Reflections

And my favorite tool is ....

a tie :)

I love digital storytelling and Bookr. I am constantly looking for new ways to encourage my kiddos to write and I think these two new tools will be great additions in my teaching tool belt. I know that kids will look forward to the technology addition to Writer's Workshop. I can't wait and plus it is a great way for the kids to share their writing with others, including parents.

As far as transforming my thinking of learning in my classroom, I think it just enhanced my knowledge of integrating technology into the classroom. I think before I was a novice teacher when it came to me integrating technology into the learning environment. Now, I think I am an advanced teacher but I know that I am still learning.

No, the only unexpected outcome was that I enjoyed it a lot more then I thought I would. Oh, and the fact that this class took a lot more time then I thought it would.

Tool #11

Digital Citizenship

We spend the first few weeks of school teaching our kiddos about safety and good manners. I think it is also important to teach them about "digital" safety.

I agree in the fact that most of these kiddos do not know the appropriate way to use these technologies. They need to have a role model to teach them what is appropriate and what is not.

Teachable Safety Tip #1
Stranger Danger

The kids need to know that they can come across strangers on the Internet as well. They first need to know what to do if they are approached by a stranger in a chat room or on the blog.

I love the Internet safety poster that CoolCatTeacher has but for primary kids it needs to be simplified.

1) Stop - If you come across a stranger that is bothering you stop what you are doing. Do not chat with them.

2) Tell - If the stranger does not leave you alone or says inappropriate things, you need to tell the teacher.

Teachable Safety Tip #2
Don't Share your Passwords

Just like the kids learn not to share their lunch numbers, they need to learn not to share their id and password. We need to only use our own login.

Teachable Safety Tip #3
Everything you Type is seen by Others

Lastly, I think it is important to teach the kids that we have to constantly make good choices when it comes to what we type on the Internet. They need to understand that their choices are seen by others and we need to make sure that we are making good choices when it comes to technology. That way we can constantly use and enjoy it in the future.

Tool #10

Free I-Touch Apps
I looked over the list of SBISD apps and my favorite is Google Earth. In First Grade, one of our units of study is maps. I would love to use the app to allow the children to explore maps further. I know they would enjoy finding our school and familiar places around their home. It would also allow us to look at maps from the 10 states and 3 countries that we learn about.


Wish List of I-Touch Apps
I found two apps that I would love to be able to use in the classroom. The list of apps the district has do not include many for the primary grade levels. Here are the two I would use the most.

Zoo Spelling
This is a great literacy tool that would allow the kids to practice building high frequency words. I believe this would be an excellent tool to help support word work that is taught during guided reading.


Math Magic
This app would be great to use to help support students in learning their math facts.






In Closing ...
I think I-touch apps are a great way to encourage students to practice the skills that are taught in the classroom. Plus, they do not know they are learning the think they are playing games.

Tool #9

Jing

I downloaded Jing and captured my first screen shot. I decided to capture a map of my favorite place ... Sherwood.

I know in First Grade one of the hardest thing to teach kids is how to access a website and enter their login information. I would use Jing to create a short powerpoint on how to access and login into a website. That way I do not have to repeat myself 200 times and the kids become more independent.

We could also use it in Social Studies when we are learning the 10 states. The kids could capture images of a map of each of the states.

Skype

I do not have a web cam on my laptop, so I wasn't able to connect to Skype. I have used it before during an Alumni meeting with my friend Chastine that lives in Washington D.C. That is the only experience I have had with Skype, but I do know that it's a very popular technology tool.

I love the commercial with Ellen Page when she visits the classroom that is taking a "field trip" to Japan. She is amazed when another classroom from Japan pops up on the screen. It is amazing what you can do in a classroom today.

When researching Skype, I thought it was so neat that you could get an author to Skype in and read aloud their book. What a neat way for the kids to interact with a real author. This would be a neat tool during an author study.

I think it would also be neat to have a person living in each of the ten states, that we learn in First Grade, Skype in. It would give the kids a perspective of live in different locations. Oh the possibilities!!

Question? Do our Activ Boards have a web cam?

Tool #8

Digraph Rap


*Note - I will need to do a voice over for this video because he mispronounces the digraphs. He adds a /u/ to the end of each digraph so that instead of saying /sh/ he says /shu/. The song is so so catchy, so I will need to sing over his voice so the kids get the correct digraph sound.

Magic Money Game Show

This teacher, Mr. Thompson, has a pretty sweet teacher tube channel. He has videos for high frequency words and also some Science rap videos. I try to rap with the kids to help them learn concepts, so it's nice to find another teacher that follows that too. I strongly believe that kids learn through singing and what better way then with their favorite style of music.

I wanted to add a math video and money is such a hard concept for First Graders. I think it would be fun to have them create their own versions of this game show.

Ok, so I have to admit that United Streaming is probably my most used technology in the classroom. I love to introduce new concepts by finding a short video clip to engage the students. It's like my hook. Mostly, I love using videos to introduce new authors we are studying. It helps the students to see that authors are real people just like you and me.

I do like Teacher Tube but it really makes me worried because the comments from other users are not censored. I came across some pretty vulgar comments. When I use United Streaming, I view the video clip beforehand to make sure it is appropriate. I guess this is a good rule of thumb for Teacher Tube as well.

Tool #7

Wow! That was a lot of fun but very time consuming. I am very very sad because I tried to do a voice over and all my microphone picked up was static. It sounded awful, so I had to resort to the text. Not as fun but it works. You always have to have a back up during lessons, so it goes to show that options are always needed. This reminded me of "Reading Rainbow" as a kid. Yes, I am young. I know!!

I know the kids would love to experiment with Digital Storytelling. While we are in the learning process, I would love to use this as a class project. We could work together to create the story line, pictures, and script for the voice over. Hopefully we will have a working microphone :). Then as the kids get more comfortable with the media, I would love to have them create their "digital story" in groups or pairs.

I would also love to use it at the end of the unit. It could be a new fun way for the kids to present what they have learned. An insect video....how neat!!

What a wonderful tool to get kids engaged in not only storytelling with a beginning, middle, and end but writing! I love how it explained that at the beginning of the year only 60% of a fourth grade class would say they were writers and at the end of the year 90% said they were writers. That is awesome and motivating!

Tool #6

Wiki-Wiki-Wikis :)

I have been encouraged to use wikis in the past but I never really saw how I would incorporate them in a primary classroom. I loved the idea of using them in the writing process. I think it would be so neat to have a co-classroom that would read our story and help us revise it. It would be like a pen-pal but a pen-class ... lol!! It would help the class see different ways that they can improve their writing.

Also, I think it would be neat to use a wiki when a grade level is planning a field trip or activity. Each classroom in the grade level could brainstorm what they need. Then each class could edit in with what they are bringing or making. What a great thought process and it makes it so hands on for the kids. It also puts the process in the kids hands and not all on the teacher.

Tool #5

I love love love this site :)!! I spent time playing the interactive reading games and I have to admit that Wellington is one cool turtle. I could see the kids getting really engaged and it's a great way to practice the key concepts that are getting taught in the guided reading groups. This website even has guided reading stories that the kids can read that are based on Roy's adventures. The best part is that unlike Star Fall the kids have to read the text but it still offers animation on each page. It's a great tool for First Graders to use and interact with.
Roy the Zebra

The second site that I found is a great literacy resource for teachers. It provides links to First Grade vocabulary and even has assessments for both fluency and comprehension. I also found that it has a list of leveled readers that you can send home with parents. That way the parents can easily tell if their child is reading a book on their correct level. I think it is a very helpful site.
Hello Literacy

The tags I created were "first grade", "literacy", "writer's workshop", and "math". I think this is an easy way to find exactly what I'm looking for and fast.

Social bookmarking would be a great tool to use in the classroom. It would help the students find websites when we are doing our research on insects. It would also be a great tool during workstations and would allow the students to quickly find the website that they need to access. It also helps me, as a teacher, know that my students are visiting appropriate websites during the times I am teaching in small groups.

Tool #4

Google Docs - I have used a similar program called Basecamp through the Alumni Association that I am a part of. However, google docs gives access to more people and I love how you can set up who can view your documents. It is very helpful because you do not have to sort through emails, it's all right there.

Google Reader - I set this up with no complications and found it very easy to use. I love how it shows the websites/blogs that have been updated without having to visit each one.

As far as uses in the classroom, I think I would use Google Docs more with my colleagues rather then the kids. I loved the you tube video that discussed how it worked with high school level kids but at the First Grade level I think it is much more appropriate for the kids to complete the writing process with feedback from the teacher in person. I love using conferencing during writing and I think young kids benefit more from that personal contact.

I would use Google Reader with the kids though. We can subscribe to our favorite websites and blogs and then read them all in one area. I think it is a great tool to use and it saves time.

Tool #3

This first wordle is just for fun.


The second wordle is what I would incorporate in my classroom. My idea is to have this as a workstation where the kids create wordle(s) for the different word families. I know the kids will enjoy seeing who can create the most words in each family. I think I would great a word document for each kid where they could save their wordle(s). That way they can save multiple and print out when they have a group of them completed. I just view this as being an engaging tool for the kiddos.


The second image generator that I picked was Bookr. I have to admit that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be but now that I understand how to use it I feel comfortable teaching it to the kids. At first, I uploaded my pictures to Flickr and then I tagged them so I would be able to use them on Bookr. After many tries, I could not use my pictures to create a book using Bookr. It kept saying no pictures found. I gave up and used the images from the public gallery. I ended up creating a book about insects, which is a unit of study in First Grade. It was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it.

I would love love to use this in my classroom. I am always struggling with get the kids to want to write and I think this would help motivate them. I think it's also a great tool to encourage kids to write a beginning, middle, and end to their stories. They could share their books they created on the activ board and the others could give their feedback. All in all I think it's a great tool that I would definitely use.

My only drawback is I would love to figure out how to use my own photos in Bookr. I would love to have a gallery of pictures the kids could pick from to create their books. That way at first they have a limited number of pictures to chose from and that they also learn what are appropriate pictures to use for their books. Also it would help me teach the kids how to write an engaging story that others will want to read. Hopefully someone else has had success with this.

Tool #2

I am actually excited about setting up a personal learning network. I strongly believe that as a teacher, I'm always learning from not only my students but fellow teachers as well. I have to admit I love to share the strategies that I have incorporated to help meet the needs of the different learners in my classroom. I would find it super engaging to read about what other teachers are trying in the classroom and ways they have adapted things to fit their classroom needs. Plus it's always nice to get feedback on something you have tried but have not quiet figured out how to make it work for yourself.

As far as commenting, I have to admit that I am a "lurker" who reads but does not ofter contribute. I found it interesting because in previous blogs I have commented on, it is often when the blogger has asked for advice or if the situation is similar to one that I have encountered. I plan to use this with my students to get them actively engaged in commenting. I also really like the idea of responding to the comments, which I have noticed the benefits of this in my classroom. When you respond to the child's writing by saying things like, "I love how you talked about ...." and also asking them questions. Their faces really light up when they notice that you responded to their writing.

Blogs I have commented on ....
1) Savcic's Savants
2) The Tech-Teacher Experiment
3) Number Antics
4) Miss Williams First Grade
5) Johnson's Journey

Tool #1 - Welcome

Ok getting started is the hardest part, so I am proud of myself for starting this 11 tools journey.

To be honest blogging is not new to me. It is something that I enjoy and something that helps link you to others. In this case it links me to other teachers and their ideas on how to make integrating technology easier.

I would love to continue this classroom blog and possibly have it as a new window to keep parents updated on the happenings of our classroom. I know the kids would like posting their writing and other classroom projects.

So ..... WELCOME ..... hopefully this will be something that I will enjoy and that I will continue to