Tool #7- Reaching Outside your Classroom: Online Digital Projects

After visiting the resources regarding online digital projects, design a collaborative project with another classroom.

Ok, so I can't take full credit of this activity, but I saw this posted on the 11 tools website, and thought that I could adapt this experience to our classrooms needs.
I have heard so much about Skype lately, and how fun it is to connect with people that you may not see every day. Zac's sister in law is a teacher that lives in Knoxville and I thought that this would A)be a great experience for the kids to understand differences and similarities in weather patterns, and B) to get the oppurtunity to stay in touch with my future sister in law! Since I won the Playnormous iMac.. this would be great!

Unit- Weather and Seasons




Objective:TLW understand that the weather changes through the season in different ways in Texas and Tennessee.
*Implementation would begin on the first day of fall and continue through December as we would incorporate this into our everyday calendar activities.
*I could see using united streaming and youtube on google docs to send videos of the different weather. We could Skype each other and the kids could ask and answer questions in both classrooms. What a cool way to communicate! can see and read about the kids reflections about weather here and there.

Tool #6- Using Web Tools to Promote Discussion in and out of the Classroom

Choose at least two of the tools from the above list. Create an account for each.
Embed the sample (preferred) or link to the URL.
Use each of the tools you choose to create a sample of how you would use it in your classroom.

Twitter: meredithlouise1
Facebook: Meredith McKim
Google Docs: Standard District Login / GMAIL account

Share your thoughts on how you see the tools being integrated into your classroom. How do you see them encouraging participation?

Today's Meet- I think this is a really great tool. While I was perusing Helen Ann's blog, I noticed her idea with this tool. I think that her idea using Today's Meet is awesome! She suggested using it as a forum of discussion after Meet the Teacher or Back to School Night. This way, parents have the ability to ask questions in a chat sort of way with out TONS of emails being sent back and forth. I will DEFINITELY use this tool this year!

Twitter- I think that twitter is such a popular trend right not that this tool could be a great way to communicate little blurbs and reminders to parents! It's almost like a text message without giving out your phone number. I think that with most parents having iPhones or smartphones, this would be an easy way to communicate!

Tool #5- Producing with Web 2.0 Tools

Use at least two of the tools above to create products. Think about your content. Create a “set” for one of your lessons! Or, consider providing the site as a choice for your students to create products. Make a model for a student created product.
Describe for your readers how you think each tool can be incorporated into your classroom - how you could see the tool being used by you instructionally and your students to demonstrate their understanding of a concept or topic in your classroom.



I LOVE Wordles!! We did this as a class in the computer lab with our book buddies last year! The kids love them. I thought this one was pretty fitting for right now. :)

As far as incorporating this into a lesson or into my classroom, I think this would be a fabulous "getting to know you" activity for the beginning of the year. Since we will have the minis, we could definitely do this as a class. Each child come come up with a list of words that describe him or her. You could even create a list so that they can simply answer the questions. We could hang these up in the classroom all year long!

I also really like Animoto. This past year, our first graders completed a Presidential research project where they chose a president that they knew little about. After completing the BIG 6 reseach model, the kids created trading cards that we converted into an Animoto! Way cool! We also utilized Big Huge Labs as a website to help us with our trading cards.

iMovie- At the end of the school year, first grade teachers have created 20 minute iMovies that contain pictures of the entire school year. They turn out amazing and we give them to each of the kids as gifts. This is a fabulous tool that is easy to use once you get the hang of it! We plan on continuing this little tradition because we hear great feedback from parents and kids! :)

Tool #4- Moving Up to the Clouds

Create at least one document in Google Docs and share it with a few others on your campus or within your department. It could a team member, a department colleague, or another teacher with whom you plan a collaboration. Ask that person to comment or chat and real-time edit the document with you.

I created our first week's lesson plans on Google Docs and shared it with my team, so this was really useful! HAB emailed me back immediately and told me how proud she was of me! (She is finished with 11 tools... grr) Now.... if only I could get a picture of it to post..



Briefly discuss how you can use the tools in Google Apps with your team or department. How can you incorporate Google Apps as a tool in your classroom? Which tools are you excited about using with students.

I think this is a great way for our team and the staff to communicate. It takes some getting used to, though. I found it much easier the more that I "played around" and became familiar with everything. Google forms will be a great tool to use in the clssroom. This seems like a very efficient way to assess knowledge "on the fly." This can bring in some of the active and overt participation with the use of the ActivBoard eggs! Pretty cool!

Tool #3- Finding Online Video and Image Resources

Visit several of the video hosting/streaming sites mentioned above. Share with your readers which sites you found most useful for your content and why.

In the past, we have relied heavily on United Streaming and Youtube as educational tools in the classroom. We also use Brainpop, Jr, which the kids LOVE. These videos are educational and kid friendly. They are also very easy to navigate and search. I know that I will be using these websites in my classroom in the future.

Here are some fun videos that we used to help teach counting coins and counting by 5's last year. The kids loved it and were singing the songs all the time.






Copyright- I was always familiar with the laws of copyrighted material, but wasn't familiar with the exact laws. I know now that you can post anything that is copyrighted to a secure website that requires a password or is a walled location. The youtube video is pretty entertaining.

I am excited to use Picassa to upload more pictures for flipcharts and videos!

Tool #2- Building Community in the Online Environment

After completing the above, share you thoughts about building and participating in an online community and participating in a PLN. What points stood out to you from the commenting advice? Were you able to apply any of the advice in your comments? How did you feel about sharing your thoughts publicly? Was it different than when you're sharing your successes/challenges with your teammate?

I have commented on blogs before,and had no problems. When I created my blog for PLaynormous, it was easy to navigate and follow other people. Today, I encountered a lot of issues while posting. Karen and Theresa helped me as much as they could, but were stumped as well. I posted on 5 or more blogs of my collegues and some of the posts did not show up. We will see how this goes!

Share the url or name of a website or social network that you plan to visit in the future. What does that site have to offer?

I found a useful blog on technology and classroom tools. It looks really interesting and I look forward to exploring it and using it to update my blog.

http://ladybugsteacherfiles.blogspot.com/

Tool #1- Getting Started - Creating your blog!

Write a brief post about your experience to date. Did you find the experience fairly easy? Did you face any challenges?

I found creating a Voki very easy and exciting. It was fun to create a Voki with all of the different tools. I did not run into any problems.