August 2008

Monthly Archive

August 22, 2008

Large SUVs Suck: Sales and Values Plunge

Posted by carfamily under automobile, car buying, consumer, suv
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Large SUVs Suck: Sales and Values Plunge.

Deep, deep depression is the best way to look at the value of large SUVs now, and probably in the future, according to data from the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association (SEMA).

Those foolish enough to have purchased a large SUV may find themselves in the last two years are finding that they may owe more than it is worth by a considerable amount. Thus they are likely to just drive them despite the high costs as selling them to buy a more practice and safer vehicle would not be cost efficient. Sadly, these gas hogs are going to be on the highways for a long time as the resale price plumets and buyers with less financial resources buy them and let their expensive mantainence lapse. A Hummer H2 is going to darken America’s highways for years and join with other gas guzzlers to increase the nation’s dependency on imported oil. It is a free country, but the economics lesson is simple; sales are down nearly 50 percent and on some models that rate is astronomical such as for the Cadillac Esclade, Ford Explorer, and Toyota Sequoia and the value of large SUVs has fallen over 30 percent in last 12 months, according to the The New York Times .

August 9, 2008

Education Games: Simulations that Teach

Posted by carfamily under computers, education, Lesson plan, new teacher, teachers, teaching, technology
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Computer Games that Teach

By Alan Haskvitz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Haskvitz

There is an abundance of educational games that teach specific skills and provide remediation. Unfortunately, the value of these games varies widely and some are designed more as an end in themselves rather than as a teaching tool. Another caveat is that these games can require a wide bandwidth and can have several advertisements.

As such, I have reviewed several of the ones I felt most appropriate. If you have others to suggest please email me by clicking on my name on the opening page.

Free software of all types for teachers

http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/software.html

Interactive Games

http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/pcfun.html

Free PowerPoints

Nearly every topic is here and all free to download.

http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/powerpoint.html

Build a Prairie

http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/prairie/build/

Watershed Game

http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/watershed/

A large selection of interactive games

Varying quality.

http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/games/

Nutrition Games

http://nourishinteractive.com/

Online Interactive maps

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/online-interactive-maps.htm

Money Games

http://www.moneyinstructor.com/interactive.asp

Music games with several levels

http://www.interactiveclassics.com/features_2007.htm

AND

http://www.ramogames.com/

All printables for elementary

http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/games.html

Large link site to printable games

http://kidscrafts.suite101.com/article.cfm/printable_games_index

Printable Primary Learning Games

http://www.thekidzpage.com/learninggames/learningprintable.htm

Freeware

A diverse collection of games by subject matter.

http://www.freewarehome.com/index.html?http%3A//www.freewarehome.com/Games/Simulation

Travel Games

For primary

http://www.momsminivan.com/printables.html

Printables for young learners and ESL

http://www.mes-english.com/

Games by grade level

Some are very simple and others are simply fill-ins, but there are others that are most challenging for students.

http://www.funbrain.com/

Elementary Games

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/online/math_games_fun.php

Top 100 Games

Take a look for yourself if these are the best. Some are excellent.

http://www.lethsd.ab.ca/mmh/games/top100.htm

Geography Game

Relates well to national standards.

http://www.eduplace.com/geonet/index.html

Primary games that teach Internet Safety

http://hawaii.gov/ag/hicac/main/fun/

Interactive Websites, Games, and Activities

By subject area

http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic86.htm

Games by grade and subject

http://www.iknowthat.com/com

A very large collection of simple games

By subject area.

http://www.gamequarium.com/

First grade games

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_1st.htm

AND

http://education.jlab.org/indexpages/elementgames.php

Interactive math games

http://www.multiplication.com/internet_games.htm

Math link page

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/online/

Huge selection of math printable games

http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/printable-math-games.html