The Pumpkin Patch and Animoto

This story that I told, through music and pictures, was a trip to the pumpkin patch. I went with my niece and two nephews, as well as my sisters and mom. Seeing experiences through the eyes of little ones is truly exciting. The day was filled with cider, a petting zoo, and finally picking out the perfect pumpkin. The kids had a great time playing and enjoying all that fall has to offer!

This example of a movie could be great for the classroom. It's important for children to understand that stories don't need words to make it a "story." We tell stories through our actions, our emotions, and finally through the pictures we capture. Students can even tell stories with drawings they create, but the main goal is creativity! It would be useful for my students to have this broad genera of what storytelling looks like. I would also have my students do what I did and create a story that was a trip with my family or a memory they shared. This gets them thinking about family structure and how all families look different which is included in the GLCEs.

As for the technology I loved animoto! It was incredibly easy to use. I started off playing around with joggle and was actually quite confused. I had noticed that many of my classmates used animoto so I figured I'd give it a try. It was easy to upload the pictures, include and song, and the program created the video on its own. This would be great to use with younger students because the technology does most of the work for you! The one thing I disliked about this technology was that the video could only used 8-10 pictures and take up 3o seconds. Past the 30 second time allotment the user had to pay to upgrade, but overall I think that to try out the software it was a great first impression!

Enjoy The Day at the Pumpkin Patch!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Comics are Cool!

So the new technology I decided to try out this week was a comic. I'm doing a new literacy project for Language Arts that has to incorporate some form of technology. The problem was that many of the technologies that she said we could try I have already played around with in this class... so... I broadened my horizons and tried something completely different!

I was really nervous about this whole comic thing until I downloaded the free 30 day trial of comic life. This program is AWESOME and I highly recommend it! It is so much fun to play around with. You use pictures that you already have and create a comic using bubbles and fun fonts. It is very guided and user friendly so I liked that a lot.

As for using this in the classroom I had so many ideas. Students could make comics in a Language Arts class to describe a part of the book they're reading. They could use it as a persuasive technique and try to "sell" an idea to someone. They could create a comic of their own life or event. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

So because my new literacy project isn't quite finished I created a comic to warm me up to my final graded project. I decided to do a comic about my life and spring break. My sisters and I ran the disney princess half marathon and it was absolutely incredible. Becky and I had been training and Heather... well lets just say she went on the elliptical a couple of times. Read the comic to see how Heather did!

Enjoy!

Half Marathon Comic

PLN Network so far

As for blogging I think that this is the one thing that I have gravitated towards the most. I think that posts based around technology and the broad field of teaching is great because there is so much to talk about! I find it easier now to follow other's blogs as well through google reader. It is nice to be able to go to a site that updates you on all of the blogs you may miss out on. So blogging has gone well thus far...

Delicious is a new technology that I have liked as well. I like bookmarking on Delicious because everything is very organized and I can find useful sites. Everything for this class is bookmarked on Delicious so I don't get confused with my personal bookmarks on my own computer.

On to twitter....

I have to admit I haven't been building my twitter at all. I even downloaded a tweet deck and I still have yet to actually use it. Although it is nice to have I just can't get into tweeting. Maybe someday I will find this useful but I would rather read blogs than read a limited hundred-something characters.

I am still trying to build my PLN and immerse myself into this technology.

But for now I feel pretty good about blogging : )

Big Zoo Lesson

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Big Zoo Lesson

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Big Zoo Lesson

This is a lesson that was conducted last week in the third grade classroom I am currently in. The students are going to the zoo for a week long research project. Each student is responsible for researching an assigned animal and they need to collect data. Last week we talked about what the students were expected to do throughout their research and I have taken this lesson and added technology!

I have turned this lesson into a google docs presentation and have attempted to follow the BBP approach. I learned the 6 lines six word per slide rule and I think I will be using that for future presentations. In this presentation I have tried to use visuals that will help students remember the information, for example the frog with big eyes for the look slide and the elephant with big ears for the listen slide. Hopefully these visuals will spark their memory more so than slides with a great deal of writing.

Enjoy!

Olympics- lesson plans

I was wondering if anyone's CTs were incorporating history or coverage of the Olympics into their classroom. I think that with all of the coverage it would be great to discuss history and what the students are watching at home. I feel like there is so much that could be done with the Olympic coverage and even just creating math story problems with the Olympics as a back story would really intrigue students.

Sometimes I think that school is separated from the world outside and that students are expected to leave what they learn or experience outside of school at the door. I think it's important to talk to children about current events and what is going on in the world around them.

What are your CTs doing if anything? I haven't heard anything about the Olympics and I don't remember much from my school experience either.

Thoughts...?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barabanov/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

First Field Trip

I am going on my first field trip with the third graders this week and couldn't be more excited. This week they are doing their BIG ZOO LESSON. In the third grade students are assigned a specific animal and they are expected to research at the zoo. The students will be there for an entire week and the buss takes them to and from the zoo each morning and afternoon. I have never experienced a field trip that lasted all week so this should be interesting!

As I mentioned the students each have an animal that they are in charge of researching. Research includes watching the animals behavior, researching through books and technology, asking the zoo keepers questions, and learning through observation. I think that this lesson is so engaging for the students especially because they tend to have less science time in the classroom than their other subjects. This will give them an entire week to partake in a science lesson while incorporating literacy with their note taking and writings.

I was curious what field trips others have participated in and how they went...

I will keep you updated and will tell you how it goes!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucumari/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0