Web 2.0

Kerpoof is free multimedia software that can be used on any computer that has Internet access. The site is great because it has an area that is specifically for educators and it lists ideas and benefits for incorporating this Web 2.0 tool into your classroom. It also has lesson plans and how Kerpoof connects to the standards. You can make pictures, movies, drawings, or create stories using the Kerpoof multimedia tools. I think it would be a great application to incorporate into any elementary or middle school classroom. I think that any you could structure the lesson accordingly to the age group you are teaching, but overall it would be a great way for the students to express themselves. I think that I could use it in my classroom for story creations. We try to have the students work on retelling stories and connecting the pictures to the stories that they are creating. I think that they could use the program to create drawings to go along with the stories that they create or they could make a story using the multimedia tools on the site. Check it out at http://www.kerpoof.com .

Totlol is a great 2.0 tool that I could definitely use in my classroom. It is powered by YouTube and has pretty much the same set up, but is for children. You are able to set up your own favorite videos, keep track of ones that are watched, and block certain videos from being viewed. This would be great to incorporate into my kindergarten classroom. I am constantly searching for video clips that I can connect to the concepts that I am teaching. It is a really great way to get my 5-6 year old students excited about what we are learning and focused on the concept. Check out this Web 2.0 tool at http://www.totlol.com .

Another Web 2.0 tool that I found was ispeech. It is a tool that allows you to convert text to speech. This is a great application for me teaching kindergarten because there are so many tools that I would like to utilize within the classroom, but it is hard because my students are unable to read. One thing that ispeech does offer is the fact that you are able to take the text in your blog and convert it into a talking blog. This would be great for my students and would allow me to create a blog geared toward them that they were able to participate in. This way whatever I posted the students would be able to listen to, whether it is in centers or from at home. Check it out at http://www.ispeech.org .

Kindergarten Tour

Since we have started an all day kindergarten program at Trinity Area School District we also introduced KinderCamp. We felt it was important to prepare the incoming students as much as possible for their all day experience. This video was made to help the students become familiar with their surroundings and take away some of the first day jitters they may be experiencing.

Kindergarten and Computers

I found an article that discussed the important computer concepts kindergarten students should be using. Being a kindergarten teacher and one that is convinced that my kindergarten students can use any and all equipment that the older students do this article really caught my attention. I hate hearing teachers that are so pessimistic when it comes to the thought of kindergarten students using the computer. The author of this article Susan Brooks is under the same impression as me, that five year olds can do amazing things when given the chance to. The author of the article is actually one of the co-founders of Internet4classrooms and was also a 30 year veteran of kindergarten and technology classrooms. Susan listed the basic skills that she felt were necessary for the kindergarten students to learn. She also provided sites that she felt would best enhance those skills and that were appropriate for a kindergarten age group. I was glad to see her outline so far because it seems to be what I am following with my students so far this year. We have been practicing our mouse skills from the beginning of the year up until now. This past week I began introducing the basic keyboarding skills. They really surprise me with what they are able to do when given the chance. I liked Susan’s idea of using computer words on the word wall. I think I will start to integrate those on our word wall in the classroom since we are beginning to integrate the keyboarding skills. It would be an easy way to review those words on a daily basis even if we were unable to get to the computer lab. I would really like to follow along with Susan’s outline for the computer skills that my kindergarten students should be learning. I am excited to see what they will be able to do on the computer by the end of the year. ">http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech209.shtml that discussed the important computer concepts kindergarten students should be using. Being a kindergarten teacher and one that is convinced that my kindergarten students can use any and all equipment that the older students do this article really caught my attention. I hate hearing teachers that are so pessimistic when it comes to the thought of kindergarten students using the computer. The author of this article Susan Brooks is under the same impression as me, that five year olds can do amazing things when given the chance to.
The author of the article is actually one of the co-founders of Internet4classrooms and was also a 30 year veteran of kindergarten and technology classrooms. Susan listed the basic skills that she felt were necessary for the kindergarten students to learn. She also provided sites that she felt would best enhance those skills and that were appropriate for a kindergarten age group.
I was glad to see her outline so far because it seems to be what I am following with my students so far this year. We have been practicing our mouse skills from the beginning of the year up until now. This past week I began introducing the basic keyboarding skills. They really surprise me with what they are able to do when given the chance. I liked Susan’s idea of using computer words on the word wall. I think I will start to integrate those on our word wall in the classroom since we are beginning to integrate the keyboarding skills. It would be an easy way to review those words on a daily basis even if we were unable to get to the computer lab.
I would really like to follow along with Susan’s outline for the computer skills that my kindergarten students should be learning. I am excited to see what they will be able to do on the computer by the end of the year.

KinderCamp Podcast

This is a podcast that I created for KinderCamp. This is a summer program we have for two days to get the Kindergarten students familiar with the teachers and the routine of kindergarten. I think that this would be a great way to keep communication open with the parents throughout the school year. I could put up any announcements that I may want to make and the parents could respond with any questions or comments they may have.
Click on the title above to listen to my podcast.

My Favorite Podcasts

I began my search for Podcasts at the Education Podcast Network. I didn’t like it there. I couldn’t quite understand the site and it was hard for me to find what I wanted. I just recently got an iPod so I went on iTunes. I started my search thinking I would subscribe to a few; believe me it did not end in that way. I ended up subscribing to about 10 different Podcasts. I am totally addicted to them now. I listen to them at school during my prep time while I am working on things in the classroom or at the copier. There were a few that I subscribed to that I did not find interesting at all, but there were two of them that I really enjoyed.
The first podcast that I enjoyed was Kid Cast. You can read up on it and listen to some podcasts at http://www.intelligenic.com/blog/. These podcasts are by Dan Schmit. My favorite one that I listened to was about podcasting and fieldtrips. He gave some wonderful tips on how to make the fieldtrip more effective for the students and less about just getting away from the classroom for the day. Dan felt that it was first important to set a purpose for the field trip weeks before the field trip is scheduled. He also thought it was important to rethink the KWL chart and make it into a WTWT chart. Why are we studying this? What do we think we know? What do we want to know? What are we ready to teach? He also gave a great idea of creating a sound seeing tour for your students.
I also wanted to check out a podcast that was created by students. I decided to check out Willow Web since it was highly recommended in a few different articles that I had read. It you want to check out some of their podcasts go to http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/Radio/. I thought it was very well put together and each student sounded very interested in the topics and very animated. It seemed to really give them great practice on their speaking skills. I found their podcasts more interesting than most of the ones I listened to that were done by adults. It gave me some great ideas on ways I can incorporate podcasting into my classroom.

Podcasting in Elementary

At http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6253062.html I found an interesting article about podcasting. I hadn’t heard from many on their experience of podcasting in the elementary so I wanted to read an article that focused on just that.

I n this particular article titled Tell Me a Story, a library media specialist Sarah Chauncey conveys her love of podcasting and how she incorporates it into her elementary library curriculum. Sarah has made podcast snippets available to her students on various picture books on her library Web site. I think that this is a great way to take what you are teaching and look at it in a new way that will spark the interest of your students. She also has created audio files of questions that relate to each book. Those questions can be acquired at home through the Web site. Sarah feels that this would be a great way to get the parents involved in what the students are learning and reading while at school. I couldn’t agree more. I think that any way you can make that home school connection you are succeeding. This is something that I think parents and students would both be interested in. Not only will the parents get to hear about what their child is learning, but they will also have a chance to see how technologically savvy their child may be. Another great idea that Sarah had was having the students in her school read various picture books and records them. This way the students can hear students that are being read by their peers yet there is no concern of privacy issues.

I think that this article gives you a better understanding of how you can take the basic concepts being taught and team them with today’s technology and you can bridge the gap between you and your students.

Flickr

I used Flickr to upload my pictures. I uploaded various pictures of my family, fiance, and work. I think this would be a great way to keep a sort of yearbook for your students and their parents. The parents could log on to see photos of the activities that we have taken part in throughout the year. Check out the photos that I uploaded at http://www.flickr.com/photos/32301119@N07/