strategies to achieve success. 4 to 6 percent of all students classified as having specific learning disabilities in schools. Dyscalculia is one of those learning disabilities among children.

Dyscalculia is also called math disability as it involves innate difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmetic. It includes difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, learning maths facts, and a number of other related symptoms.

Having a learning disability does not mean being unable to learn. It does mean that the person will have to use adaptive methods to process information so that learning can be accomplished. Recent research studies tells us that we can teach these students and put into a position to compete. Using alternate learning methods, people with dyscalculia can achieve success.

Success for these students requires a focus on individual achievement, individual progress, and individual learning. Although math learning difficulties occur in children with low IQ dyscalculia occurs in people across the whole IQ range, and sufferers often, but not always, also have difficulties with time, measurement, and spatial reasoning.


Two major areas of weakness can contribute to math learning disabilities:

1. Visual-spatial difficulties, which result in a person having trouble processing what the eye sees 
2. Language processing difficulties, which result in a person having trouble processing and making sense of what the ear hear.

Helping a student identify his/her strengths and weaknesses is the first step to getting help.

How is teach and work with Dyscalculia childrens?
Parents, teachers and other educators can work together to establish strategies that will help the student learn math more effectively. Help outside the classroom lets a student and tutor focus specifically on the difficulties that student is having, taking pressure off moving to new topics too quickly. Repeated reinforcement and specific practice of straightforward ideas can make understanding easier.

Alternative learning methods:

• Allow use of fingers and scratch paper
• Practice estimating as a way to begin solving math problems.
• Use diagrams and draw math concepts
• Provide peer assistance
• Use of graph paper for students who have difficulty organizing ideas on paper.
• Use of colored pencils to differentiate problems
• Work with manipulative
• Draw pictures of word problems
• Use mnemonic devices to learn steps of a math concept
• Use rhythm and music to teach math facts and to set steps to a beat
• Schedule computer time for the student for drill and practice
• For language difficulties, explain ideas and problems clearly and encourage students to ask questions as they work.

Help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Understanding how a person learns best is a big step in achieving academic success and confidence.

'Learning Disabilities Association'