Web 2.0 Tool-Final Reflection

I used bitstrips to create a short reflection on what I learned from this course. Check it out and tell me what you think!

Final Literacy Project

I had so much fun creating a cute and fun Storybird story with my Pre-k students. As a whole group, we had a quick discussion about what we might want to write a story about. The students came to an agreement that the monster pictures were cool. We then chose ten different monster pictures to use for our story. We talked about the fact that the pictures were not all of the same character. We decided that our monster would be a monster that was always changing. The name Marcus came from a class vote after a few other names were given. I then had my students break into their small literacy groups, and each group either helped me write one or two pages. When all the pages were completed, we came back together as a whole group and finalized our story. The kids loved making the story and it was super easy and fun!! Take a look and let us know what you think!!

I Love Diigo!!

I absolutely love my Diigo Library! I think it's a great way to keep track of tons of great websites and articles; especially if you are gathering information for a project or for new ideas in the classroom. I found it extremely helpful when finding websites to add to our class wiki project. I will continue to use it as a bookmarking tool for both professional and personal uses. I have been tagging all the sites I add; but when I have some free time I would like to make more lists to find information even quicker. I showed my teammates at work how to use it and they too have started to really enjoy using it.

Digital Storytelling Project

For this project,  I had my PreK class and Kate had her First Grade class illustrate pictures about what friendship means to them. We then wrote down each child's thoughts about friendship. Being a good friend is a social skill that we both are working on in our classrooms. I showed my students the video today and they loved it! We had to watch it twice; and my students are now so excited about helping me to make more videos. They really enjoyed seeing their illustrations come to life on the Smartboard. It was a fun project, and I can't wait to make more digital books for my class. Check out the video and let me know your thoughts.

Cute Dr. Seuss Books on Video

I came across some Dr. Seuss books on Youtube that I will share with my students this week and wanted to share them with you.

Dr. Seuss Ideas..

Seussville is a great website for learning more about Dr. Seuss. There is a section to find out more information about the books he has written and the artwork he has created. There are some short videos to watch as well. There are a ton of printable activities and some games to play online. If you need some ideas check out the site and let me know what you think. Also, if you have any great ideas for craft projects or activities to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day, please share them!


(Image Courtesy of Google Images)

How Young is Too Young??

I use lots of technology in my classroom each day to enhance my students' learning. I have a Smartboard in my classroom so we can do a lot of whole group activities using it. I use a site called Starfall all the time with my students. It's a great site for building early literacy skills. My students love to read each little mini book that goes along with the letters we are learning. PBS Kids is another great site for building early literacy, math, and science skills. We play letter recognition games, rhyming games, counting games, matching games, etc.. You can go on and do a search for the type of game you are looking for and go from there. Another resource I use for free book videos is through Barnes and Noble. Many times the books on there have the actual author reading the story; very cute! I teach PreK 3 and 4 year olds and they have no problem playing the games or listening to the stories. I feel they learn a lot from the games and also the stories. The students are also allowed to play the games we play on the Smartboard on the two classroom computers during center time. After taking this class, I will also be doing more with Animoto, digital stories and Storybird to enhance student learning.

Looking for New Literacy Ideas...

(Image is Courtesy of Google Images)

I found a post from Judy's Blog titled Literacy Shed and thought I would check it out, because the title caught my eye. The site has so many great visual literacy resources for the classroom. Some of the resources are geared for older students, but I found the picture book shed to be something I will use with my own students. One story I read every year is Owl Babies written by Martin Wadell, and this site has a great movie version of the book. What a great way for me to really grab my students attention, and for them to be able to listen and watch the story at the same time. If anyone has any other great sites for free read aloud books that I could play on my Smartboard please let me know, I am always looking for ideas!

Idea for Digital Storytelling Project

(Picture Courtesy of Google Images)

 

Kate and I are planning to do our project together, however, with all these days off I have not had a chance to start working on it with my students. We were thinking it would be fun to see what children think about friendship and create a book about their ideas. We were thinking the title might be, Friendship Through the Eyes of a Child. Working together we would be able to see how PreK and First grade students view friendship. We were going to have all the children illustrate their ideas and write down the words they told us that describe their illustrations. We would then go back and record the child talking about their illustration. We thought we would show the child's illustration while they said their words. For background music, we were thinking we would play the instrumental version of the theme song to the Toy Story Movies-You've Got a Friend in Me. Anyone have any suggestions for us??

Valentine's Day Ideas

(One of the many cute idea on the site.)

I came across a really cute blog a few weeks ago and have been following it now using google reader. The site has many cute ideas for Valentine's Day that would be appropriate for PreK and Kindergarten students. There are lots of free printables as well. Check out the blog, and if you like it add it to your google reader list.

Student Perspectives on Digital Storytelling

I came across a really cute video on youtube about digital storytelling. In the video second and third grade students are talking about how they created stories and then turned them into digital stories. The students all seemed really excited about the work they created and talked with passion about the process. I can't wait to start using digital stories more with my own students!

Need Ideas for Black History Month...

(Image courtesy of Google Images)

I am sure you are already aware that February is Black History Month, but many of you might need some additional information or resources for yourself or your students. I came across a great website with free resources in my search for information. iconn has a ton of useful information. Let me know if you have any good resources that you use with your students.

Check Out These Apps In My Diigo Library...

I found a few different sites with some good educational apps and added them to my Diigo library. I am really enjoying adding links to my Diigo library, but wish I knew about this site sooner. I have done research for other classes and it would have been helpful to use Diigo to bookmark websites and also articles I needed. Moving forward I will continue to use this site for both professional and personal use.

My First Animoto

I had fun creating my first Animoto project. I created an Animoto that has all the alphabet letters and a food that goes along with each letter. One of the goals for Prekindergarten is that students will identify all of the uppercase and lowercase alphabet letters by the end of the school year. I included a food for each letter because I will be implementing a unit on foods next month with my students. I thought the video would be great to show on the SmartBoard. The video will help to expose my students to all the alphabet letters, and to learn about some different foods at the same time. I will show the video during whole group time so we can talk about the letters and the different foods. Afterwards, I will play the video during free choice times to keep exposing my students to letters and foods. Wondering what foods I came up with for q and x? Check out my Animoto and let me know what you think! (All photo images are courtesy of Google Images.)

Free Printables....

I am so happy to have set up an RSS feed in google reader. I started searching different topics to subscribe to and came across a great site for early childhood teachers. The site has many great ideas for math, science, literacy, fine motor activities and more. The site has many different age appropriate themes, with all sorts of great ideas and resources for each theme. Best of all, tons of free printable activities! This is one of the ideas I found on the site: write large letters on a sheet of paper in pencil, then children trace over the letter with tempera paint.

Looking for Artwork?

Since I teach at a museum school I am always trying to expose my students to different art images and different forms of artwork. I found a great art wiki that has lots of great images. I plan to share some of the images with my students. If you are looking for art images or maybe an idea for a writing prompt for students that need a visual image, then check out the images on the ib art online studio. Above is one of the images I found on the site, my students will love it!

Need Ideas on Writing Great Blog Posts?

Three weeks ago I had no idea how to make my own blog, or write comments on other people's blogs. Today I would say I'm starting to get the feel for it. Steve Wheeler has a great blog post about what makes a good blog post. I found his ideas to be helpful and the article gave me some good ideas to use as I continue blogging.

Digital Storytelling Resources

Students at Scott County Schools in Georgetown, Kentucky have been busy making all sorts of digital stories. If you are looking for ideas or inspiration check out some student videos from the Scott County Schools' site. I also found a great digital storytelling article from Reading Rockets. The article has examples of digital stories, some background about digital stories and their uses, and there is also links to tutorials, web resources for music, sound effects, graphics, and copyright information.

Response to the article: Online Collaborative Inquiry: Classroom Blogging Ventures and Multiple Literacies written by Dr. Judy Arzt

This article had tons of great information and links. One link that I found really interesting was the Global Read Aloud Project. Students from all over read the same book and comment on their thoughts and ideas on the book. What a great way for students to learn how children from different cultural backgrounds respond to the same story. Another site I found of great interest was from Mr. Avery's Class blog. The students in this sixth grade classroom researched a country and its animals. They then created animotos about their project. Site has some great examples of student produced animotos.

 

Richardson Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter Three has some more great information about creating your own blog, adding information and details to your blog, and blogging ideas to use in your own classroom. If you are interested in creating a classroom blog you can check out 21 classes. It's just another free way to set up classroom blogs and blogs for your students.

Before starting this class the only wiki that I ever heard of was Wikipedia. In the past, I used Wikipedia to research certain topics for either my students or myself. I, however, didn’t know much of what a wiki actual was. After reading Chapter Four, in Will Richardson’s book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, I have a much better understanding of what a wiki is and how I might use them in my personal and professional life.

I quickly explored the Wikijunior site and found some good information. I found some cute alphabet books I could use with my students. I also found tons of information on bugs; which is a unit of study that we explore in the spring. There was both information and pictures of all kind of different bugs. I will definitely use this site this spring to research information, and to also show my students the pictures of the different bugs. I will have my students come up with questions they have about different bugs. I will then use the site with them to try and find the information and answer their questions.

Personally I am always looking for different recipes to try. The recipe wiki mentioned in the chapter has tons of great recipes, from appetizers to desserts to beverages. The travel wiki mentioned in the chapter has some great information on different travel locations. It has some top travel destinations and tons of great information about each location. My students are always coming into the classroom singing different songs and I sometimes have no clue what they are trying to say or what song they are singing. Lyric wiki will help with that. You can find lyrics to thousands of different songs. You can search the site by artist, album, song title or label.

Inspiration

I got some inspiration from Mr. Flinn’s students’ blogs. I want to start a classroom blog soon, and would love to have my students eventually have their own blog page as well. A place for them to showcase artwork and for their parents to write them comments. Since I teach Prekindergarten I wasn’t sure what to really do. Mr. Flinn had his Kindergarten students interview each other, write sentences about their peer and then he videotaped each student reading their work. Parents were able to comment about their child’s project. I just thought it was a very cute, easy way to expose young children to blogging.

An Interesting Animoto

I am really glad we are learning about Animoto. I had never even heard of it before this class, but I already have some great ideas of how I can use it in my own classroom. One of the Animoto projects that I saw online that I liked came from Nolia's Blog. She has tons of pictures of her students in action, at both a local farm and in the classroom. What a great way for parents to see what is going on at school and for her to share with her students.

Blogging About Richardson's Book

After reading Chapters One and Two, in Will Richardson’s book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, I feel I have a better idea of weblogs and how I might use them with my own students. Something that I am currently using with my students is YouTube. I have to do research ahead of time to make sure the content of the postings are appropriate, but there are many cute books and song videos on the site that my students really enjoy. An idea I got from Chapter One was Tess’s “WeatherRecipes” book on Flickr.com. The site has all the pages of Tess’s book so that anyone can see it. What a great way for parents to see what is going on in the classroom and also for extended family members to see what is going on either at home or at school. I thought I could use Flickr.com and start sharing photos with families about what happens at school. Parents love to hear about what is going on in the classroom, but now I can show them what is going on as well.

One technology tool that I would like to start using in my own classroom would be a weblog to make a classroom website. I would like to post my weekly activities students will be doing and post pictures of student work and pictures of students participating in different classroom activities. Something else I would like to create is a wiki for a parent-teacher conference schedule or a schedule for parent volunteers in the classroom. I could post available times and parents could sign up for times and others would know what times were taken or available. This would make it easy for parents to sign up and for me to not have to go back and forth with all the scheduling. I could use this also when we need classroom supplies for various activities or celebrations. Bill Chamberlain’s Fifth Grade Classroom Blog has tons of great ideas! Check out Meriwether-Lewis Elementary School’s site to see examples of a whole school site with many different teacher pages and more great ideas!

Blogging About NETS

New literacies to me means all the new forms of literacy that have become available over the past ten or so years that are made possible by the advances in digital technology developments . Some examples that I use in my classroom each day are, photo sharing, researching different topics on the internet, emailing parents and colleagues, literacy games found on the internet , and the use of digital books.

NETS for students:

Students need to think creatively to understand and develop meaningful pieces of work using technology. Students will be able to use digital media in order to work with peers either in class or over the internet. Students will be able to use digital tools and critical thinking skills to research, evaluate research, and use the information they gather in a meaningful way to complete projects. Students will need to plan out and conduct their own research, staying on task and solving their problems to make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students need to have an understanding of their legal and ethical responsibilities when it comes to technology use. Students will be able to demonstrate a solid understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. (This definition is adapted from the information I found on the NETS for students webpage, for further information please visit their website).

NETS for teachers:

Teachers need to use their own knowledge about subject matter and technology to help their students advance their knowledge and creativity both in the classroom and over the internet. Teachers will plan lessons and activities so that their students will engage in authentic learning experiences, while gaining new technology skills. Teachers need to become knowledgeable of the new technologies that are available to them and their students.  Teachers need to have an understanding of their legal and ethical responsibilities when it comes to technology use. Teachers will continue to keep current on the field of technology and will share what they learn with colleagues and other professionals in their field. (This definition is adapted from the information I found on the NETS for teachers webpage, for further information please visit their website).

 
I teach Prekindergarten so I try to expose my students to new information all the time. We use the SmartBoard in our classroom to research topics on the internet. We play literacy rich games on Startfall. We also play many different literacy, math, and science games on the PBS kids website. My students also like to listen to and watch books online. I use a program called bookflix for this. I hope to expand my knowledge of other great resources to share with my students, but this is what we are currently using each day.

Class One

During the first class we learned the difference between a blog and a wiki. We learned how to post on someone elses blog, and how to start to create our own blog. I'm excited to learn more about what this class is all about, and how I can integrate technology into my own classroom more.