I didn't anticiate posting twice in one day, but I knew I had to when I stumbled across a story on our local news station's website. Researchers found an 1860 recording, which they believe is the earliest recorded human voice. It was made by Scott, a Frenchmen who believed you could understand sound by seeing it. It predates Thomas Edison by 17 years! I guess Scott was very angry with Edison for getting all the credit, but they had two different views of the technology. I found the mp3 file online, so have a listen for yourself...

http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/1860-Scott-Au-Clair-de-la-Lune.mp3

On the educational side of things, this would be a very cool thing to discuss in a Science or Music class. It might be a little easier for older students to understand, but I think its a great topic--students should understand how we came from this to become an iPod generation.

Long day....

After a long day at work, it's nice to come home, take a long hot shower, and then settle down in the front of the TV with a bag of chips and salsa and watch Scooby Doo. Cartoons can be very educational, by the way.. I miss the old Looney Toons, and the classics like the Smurfs, David the Gnome...

Okay, so the reason I'm posting is to tell maybe the 2 people that read this blog about this great site my cousin found. It's called myfamily.com and you can create your own family website. You can add pictures, video, and have discussions. This is great, because I and our other cousins are into genealogy. So, we've set up a site that reaches back to the Spevacek-Veverka line we all share.

My crazy hobby started as an assignment in middle school. My mom had this giant chart of my Grandma's side that went back to the 1850's, when some of my German clan came over. I got more interested by the time I got to high school and had another family tree assignment. Turns out I was related to a few kids in my class.

A couple years ago, I started working on tracing all the branches in my family, and now I have several binders full of documents. The easiest way to get started is on www.rootsweb.com, a free site where you can find discussion boards for a specific last name. Another is www.usgenweb.org. It has links for every county, every state in the US. I have met some amazingly kind and generous people online that have helped me get copies of documents, pictures of tombstones and other information.

A couple years ago when my grandpa was in the hospital, I started on my dad's line. I knew nothing, other than my grandparents and my dad didn't know his family history either. Turns out I had older cousins who have been working on it for years! They sent me a huge packet and I was amazed by what I was reading. My great-great grandparents were from Bohemia, Volduchy and Vojvanov (Czechoslovakia.) Because of discussion boards online, we found cousins in Texas we didn't know about. My grandma and I got to meet them at a family reunion, and they are so much fun!

I am very proud of my heritage, and I think it is such a rewarding hobby to have. I have a better understanding of myself. It takes a lot of courage for people to start a whole new life in another country, not knowing the language, anything.

The crazy week is finally over

Spring Break wasn't the relaxing vacation I had hoped it would be. I went home to work on wedding invitations, flowers--then came back to MY home to work on my Ed Media project and work.

I may have been insane when I decided to make my own invitations and flowers.

However, it was very nice to sit back and admire how gorgeous they look. ;)
This post is a little off topic, but in the small chance that someone other than my family or professors will read this, I'd like to offer some wedding planning advice. I am not anywhere close to being a bridezilla, because I could do without everything else as long as the groom shows up. There are somethings I just don't care about, like spending a ton of money on decorations, programs people just throw away, or expensive gourmet tiered cake. It's just not me. I don't see the point of trying to impress people with money. Sure, I want a beautiful, elegant wedding-- but I don't need a $6000 photo package to do that. I get a lot more satisfaction knowing I worked hard and put thought into my wedding by doing things myself (with a lot of help from friends and family!)

On a technology note--I am using my computer to keep track of my entire guest list, their addresses, # of people coming/# expected, and if we sent a thank you note. This will eventually save me time, even though right now its a pain typing it all now---but then all I'll have to do is enter in the # coming to help with catering, and then mark off people when we write thank you's. I'd also recommend creating a 'wedding folder' on your computer and in a file drawer to help organize everything. I should write my own book. There's a lot of crappy ones I wasted my time reading.

Okay, that being said, I'm really excited but I've got a lot to do for the next 4 months. I find out my what region I'm in for student teaching on Monday, so I'm nervous about that too. One day at a time, one day at a time.....

How to avoid drowning in teacher stuff

I am not shy about admitting that sometimes...I'm just a messy person. When it comes to organizing my genealogy and computer files...I'm awesome. So why do I have such a hard time carrying it over to other areas of my life?

I have accumulated a lot of things as an education student. My own projects, file boxes, textbooks, websites, unit binders, activity boxes, crayons, construction paper, glitter glue...but where am I supposed to keep all this junk?

Never fear, the web is here! I've searched the internet for examples of REAL teachers and how they organize. Most are 'in-classroom,' but still give good examples on keeping things under control.

Mrs. Levin's Page
http://www.pre-kpages.com/organize.html

Mrs. Meacham's Page
http://www.jmeacham.com/organizing.htm

Mandy Gregory
http://www.mandygregory.com/Trailer%20Organization.htm

Teacherzine
http://teacherszine.tripod.com/teacherszine/organizing.html

Proteacher
http://www.proteacher.com/030003.shtml

Cindy's page
http://www.thevirtualvine.com/room.html

http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/classmanagement/organizingtips/4yourdesk.html

Bookpedia

Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of thrift stores. I have found amazing stuff--(if you count the Grease soundtrack on record as amazing.) I even found a much-loved 1st edition of The Cat in the Hat. You have to appreciate a find like that.

All this rambling IS going to have a point. Eventually.

As a pre-service teacher, I am trying to build my collection of children's literature. My tiny bookshelf is now crammed with books! I stumbled upon an AMAZING piece of software called Bookpedia this summer. I use the program's search engine to find books I own or ones I want to add to a wish list. I can run a search by title, author, or ISBN. When I find the one I want, I just click and...POOF! There it is. ALL my books are cataloged now.

The other great thing about this is you can create a list of "borrowed" books so you never have to wonder who borrowed your copy of Chicken Little. And, it's cheap. Which is great for students...and teachers.

Check it out:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/home_learning/bookpedia.html

Introduction

Well, this is my first post. I've started this blog to fulfill an extra credit assignment for Ed Media. I am a student at the University of Northern Iowa. I am majoring in Elementary Education and my minor is music. Umm...I cannot describe how much I loathe the weather here now. Summer cannot come soon enough. So, that's it for now.