Thing #21

Google has a lot of neat things to offer. I thing my favorite is the iGoogle. I like how you can create your own personal home page. This is a fast way to check up on all my favorites at one time. EVERYTHING is right there!! I tried the Google Calendar but I could not get it to work. I was really looking forward to exploring it. It would again to a great tool in keeping parents up to date on early release, fundraising money due, picture day, weekly studies, the list could go on and on. I will definitely check back. When exploring Google Alerts, I tabbed Dallas Cowboys and technology in the classroom. I haven't received any emails yet. I'll keep checking my new iGoogle home page. :) I typed in a book my daughter read in class on the Google Book Search. It gave an overview of the book, had a list of reference from web pages, other editions of the book, and it also had a place for reviews, this book had none. I liked this tool because I can get the other editions and keep her reading. I never knew there were so many tool available in Google.

Below is a picture gallery I used on Picasa Web Albums. You can also email the photo gallery. These are just some silly pictures my son had on his camera and our Disney trip.

Blogger Pictures

I used the Google Notebook and searched Summer Vacations in Texas and found some places we might want to visit this summer. It is nice when you have all of your information on one page. This will allow me to discuss the choices with my family and make a decision.

http://www.google.com/notebook/public/17414772244332203176/BDRStDQoQ-Pj5yKAk?hl=en

Thing #20

The google document would be a great place to do grade level newsletters. There have been many times we are running around trying to think of last minute things to put into our weekly newsletter. We could start the newsletter on Monday and we could all collaborate week. This is also a convenient way to access and allow family to view/edit your spreadsheet of addresses. I could pull up my addresses on my cell phone. Wow, imagine that! I would also like to try to use google document to challenge my students. I would like to post story starters with a topic, picture, comic, and have students begin the writing process. Once it is started then the collaboration begins.

This a spreadsheet that I use for the school wide conduct folder. I made this form on my PC and it was very inconvenient at the beginning of a new six weeks when I did not have my laptop with me. I am hoping my school Mac will be able to read this spreadsheet when opened.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rXw1yXIUhh2HnlN5gBG1OXQ&hl=en

The google document I decided to do was a poetry folder piece using the Fry's Phrases. This will give us as a grade level to add phrases each week.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfd75p6f_2gfkphtdc

Thing #19

Voicethreading is another way to share/teach others what we are learning in our classroom. Kids would get a better understanding of what they are learning by creating a voice thread, being able to watch, and edit their own work. I would like to use this activity with my struggling readers. I would take photos of word cards and sound out each letter, then put the letters together to make the word. I would then match the word with the picture.

Below is a voicethread I found on teaching fact families with dominoes.

Thing #18

This was a fun search activity. There are so many great things on YouTube and TeacherTube. Now I know how to show my students these great literature clips without going to the YouTube site. I am so excited and can't wait to use them.


SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK NOUNS! I forgot all about these videos. I could use this to teach my first graders about nouns.




ELECTRIC COMPANY SILENT E! After finding the School House Rock Clips, I just had to search for those Electric Company videos that I watched in elementary. They are fabulous!



TV on my iphone! Never knew I could connect to live tv through my iphone. This shows me exactly how to do it.



Here's my funny! My kids introduced me to Fred. This clip is very funny, Fred needs his meds!

Thing #17

Podcasting! I absolutely love Dr. Dave Brodbeck's podcast site, Why? The Science Show For Kids. The podcast are labeled as episodes and the question being asked. Under the episode it gives a brief description of how he answers and the examples he uses. Kids podcast their questions and then he answers the question on their level. His podcast are between 4-5 minutes. Greatness and very kid friendly! I will use this podcast site with my students.

Another podcast site I visited was Just One More Book. This site is a children's book review. They walk through discussing pages, I was hoping the story would be read. Not may favorite, but okay.

I checked out the 60 Second Science podcast. This is not a podcast for younger students. It does give you a lot of information in 60 seconds on an adult level.

Thing #16

The Library Thing is a great place to find resources for different topics. This can be used with researching projects, author studies, and getting opinions of others. I tagged a book that I have been reading and read the reviews. It gives the book a different spin. This site is awesome for those who love and have time to read novel after novel. That would not be me.

Thing #15

Wiki was kinda hard for me to set up. I could not get my wiki to post on the misd23things wiki site. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but hope to find out soon. I also had trouble with the table of contents. I did the [toc] at the top but I never saw the box on the top right like everyone else had. I did use Heading 2 for all of my sections. I also wanted to add pictures beside the text and I could never figure out that either. All of my pictures are at the bottom under my Web 2.0 Stuff. This was the most difficult for me, I wanted it to be cute and colorful. I just spent so much time on parts I was struggling with that I became aggravated. I will spend time playing with it this summer and become more familiar with it.

http://misd23things.wikispaces.com/Excited+About+Wiki