Many of us have a magazine subscription for our classrooms, whether it be Scholastic News, National Geographic, or Time For Kids. My favorite new discovery has been all about these magazines in digital format. We receive Time For Kids for our third graders and I absolutely love it! This year, I was able to sign up for Time For Kids in digital format as well. It's been great to be able to read TFK in digital format on our interactive white board. However, I've been looking for something my kids could use on their netbooks and TFK only gave me one log in.
Coming across National Geographic Explorer a few weeks ago has been the best thing I've seen when it comes to digital magazines! We do not subscribe to National Geographic so we cannot get all of the digital editions in the archive. However, at any point time, they have 3-4 of their digital editions online for free! I'm hoping they don't discover this and start charging! We've been studying nonfiction informational texts and how to make inferences, determine the main idea, and identify cause/effect relationships with these types of texts.
Not only is National Geographic Explorer accessible without a log in, but it is also interactive! As students read the articles within the magazine, they can highlight text and type on digital post-its which they can insert anywhere in the text. This serves as a great tool when they get together with their reading partner to discuss the text and the thinking they did while reading. Take a moment to check out this great digital learning tool!
With our state assessment changing, the need for more and more nonfiction resources is on the rise. Being in a 1:1 classroom, I'd love to find some great nonfiction resources available online for my kids to read on their netbooks. In the past couple of weeks, my students have enjoyed reading ebooks on their netbooks during their Read to Self time. Some of my students are so in love with ebooks that they go home and read ebooks on their home computer far past the required nightly reading time. I think it's great they're so engaged in reading!
Tonight, I went on a hunt for news articles with current news, yet appropriate for kids. I was suprised at home many resources are out there!
DOGO News
DOGO News was one of the first resources I came across and it's a fabulous resource. DOGO sorts all of their news articles into six categories: current events, science, sports, social studies, did you know, and green. I love how they sort their articles into categories! They have a plethora of news articles, sometimes even posting more than one article per day. I know my students are all going to want to read about the new 'Making of Harry Potter' studio in Watford, England. Who doesn't want to know all about the magical world of Harry Potter?
Science News for Kids
The next resource I came across was the Science News website which has specifically designed a Science News site just for kids. They've also organized their articles in to categories similar to DOGO. Their categories include: atoms & forces, earth & sky, humans & health, life, tech & math, and extra. They have amazing, detailed photos to intrigue students to click on 'Read more'. Within each main category, they have subcategories for students to browse through. This looks like a great resource to support our science curriculum. I've already tagged a few articles about our upcoming unit on Earth! This is a great resource to integrate math into reading and vice-versa!
National Geographic Explorer
I absolutely love this resource! While it isn't organized into categories (it posts articles by month published), it has nonfiction articles on more than one reading level. It offers articles in the Pioneer Edition which is geared towards 2nd and 3rd graders. It also has a Pathfinder Edition geared towards 4th and 5th graders. It publishes the same articles, yet they are on different reading levels. I think this is great to differentiate for those lower and higher kids in the classroom. There are some great science and social studies topics covered in the past few months that could easily fit within our district curriculum.
National Geographic for Kids
National Geographic for Kids is more about stories than news articles. It has short informative paragraphs that aren't really linked together in an article format. However, I included it in here because it's a great resource to get students engaged in nonfiction topics. Most topics include a little bit of reading along with a video and a map of where the animals are located. I do like it as a research site for animals and my kids absolutely love National Geographic!
This is just the beginning of my list of resources to use with my kids. If you know of any other resources, feel free to comment on this post and let me know! Happy reading!
Hey everyone. Wow, it's been a while since my last post! It's been an extremely busy first month of school. Now that the school year is in full swing, I'm determined to start back on my blog and to update it on a consistent basis. At the end of the school year last year, I was lucky enough to receive a full class set of netbooks in my room. Having a netbook for each student in my classroom was amazing. I could do things on a daily basis that was impossible before. This year, I started off the year with my netbooks and I am changing the way I teach and learning new ways to use them that I never imagined. My goal is to share different ways that I using netbooks in my room throughout this year.
We started off the year by using Moodle as our go-to site. Moodle has provided me with a way to hold online forums for class discussions, reading response homework, and sharing our opinions about the way we do things in the classroom. It is also a great tool for posting websites that we use in the classroom and at home for math skills practice, ebooks, learning videos for science/social studies, and much more! This month, I will be showing students how to take a quiz and complete surveys on Moodle.
Another Web 2.0 tool we've been using in our classroom is Survey Monkey. We learned about inherited traits last week and integrated the use of Survey Monkey to gain information about inherited traits within our classroom. The students enjoyed completing the survey and viewing the class results in as little as 10 minutes! We analyzed our data by creating a bar graph on our Promethean Board and seeing which inherited traits were most common within our room. The students really enjoyed using this tool and I'm thinking of letting them create surveys on Survey Monkey in groups later this year.
Overall, this year is off to a great start with our netbooks! I'll continue to post new ways to integrate netbooks in the classroom as I learn new ways for implementation. Until next time...
Today is the last day of TCEA 2011: No Limits. This session was presented by Susan Anderson. It focused on going beyond viewing locations in Google Earth. The presenter discussed how to integrate curriculum into Google Earth by adding placemarks full of multimedia including images, links, and videos.
This will be a short post because unfortunately we were in a different session earlier that was labeled as technology TEKS field trips but happened to be something a bit different than we were hoping. You tend to get some different sessions than you expect sometimes!
There are many resources available at their website below including tutorials and lessons. Definitely take time to check it out!
This session focused on integrating podcasts, video, and interactive whiteboard content to democratize and invigorate the learning process in the classroom. The presenter was Robert Pronovost, a previous middle school teacher who now teaches 2nd grade.
This second grade teacher uses a variety of tools in his classroom throughout the school day. For example, one of the things he does is use iCalendar and the remote app to play sounds for transitions in his room throughout the day. His students know exactly what to do when they hear each song.
ical/itunes/remote
Set up playlist of transitions in iTunes
set alarms in iCal to off at transition times
keep remote handy to stop or start songs at different times
Another app he uses is Teacherpal on the iPad to keep track of grades.
Some teacher tools he uses in whole group instruction are:
eBeam Scrapbook:
eBeam Scrapbook doesn't require an interactive whiteboard. You can use any wall as long as you have a computer. Check out an example of eBeam Scrapbook an action below...
Document Camera: Can be used to show student examples when an interactive whiteboard can't be used.
iChat/Skype
Connect with classes next door, around the world, relatives, and experts.
Rock Our World is an example of a large collaboration project that was put together by another group of teachers who use Skype to connect with classrooms all over the world.
GarageBand/iMovie
Teachers and students can use Garage Band and iMovie to create movies and music about concepts learned in the classroom.
Daily Notes
Use Daily Notes to keep track of notes on students or notes about parent conferences. It is an app on the iPad.
RAZ kids is an online guided reading program. Students can record their reading, take quizzes to check their comprehension, and read for practice.
Puppet Pals (iPad)
Puppet Pals is a way for students to create their own stories on the iPad. It can be a story they want to create into a Reader's Theatre.
iTalk Lite
iTalk Lite is a recording app and allows the teacher to download recordings more easily onto a computer than voice memos. It provides fluency practice, Readers' Theater rehearsal, and presentation practice.
DropBox
DropBox allows students to share stories, music, and other files.
flipVideo
flipVideo cameras are used as tools to create student videos.
Garageband/Animationish
Students create videos with both these programs.
DonorsChoose.org
This teacher posts things he would like for his classroom on DonorsChoose and that is how he gets funded for technology items in his classroom.
One of the things he did in his classroom is that he painted his back reading table with IdeaPaint
This session was taught by Dr. Alice Christie. It covered how K-12 students and teachers can use Google Maps and other Web 2.0 tools to produce interdisciplinary user-created content to engage, empower and motivate 21st century learners.
What is GoogleTreks?
An exciting new approach to teaching and learning
Tool for creating curricular units
Totally web-based
Enabled by Web 2.0 tools
Easy to share
A way to synthesize information in one easy-to-se map that may include: text, photographs, charts, diagrams, links to audio and video files
A repository of GoogleTreks created by teachers and students
Organized by grade level and content area
Created and coined by Dr. Alice Christie
Google LitTips vs GoogleTreks
Google LitTrips: Jerome Burg
Use Google Earth
Literature ONLY
LImited Number of Authors
Steep Learning Curve
GoogleTreks: Alice Christie
Use Google Maps
All Curricular Areas
Unlimited areas
Easier Learning Curve
Distinguish Between GoogleEarth and GoogleMaps
GoogleEarth is free to download and install. It needs at least 512mb of RAM and a newer processor. It requires DSL/Cable and may not work well with slower wireless points.
GoogleMaps does not require any software and can be used with any current browser. It can run with any amount of RAM and any process. It does not require a fast network connection and works well with any wireless connection.
Dr. Alice Christie chose Google Maps because it requires less bandwidth, no programming skills, and it is much easier to navigate, create, and share. It is a free, web-based 2.0 tool. It provides satellite imagery with geographical content.
Why create/use GoogleTreks?
To engage and excite learners
To help learners conceptualize, visualize, share, and communicate information about the world
To provide cross-curicular learning options
To add a new dimension to learning environments not previously possible
To leverage ubiquitous tools for learning
To create active, exploratory, and empowering learning environments
GoogleTreks is an emerging digital tool with potential to enhance learning. It uses real-world data and is continually updated. Kids will gain
GoogleTreks also provide opportunities for students to exhibit their learning to others, use emerging technologies and digital tools, and communicate their research in a personally meaningful way. It allows them to view their world from a more connected, global perspective. It also enhances their map reading and navigations skills.
You can add placemarks to GoogleMaps similar to GoogleEarth. You can post videos and photographs to each placemark as students trek through the unit. You can learn more about how to create a GoogleTrek using Dr. Christie's tutorial at http://www.googletreks.org/tutorial/index.htm. Their is also a GoogleTrek rubric along with examples of GoogleTreks posted at her website below.
The one thing that disappointed me with this presentation was that teachers are creating GoogleTreks. Instead, students should be creating GoogleTreks to share with their peers and others. I'll be using it as a student created product as part of the research process in my classroom.
This small session was led by Barbara Ybarro. These ladies shared how Bryan ISD implemented a 1:1 laptop initiative where students took devices home and a 1:1 iPad classroom where the devices stayed at school.
Bryan ISD received a technology grant a couple years ago to start a 1:1 initiative in a middle school. It became very difficult to sustain it as the laptops needed to be replaced. They implemented academies at the middle schools within their districts. Students can apply to these academies and these academies are the only classrooms that have 1:1 classroom environments.
When they first began, teachers received their laptops at the same time as the students did. The teachers didn't have enough time to prepare for how their teaching would change. Now, they give teachers a laptop a year before the students get a laptop. The teachers have a whole year to prepare for how their teaching will change.
In their 1:1 classrooms now, they are wanting their teachers to move to more of a paperless classroom using Google Apps. They want to see their students and teachers collaborating online.
They require their parents to come to the campus for a parent training on laptops at the beginning of the program. Since their students take their laptops home, they wanted their parents to be aware of what their students were doing on laptops at home. They also wanted their parents to know how to check in on their child by logging into their child's accounts to check to see what their child was doing online.
In the Odyssey Academy (Science and Technology), the majority of the teachers are using Moodle with their classrooms. They are posting videos for students to learn from. They are also hosting forums online for students to collaborate in discussions at school and home.
One of the supportive features Bryan ISD has offered is to have a curriculum specialist that would sit in with teachers in 1:1 classrooms during their planning time and give them ideas that they can incorporate with the laptops. They would go back and search for some online tools they can use with their students. They also offered a help desk for teachers in 1:1 classrooms to provide support.
In the 1:1 iPad classrooms, they provided support through mentors. Teachers with 1:1 iPad classrooms were divided among teams and each team had a mentor. This provided each team with support. The mentor would go out to teams and teach the team how to use the iPad and provide them with support when they needed it. Bryan ISD currently has 550 iPads throughout the district.
Apps for iPads:
If you purchase apps for multiple iPads, you have to purchase an app for every iPad that you have in your classroom. However, now Apple provides volume purchasing. For example, if you buy 20 apps, you can buy them for 49 cents instead of 99 cents. The district has teachers buy the apps with a district iTunes account. When the teacher leaves the district, the apps stay with the district and the iPads so they cannot take them with them. Bryan ISD uses form space in Eduphoria for teachers to request apps to purchase for their classroom. The teachers copy and paste the link to the app in the form and the principals approve the app. The principal sends it to the secretary and then they approve it and send the redeem code back to the teacher who can then redeem it and download it onto the iPad(s).
It was great to hear the story of where this district has been and where they are going with 1:1 implementation. As I embark on this journey in the next couple of weeks, I am hoping to take what I've learned and run with it! I'm excited that I've already been using Moodle in my classroom and I've been hearing a lot about Moodle throughout this conference. I've also noticed numerous discussions about Google Apps being used to collaborate in 1:1 classrooms. My goal is to take Google Apps and use it as a collaborative tool within my classroom alongside Moodle as my 1:1 classroom gets started. The adventure is about to begin...
