Thing #16

Library Thing is a great resource.  I think it would be very helpful in searching for particular books to use as read a-louds for kindergarten.  I could do a lot of the leg work in Library Thing, looking for possible books to meet my teaching needs, then search on MISD library site and Mesquite City Library site to see if the titles are available.  Having input from other readers helps to determine if the book would be appropriate or worth reading.

Thing #15

 Delicious is great!  My teaching team is now WORLD-WIDE!  How wonderful to be able to search for websites targeted for my very specific needs and interests!  How even better to find sites that connect me with other kindergarten teachers who are willing to share their creative ideas.  We all win when we share. 

I will use my delicious bookmarks to find new ideas to teach different concepts.  I love how it organizes the sites I visit frequently.  I think I will benefit from tag filtering feature.  You can find my bookmarks at http://www.delicious.com/c.anderson7722.

Thing 7a

I found the following article in the Elementary Education Blog, eledblog.com.  It is very thought provoking professionally, in considering what we are doing in the public school system to prepare 21st century students for their futures.  It raises questions for me as a mom whose son is on ADHD medication. The title of the article is RSA Animate Changing Education Paradiagms.

Thing #14

I spent some time exploring Wordle.  I typed in the action words my students gave in our study of verbs.  I think it would be a great way to review.  The kids would love to see their individual answers shown as a poster or on the screen. I changed the font to one that would be easy for kindergartners to read and selected that all the words read horizontal. I changed the color to something bright and catchy.  The sad thing was that in the process of saving it, I lost it.  I'll have to do it again.

Whether I am using photos or samples of students' work, sharing that publicly in class affects the social and emotional development of the child.  As teachers, we have to provide safe and accepting environments where students will be comfortable sharing themselves (photos or work).

Things #13

It was fun experimenting with these image generators.  I really like Spell Flickr.  I spelled my name, my grade, and my school.  Since I can select what letter I like, I can do a combination of lower and uppercase letters.  I will have my students identify lower and uppercase letters in the words.



I usually decorate my room in smiley face theme so I was excited to see Happy Face Generator.  We usually discuss autumn and the changes we see during this time, so I made a smiley face with autumn leaves. I simply clicked on the sample text, typed in the new and saved.

Our school is undergoing renovations, so Happy Face Construction Worker will be a great motivator.  I selected the face I wanted, changed the text and size of font, and saved.

There were other generators I explored and have ideas how I could use them in the classroom.  Flickr Color Pickr will be a good resource at the beginning of the year when I teach the individual colors.  Mappr would be great for bringing geography to life with photos.

I am glad I was introduced to these resources. 

Thing #12

My slideshow  is titled States of  Water.  It consists of 6 slides.  The first 3 slides show the 3 states of water: ice, water, and steam.  The last 3 show the 3 states seen in nature.  Hopefully, the photo of the mud puddle would encourage a discussion about evaporation.  To see my slideshow, click here.




Photos Used in the Slideshow

ice

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/2045290249_7fd6e4fc7f_o.jpg Kyle May

water    

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1249/1454159546_578e56a802.jpg

Nathan: shutter snap Studios

steam

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3407551102_710b60fd99_b.jpg Kenny’s Back

snow

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/83440385_28184bb33c_b.jpg farfuglinn

rain

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3476/3705518748_9bd28e6964_b.jpg Maine Surfer

mud puddle

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/44/150411241_c64a2a024f_o.jpg nuance

Thing #11

Water as a liquid

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1249/1454159546_578e56a802.jpg

Nathan: shutter snap Studios

This learning activity was very time consuming.  I spent way too much time looking at photos.  Flickr is a great resource.  I wish there could be a search within a search when looking for particular photos.  I changed themes a couple of times, when I realized my 8 photos for my theme of numbers would require me to contact each photographer for permission. 

My final choice of  theme was "3 states of water".  I plan to show the slideshow when I teach the science lesson next week.  Other ideas of using Flickr will be finding pictures of 1) singular and plural objects 2) action photos for the study of verbs and 3) pictures to use in reviewing shapes (I Spy type of pictures).

Working with photos and images took me out of my comfort zone.  I had to learn how to find information about the photo, to download and upload photos, save, rename, and relocated my photo files.  I should have already known this. I needed to learn it and I feel like I have a handle on it now.

Thing #10

I think CC will allow teachers, myself included, to feel freer to use ideas and items on the web. 

I wonder how CC handles workbooks produced in the last 20 years.  I stopped using pages for fear I was breaking copyright laws.  Now I see we have more freedom than I thought.

I would think that the flipcharts on Promethean Planet are protected under CC. I'll have to check that out.

How is CC regulated? How does a reader know what freedoms have been given on a piece of work?

On a personal level, CC is something my husband needs to know about.  He writes and is thinking of publishing a textbook.  I'll need to send him links to CC.

Thing #9

I did it! Take a look at Cindy's Sand Dune.  I felt so proud of my accomplishment that I showed my teen-aged daughter. :) I worked on it a long time with much trial and error.  I have the finished product, but I don't know if I could reproduce it without some of the same errors.  I probably would finish it faster, though. I have a better understanding of the terms, 'embedded', 'jpg', 'widget', 'external image' and 'upload'.


Once I was able to create and edit my page, the text part was easy for me. I had a hard time uploading an image and creating my voki.

As I did the learning and discovery activity, I didn't see the comparison of the sandbox at first.  It didn't feel like playing, pouring sand through a sieve or making sandcastles.  I called my wiki page, Cindy's Sand Dune, to connect it to my memory of sand on Lake Michigan.  At the times where I struggled to upload an image or tried to save the voice of my Voki, it was more like a desert sand dune.

But I learned a lot.  I have a wiki page to call my own, and that feels good.

Thing #8

I am amazed at the amount of resources available.  A whole new world has been revealed.  It's like going to a teacher's conference while sitting at my desk.  I have access to creative teaching ideas from a team of teachers I have never even met.  Three wikis from which I gained some great ideas were Kindergarten Counting Book, Primary Math and Schools in the Past. Viewing these wikis was a wonderful way to get connected to other kindergarten teachers' blogs.  Kindergarten Tales is a great blog. It gave me lots of ideas to try in my own classroom. I will definitely visit Kindergarten Counting Book and Primary Math again and again.  I think I could use Kindergarten Counting Book in the classroom by having my students view the counting book and add a number page.  I would like to contribute but this wiki didn't give clear directions of how to do so.  References to 'page' and 'thread' were a little confusing. I  looked up 'thread' on Wikipedia to see what it was.  Primary Math does provide easy directions to add to the site.  It also provides a table of contents up front which is very helpful to determine if the wiki will be useful to me.   I think doing a similar wiki to the Schools in the Past wiki would a lot of fun for the students and family members.  Another possible class activity would be to use a wiki to make a class story, each child contributing a section of the story.

Thing #7 Commenting

As a reader I feel lead to express my thoughts in "blogalogue". I want to be able to communicate and be able to encourage the writer or give another link for future learning. But I can't!  I have been posting comments several times to different blogs but I see no evidence that any have been received.  My comments do not show under the blog's comments.  It is frustrating typing and then retyping and posting again and again.  Do I need to make some changes in my settings?  How can I fix this problem? When "setting profile" which is the best way?

Thing #6

Quickly I can see that I will be overloaded with reading materials and articles. I have started to seek ways to manage my reader and will definitely have to keep organizing incoming information.  One question I have been asking is how to delete unwanted posts.  I don't want to delete the blog, just the article.  Or maybe I am confusing the terms, blog, feed, and posts. I will need to explore more within my reader.

Some interesting items:

Christian News Report gives me daily updates on issue of personal interest.  Obama's defense of his religious views was encouraging.

I was reminded about a book that I already have that would help in teaching comprehension strategies to my kindergarteners.  Linda Hoyt's Interactive Read-Alouds is recommended in eledblog.

Cool Cat Teacher has a link to a insight video about motivation. A good reminder that motivation for my students and my own son needs to be internal driven.

Elementary Education News is a site of helpful articles that can be applied easily to the classroom.  It was great to be reminded that October is Fire Safety Month.