Matter Web quest

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=194633


Here is the web quest I created for my students to do during our study of matter! I think that they will enjoy doing it and really love the part where they are able to create oobleck!

Website

https://sites.google.com/site/libertyparkfirstgrade/

Here is the link to my website.  I created this to be used for my parents as well as my students.  I decided that I would start from the beginning of the school year rather than starting something now since we are about at the end of the year!  I thought it was super easy to create and enjoyed doing it.  I can't wait to add more to my site!

Video

I used Flip share in order to create this video. I have a flip share camera but have never done anything more than just take a video. I have never created a movie. So I took the video clips from Christmas this year and decided to make a movie with all of the short clips. Since I have a flip share camera for my classroom I thought this was a perfect chance to work with the program and see what my students can create as well.

Animoto

I created this video of my family. Big surprize I know. This is something I can see sharing with them or creating a video at the end of the school year of things we have done. I can also see this being a presentation tool for back to school night. My students are also taking a field trip this month so this might be a great way to have them show what they learned.


Ok so after trying for several days to produce this video and not being able to I realized I was the problem. Lol. My screen size was too large and there fore I could not see the preview and produce button. Boy did I feel like a tool. Anyway, after completing this project I was excited about the possibilities that this creates. I'm already thinking of ways to use this in my classroom and well for my upcoming wedding as well. This is so easy to use once the creator realizes her mistake.

GoAnimate!

Miss Nelson is Missing by mlp0503 on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.



Common Core Standards: 1.RL.9 Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories

1.RL.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events

Miss Nelson is Missing gives a great example of two different characters as well as a fairly simple setting, problem and solution. This book stands out to me because it is very straight forward when thinking of story elements. Students at this age need those elements to be concrete. Students are asked to compare and contrast two characters using a Venn Diagram. This book provides a great opportunity for students to do this. Also, this book provides students the opportunity to describe the setting, and the problem and solution in this book. Miss Nelson is missing is a grade level appropriate text for first grade students as the students in this book are the same age as they are. Students will be able to make connections to the text as well. Students can relate to a time when there was a guest teacher in their classroom and how they felt about that teacher.

What Teachers Make

Wow! This video was highly motivating. Sometimes as a teacher we need encouragement and motivation to do what we do. Often times it comes down to the "test" and how are students perform on that test. This video serves as a great reminder about what we really do as teachers! I love how he took a little over three minutes to tell the audiance what teachers make and it had nothing to do with money. Let's face it none of us decided to be teachers because it was going to make us rich. We decided to be teachers because we wanted to make a difference in the lives of our students. From this video I took away what I always knew was true teachers make students do far more than anyone on the "outside" can imagine. The video did not change my views of teaching but served as a reminder about the importance of what I do each day and how I can impact my students. I will keep this video in mind or watch the video when I am feeling defeated about what teachers' really make. It is a great motivated and the honesty displayed here makes teaching seem almost magical.

Resources: Math A Tube http://www.mathatube.com/index.html Math is high on my priority list this school year. We have begun using the Common Core State Standards this year and are always looking for new resources to aid in our teaching. This site provides a great opportunity for teachers and students but also for parents. I found the site easy to navigate and videos to be of high quality. The one thing that I did not like was I felt the site as geared to intermidiate grades and middle school students. I would like to see some more videos for younger students in kindegarten and first grade. This will be a great site to share with my fellow teachers during a staff development meeting.

Teacher Tube http://www.teachertube.com/ Before taking this course I knew that teacher tube was out there however for some reason I never really took the time to explore the site. I think I have been missing out. There is a great volume of resources here on a wide range of topics. I looked for videos dealing with matter, common core standards, addition and subtraction and close reading and found a mulitude of resources. A teacher could find a video on just about any topic they are teaching. With so many resources available on the site it may take a while to sift through the videos to find the perfect one for your use. That was one draw back to this site, it almost has too many resources if that is possible. With a little extra time a teacher could use this site to aid in teaching.

VoiceThread

Here is my voice thread inferring activity. The activity is designed for first and second grade students in the area of language arts. This will be used as a follow up after several mini lessons on inferring. Students will complete this activity as part of their reading rotation activities. This is the time where they can work with their talk partner.

Common Core State Standards addressed. 1.RL.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in text

1.RL. 7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events. Indiana Academic Standard 1.3.4 Make and confirm predictions about what will happen next in a story.

Poetry Webquest

Poetry Webquest http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=187948

I created a webquest for our poerty writing unit that we are currently working on in first grade.  This will be something that I have my enrichment students work on first and if time allows I will let other students complete the tasks as well.  I enjoyed creating this webquest and am looking forward to creating more for my students.  It is a great way to use technology and create creative learners in the classroom.  I like how you can use just about any topic you can think of as long as there is information available you can create a webquest!  I thought zunal was very user friendly which makes it easier to think about creating more as the school year goes along!

Podcast

http://boilermary.podbean.com/mf/web/df3nmq/EDUCMultimediapresentations.mp3
I really enjoyed learning about creating a podcast. I did not realize that they could be only sound. I thought that podcasts were always video and sound together. It was neat to think about all the ideas for how students could use podcasting in the classroom. I found podbean to be extremely easy to use. With a few clicks I was able to upload my podcast and was set to go. My students just finished a procedural writing unit where they created how to videos. It would have been really great to have had the students use the video to create podcasts instead of just a video that we shared in class. I think that even the younger students would be able to create a podcast. Our first graders are taking a field trip to the Childrens' Museum and I am considering ways that we may be able to use podcasting to create a project when we return from the museum. If any of you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!

Back to School Night Prezi

Here is the prezi I created for Back to School Night! It took me a bit to get familiar with prezi as it has been a while since I have used it. I like how you can create different pathways to present your information! It provides a more interesting presentation then simply using powerpoint, which we all enjoy but has gotten a little on the boring side over the years. I always like to have a visual up for parents as I am going through the information! This allows them to see the main points I am going to be speaking about. With prezi it is easier to keep the text short so that you don't put too much information on each frame. I enjoyed using prezi and am thinking that my student of the week may be able to create an all about me presentation using prezi just as I did.

Pixton Adjective Comic

I used pixton to create a comic to introduce adjectives to my first grade students. We worked on adjectives the second grading period but it was boring and students didn't incorporate them into their writing as I would have liked. Using a different tool to introduce them to the topic may increase their attention to using adjectives in their writing. We will be doing a comic/graphica writing unit in several weeks. This program will be great to have students who have created thier comic on paper first to publish their comic for others to see. I will also use the pixton to introduce the students to how comics look and the set up with different panels, characters, speech bubbles and even props. I am so excited to see how I can continue to work with this and have my students create some comics to share with others. I know my students will be excited to use this free online tool at school!

Picture Editing

I chose this picture because it represents one of my most favorite places to vacation. This is a view from my cabin in the Smokey Mountains. You can see that the mountian's look "smokey" in the background. The picture also shows the distance and height of the mountains from my view.

This is the orginal picture of my parents and I!

This is the edited version of the picture that you see above. It's pretty clear that I don't really have a clue as to how to edit pictures to make them look better. As I was working to edit this picture I quickly found out that this was a poor quality picture to start with. I used several of the tools available to me however I found that I really did not understand what all the tools were and very clearly made the picture worse than the original! Pixlr would be a difficult tool for my first grade students to use. One must know a lot more about digital photography in order to use this tool and by looking at my new picture I think that I need more information too. I would need a more simple program, or more user friendly program for my little students to use. Even though students can sometimes be more tech savvy than us adults this tool was much too complicated. A more user friendly tool would allow my students to use the program. I have a great deal of technology available for use in my classroom. Students have access to Smart Boards on a daily basis as well as laptops so we could use these programs to create presentations on a variety of topics. In first grade right now we are creating procedural writing. I can evision my students creating a group presentation using picture editing tools to show a variety of "how to" topics that range from brushing your teeth to making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich all using pictures. With a little more experience on my part I think that this is something that could work well for my class. In fact I'll get on it and see how it works!

Link to TED video

http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html

TED Video

I just watched a TED video of a 12 year old young lady who was speaking of how children can teach adults and what adults can learn from children.  It was an incredible presentation.  This was a truly effective presentation from this young lady.  In her presentation she used Prezi to show her visuals.  There were very few visuals in this eight minute presentation.  The visuals were used only to illustrate an important point in her presentation.  In her presentation it was clear that she was familiar with her audience and what it was going to take to gain and keep their attention.  When the visuals were displayed they were only displayed for a short time as not to lose the attention of her audience.  During her presentation she carried around what appeared to be a transcript or maybe just notes from her presention.  Either way it did not take away from her presentation. It was clear that even with her notes in hand she really didn't need them.  She had rehearsed many times and knew the points that she wanted to make.  If there was anything that this presenter could have improved on it would be the use of the notes.  For me watching the video I was trying to see what was on her paper and there fore it became a distracting factor to me.  However it didn't seem to have an effect on her audience.  She was able to hold their attention with the use of sarcasm which was appropriate and based on her audience.  This made them laugh for brief seconds and yet she was able to continue to make her points and commicate clearly with the audience.  The end of her presentation provided a summary of the main points but did not allow for questions.