Thing #11

Creating an account and navigating Library Thing was fun and easy. My second graders recommend books to each other during the school year. This is another way of doing this. They are always excited about reading books their friends have enjoyed.

Thing #10

Comic Strip Generator was very easy to navigate. I can see the students having fun with it during Writer's Workshop. I had several children writing joke books last year. This site would add another level to their products.
http://comicstripgenerator.com/







This image was made on Word Mosaic. It is a Shel Silverstein poem. I can see my second graders having fun using this site when we study Shape Poems.
http://imagechef.com/

Thing #9

I really liked Topix.net. I am a news junkie and this tool is a great way to quickly catch up on the latest information out there. I thought Edublogs' Award Winners was an excellent site. It was the easiest for me to navigate. One of the blogs I explored was The Cool Cat Teacher. It had great info on classroom wikis that I think will help me with my wiki next year. I also really liked Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog. I'm planning to check it out further.
Syndic8.com was not very user friendly for novices like me. I played with it a little and then gave up in frustration. I tried going in to Atomic Learning and then realized that I had forgotten the Spring Branch password.

Thing #8

RSS feeds - The only blogs I have followed before this assignment have been on Facebook. Using Google Reader, I set up several feeds. On a personal level, I made folders and put in feeds for news, weather, health, sports, and entertainment. Then I make a Spring Branch folder with blogs on wikis, district news, and some teacher blogs. The "alibraryisalibrary" blog looks like an especially good tool for searching out the latest in technology at a glance.
I am a little overwhelmed with all the RSS feeds I have set up on my page. I spent hours searching for new sites, but I'm not sure I will have the time to follow them all. So, instead of saving me time, I think I have made more work for myself. (I'm sure it is not supposed to work this way.) I do think it might be beneficial in the classroom if students need to go to specific places. This would give them easy access and, on a public site, they could share information and thoughts.

Thing #7

I had so much fun exploring all of the cool google tools. Setting up a home page on igoogle was great. I think I may have overloaded the page. I got so excited with all of the options. I put in several feeds to live aquariums across the country. They are so soothing to watch, and I know my second graders will love them when we study the ocean. I added google alerts for breaking news and weather. We will be studying weather as well this year and I think this will be useful for the students. I set up a link to an email account as well.

Thing #6

My second grade class made trading cards this last year. The children loved creating them. We used them when we studied the ocean habitat and then again when we studied birds. I scaled them down to about 2 1/2" by 4" and laminated them for durability. The students earned the trading cards for good behavior and traded with their friends. I'm still having trouble with my pictures. They come out distorted. I need to figure out what I am doing wrong.

We also made magazine covers this year in second grade. The children used them as covers for their bird reports. Our tech coach set up a link on our campus home page, so that the children could also make these from home.

Finally, I was able to put together this mosaic. I had difficulty downloading my pictures and then when I tried to add more squares, it wouldn't allow it. I'm going to play around with it some more, but wanted to save what I had just in case...



I tried puzzle maker on the Big Huge Labs site. It was fun making the puzzles, but I'm not sure the educational value for my second graders.

Thing #5

I was not familiar with Flickr before this lesson. I have shared photos from other sites, but this opens up a whole new world to continue to explore.

This is a photo of the Greek Isles. I hope to be exploring this, as well ,this summer!

Thing #3

I had a lot of fun creating an avatar, but am having a difficult time posting it on my blog. A little box with a red x showed up, but I can't find the picture I made. When (and if) it does appear, I am wondering where else I can post the "new me".

Thanks for the advice. I think my picture is showing now.

Thing #2

The easiest habit for me to relate to is Habit #2. It is to accept responsiblity for my own learning. I am very comfortable asking questions if I don't understand something and sharing my thoughts with others. Habit #4 is the most challenging for me. All of this technology is very new to me and I don't yet feel confident of my abilities.