New with html/css?

After learning how to use Kompozer I thought there must be another way to start a project. Why not try http://initializr.com/ ? Very interesting, simple website to get you started. It seems too good to be true? Try it! You never know you might find yourself with a little extra time (snow is coming). Let me know what you think?

An after thought- Book-A-Minute

After looking at more examples of Book-A-Minute it really made me think of more ways to use this in my classroom. I thought that students can use ComicLife application to create a wordless summary of the story. Or you can limit their summary to less than 10 words. Create a challenge for them and see if they can stick to it. What other ideas do you have?

Read a book in a minute

Sound too good to be true? Well I thought so until I found this site Book-A-Minute. It takes children's bed time stories, classic novels, and fantasy novels and creates a quick summary of the story. I wasn't really sure what the point of this website was. I think it takes the fun out of reading any great novel, but then I had a thought. To use this in the classroom I could have them read a famous children's classic story and create a quick summary like this website and create our own Book A Minute project. For example the website has the Mitten by Jan Brett summarized as " Sometimes, if you leave a mitten outside, large animals will crawl inside it and sneeze." I thought how simple yet very creative way to show a condensed summary of a story. The students would have to read the story first and then create the summary. This might work best if they work in partners or teams.

Cyber safety with Google

Once a year with my students I teach a lesson on cyber safety and social networking. We watch a video on cyber safety and discuss the seriousness of giving out personal and private information on the web. With my fifth grade students I created scenarios and put them in a Google Doc. I added the links to my hand out folder.

I put the students in teams and they were to read the scenario aloud and type how they would respond to the situation. Each team would then save the document and click on another scenario. This exercise taught them about cyber safety but also taught them about working together in groups. They had to work as a team to discuss each situation, come up with a response and have someone type the response. It was a great way to work together and collaborate as teams.

Here are some of the scenarios that were presented:

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

Students work together on Google

I know a lot of teachers are past using Google Doc's but there are so many great ways to collaborate with students and staff.

In the beginning of the year with our media specialist and technology teacher we take photographs of each student and create a mini questionnaire for each student. Each student has their own slide in Google Presentation. Each student in sectioned off by homeroom teacher. Then each student will answer the simple questions such as (favorite sports team, subject, food to eat) and save their slide. When it is all done, we share the link with their teacher and all the related arts teachers so they can get to know their students. It is hard when you might only see your student one time a week for one hour, it takes a while to get to know them. This is a creative way to know more about them.

With the younger students (K and 1st), the technology teacher and media specialist will type for them to save time. I picked two to three students during their work time and asked their questions. Finally, at the end I show the slide show and they love seeing their face on the screen with their responses.

Here are a few!

1st Grade

1st Grade G

Teacher support with the help of a wiki

After many posts about wiki's and the numerous things you can do, I wanted to address one more. The staff at my school is very young. Most teachers have been teaching less than 10 years. In other words we are the techy generation. However, there are a few seasoned staff members. In any case, we all have something to learn about technology.

In order to keep the emails to a minimum and the stalking down the tech teacher that might occur our tech staff (media and tech) set up a wiki that includes links, help and technical assistance at a finger tip. Any time someone has a question we encourage them to use the wiki first and then seek help second. It builds their confidence and helps them learn at the same time.

Check it out!