Angela and I are committed to using a blog in our classrooms next year! We are planning to use the Daily Data as the inspiration for the blogs. I set mine up yesterday: http://kidblog.org/MrsNolesDailyDataBlog/jnoles/. I'm not convinced that this is the best venue yet, but kidblog seems to be secure. My class will come up with the posts as a whole group since it's Kindergarten, but I am hoping I can get the parents involved as well.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Daily Data
Angela and I are committed to using a blog in our classrooms next year! We are planning to use the Daily Data as the inspiration for the blogs. I set mine up yesterday: http://kidblog.org/MrsNolesDailyDataBlog/jnoles/. I'm not convinced that this is the best venue yet, but kidblog seems to be secure. My class will come up with the posts as a whole group since it's Kindergarten, but I am hoping I can get the parents involved as well.
Wordle in First Grade
Well, it's the 176th day of school; only 4 more to go! Today was our very last day in the computer lab, and everyone was a little bit down. I decided this morning to make a Wordle with all of my first graders to use for the label of our end of the year CDs that hold all of our digital projects.
They were awed by the creation, so I taught them the basics of entering their name three times then adding descriptive words. We created a chart of nearly 40 words describing the people in our class and brought it with us to the lab. Each child typed their name three times, then each child proceeded to rotate around the lab, typing one describing word on each child's computer. After 17 rotations, each child created their Wordle, choosing their favorite visualization. We printed them as an end of the year memento.
As a rule of thumb, I usually introduce the lesson (or at least show a little) in the classroom sometime before going to the lab. Once we're in the lab, it's work time. Today's lab time took a full 45 minutes. In all, the entire lesson took about an hour. Having the describing words posted on the board made it easier for the students to gain inspiration.
They were awed by the creation, so I taught them the basics of entering their name three times then adding descriptive words. We created a chart of nearly 40 words describing the people in our class and brought it with us to the lab. Each child typed their name three times, then each child proceeded to rotate around the lab, typing one describing word on each child's computer. After 17 rotations, each child created their Wordle, choosing their favorite visualization. We printed them as an end of the year memento.
As a rule of thumb, I usually introduce the lesson (or at least show a little) in the classroom sometime before going to the lab. Once we're in the lab, it's work time. Today's lab time took a full 45 minutes. In all, the entire lesson took about an hour. Having the describing words posted on the board made it easier for the students to gain inspiration.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
My fellow bogger, Lindsey, helped me complete a webquest about social networking in the classroom. We watched this YouTube video, and created a PowerPoint to present to our class. I want to use this webquest as a professional development activity for our faculty this fall.
I'm a little disappointed that this YouTube video is embedded with the smallest size available, and it still doesn't fit. Any suggestions?
Social Networking
View more presentations from lplottyoung.
Website Evaluation
Today I visited Kathy Schrock's website, and used one of her web site evaluation forms to evalute the usefulness of an elementary website. There are multiple bogus websites listed for evaluation. I chose to evaluate The History of the Fisher-Price Airplane. This site is extremely misleading for students and even adults because it is very believable. There are numerous photographs and captions, facts, and figures validating the history. I googled the site to see if it is credible, but I mostly found that it is used as a tool to teach students to evaluate the credibility of web sites. What do you know about Fisher-Price and the Soviet Union?
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Hypertext Book Review
Snowflake Bentley
By: Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Illustrated By: Mary Azarian
Summary:
Snowflake Bentley tells the true story of a young boy named Wilson Bentley, from a small farm town in Vermont, who was determined to capture the beauty of snowflakes. The problem was the snowflakes melted before he could sketch them. His parents sent their life savings on a camera with its own microscope. He worked winter after winter experimenting with the lens, sometime capturing a few snowflakes or even hundreds! Shortly after publishing his first book, Snow Crystals, he walked six miles home in a blizzard. He died of pneumonia two weeks later. Bentley’s images of snowflakes are his living gift to the world. The original images can be found in The Wilson Bentley Exhibit at The Old Red Mill in Jericho, Vermont.
By: Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Illustrated By: Mary Azarian
Summary:
Snowflake Bentley tells the true story of a young boy named Wilson Bentley, from a small farm town in Vermont, who was determined to capture the beauty of snowflakes. The problem was the snowflakes melted before he could sketch them. His parents sent their life savings on a camera with its own microscope. He worked winter after winter experimenting with the lens, sometime capturing a few snowflakes or even hundreds! Shortly after publishing his first book, Snow Crystals, he walked six miles home in a blizzard. He died of pneumonia two weeks later. Bentley’s images of snowflakes are his living gift to the world. The original images can be found in The Wilson Bentley Exhibit at The Old Red Mill in Jericho, Vermont.
Review:
Snowflake Bentley tells two stories in one. It has a narrative story telling about Wilson’s quest for capturing snowflakes, and it offers facts about Bentley. There are numerous extensions teachers can develop for students. This heart-warming account of a boy’s dream encourages perseverance.
Snowflake Bentley tells two stories in one. It has a narrative story telling about Wilson’s quest for capturing snowflakes, and it offers facts about Bentley. There are numerous extensions teachers can develop for students. This heart-warming account of a boy’s dream encourages perseverance.
Wordle
I am starting my blog today. This is the very end of my third year teaching first grade, and I am currently in my second Master's in Technology class. Only 9 more to go! Hopefully this blog will help me keep up with some of the more interesting and noteworthy projects I create. Today I learned how to take a paragraph and create a word cloud out of it using Wordle. By typing my name three times at the start of the paragraph, I ensure that my name appears large in the cloud. If I want first grade to appear together, I enter it as first~grade.
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