iPad vs. Paper

Sorry, but this proves you can't use technology everywhere!

My Class Blog Literacy Poject

Here is a link to My Class Blog on kidblog that I am using for my literacy project. Many parents had asked me what their children could be doing at home to help in their learning, so I started a class blog where I post every weekday. The students read the postings and their classmates replies and can reply back if they like. My posts usually include a video or picture that the students can watch and a question to answer. A problem I encountered was that many students wanted to read the blog but their parents were too busy to set it up for them, how sad,  or even sadder, some students don't have a computer at home. I decided to make blogging a daily center in my literacy center schedule. The center has only been up and running for a couple of days but so far it seems to be a success!

Go!Animate Class Reflection

My GoAnimate Class Review by bethjbrown15 on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

I decided to try a web 2.0 tool called Go!Animate for my class reflection. It was very simple to do and fun. Look how sexy I made myself look and my colleague, not so much! Good times. I truly have enjoyed this class more than any other and am sad to see it end. But I know this will not be the end of  me using technology in my teaching. Thank you Judy for making this class so fabulous!

Bloom's Taxonomy According to Seinfield

This just cracked me so I had to share. At my school right now our problem of practice for instructional rounds is higher order questioning, so Bloom's and Webb's are swimming around in my head all the time! It also reminds me how much I enjoyed watching Seinfeld.

Forget Teaching, I Want to Work for Twitter!

This video shows why it is important for today's students to learn how to program compters. very interesting, but what caught my eye was what companies like Twitter and Facebook are doing to get the best IT employees. Check out the offices at Twitter. They have roof garden working space, free dry cleaning, band practice rooms,free food. and you're allowed to skateboard in the office. Makes me want to learn how to code!

Hot Diigoy Dog!

Ok, so can my blog titles get any worse?! Here is a link to my Diigo library.

Want More Blog Followers?

I found this article on edudemic.com called 30 Ways to Promote Your Blog. It has some great ideas if you seriously want to continue blogging.

I'm A YouTuber!

 

Here is my digital story that I uploaded to YouTube. It is an informational story that I will show my class this week as we begin our nonfiction research and writing unit. I felt that this was a good way to get the kids interested in the subject of animals that live in the arctic, for each student will be responsible for researching and writing a report about an arctic animal. Hopefully something in this digital story will peak their interests enough to be motivated to write a report of their own. I really enjoyed preparing this digital story and look forward to making more!

The Pig's Name is Chris P. Bacon!

Sorry, but I just love this video. I don't know if I will use it in my classroom but I had to share. It does tell a great story about overcoming disabilities, so maybe I will share it with my students, after all they do know how much I love pigs! Do you ever share silly videos with your students? My students' favorite this year was the hero pig who rescued a goat from the water.

A Blog about a Glog (aka Glogster)

Glogster is site where you can make multimedia posters. It is a cool way to put put a huge amount of information about a subject in one place. This is a Glogster for the next story in my first grade anthology called Stormy Weather. It has our phonics, comprehension skills, and information on storms on what Glogster calls a poster.  I use this on my SMARTboard and the students can also access it in the computer lab.

Have You Ever Viewed a Prezi?

I have used other educators' Prezis in my classroom but had never made one myself. Being snowed in because of the blizzard gave me the chance to  learn how to make one myself. I found out it is pretty easy to do! Prezis are like PowerPoint presentations only amped up a bit. You can focus in and out on the slides which are called tiles. I could think of a lot of uses for these in my classroom, can you?

My Voki

Here is my first attempt at making a Voki.  It would be funny to use in school if you were going to have a substitute because you can record your own voice. i just used one they already had to begin with. Maybe I'll experiment some more now that I know how it works.

Animotos for Reading

I need to teach my first graders homonyms(multiple meaning words) next week and I want to try something new, so I thought about making an Animoto. It was a great idea if I do say so myself! It is difficult to describe homonyms using just words to six and seven year olds. Using  pictures is good, but having to print out multiple pictures takes time and also uses lots of printer ink. I can't wait to show this Animoto to my students and see their their reaction. I think they are going to love it. The catchy music and quick moving photos are sure to capture their attention. If it is as successful as I think it will be, I just might make an Animoto every week for vocabulary words.

Digital Storytelling with Toondoo

I made my first cartoon with a website called toondoo. It's really cool and kids will love being able to make and write their own cartoons. It's very simple. First, you just pick characters, settings, and props if you want then. Then, you add speech bubbles and write your text.  I'm still discovering all that it can do. This is my first cartoon attempt called Sleepy Dog.

Digital Story Telling on iPads

I found out from my IT person at school that I can connect my iPad to my SMARTboard. This has made me very excited because I have found so many great apps that I want my students to be able to use. Some of these apps have to do with Digital Storytelling. I discovered a woman, Karen Ogen, who has put together this presentation on Ipad apps that can be used for digital storytelling. She has some great ideas that I never would have thought possible! Go to
http://www.lexrich5.org/webpages/kogen/files/istorytelling.swf.  to check it out. The presentation itself is done on something called iSpring, which is a more advanced version of PowerPoint.

Google Reader Rocks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen the term RSS feed used many times but never knew what it referred to. Well, I sure am glad I learned! I found out you can subscribe to a RSS (really simple syndication) feed for just about anything. A few posts back I wrote about how I found a blog that listed many first grade blogs on it, so there wasn't a need to go "blog hopping" all over the Internet. Now, by using the Google Reader and subscribing to first grade blogs I can get the latest blog posts delivered to me, ready to read, all in one place! All of the blogs that I visit for great ideas on a weekly basis now just magically appear on my Google Reader. The Internet just keeps getting better and better! Here's a YouTube video explaining how RSS works.

Paper Blogging

I've been very frustrated lately that I do not have enough computers or iPads for my first graders to begin blogging on. My school reading consultant suggested a way for my students to get the benefits of blogging without having the technology.  She suggested a class message board where the students could post messages using paper and push pins.  How old school, but better then nothing I guess!  Then when the technology in my school is in working order the kids will have some background on just what blogging actually is.  It's still frustrating that by having to blog on paper  my students won't be meeting any of the NETS for students. I did find this video on YouTube showing a class using what they called Paper Blogging.

My First Animoto

I had fun putting together some pictures of my class into an Animoto. It was actually very easy and sort of fun. The fun ended when I tried to embed the video to this blog. I actually had to watch a YouTube video on how to do it. I'm going to press publish and keep my fingers crossed.

I Love First Grade Teacher Blogs!

For years now I have been surfing the web for blogs written by other first grade teachers. These blogs have given me awesome ideas to use in my own classroom from lesson planning to classroom management. Sometimes reading what other first grade teachers' days have been like makes me feel like I'm not the only first grade teacher out there with a crazy class that has an aversion for learning! I could spend hours bookmarking and reading these amazing blogs. Then about a year ago I stumbled on a blog that post links and makes updates daily to a myriad of just first grade blogs. I had found Nirvana! No more having to make my own Sqworl to bookmark blogs. http://sqworl.com/  This had been done for me. I am posting a link to the First Grade Faculty blog where you too can find your own Nirvana. (If you're a first grade teacher!)
http://www.firstgradefaculty.com/   

Can You Trust Wikipedia?

After hearing so much negative information about Wikipedia I thought I would test it out myself and what better way then with my alma mater The University of St. Joseph.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph_College_(Connecticut)

To begin with, Wikipedia has not changed the name of the school from Saint Joseph College to University of Saint Joseph. Doesn't seem like a good sign to me. On the web page, in a box on the side, it says also know as The University of Saint Joseph. I guess someone should update this Wiki! I don't think the information is wrong on this page, just not up to date.

I Want to Go Viral!

My friend and I were bored one day between parent teacher conferences and we made a video in my classroom. We actually got over 150 views! maybe now we'll get more. let's go viral!

What Did We Do With Our Free Time Before the Internet?

 Reading chapters 1&2 in Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts
  reminded me that the Internet has only been in existence for 20 years. I forgot that the Internet at first was just for reading. The average user could not write or post back to the information given. The read/write Internet that we enjoy and use today has been in use for about 15 years. When I was at UCONN studying for my Bachelors degree in the late 1980's we had to go to the library to do research. I don't feel today's students realize this. Now working for my Masters degree in education I research from the comfort of my couch. What a different world we live in than just a short time ago!

Now with blogging becoming such an easy thing to do, the Internet has made what author Douglas Rushkoff calls "a society of authors." Everyone now has the ability to contribute their ideas. There are now more than 133 million blogs in existence and 2 new blogs are started every second. In my teaching I have visited other first grade teachers' blogs. I get ideas for lessons and it is just nice to read about what is happening in other first grade classrooms around the United States and even some in Great Britain and Australia. I never thought about about actually writing my own blog until taking this graduate class in technology. I'm now even thinking about having my students begin blogging. First graders love to write about them selves and what a great way to get them interested in writing. I know they would enjoy commenting on their classmates posts, and the bonus is they would have to be reading the posts and practicing their keyboarding skills which they will need for the new round of testing coming in 2014. students blogging seems to me to be a win-win situation!

Technology Standards, Who Knew?

I hate to admit this but until last week I didn't know there were common core standards for technology. It totally makes sense though, with the end of the CMTs and the new SBAC testing being done all on computers. To be successful students will have to be much more computer literate than just playing Call of Duty. The technology standards are called the National Educational Technology Standards or NETS. The NETS for students comprise everything today's students need to know to be successful in in the global computer based society that now exists. If you would like to know more specifics about these standards visit the NETS website at http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students. There are also NETS for teachers. These are the standards that educators will use to evaluate their students' performance working with technology. If you would like to know more about how students will be evaluated visit http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.

Starting Out

First post! Here's to a long healthy bloggy relationship!