Followers

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Evaluation

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

Wordle will be the first one I use in the first month the kids start school,booker,NeoK12 and of course screencast, the last one will be use often :)

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

Library2play 2 helped with my never ending goal of keep learning technology it moves so fast and during the school year there is not enough time to play/learn like we do here.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

Yes, I was happy that it was not as complicated that the first one and I loved that was shorter. There were more things that I will be able to use with my kids.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

That my blog had been up while I was working so I could get some feedback.

Thing #11

When I read citizenship Cool Cat I realize how little I knew about it, I thought that it was only about protect yourself, don't give personal information etc. I really like her matrix where she puts the student in the center and Learning, safety,Learning strategies and Etiquette around him/her. I agree 100% with her statement "It is a process and cannot just be taught by one teacher one time and expect retention.It must permeate all subjects in all grade levels just like reading"
Here are some sites I'm going to use with my http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/special_initiatives/games/privacy_playground/flash/start.htmlkids This particular one will be as a whole group because involves some reading.
http://www.mcgruff.org/Advice/cyberbullies.php for kid that can read independently, and has some games about safety outside computers too!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

thing #10 second life? am I still alive after it?

mmmm...still thinking how to start.The day that I start working on it the webpage couldn't be display.-bad sign-I was grateful that "quick start list " document was so explicit. Yes, some people like me need all the help we can get, and that was just to get there, I am glad I did it so now I can say that is not for me or my class and yes I know what it is and I went to SL.
One of the first things that got my attention is the statement of the site about protecting your password, the younger the kids the harder it is.
Second thing that got my attention is the age for participating, that automatically made a big impact and may move the balance to the "I don't like it ' side.
Third and final is that if you want to do something beside "walking/sitting/basic stuff" you have to "pay to get".
It is complicated, time consuming and prefer to take the time to teach my little ones something else.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

9

Zoho Show, SlideShare, Scribd, SlideAware and Splashcast are some of the most popular hosting services for uploading PowerPoint files on the web for others to watch the slideshows online or for you to embed the presentations inside web pages.For newbies like me it is worth it to read comparison of PowerPoint online hosting tools. I can see some benefit for slidedhare, 280 Slidesaccess you can make your presentations from any computer with an internet connection using imagens from the web like fliker, you tub etc.then publish your presentation on SlideShare, e-mail it, or embed it in a website.One thing, your students must be effiente with their computer skills so they can make their movies, store their images – all online – then embedd them into their presentation – and download, upload, share and …… that is not where my kids are in kg, but I may use it.

thing #8


Finally! I had been working with this for 2 days, I use Freescreencast - by the way there IS a download,and every time I start using it I got the message that "there were something wrong click ignore to continue"I was able to scrrencast, play it but not save it or export it. I used Screencast-o-Matic able to do it but not embed it :(
In spite of all... It is fantastic!I am ready to use it on Monday!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

thing #7

On Hulu I found this video that the kinder kids are going to love. Every year the topic of Washington's teeth comes up.
Related Videos (2)
George Washington's Smile
George Washington's Smile
Video Clip (2:34)
See how Washington's famous smile was made in this Mount Vernon video. Find out the truth of what Washington's teeth were really made of, and how they were made.Video Clip (2:34)


PBS I found,
PBS KIDS Previews Sid the Science Kid
PBS KIDS Previews Sid the Science Kid I Magnify! I Magnify! (2:02)



I loved Neok12 it is so easy to use and everything it is arrange by topics, its going to be so much help for the kids to use in their presentations. So far it is my favorite of all.
Time Lapse of Plants Growing

science'>http://www.neok12.com">science games & videos on Plants at NeoK12.com  

Thursday, July 1, 2010

thing#6

This year my kinder class had the privilege to use I touch at the library a couple of times. I was amazed of their ability to learn how to use them. The lessons where introduction to an I touch so they were free to explore. I was hooked to thing#6 for two days going from link to link incredible all there is to do, the possibilities are endless more for the older grades. When they are doing research projects and each team get an I touch each member can have a job, taking notes, making flash cards, find the pictures, save them for a slide show, find the map, create a test etc.
This summer I am working in one of the Early childhood Centers and they shared with me that they use their I Touch ( YES, they have them in prek :0 )as a center,one of the links that I thought will be appropriate for the early grades is abc PocketPhonics Lite: letter sounds & writing + first words Support and just in there you can find topics like shapes, color, numbers animals, etc.



The instructions to down load an application to your i touch I got them from About.com


The first step is to identify the app you want to download. Go to iTunes and select the App Store. You can do this in the Applications menu at the left or, in the iTunes Store, from the left-hand store menu.
Once you’re there, search or browse for the App you want in the way you’d normally use the iTunes Store.
Download the app and pay for it, if it costs money.
It will automatically be added to your iTunes library in the Applications section on the left and be ready for syncing to your iPod by default.
Sync your iPod touch with the computer you’ve downloaded the app onto and it will automatically be added to your iPod touch. Now it’s ready to use.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Thing #5

I am familiar with face book to keep in contact with my family in other parts of the word ; also just being an observer of my daughter's friends and the implication/consequences of what kids
post have in their lives, with that in mind I will be extremely careful using it in my class. Perhaps for older children using a face book club and following the company's advice of creating a private reading group that are for invitation only in order to protect the kids privacy will be appropriate. Is there any early elementary teachers using it in their classroom?

I had been reluctant to even learn more about Twitter for a long time,thinking that everyday the ancient ability to write in complete sentence is soon to be extinct, the importance o face to face conversation is in jeopardy etc. Reading about it it was an eye opener, and yes there are a lot of reasons to do it, but still it is not for me to teach this to my kinder kids.Reading Nine great reasons why teachers should use twitter, I disagree that it can be a time saver when you are looking for something and you have immediately access to a number of links related to your search, you must open those links and read them to see if it is what you want, also in other to "connect with an amazingly clever, resourceful and innovative bunch of people who never fail to inspire and motivate "you have to spend several hours of reading good and bad to get to that point.
Back channeling can be very useful for those kids that are shy or those kids that take a long time to answer, and would really help the teacher with those kids that always scream the answer without waiting their turn :)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

thing #4

I had never used TeacherTube and one feature of is the arrangement of subjects and topics into channels. I went to elementary section and found several videos appropriate for prek and k . I got many , many ideas:) I am planning to make one using pictures and letters sound.
I think that when the students make their own product will put more effort; this is a great idea for the parents to see more about what their kids are doing in the school and be aware of the high expectations and demands that the kids have since prek.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Thing #3 Skype

We use skype in a regular bases at home, I talk with my family in another country, my husband has business conferences at night time and my sister even watched the goal that Mexico scored during the World Cup when she was talking with a friend in Germany-he was watching the game :)- , but I had never imagined to use skype in the classroom. I guess the "sky" is the limit, I studied each of the 50 ways to use Skype in the classroom and I bet there are more.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

thing #2


I love Wordle because it is so easy to use, I am thinking to let the kids write as many words they can write for 5 minutes maybe 2 times per grading period for them to see the difference in their progress, another way will be after each unit we study they can write the vocabulary that they learned. I also like voice thread, it seems not very complicated ( maybe just time consuming) and the potential for how to use in the class it is big. In my classroom the students do a lot of independent learning of non fiction subjects and at the end of their research they do a presentation I can picture them in voice thread.One of the things that I really like it is that the teacher must use comment moderation before anyone can see the comments. Do you know if the district has a license? or each SBISD teacher must by their own? That will be a down point.
I have fun with Voki, the cartoon characters will really motivate the students and increase their creativity, I am sure that will be very helpful for the ESL and bilingual kids to improve their language learning.
For a couple of years now the District had invited Matt Glover to work with the early childhood teachers and the writing process, using bookr will help a lot with that, there are kids that an early age their penmanship is beautiful and for others ... it is always hard, and get discourage and frustrated when no one else can read their books! .It is the same with their drawings so learning to use bookr will be a great tool. I have to admit I did not understand how to get import the pictures from flicker, I wonder if I can download them from my camera.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Thing#1

It was an adventure to open up my blog again and start posting! I just hope that I wont encounter more surprises in my trip to the beach 11.5 :) For all you new comers WRITE all your user's names and account's names etc. For some reason my school computer did not let me work with my blog and help from blog spot.com but I am up and running...
The comman Craft movie is very interesting I see this as the finish product at the end of your college,it makes me a little worry that children at a young age have such a big access to the online word;they may be academic and technological ready but, socially? I am not sure.
It also worries me thinking about our future as a teachers, thinking about how many things are cut of already.
We are already in 2010, we are living our future and we are teaching our future so ready or not we most prepare them to be able to connect with the world.