Parents, did you know that there are parental controls available on all major carrier wireless phones? Not having children of my own, I was not familiar with this feature until I heard some other teachers talking about it just recently. 
 
Most carriers charge about $5.00 a month. The controls include blocking of certain numbers, blocking all photo sending & receiving, allowing only certain numbers to be called, time restraints (the phone is totally blocked at certain hours), plus various other features depending on the carrier. 
 
For Verizon phones go to https://wbillpay.verizonwireless.com/vzw/nos/uc/uc_home.jsp 
 
For AT&T phones go to http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/parental-controls/ 
 
For Sprint phones go to http://www.nextel.com/en/services/popups/phone_access_controls_popup.shtml 
 
http://www.mobile-spy.com/ works on smart phones such as BlackBerry, iPhone, or Android. 

Posted by: susanclark

Only 4 class periods left! 
 
The eighth graders had great job shadowing experiences including riding the rails at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, going to Hamilton County Court and jail, and being a volunteer at the Creative Discovery Museum! If you ate at the "Big Biscuit Barn" Friday morning, you may have eaten food prepared by our job shadowing students, too! Or maybe your elementary school child saw one of them at CVE or CRES.  
 
They are finishing up their portfolios this week. 
 
They will also work on a holiday or special occasion card next week using Microsoft Word software. 

Posted by: susanclark

Wow! I can't believe we only have 4 class periods left! Students will change to a different connection class after Christmas break (except band students. They will stay in band.)  
 
We are finishing up by working with the desktop publishing features of Microsoft Word. Need a flyer or poster created? Let your child do it for you using drawing tools, objects, WordArt, and all those other things they've learned about in class. Or let them create your family holiday card this year. We're learning how to do that next week. 

Posted by: susanclark

Wow! I can't believe we only have 4 class periods left! Students will change to a different connection class after Christmas break (except band students. They will stay in band.) 
 
We are finishing up by talking about Internet searches. Don't you just hate it when you do a search and come up with 35,400,802 hits? No way you can look through all those link! The video we're watching teaches students the "FOr SuRE" method - Focus, Strategize, Refine, Evaluate. Students are learning about other places to do searches on the Internet besides Google. 
 
Next week, students will create a holiday or special occasion card for a friend or loved one using Microsoft Word. 

Posted by: susanclark