The Teachers' Tech Lounge Exploring the wise use of tech to increase student achievement 

As most of you know, kindergarten and preschool begin school on a different schedule that grades 1-4.  Here are the dates I have received from Central Office:

August 10-14 — School Visits and Assessments

August 17-18 — Half of the class will come to school

August 19-20 — Other half of the class will come to school

August 21 — All K and PreK begin school

Please tell your employees if they are going to deposit their check into a checking account they have to attach a voided CHECK.  If they are depositing into a savings account they have to attach a DEPOSIT SLIP.  This is clearly stated on the Authorization Form where the employee chooses if they want their check deposited to a checking or savings account.

Employees cannot attach a deposit slip to have the check deposited into a checking account.

Ask them to tape either the voided check or deposit slip to the top portion of the Authorization Form and not to cut off the bottom of the form.

I realize this may seem petty but these are the rules made by Loudon County Government.

Please remember that you must spend your classroom funds on or before April 20.  It takes at least a month to clear all the bills and get ready for the summer audit. 

Be Funky Free Easy Photo Editor

BeFunky Photo Effects allow everyday people to easily create photographically rich and artistic results from their digital images without the need for any technical knowledge. These “one-click” photo effect options produce desired results effortlessly and each effect comes with the option to make simple adjustments.

All dogs and cats are required to be vaccinated and tagged.  It is recommended that cats be confined in a pillow case for the handler and the animal’s safety.  The veterinarian’s fee will be $10.00.  They will be at Eaton on Saturday, May 2 at 9:00. 

april-17-friday-focus

Tikatok

This site is a wonderful online writing tool. 

Users can create online books that they write and illustrate (they can also use lots of images available on the site). It has a number of features that really make it stand-out. You can make a book from scratch, or you can use one of their many story frames that contain “prompts” to help the story-writer along. In addition, you can invite others to collaborate online with you to develop the book.

Once the book is done you can email the link to a friend, teacher, or yourself for posting on a blog, website, or online journal and the site is available on Titatok for others to read. You can create the online version for free, but have to pay if you want them to print a hard-copy version.

Interactive Whiteboard Templates

What it is:Teacher Led IWB is a collection of resources for use with an interactive whiteboard.  This is an outstanding collection of 46 math tools and games, 3 geography maps and map makers, 6 English tools and games, and two multipurpose games.  The collection is visually appealing and helps teach key concepts visually in each content area.  There are too many great resources to go in depth here, I recommend heading over to Teacher Led IWB and taking a look right now!

How to integrate Teacher Led IWB into the classroom:  This collection is VERY impressive.  The tools and games are perfect for whole class instruction and practice in math, geography, language arts, and creating custom activities for other subjects.  Most of the tools are designed for the elementary classroom but there are some that can be used in middle school as well.  

Where To Be Today

Description: Don’t like your position on the earth right now? Check out the “greatest place to be on earth, today”.  A great look at very cool places for each day of the year. Reasons for being at this place may include celebrations, festivals, or just great places.

Implementation:  I would like to use this as a five minute map skills activity.  Incorporating the “place to be” with Latitutde and Longitude coordinates of that specific location.

copy-of-direct-deposit-form

Teachers have two important decisions to make regarding payroll prior to April 30, 2009.  First, every teacher will need to turn in a form either accepting or declining direct deposit.  If you accept, you must provide either a canceled check or a deposit slip with your application. 

From Pam Hamilton:  Please ask employees that are going to do direct deposit to tape their voided check or deposit slip to the top the authorization form.

In addition, most of you will notice more take home pay on the April paycheck.  This is related to the tax reduction portion of the Stimulus Plan.  See the blog post on taxes to calculate and see if you need to adjust your withholding.  Sharon will have additional W4 forms in the office. 

In 2009 and 2010, the Making Work Pay provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for working individuals and up to $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns.

There is a tax credit that each person will get at tax time next year, but the payroll tax tables have been adjusted so folks can get it right now. They should offset next year when they file taxes.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=205922,00.html

Make sure you’re paying enough taxes. The making Work Pay Tax Credit, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has probably added a few dollars to your paycheck. But it may have also tweaked your withholding rate in a way that will make you owe money this time next year. “The tables used don’t know your whole situation,” says Barbara Weltman, an attorney and contributing editor to the J.K. Lasser tax guides, “so both spouses in a household may be getting too much of a credit on their paychecks, and end up having to pay it back.” You can figure this out by punching in some figures on the IRS’s Withholding Calculator (http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html). “This is an easy one — you don’t even have to talk to anybody,” says Kobliner. “If you need to change anything, you can print out a new W4 from the IRS site and take it your HR person. ”

april-9-friday-focus