From: mkennedy@shentel.net (Marilyn Kennedy)
Subject: It must be Christmas!!!
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 15:10:18 -0400
Dear PTK enthusiasts, :) I am grinning from ear to ear and can hardly believe that this is happening in my rural agricultural-based county!! In fact, this is the week of our county fair and and the newspaper is filled with pictures of prize livestock, gigantic produce, and tractor pulls and bull mania. This morning's headlines were about this evening's performance of Billy Ray Cyrus!! Our county is not exactly located in the silcon valley of Virginia!! This past week I learned that our county in cooperation with GTE is in the process of installing ISDN lines in our county's schools and better yet, our school the ISDN lines are already up and running! Back in June when school closed, this installation was just a proposal for the future..something to happen in the next couple of years. But apparently the future is NOW! I would like to think that my class's participation and involvement in last year's LFS and LFH, and their awards and recognition because of their PTK involvement was somehow influential in our school being selected as the pilot school. So a big hug and thanks to all the Geoff, Jan, and everyone involved with the PTK program. Also, Andrea Mc Curdy, a special thank you for your efforts in highlight our involvement with the Internet. Friday morning installation was complete, and I was able to "try out" the system out. WOW, I was just zipping along to those various www sites! It's been a might journey from my first 300 baud modem to this!!! As this schol year is about to begin there will be no more shuttling back and forth from home to school my little 14.4 modem; the art deco paper-clipped hung telephone wire down the ceiling hall can be now dismantled, and no more nasty looks/comments from the fire marshals because of computers in the halls. There will be no more trips to the office asking them to "please turn on the modem."The superintendant canonce again have his "emergency" line. And maybe now we will have the capability to have audio conection with CUSeeMe with ISDN lines..yes, Roger ??? Since our school,JWE, is going to be the pilot school for this intiative, I have already been asked if school board visitors and other officials could come by my room and see how technology is integrated throughout the curriculum. In fact, the theme for our school this year is "JWE...Wired to the World through Technology." One of my last year's students created the graphic and logo for our school's theme. Anyway, I just had to share my excitement with the PTK Advocates! re: Literature Connections for your own interest .....maybe H.S. possibility??? One of my dear friends is reading Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" and suggested that I might also enjoy this book, especially as to how it might relate to this year's "Live from Mars" theme with PTK. I imagine many of you have already read it!! Remember astronomy and space are brand new (expanding) horizons for me. Tom Clancey Lillian Grafton ...NOT! This morning, the book arrived and I can't hardly wait to begin reading it. I glanced briefly through the pages, and Sagan is readable and engaging in his prose. The book looks fascinating, and there are lots of photographs and artist's renderings of this world beyond. (yup, I still like pictures in my books). According to the blurb on the back, Sagan traces our exploration of space and suggests that our survival in the future may depend on our "wise use" of other worlds. P.S. I have the paperback version, and it is beautiful. Actually, it is more of a soft cover hardback than the usual tiny print paperbacks!! re:Winds of Mars by H.M. Hoover isbn 0-525-45359-8 When ordering Sagan's book. I had also put in order for this book, suggested earlier by Jan. I am looking at it as a possible read-aloud for my 4th graders. But I will have a better sense of its appropriatness (for 4th grade )when I have finished the book. It looks great for middle school and high school! re:Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed by Virginia Hamilton Isbn:0-689-71328-2 While perusing through the children's section of the bookstore, I found this book. I picked up a copy but haven't read it yet. It looks upper elementary, though with Hamilton's dialect, I think it might have to be a read aloud too!! But again, I have only glanced at it. re: Odyssey Magazine Feb 1995 "Invaders from Space..Asteroids,Meteorites, and Comets. Good section and resources on Meterorites. and even an interview with Heidi Hammel and her favorite comet! !! Marilyn K. Wall ... truly connected here in the Shenandoah Valley :)