My School Trip
BOB Books
Lynn Maslen Kertell (Author)
Sue Hendra (Illustrator)
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545382700
It is time for the school trip to the zoo. Jack and Bill are partnered up for the day. Join them as they journey around the zoo, following the sounds, smells, and noises; some they know and some they do not. But it is a great adventure for all.
The BOB books are wonderfully written and have bright vibrant illustrations. They keep the attention of children through many readings, both as they have the story read to them and as they grow and work on reading the books themselves. It's a fun book in a great series of resources for children in your life.
About the Level Readers
The Leveled readers from Scholastic are a great way to introduce your child to reading. The levels are:
Pre1: ABC's & First Words
Level 1: Sight words, words to sound out and simple sentences.
Level 2: New vocabulary and longer sentences.
Level 3: Reading for inspiration and information.
Each book has a level rating, a grade level, a reading level, a lexile level and a word count on the back.
Cars Build & Race
Disney - Pixar
Klutz
ISBN 9780545450478
Join Tom-Mater and the gang. This kit includes 12 punch-out cars, 16 sets of wheels, 93 reusable stickers and 2 foldout race tracks. Love the idea on this kit but just not durable enough for the age group. The fold-out cars are described as 'durable' on the back of the kit. But they very quickly become dinged up and damaged. The wheels are also described as interchangeable but after a number of transitions they stop staying in place. Again great idea; just does not hold up, or at least not at the bottom end age 4 listed on the book.
Intro to Exchange Server 2010
Train Signal
J. Peter Bruzzese
This was an amazing little course. Mr. Bruzzese uses a process of scenario based learning. We are given a case study and together look at the requirements and options and then do an installation on configuration of an exchange environment. The course works through the following topics:
Lessons:
Intro to Exchange Server 2010 Course Introduction
The Evolution of Exchange Over 15 Years
Installing Exchange 2010
Exchange Management Tools
Mailbox Overview and Configuration
An Overview and Configuration
An Overview of Server Role
Unified Messaging
Working with Public Folders
High Availability and Database Availability Groups
Transition from Exchange 2003/2007 to 2010
The course packs a lot of material into about 6 hours of instruction. I loved the course as a refresher. The two best lessons were: The Evolution of Exchange Over 15 Years, and Transition from Exchange 2003/2007 to 2010. The evolution one was awesome and the history cover in it was amazing to learn. The greatest strength of the course is the instructor and his passion for the subject; he is also a great communicator which always makes self-paced study better. The only real weakness or omission for the course is that there are no downloads associated with the course. No course outline or instructor notes like almost all the other TrainSignal courses. It would have been nice to have this, especially with some of the links he provides to blogs, and sites to help support your continued training and knowledge in Exchange. This course is intended as an introduction and it does an amazing job of a quick and easy overview. Looking forward to more courses from TrainSignal and hopefully J. Peter Bruzzese.
Note: Now available for free via YouTube.
Silly Milly and the Mysterious Suitcase
Wendy Cheyette Lewison (Author)
Nadine Bernard Westcott (Illustrator)
Cartwheel Books an imprint of
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545349697
I must say I laughed out loud when I finished this book. Silly Milly is definitely that. She packs so many things while in her frilly hat. She packs and packs and the kids watch astonished, at all the things she crams in her bag, until finally she jumps in and packs herself. But to find out why she packs all the wonderful, weird and wacky things that she does, you will need to read this book. Oh my, oh me Silly Milly!
Little Letters
Chicken Socks
Klutz
ISBN 9781591742425
This craft kit is designed to help children understand letters and notes. Most of the pages pull out and are perforated to be separated and used for activities. Children love getting mail and sending it, or at least mine do. This book will help them understand it more. And will provide lots of entertainment.
System Center Operations Manager 2007
Train Signal
Scott Lowe
This course is intended to cover System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. The training teaches you: Client Monitoring, Operations Manager Security, Monitoring VMware Servers, Monitoring Non-Windows Devices and so much more. It should also help prepare you for the 70-400 Exam. It is a very good course and Scott is very enthusiastic about the material he is teaching. His passion is very contagious.
Lessons:
System Center Operations Manager 2007 Course Introduction
Operations Manager Overview
Installing Operations Manager
Introduction to the Management Console
Post-Installation Tasks, Discovery, and Agent Deployment
Understanding and Using Management Packs
Groups, Rules, Tasks, and Monitors
Understanding Alerts, Notifications, and Distributed Application Monitoring
Monitoring Non-Windows Devices
Client Monitoring
Deploying Operations Manager Reporting and Data Warehouse
Operations Manager Security
Monitoring VMware Servers
Using the Service Level Dashboard
Lab Machines:
DC1 - Doamin Controller
SCOM1 - System Center Operations Manager Server
DB1 - SCOM Database Server
DB2 - Second SCOm Database Server
XP7 - Windows XP Client Workstation
SLES1 - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
You can build out a lab and follow along and do all the set up and configuration with Scott. Scott provides about a dozen urls to resources you will need or for more information and jumping off points. Literally you could spend years learning to master and tweak SCOM but this course gives you a great starting point for getting it up and running and shows you the basics of some of the customizations you can provide in your environment. It was a good course and I look forward to the 2012 SCOM course that is under development.
I Can Ride
BOB Books
Lynn Maslen Kertell (Author)
Sue Hendra (Illustrator)
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545382724
This level 1 reader from Scholastic is a great read for children. First I have yet to meet a child who has not wanted to ride a bike, second the book will help them with their reading and gives some good ideas for learning to ride. Join Jack as he wants to take off the training wheels and his father teaches him to ride.
There are so many great books in the BOB Books series from the leveled readers to the word kits. They are all loved by children and great tools for teaching and helping to stretch and strengthen young readers and their progressing abilities.
About the Level Readers
The Leveled readers from Scholastic are a great way to introduce your child to reading. The levels are:
Pre1: ABC's & First Words
Level 1: Sight words, words to sound out and simple sentences.
Level 2: New vocabulary and longer sentences.
Level 3: Reading for inspiration and information.
Each book has a level rating, a grade level, a reading level, a lexile level and a word count on the back.
