Communication, Weebly, and Symbaloo

Busy, busy, busy! Teachers often take the summer months to further their education, read and research educational concepts, and assemble classroom resources. That is exactly what I have been doing and would like to share with others. After all, I appreciate all of the resources others have shared with me.

I have created a classroom curriculum page utilizing Weebly. There is page for each of the possible units the kiddos will cover over the school year. Each page includes links via Symbaloo, iPad suggested applications, and ideas as to what the children may choose to do when studying the unit.

First, I want to share a few key points about me and how the classroom I work in operates. There are some central beliefs, as I don't want my goals to be misinterpreted.

• Students in the classroom are their first teacher, the teacher is actually a guide
• Although I lay out a 'plan' of units, they are open to change as students' interests change
• Nothing can replace solid, hands-on, real-world experiences 
• Technology is a tool and not the only means to an effective education (although it is wonderful)
• I plan on integrating project-based learning topics this year, although it is not included on the site (yet)

The goal for this site is to communicate with families various activities and curricular events we will be discussing in class. Although I update my blog and the students update theirs, a central location with information seemed useful.

Please check over the site and offer any suggestions. I will be adding PBL ideas as the year progresses, as well as more sites on Symbaloo and iPad applications. This is just a start; a work in progress.

The Symbaloo pages I have created are all linked within the Weebly site, however here is a direct link if you are interested. 

Thanks in advance for any assistance and enjoy the remaining days of Summer!

Randi

Reading "Tricks" in Kindergarten-Primary

As a part of my EDTECH program at Boise State, I was to create a lesson that shows how to properly utilize PowerPoint. I immediately had some negative feelings. I have seen so many "bad" presentations over the years; I started feeling the same way towards the tool itself. I had to force myself to sit back and think of how I could successfully utilize this application.

I realized that PowerPoint (or Google Presentation) could be used successfully. It can be a good medium for collecting your lesson resources, such as images, video, data, and main points.

I have created a lesson(s) on "Reading Tricks" to be utilized in the kindergarten or primary classroom. There are videos and games linked together for learning digraphs and other reading "tricks".

Feel free to utilize this file in your classroom. There are alternate links under most videos for the school without YouTube access. Gotta love SchoolTube!

iPad in Kindergarten: Book Creator and My Story

I have been formulating many plans since our school purchased iPads. I have many ideas but the one that I am most excited about is Book Creator and My Story.

My kiddos master 34 quick words each year. We play several games and journal with these words each day. One idea I have that combines this effort with iPad use is Book Creator. The students will be creating year-long portfolio that can then be exported in ePub format. I am choosing Book Creator for this activity because of the picture import option.

Another application that I am looking forward to using is My Story.

For a cheap price, students can color, type, and record audio for their own books.

What I like most about this app is the simplicity. There is not a lot of button pushing for the five year-olds and directions are picture based.






Enjoy!

Fun with ebooks!

Viewing my Google Reader account each day in the summer months took a lot of time. I found so many wonderful things! It is interesting to see the changes in our blogging habits when the school year starts. I am reading a lot less and posting only once a month. It is a bittersweet change!

One item that I had found in a previous blog post was a link to Flipsnack. My kindergarten students were just starting a unit on change. We were discussing the past, present, and future. I had a difficult time finding resources. So, we decided to create our own book for this unit. Creating the book in a digital format was a great way to show how times have changed.

I have heard of the kiddos using iPads to create the illustrations. I wanted to give my kids a little more drawing room, so I had them create the drawings on our SMARTBoard. Each student illustrated a page. We had written the text together as part of our group work. All that was left was to upload the PDF version of the document. 

We had a great time. I hope you enjoy our ebook and have the opportunity to create one with your group. It is a lot of fun!