Share Files with DropBox

Instead of attaching files to email and saving on USB drives, try sharing files with Dropbox. Dropbox for Windows, Mac, and Linux is a place where you can store your files online and across computers. If you use different computers at home and school, it’s a great way to have your files available in both locations and also available through your mobile digital devices. When you edit and save a file, it saves the edits on all your computers. In fact, you can even go back and look at the history of your edits. If you want to share your files with others, put the files in your Dropbox and share the link to the files. When you put your files in the Dropbox, the files are automatically backed up on the Dropbox servers. You get 2GB of storage free, but can opt to pay for additional storage up to 100GB.

Gaming Resources for Parents

The Entertainment Software Rating Board has really beefed up their site with lots of resources and links for parents on parent controls of gaming systems, a gaming discussion guide and sites that review games. You can also sign up for their free newsletter on the topic of ratings for games as well as the issues of violence in games, the gender gap and more.

Five Sites That Can Help You Find Your Musical Beat

Interested in finding music akin to the beat you already move to? USA Today's recent article Tune in, turn on to music on these five sites directs you to five sites that can help you (and your kids) do just that.

Its Mission IS to Help Grownups with Tech Selections

Since 1993, Children's Technology Review (formerly called Children's Software Revue) has been providing monthly reviews of tech products that are targeted to kids. For example, if you are not one who understands video games, the Review will help you decide whether a game might benefit kids at school and/or at home. In fact, this publication, which can be accessed online or in print, takes on all types of electronic media including Internet sites, computer software and DVDs, video games, and interactive toys. Subscribing means you'll get access to a database of over 8200 product reviews and each month will learn about new trends, great Internet sites, and products you might want to investigate for you classroom-or perhaps, recommend for home use. Just download a sample issue to see if the Children's Technology Review would be valuable to you. Be sure to note that the Review doesn't include any advertisements.

Our Overscheduled Lives/Our Childrens' Overscheduled Lives

We worry about how many projects we have going and how we are going to keep up. We worry about our kids and how many activities they have both in school and after school. For the kids there's basketball on Monday, gymnastics on Tuesday, piano on Wednesday, three major tests on Wednesday, a quiz on Monday, a project due on Tuesday.... Sound familiar? Is there ever time for all of us-parents and kids-to relax and think? Probably not, for we are running from activity to activity and project to project, aren't we? MIT's Dan Ariely in his book Predictably Irrational tells us that we simply have difficulty giving up our options. Maybe it's like being hesitant to get rid of clothing we think we might possibly someday, some time wear again? Maybe it's like over-scheduling our kids so that they'll be able to get scholarships for sports or dance or playing a musical instrument? Maybe we just don't know how to let go? We want to keep all our options open. To check into this problem, Ariety had students at MIT play a game in which they could get higher scores if they gave up options. The students didn't want to give them up even for better scores. You and your family can try the game to see if you can fight the urge to keep all your options open. What's the answer to our over-scheduled lives? Perhaps Professor Ariety's book can help.

KidsClick: WebSearch for Kids by Librarians

When looking for a place to help your children find information they need for reports and projects, try KidsClick. This is a Web search site developed by librarians, who have left their stamp of approval on the sites linked to from KidsClick. The site features 600+ subjects that can be searched by topic, a letter of the alphabet, keyword, and even Dewey Decimal Classification. Every entry gives you and your kids not only a brief description of the site, but also whether it includes illustrations, and what the reading level of the site is. For example, if your kids are researching the topic Bears, KidsClick lets you know that Polar Bears is appropriate for reading levels 0-2 and that Nature: Great White Bear is for reading levels 7+. KidsClick is definitely a site to add to the family Favorites or Bookmarks in your web browser.

Time to Brush Up on Your Internet Lingo?

Just like any foreign language, Internet Lingo is something you need to read and write every day to keep your fluency up and so you know what your kids are really saying when they are communicating online. A good place to brush up your online speak is the Parents - the Anti-Drug site's Internet Lingo list. While you are there take their Tech Savvy quiz and their Crash course on social networking, cell phones and IMing.

Travel to the 1893 World's Fair Today

  Through the magic of technology you and your kids can travel to the 1893 Columbian Exposition. That is-if you live in or near Chicago. You'll need to go to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry to immerse your students in what's called "a real-time, human-scale tour similar to a video game." If a field trip to Chicago can't be arranged for your classes, you can view sample video clips that include the Court of Honor, pedestrian view from the Mall, approach to Fine Arts, and flight from Wooded Island to the Court of Honor. Even with a fast connection, the clips do take some time to load, but they are definitely worth waiting for. When college students who visited the exhibit were asked what they liked about the exhibit, one said, "It's like you're there." Another commented, "I would never have had the same experience and grasp of the material using still images." The Columbian Exposition was also the subject of the best selling non-fiction book by Erik Larson, Devil in the White City.

Cyberbullying Discussion Starters

The old adage that pictures say more than words takes on a new twist when you look at this collection of anti-cyberbullying short videos collected by Andy Carvin who writes the Learning.now column for PBS Teachers. We can all talk about cyberbullying but when you look at some of these poignant and sometimes pointed short ads and movies the message seems much clearer. I recommend viewing them together with kids who may have been the victim of a cyberbully to help them understand how much they aren't alone or for kids who may been practicing cyberbullying even in seemingly "benign" ways to help them wake up to what it's like to be at the "other end." Both groups can benefit and it can be a great way to start a discussion.

You Need to Get to Know the Internet Safety Advisor

If your school district hasn't wised up to the fact that they might just need some help when it comes to Internet safety, you aren't necessarily out of luck. You can read the website and columns of Internet Safety Advisor from Macomb School District and get current information and straight forward advice on what's going on in the depths of the Internet and on the legislative front that may be affecting your school and our kids. Bookmark this site because it's one of the first places you'll want to go for information on Internet-related concerns ... after consulting the resources right here on Power to Learn, of course.