Some of our classes participated in stacking Oreos for the O.R.E.O. project coordinated by Jennifer Wagner. Here are a few pictures of their stacks from Mrs. Pillis’ Class and Mrs. Travitz’s Class!
(Once I posted these pictures on flickr, I used flickrSLiDR to create a slide show. It was super easy!)
Looking for a way to bring real-world learning into your classroom with projects? Well, there are tons of things you can try out this year, from a small, one-time project, to a year-long project. Some contain extensive use of technology while others have very little. I’ve found some great ones recently I just had to share with you…I’m looking for classrooms willing to try one or more of them out!
Jennifer Wagner organizes on projects all year long with teachers around the world on her Projects with Jen Ning (and yes, this is probably blocked at school…but don’t worry…it’s safe). The third grade at G.W. Carver participated in one of her projects last February called From Me To You 2008. They really enjoyed it, so I’m trying to get other teachers to try out some of her other projects. Here’s a few upcoming projects that really caught my eye:
For older grades, Storychasers might be a fun way for your students to improve their writing skills while learning more about their families and community. It is described as “a multi-state (and potentially multi-national) educational collaborative empowering students and teachers to responsibly record and share stories of local, regional and global interest as citizen journalists. There are a variety of types of stories your students can collect, including biographies, careers, and (the one that REALLY caught my eye) ghost stories.
You know me, I love working my vacation pics into this blog. So here are some highlights from Key West…
Animoto is a cool site that syncs pictures and music into a very nicely done professional looking video. It’s super easy. I’ve used it before, but I’m even more excited about them now that they offer a free version for educators! Check it out here (and see some educational examples)!
Wordle is a really fun, east web tool that turns words into art called “word clouds.” These word clouds emphasize words that are used more often in a piece of text. Wordle makes text clouds from text you enter, from blog RSS feeds, or from delicious tags. There are even options to change font color, type, and the design of the words.
Lots of people, including Pam Elgin, have been tossing around ideas for the use of Wordle in classrooms. Here’s a few you might want to try!
About Me
Have students type their name three times (this will make it bigger than other words). Then have them type words that mean something to them. This would be a great back to school activity.
Describe a Famous Person or a Literary Character
You could do the same activity, but with a famous person.
Adjective Collage
Create a collage of adjectives. In the Wordle Text box, type the noun you want to describe three times (this will make it appear bigger than the other words). Then list all the descriptive words you can think of to describe the noun. Here’s an example:
First Name Welcome
This idea is a great one from Pam. Create a Wordle with the first name of the students in your class to hang on your door. (Example by Kristin Kap)
Type in Spelling or Vocabulary Words
Use for student practice with spelling or as a way to introduce new words in a unit! Students will love making designs and changing font, color, and layout after they have finished typing in their spelling words.
Use as a Hook or a Visual Cue
Create a Wordle to introduce a new unit of student or to help give students a visual of a concept. Here’s one for question words:
Create a Funky Twist on an Acrostic or ABC Book
If you want the words to fall in somewhat ABC order, make sure to check “prefer alphabetical order” under layout.
Quickly Make a Funky Sign
Brainstorming on a Topic
(Music example by hbryson)
Book Review
Have student list all the words they can think of to describe a book or a chapter. Remember to have them type the important words more than once so they are bigger.
Vocabulary Words to Practice Reading
(Dolch Word List)
Letter Hunt (for Kindergarten)
You could do different versions with different fonts!
Pre-Reading Strategy
Show students the words from a poem or story and have them predict what it will be about. The Wordle below is from the poem Cannonball by David Crwwley.
Misuse of Common Words
Have students type in a story to see what words they use the most. Make sure they choose “Do Not Remove Common Words” under “Language” to see them all. Here’s an example from one of my summer school student’s blog (most used words include I, like, and):
And another in which the student started almost every sentence with “He.”
I could go on and on and on…I LOVE this tool! What kind of things can you think of?
Word of Caution: Be cautious about the Gallery. I’d recommend you NOT allow your students to browse through it….anyone can make a Wordle, and some are not as nice as others.
Update: Just learned something new, thanks to JBlack’s Awesome use of Wordle! You can keep words together in Wordle if you use a tilde (~) mark between words. So here’s another idea (and yes, I promise to stop now)!
Idioms
Create a Wordle with Idioms. To keep words together, put a ~ between each word in the idiom. (Spill~the~beans.) This may be a little tedious for younger kids, but shouldn’t be too hard for older ones!
Students who earned 100 or more AR points at East Salem Elementary created a Voicethread advertising their favorite Accelerated Reader Books. Here it is!
I know lots of teachers have wanted to use the Quizdom Personal Response System (clickers) this year but haven’t found the time to sit down and “play around” with the software. The software is installed on teacher laptops, so if you want to look at it over the summer (or just remember this post for next year), the Quizdom website contains some step-by-step tutorials you can check out to help. An example of one is below. To see more, click here.
When visiting the site, I suggest you focus on the tutorials under in the middle of the page:
Please let you know if you create anything! It would be nice to gather a collection of Quizdom activities to be used across the division!
A group of technology educators on Twitter have been passing around this great site for Early Readers on the Smartboard. It’s called LookyBook, and it presents picture books in a format that you can use on the Smartboard (or any computer, really). Here’s an thumbnail example I felt was appropriate for this time of year. Click on the book once to turn pages and twice to see the larger version on the Lookbook Website.
Using the Smartboard, you can present a picture book in a way that all children can see it easily (or allow them to present it), AND you can WRITE on the book. Cirlce rhyming words, highlight descriptive words, pick out punctuation…all using the Smartboard pens. *The writing in a few of the books is pretty small, so you’ll have to check them out first to see if this will work.*
Another neat feature is that the site will allow you to customize your own virtual bookshelf where you can store your favorite stories. Currently there are over 300 books to choose from, but more are being added every day.
Okay, I’m not sure about everyone else, but I can use anything to relieve stress right about now. NOT that I’m stressed about SOL testing, because it will all go fine, but just because it’s that time of year. So here’s something silly that’s helping me….Virtual Bubble Wrap (be sure to check out the manic mode). If that link doesn’t work, you can try this version. Thanks to Teachers Love Smartboards blog for this one.
Oh yeah…educational value….counting? maybe?
Do you have a neat stress relief site? Leave a comment to tell what it is!
I’ve been amazed at all the creative projects I’ve seen this year! Occasionally, I pick out one or two technology projects to write about here…but I’ve seen so many more great activities that I haven’t had time describe! So, here’s your chance. Is there a fun project you did this year with the computers? The Smartboard? The Elmo or digital camera? Did you find a great website to use with a particular unit? Is there something you saw someone else do that looked neat? If so, please leave a comment. I’ll start with a few that come to mind (that I haven’t had a chance to write about yet):
Even as I get ready to submit this article, I can think of more. So, don’t be shy! Hit the green comment button right below this post, and tell me something you’ve done (or something someone you know has done). Not only does everyone deserve a pat on the back for their hard work with technology, these ideas can also help others think of things to do with technology next year (including me)!
I was horrible at history when I was in school, especially if it involved memorizing dates and names. I am a “big picture” learner…I stink at details. I learned information better if I could put dates and people into stories. I remember that my mom used to teach me mnemonics and other techniques to remember facts I had to memorize. I think that’s what’s made me enjoy working with Virginia Studies classes on projects this year: I’ve watched the teachers make history memorable and understandable for students with these projects. If I’d had teachers that allowed us to do projects like these, maybe I’d have had a much easier time learning history back then!
The first project was a podcast about the 4 regions of Virginia. Mrs. Ingram at East lead a group of students as they wrote 5 different segments–one for each region. It turned out great, and they even had a catchy way to remember the regions.
Press on the button below to listen:
The next Virginia Studies project involved using Timeliner, a program for creating a visual timeline of certain events. Mrs. Barnett and I worked with two of the 4th grade classes at East to help them create broad timelines that included the most important events in Virginia History. Mrs. Barnett wanted students to see the time span between events that happened, especially the large span of time between the American Revolution and the Civil War. This was a way of placing details into a big picture context. Take a look at some of the ways they displayed this information:
The most recent project was a podcast created under the direction of Mrs. Crotts at GWC. The students met with her and wrote their own scripts for this podcast. I was unable to be at the school to help them record, so a couple of students learned to use an MP3 player to record their classmates all by themselves. All that was left for me to do was add music and put it all together. I’m always amazed at the creative ability of students when given independence…the result was incredible. Take a listen:
Ready, Aim, Fire! SOLs! — American Revolution
In the end, the students even wrote thank you notes to both Mrs. Crotts and I for helping them with the podcast, which totally made my day!!!
All three of these projects were wonderful ways to engage student creativity and to help them see the broad picture and stories behind history facts…while using technology!! Thanks, Mrs. Barnett, Mrs. Ingram, and Mrs. Crotts for allowing me to work with you and your students this year. I’ve had a blast! I hope your students did too!
