OpenOffice -- Available As A Free Download
Okay, folks. Here's a great benefit to teachers. When
Microsoft first brought Microsoft Office on the computer scene everyone wanted
to have it. The big problem then (and still a problem today) was cost.
MS Office in all its glory costs oodles of cash, and unless your school
system was willing to spring for it, you were relegated to using Windows
Notepad or Wordpad, or some other lesser word processing system. Office, of
course, isn't only word processing. With his monster program you have access
to creating databases, spreadsheets, presentations, and full scale websites.
Well, now there is a great alternative. It's called OpenOffice. It
is just about as powerful a suite of programs as MS Office and it
does not cost anything. If you have access to a computer and the internet
(with fast connection recommended), you can download a copy for your own use
at no charge.
But OpenOffice goes way beyond just a pretty face in suites. It's a
full blown community working to make quality software available to everyone.
Their mission statement says that they exist:
To create, as a community, the leading international office suite that
will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and
data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format.
And, boy, have they done it so far. As a teacher I'm sure
you will appreciate this group of programs. If you can't afford the MS
product, grab this one, and you will have all the tools necessary to produce
great lessons plus. Click the link above to get started.
Want to Blow Up Your Text?
Well, not literally. Last month I gave you a few key
strokes that make working with Windows a bit easier, and I've been trying to
include a tip in each of these ramblings that will help you with word
processing also. This tip is really simple, and it will come in handy, I'm
sure. It works in Microsoft Word and Wordpad, and I'm sure if you experiment
you will find it probably works with other text oriented programs.
Let's say you are typing a line of text and want it bigger in size -- you want
to blow it up, so to speak. Normally, you would highlight the text by
dragging over it with the left mouse button pressed down (or use the Shift and
arrow keys to make the highlight). Then you would go to the menubar at the
top of the word processor screen and select a font size that is bigger than
the current size. This works fine. Also, if you want to make the font
smaller, you would click a smaller number. This works fine, too. But there
is an easier way that is more flexible.
1. Highlight the text as described above.
2. Hold down the Control Key and the Shift Key together
(Ctrl + Shift)
3. Start tapping the Greater Than Key (It looks like
this: > and is located over the Period on the keyboard)
Wow! Each tap makes the text larger. Want to make it smaller? You guessed
it. Just start tapping the Less Than Key (Over the comma and it looks like
this: <)
This technique is pretty easy and a lot quicker than jumping back and forth to
the mouse. Give it a try. If you don't have MS Word. Open Wordpad on your
Accessories menu from the Start menu, and give it a try.
Was your birth the only important thing that happened on that day?
(Something else to do with your internet connection.)
I've notice that a lot of gift and craft shops have started selling fancy
birthday booklets or cards that give a list of events and topics for specific
birth dates. I often thought this might make an interesting assignment for a
history class if there was a program or website that allowed students to
quickly generate a list of important events or facts about the time period in
which they were born.
Well, there is a website now that will allow you to do this. It's called
dMarie Time Capsule. You can only
produce a list of events and facts from dates covering 1800 through 2002, but
a lot of interesting things have happened within that range.
Start your kids out by having them generate events for their births, but then
take it a step further and have them look up important dates in history that
they are already familiar with. Maybe you could even have them produce a
spoof newspaper page using the information.
It's also kind of interesting to see how certain events coincide with others.
For example, how else would you have know that on the same month (January 14,
1990) when "The Simpson's" premiered on television that David Dinkins was
sworn in as 1st black mayor of New York City NY or that "Les Miserables"
opened at Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore MD.
INCOME TAX TIME NEWS
If you are not already aware of it, any software you
purchase personally from us can be deducted on your income tax, as long as you
are using it as part of your job. Save up to $250.00. To fill you in on this
fact we have an interesting article posted on our site. Just click on the
TEACHER TAX DEDUCTIONS link at the top of our
main page to read. Get yourself some
useful software and save money on your taxes at the same time.
SAVE
YOU OR YOUR SCHOOL MONEY ON OUR SOFTWARE
Did you know you can save money on
Baggetta_Ware software on
CD by using your Teacher Association
Membership? Simply send
your order (or your school's purchase order)
along with your Teacher
Association Membership number and name, and we
will deduct 20%
off the entire purchase. See our products at
www.baggetta.com.
Grammar and Usage Help
I like to browse the internet to see if there are new sites (or
simply ones that I have not been aware of) that can help teachers instruct
their students. If I find something interesting, I'll pass it along to you.
Well, I've noticed that there are several good dictionary sites (dictionary.com,
for example) that will give immediate information on definitions and spellings
of words (some even offer sound samples for pronunciation), but the other day,
as I floated around in a sea of keywords, I came upon an interesting site
concerning grammar and usage. It is called UsingEnglish.com.
This is an interesting site to explore. It was designed mainly for ESL,
but just about anyone can benefit from the information there. If you need
a list of mis-spelled words, a list of grammar terms, a list of mis-pronounced
words, an SAT vocabulary, or even a list of words ending in GRY, this is
the place to go.
It doesn't stop there, either. The site also offers lots of resources for
English teachers in the form of Language References, Tests, Articles,
Tools, and Forums. If you get a chance, go do some mining on this rich
site.
Shakespeare's Birthday April 23, St. George's Day
Of course, April 23 is pretty much accepted as the birth date
of England's greatest poet and dramatist, William Shakespeare. If you teach
English, you will probably want to make a big day of this in your
classes. The internet can help. If you want to give your kids a real time
experience of Shakespeare's life, go to the
Stratford-Upon-Avon
and Shakespeare site. At this site you will find dozens of pictures of
the town in which the Bard was born, along with lots of fun information about
the local. This site makes a nice break from the usual hard study of works.
April Author Birthdays
Take a look at some of the important writers that were born in the month of
April.
Hans Christian Anderson -- April 2
Washington Irving -- April 3
Maya Angelou -- April 4
Tom Clancy-- April 12
Thomas Jefferson -- April 13
John Gielgud -- April 14
Clarence Darrow -- April 18
Charlotte Bronte -- April 21
William Shakespeare -- April 23
Anthony Trollope -- April 24
Install
this program on your classroom computers, and let your students have some fun
learning experience about using the two systems of abbreviation -- writing and
postal.
This program is for Windows PC, and it doesn't cost anything. Just download
from our main page:
www.baggetta.com or
click the links or image above.
N
EW TEST GENERATOR UPGRADES AND GENERATORS
The following Literary Test Generators have been upgraded with
corrections and new features. Current owners of these programs can get the
link to the new version by sending us purchase information to
abaggetta@comcast.net.
Night Test Generator
for Elie Wiesel's novel
The Pearl Test Generator
for John Steinbeck's novel
My
Multiple Choice Test Maker -- offering several new features and a new
printing routine
We have three new Literary Test Generators to tell you about. All of them deal
with favorite novels used in the English studies classroom.
Catcher In
the Rye Test Generator -- Generate tests, worksheets, and puzzles for the
novel by J. D. Salinger,
The Catcher In the Rye. (Over 250 Questions
and Answers in the database)
Last of
the Mohicans Test Generator -- Studying James Fenimore Cooper. Use this
generator to quickly manufacture dozens of tests, worksheets, and puzzles for
his classic,
The Last of the Mohicans. (Over 300 Questions and
Answers in the database)
Outsiders
Test Generator -- Create all the tests, worksheets, and puzzles you'll
need in many variations for the S. E. Hinton work,
The Outsiders.
You can view more information about these programs by clicking the links
above.
Got Questions?
Some of our customers have had questions about our
software. You can find out some of the more common answers by visiting
our
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.
LOTS OF TEACHERS HAVE DISCOVERED
OUR PRINTABLE TESTS
As you probably know by now we offer ready-made exams for lots
of literary works, for immediate download at our site. For those who need
ready-made tests, take a look at our two newest sections called
Literary Exams:
Long Fiction and
Literary Exams: Short Stories You will find dozens of tests ready to
go for many popular classics you use in your classes.
I'd also like to direct your
attention to our library of
Interactive Reading
Programs. I've developed these programs in hopes of helping slower
readers to comprehend the great classics of literature. We have short
stories, poems, novels, plays, etc. available -- many of the popular
classics by Poe, Hawthorne, Twain, Shakespeare, and others. Install these
on your Windows PC machines or network and you won't have to correct
tedious tests again. Each unit can be used as an electronic worksheet or
test. Student progress is tracked and a neat report card is issued at the
end of the reading. Great for individual or group work. Come take a look
at our listings.
We'd like to spread the news about Baggetta_Ware and we hope that you will
help us. We also have
another software
gift for you, if you recommend our site to one of your colleagues or
friends. Just click the button on our main page and you can fill out the
simple form. We won't nag your friends, but if they are interested they
can come and visit us too. Thank you for your help.
Well. This brings us to another conclusion of my Ramblings.
Hope you enjoyed this issue, and please send me your comments and ideas
for future issues. Remember to come and visit us at Baggetta_Ware. We
have lots of interesting Windows software for student reading and
teacher
Classroom
Management.
Oh! Watch out for those April Fool jokes.
Best
Loof Lirpa
Baggetta_Ware
Teacher Tech
On the Web:
www.baggetta.com
Tel: 413-786-8241
eMail:
abaggetta@comcast.net
baggetta@baggetta.com
abaggetta@yahoo.com
Baggetta_Ware
177 Adams Street
Agawam, MA 01001
U. S. A.
