Tool # 8

I attended the ipad/ipod training session back in June. I was already familar with the ipad because we are an Apple family at home. It was a great way to see what the possibilities are and the different apps that are available for the ipad. It was good to be able to speak to other teachers about how they are thinking about using the ipad in their classrooms. One of the questions a lot of us had was how to pay for apps that would be useful in the classroom. Some suggested getting an itunes gift card to help purchase apps that you want, or asking your PTA to give the teachers gift cards to help purchase apps.

I am very excited to have ipads in the classroom this next year and have many ideas for their use. I think it would be great to use them in the morning as a station for kids to post their thoughts to a questions I have asked on wallwishers as everyone is getting ready for the day. I can also see the ipads as a great way for the kids to watch videos or live news feeds about things going on around our state and nation.

My dream is to have enough ipads to have one of my book club groups be able to read their book on Kindle and make notes while they read and share their thoughts live. Wouldn't that bee exciting!!!!!

Tool # 7

Tool # 7 is the most confusing to me!  I visited edmondo, (where I needed a password I didn't know!) and class to class.  I think you could probably use class2class as a civic project for the grade level.  

I really like the idea of sharing something with another classroom in the district or even out of the state.

Tool #6

I have created an account on wallwishers and poll everywhere. I also already have accounts with Google docs and twitter.

http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/MTI5MTQxMjM4NA

Get a free sms student response system at Poll Everywhere

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/nonamemommy

I am so excited about using wallwishers and polleverywhere in the classroom!! I think I could have either one of these up on the activ board when they are coming in in the morning and getting settled. You could have some computers up or the ipads for that matter and the kids could go and write a sticky or give an opinion and go on their way.

As far as encouraging participation, I think there is no question that this will be a huge booster to those who don't always do their work, and will also give some accountability too.

Tool #5

I had a great time playing around with the different sites. Two that I think I will try to incorporate into my language arts class are Wordle and Storybird. I would love to use Wordle in reading and in social studies. Storybird would be great to writing and publishing individual or group stories. I can't wait to use these and see how the kids take off!

Tool #4

I was introduced to Google Apps back in the Spring. I thought using Google docs with my kids would be a great way for us to interact when they were writing their Reader's Response. Starting out was a little tricky, because they were so excited to be on the computer, but we had trouble getting everyone logged on. I assigned a day for each child to write me about the book they were reading(5 each day) and I would respond right on their document. It was a wonderful new way to share information and I didn't have to lug a stack of notebooks home. Because it was on the computer, I could check on a daily basis to see who keeping up with the assignment and in turn they would check to see if I had responded, which kept me accountable! I will be using this app this next year again!!

Tool #3

I am very familiar with video in the classroom.  I use Discovery Education for Social Studies and Brain pop for Language Arts.  Using video is a great way to engage the kids in the topic we are studying. Even our Scholastic reading magazine this past year had links to video and activ board activities with were great to use with the stories. Was was even better about it is that everything was in one place and you didn't have to search to get it all!

I really liked exploring the Freedigitalphotos.net!  I can see that it will be a useful site for the kids and for me in the coming year.

Tool #2

This tool lesson was very time consuming!  Visiting different blogs and trying to find things that will be helpful was a lot of work, especially when most sites were not something I  could use.  I do follow a lot of blogs on my personal time but do not subscribe to new feeds.  After hearing about Google reader, it would really save time by subscribing and having them all in one place.


I did visit Classroom 2.0 and ficshbowl and I think with more time to navigate each site, I might find some useful things.