Teaching with Technology » Fun

The Fun Theory

Tina Coffey — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:01:21 +0000

I love this concept. People will do harder things if you make it FUN! I just love to see that principle working in classrooms…and I often do!!!

Projects, Projects, Projects

Tina Coffey — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:21:48 +0000

This article is a follow up to yesterday’s inservice at Clearbrook. We discussed Global Projects, Using Skype, Wiki Ideas, and Geocaching and Geobugs. Wow, that was a lot of stuff!

Shelia Terry from Virginia Beach was able to skype with us and talk a little about her use with Skype with her students there. She gave us some great information about skype, and send us a link to more Skype info on her wiki!

We also talked a lot about some existing global projects you can join. One of the project places I highlighted was the site by Jen Wagner. I love her projects!!

The other project I mentioned by name was the skype project called Mission 00 Rain about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I remember that a few of you were interested in it as well. It’s for grades 1-3, but you need to register by Oct. 10!

Finally, we did some geocaching and talked about geobugs. In case you all are interested in geocaching for fun, the geocaching site is www.geocaching.com. You can create an account for free, and download the locations of caches to many types of gps units. The newer ones for cars will even let you do this. It’s tons of fun, and they are EVERYWHERE…so it’s also great for family trips or vacations.

If you and your class want to track the Big Lick Geobug, here’s it’s story.
http://tcoffey.edublogs.org/2009/06/03/geobugs/

Finally, an Oliver K. Woodman Geobug will be leaving Roanoke in the next few weeks. He’s heading to Redcrest, California. If you’ve read the book, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman, you’ll know why! Let me know if you want me to come to your class, show a geobug, and get your started following him too. :)

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Tina Coffey — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:00:58 +0000

Saturday be Talk Like a Pirate Day, so you might want t’ celebrate Friday or Monday with sprogs. Here’s some thin’s t’ get you started…

Links:

The Orginial Talk Like a Pirate Day Website

English to Pirate Translator (a must have for this important day)

Need some Pirate facts? Take a look at this wiki, ARR Pirates, created by Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Graders!

Pirate Challenge Geography Game (for the older sprogs)!

Walk the Plank! Game (Compound Words)

A Fun Button

Pirate Numbers (K-1)

Pirate Crafts (Great hat here)

Teachers Using Glogster

Tina Coffey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:14:40 +0000

Have you seen the Nicoles’ new Carver library webpage? Or Victoria Salvat’s Kindergarten page? If not, check them out! You will notice they are using a really cool service called Glogster. Glogster allows you to make interactive poster-like creatives that include links, pictures, and videos all with a really slick looking design. You can allow these posters to stand alone as wepbages, or embed them in webpage, wiki, or blog. It works especially well for the homepage of a website. This is what Victoria and Nicole did to add that extra touch to their websites. Pam and I also used this for the Trek2India wiki!

So, want to make interactive posters with your kids? Here’s a tutorial that shows you how!

Always remember to stay on the educational gloster site (http://www.glogster.com/edu) with your students. Otherwise, they may access inappropriate material on the regular Glogster site.

Siftables: Future Techno Manipulatives!

Tina Coffey — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:52:17 +0000

Siftables, demoed by David Merrill in a TED Talk, are amazing mini computerized blocks! I can already see the possibilities for the classroom! Amazing! And thanks, Mike, for sharing this presentation!