Monday, January 26, 2009

Computer Education for Teachers

Know Your USA is featured in the new book: Computer Education for Teachers: Integrating Technology into Classroom Teaching by V. Sharp; "An example of an addictive drill-and-practice program is Know Your USA". We are delighted that Know Your USA was featured in such a great publication for teachers.

Book Description (from Amazon)
Teachers who want an up-to-date, readable, and concise introduction to computers continue to turn to Computer Education for Teachers. The new edition places more emphasis on multimedia and the Internet, covering topics such as digital photography, iPods in the classroom, the Internet, and distance learning. A robust Web site also accompanies this streamlined book. It contains video tutorials on topics such as creating a digital portfolio and making a Podcast. These tutorials are from 1 to 3 minutes in duration and are step-by-step projects. Teachers who are unfamiliar with the use of the computer in the classroom will find this to be the perfect resource.

About the Author (from Amazon)
Vicki F. Sharp is a professor at California State University with experience teaching in elementary school. She received her Ph.D. in Quantitative Research from St. Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University. She teaches math/science methods courses and computer courses and supervises student teachers. She has authored or co-authored over twenty-five books including Statistics for the Social Sciences (Little Brown), HyperStudio in an Hour and PowerPoint in an Hour (ISTE), Make it with Office and Make it with Inspiration (Visions Technology in Education). She serves as a computer consultant and trainer for software publishers and school districts in Southern California. She speaks at computer conventions such as Computer User Educators (CUE) and The National Education Computing Conference (NECC).

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Know Your USA - Update

Today we will be uploading a minor update for Know Your USA, this will update the presidential information and provide a worksheet on President Obama.

The update provides:
- Updated About the USA with details of Barack Obama, plus fact file.
- The school edition now includes two new worksheets on President Obama and the US Flag.

Know Your USA 1.5.4 was successfully uploaded to our servers on Jan 26, 2009 at 7:30pm EST.

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Monday, January 12, 2009

The New President of the United States

January 20, 2009 is inauguration day for the new president of the United States, Barack Obama. To celebrate the inauguration we have created a nine page worksheet (1.0 MB) about the United States, perfect for school. If you want to learn more about the United States please consider our awarding winning Know Your USA software.

Page 1: Map of USA with Regions and States marked.
Page 2: Map with each State name and the Capital.
Page 3: Name the States of the USA pop quiz worksheet.
Page 4: Blank Flag of the United States, great for coloring.
Page 5: Join the Dots maps of the USA.
Page 6: Barack Obama factfile with coloring.
Page 7: Washington DC factfile with photos and map.
Page 8: Barack Obama factfile and photo.
Page 9: US Election Results worksheet, color in the winner of each state.

This worksheet is perfect for printing and copying. It is a great introduction to the United States and excellent classroom activity for the inauguration.



We also have a free online quiz for testing your knowledge of each State in the United States. Play it online at our website. Remember that each aspect of the USA is covered in detail in our award winning Know Your USA software. Buy our software at Amazon.com or download today. You can also watch the YouTube Animaniacs cartoon clip we posted a few weeks ago too, quick way to introduce the United States to younger children.

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Monday, November 03, 2008

US Elections 2008

November 4th, 2008 is election day in the United States. To celebrate the election we have created a five page worksheet about the United States, perfect for school. If you want to learn more about the United States please consider our awarding winning Know Your USA software.

Page 1: Map of USA with Regions and States marked.
Page 2: Map with each State name and the Capital.
Page 3: Name the States of the USA pop quiz worksheet.
Page 4: Blank Flag of the United States, great for coloring.
Page 5: US Election Results worksheet, color in the winner of each state.

This worksheet is perfect for printing and photocopying. It is a great introduction to the United States and excellent classroom activity for election week.


We also have a free online quiz for testing your knowledge of each State in the United States. Play it online at our website. Remember that each aspect of the USA is covered in detail in our award winning Know Your USA software.

Watch the YouTube Animaniacs cartoon clip we posted a few weeks ago too, it's a quick way to introduce the United States to younger children. Some good mapping websites for the election include: electoral-vote.com and politicalmaps.org

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Thursday, October 30, 2008

US Presidential Election 2008


The New York Times have developed a great website that allows you to keep track of the results for the 2008 election. Click on the Your Map button and then you can set each state to either Obama or McCain, depending on the winner of each. To set the winner, click on each state and select the color blue or red.

This is a great classroom resource.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-ahead/key-states/map.html#/

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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Know Your USA 1.5 Receives CTR Editor's Choice Seal

Know Your USA 1.5 was reviewed in the September 2008 issue of Children's Technology Review and received the Editor's Choice Seal.

Version 1.5 [Know Your USA], released Summer of 2008, includes more content (60 photos, better maps of each state with more details, better puzzles, and a direct link to both Google Earth and the Wikipedia entry on the United States). With these new tweaks, the program provides a straightforward and effective way to practice geography facts by way of a series of lessons and timed quizzes.

About CTR:
Children's Technology Review (CTR) is an ad-free, subscriber-supported web and print-based publication. It is designed to keep educators, parents and librarians informed on commercial interactive media products designed for children, aged birth- to 15-years. These are the products that children use for both fun and learning, either at home and/or at school. They include software, video games, interactive toys, web sites that a child might visit, and so on. From a theoretical perspective, CTR exists in the space between child development and interactive media. The Children's Software Finder(TM), our database of more than 8,000 reviews, has become a critical step in our core subscribers' purchasing-making decisions. It is published on the first business day of each month.

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Know Your USA - School Library Journal

Know Your USA was reviewed in the June 2008 issue of the School Library Journal magazine. The School Library Journal has a circulation of 38,000 subscribers and over 100,000 readers. The review was based on version 1.0, so many of the new great features of version 1.5 were not covered, learn more. The entire review is below, you can read it on page 81 of the magazine too.

Know Your USA: Discover the Geography of the United States. CD-ROM. Systems: Win 98 & later. Prod. by Edware.

Gr 3 Up -Here's a fun way to test your general knowledge of the 50 states including location, capitals, major cities, rivers, mountains, lakes, and National Parks. The "Study" section provides basic information about each state such as the area, population, nickname, and other statistics. Political and physical maps are included. The major flaw is the direct link to Wikipedia when more information is desired since there is no guarantee that all the material provided on that site is reliable. In the "Teach" section, users take a quiz and if they give an incorrect response, they are first given a hint and if their response is incorrect again they are given the correct answer. In the quiz section, the player is given the state name and must click the correct state on the map. Hints are given until the state is identified correctly. This game may be accessed for free at knowyourusa.net/quiz. The "Examine" section presents a test on all the topics covered. User progress is tracked and stored in a database to monitor future progress. An additional purchase. -Lisa Hardey, Sprague High School, Salem, OR
Interested in reselling or distributing Know Your USA in North America, get in touch.

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Know Your USA 1.5

Users have requested a definitive list of improvements and new features in Know Your USA 1.5, below I have outlined all major features added to the new version of Know Your USA which has been available since early February 2008.
  • Audio by Sarah Lane, she is a broadcaster and director from California and presents popSiren on Revision3.
  • Improved interface across the software making it easier then ever to use and navigate.
  • Over sixty high quality photos from across the United States.
  • Excellent maps of each state are now included, these detail state capitals, major cities, physical features and more.
  • More topics included, we have added to the already jam packed features and now include oceanography, national parks, plus many of the current features have been updated.
  • Improved puzzle of each State, now two styles are available and a timer to keep track of your speed.
  • High quality Washington DC map.
  • Incorrect answers are now highlighted better in the Quiz section.
  • Teach section has been replaced by the Quiz section, which is much quicker to use and now includes a timer to track your score.
  • All new user guide details everything you need to know about Know Your USA.
  • About the USA area have been updated and now includes high quality image of the flag of the United States.
  • You can now disable links to Wikipedia
  • A new control panel for the School Edition, including excellent printable worksheets.
  • Many more tweak, fixes and features added overall a great update that we are extremely pleased about.

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