State Posters

In grades 3-5 we have spent the last two weeks creating posters to celebrate our states birthday. Nevada day falls on October 31st and not being a big halloween person myself it works out well. I can spend time with students working technology skills, writing skills, and social studies skills. We used Microsoft word to create the posters, following a guideline, and turned the completed assignments into Edmodo. The students had to use the internet to research at least three facts about the state of Nevada and use the facts on their poster. My students in grades 1-2 created word and picture webs of Nevada using Kidspiration and imported pictures of Nevada. The kindergarten students used Kidspiration to make a collage of Nevada pictures.

Example of student made Nevada Poster

After school tutoring

Okay, so it is honesty time, I like what I am doing right now. Working in the computer lab and getting to know all the kids but I miss those days or those moments with the awhah's. I volunteered to be a part of my schools after school program that gives students that extra leg up and offers homework help. I have one student in particular that I also see during the week for computer class, at first he just seemed to be a handful but today both he and I had an awha moment. Since I am not with my students for more than forty five minutes once a week it is harder for me to get to know them as individuals and how they learn best. Working with this student today I learned that he is as much a visual learner as you can get. He was having a hard time understanding how to divide and multiply. So, instead of going around and around again with a paper and pencil explanation I took out some manipulatives, showed him how to group the manipulatives, and how to use the groupings to get an answer. We then walked through it together, and then I let him start working on his own. The student became more and more confident with each math problem and I learned something new about the "difficult" student. It is moments like these, no matter how few and far between, that remind of why I wanted to become a teacher.

State Celeration

Since we live in a state that still celebrates it's birthday to include a state holiday and a day off of work I use this opportunity to talk a little social studies with my students. I am having my third through fifth graders create Nevada posters, in word, that include three facts about our state and a picture from either the clipart selection or internet. My first and second grade students used Kidspiration to create mind map bubbles with Nevada being in the middle. They then had a bubble branch for a state of Nevada picture imported and labeled the picture. Since kinders are still very much in the phase of me they also used kidspiration, but instead they choose pictures that reminded them of Nevada, things they see, interact with, or do in Nevada. I will post pictures later this week, well, maybe tomorrow depending on how my bulletin board turns out and the assignment goes for some of my other classes.

Exciting things

Well,  it is only Tuesday and it seems to be a week of frustration. I am hoping it is going to get better, oh wait, it already has. My fifth grade students received there first pen pal letters from Taiwan today. I am hoping this will help the students see how similar and yet how different they are. We also got one of our first adopt a soldier replies. The students acted so uninterested when I introduced them to the project but have asked almost everyday since they were told that I mailed their letters if there had been an answer yet. So, I now have a yes, well, for one class anyway. The soldier answered their questions and sent some photo's of him on the job. The students are really going to enjoy it. I have some other projects to intertwine with both of these but one thing at a time. We are having a hard enough time remembering our Edmodo user names.
The students have been excited about Edmodo but I think it is more for a social aspect. I know it is a lot of new things for them to take in but I think they can do it. I think that students can rise to the occasion as long as the occasion is still within their reach.

Edmodo

The next phase of my first year in technology is underway. I had one more fifth grade class to find pen pals for outside of the adopt a soldier program. On the Elementary Tech Teachers website I connected with a fellow teacher back East and we were discussing ways to get our students to communicate through technology. She found the Edmodo site and we both liked it so much we decided to use it for the pen-pal's. I also decided for my students in grades 3 through 5. I can post assignments keep track of who turns in assignments, give grades right on the site (yes this gives me two places to put grades, but the students always know how they performed), I can also post links, documents, and other things the students will need to complete their assignment all in one place. After spending the week getting my students signed up and logged in I think this is going to be a great virtual classroom. The students are excited about it because the layout is some what similar to Facebook so they are already familiar and it gives them even more readily available access to the computers.
I went to a technology meeting on Tuesday and found out that our pilot programs for notebooks (iPads) in the classroom will be using Edmodo also. I was even more excited that my students will be a little ahead of the learning curve. By the time the pilot begins using Edmodo we will have already been using it for several months in the classroom and if the pilot goes well the third graders who would get to use the notebooks as fourth graders will be ready for the virtual classroom environment.

Pictures

Okay, so after spending a little time in my room yesterday I think I am finally done with decorations. It has only taken me five weeks into school (almost six) but it is done. I promised pictures so . . . here they are.

The mouse and Icon wall, a long with the colored keyboard are ideas I borrowed from my new fun website (http://elementarytechteachers.ning.com)

The Growing word Wall

Trees and student WPM monkey's. The Monkeys on the wall are less than five words per minute.

Tomorrow is Monday, with M.A.P testing and other things on the schedule for the week it will be a busy one but a good one I hope. I hope everyone has a good week.

Busy Busy Busy

I have been so busy with school, school projects, family, and life that I haven't posted in awhile. As if taking on a class three days before school started wasn't enough, starting new protocols such as class blogs (I will let you know how those are going in a few weeks), and pen pals haven't been challenging enough, I am also finishing up my masters application and taking two three credit classes through the University of San Diego so that I can get my Computer literacy endorsement on my license.   I think there is room for a few more things. I came across  a completely wonderful website called http://elementarytechteachers.ning.com  If I mentioned it my last blog, I love it sooooo much, I am mentioning it again. Such a collaborative environment and great ideas!!! After I spend sometime in my classroom tomorrow I will post updated pictures.

Student monkeys have come a long well and are now hanging in the classroom, and on the "trees." The students love them, and I am glad they are excited about them.

I will be sending off our first Adopt-a-soldier letters tomorrow. It is true; kids do say the darndest things. Reading through some of the letters just made me smile. I hope that the military men and woman get as big a kick out of them as I did.

Things are coming a long. I wasn't sure how I would feel about teaching a technology class but I honestly like it.

Found a great Website

So, today while I was wandering through the never ending world of Internet trying to find one more group of fifth grade pen pals, I came across a great website for technology teachers. http://elementarytechteachers.ning.com  I wish I had found this website weeks ago, before school started. The website is a great place to get ideas, share ideas, discuss technology classroom stuff, and communicate. I really, really like it.

On another note the Adopt a soldier letters have been going well and I am hoping to send the first group of letters out over the weekend. The students played it cool but when they sat down and started typing you could see the excitement in their letters progress. I am glad that I have found something that I can supplement with Type to Learn that the students will be interested in.

Thanks to the new fun website I found a great suggestion to keep the attention of my kindergartners for the full 45 minutes. I can't wait to try it tomorrow and see how it goes . . . I am crossing my fingers :0)

Patience

Today was a roller coaster kind of day. I woke up to find my adopt-a-soldier list(s) waiting in my e mail box which excited me but as the day wore on I found myself a little frustrated. In starting the friendly letter process with students in a word document it was taking my students quite a bit of time to type out the return address and salutation. I had everything on the smart board so all students had to do was copy the information onto their word document . . . this was a longer process than I had planned. I was talking to my son on my lunch, the smart little boy that he is, and we were discussing how the day was going so far. I had mentioned that I was frustrated that the process was going slowly, he offered to help. We had a discussion about how the students needed to do these things on their own so that they would learn and that progressed into a discussion about how they all don't have computers at home. He thought about it for a minute and said "they are not like us." I couldn't help but smile at the deduction his intuitive four year old mind made and then I thought to myself if he can figure it out in one conversation and I work with these great kids on a daily basis why am I getting so worked up. Sometimes all it takes is someone to remind us that all we need is a little patience.

Pen Pals

    I had this great idea, or so I thought, of finding my upper grade students pen pals to practice keyboarding skills, word skills, language arts skills, research skills, and also work in some social studies (and eventually science in a different way). Because of the type of school I teach in the focus is language arts and math so students lose out on social studies and science in the classroom. I have been trying to find ways to incorporate these standards into my technology classes so that the students get both technology, social studies, and science. What I didn't know is how difficult it would be to find pen pals. Because of the way the social studies standards work third grade students look at social studies more of the world as a hole (current events, heroes, that type of thing), our fourth grade focusses specifically on the state, and fifth grade focuses on the United States and how it came to be.
   So, my plan of action was (is) to set up my third grade students with the adopt a soldier program. This way both students and soldiers (or troops, to be more non secular of military division) benefit from writing and receiving letters. It took a little bit of work but we are finally getting somewhere. I would like to set my fourth grade students up with a class from within the state of Nevada, maybe a Native American school or program, and then have my fifth grade students pen pal with European countries that either discovered, molded, or were a large part of the creating force of America. The last two are proving more difficult than planned, who knew.
   Once the students get their pen pal assignments they would then of course write, I should say type, to their pen pals, but then I was going to have them use the internet to research where their pen pal is, write a paper about the similarities and differences in locations, include pictures from the internet, teach good sources versus bad sources, and have the fourth and fifth grade students maybe even create a power point. We could even create graphs about where the pen pals are, how old pen pals are, their favorite activities and so on. The thing I love about the pen pal idea is the way it can be utilized in so many different ways to teach so many different standards and still be technology based. Sooo, my search goes on for the right fit for my fourth and fifth grade students, we will get their . . .

Typing ideas

Sooo . . . we have this great typing program at the school called Type to Learn but the kids get bored with it pretty quickly. I have been brain storming ideas to continue there typing practice but in a way that will hopefully be more fun. So, my tentative plan will be to find military pen pals for the students, I was also thinking pen pals from around the world (find students in other countries in the same grades). This way students will get to practice typing skills, writing skills, and social studies skills. When I finally came up with the pen pal idea boy did the ideas start flooding in! Students can use the internet to research information about the countries their pen pals are in, we can discuss proper websites for research, safe internet practices, students can type reports, create notebook and powerpoint presentations and sooo much more! The great thing is not only will all of these assignments cover technology but they will also cover social studies, and language arts. The more I think about it the more excited I get.

The Jungle in room 103

We are quickly approaching the end of week two, tomorrow actually, and after a successful open house I am ready for the weekend. I promised I would post pictures of my room once I got it put together, the second computer lab is still in construction mode. Here are pictures of the lab I use everyday to instruct students.

I have three rows of trees. The trees will have a monkey for each student from third grade through fifth grade. Part of the curriculum requires that by the end of the school year each group of students have to reach so many words typed per minute. I have a row of trees for five wpms, 10 wpms, and 20 wpms. The bananas hanging from the trees state which wpm tree it is. As students progress on their typing skills their monkey will move around the classroom. I am going to add some vines between each tree for students who are in-between each interval. The students seemed really excited about it and the little littles like the decoration.

This is what the room looked like when I started two days before school . . . I think it has come a long way.

On another note I am thinking about creating a classroom blog. I have been researching and there are some webs sites that allow you to create blogs specifically for the classroom and are only viewable by classroom students. I think it will be a great way to give assignments, for students to post completed assignments, take polls, and allow students to practice typing skills. 

Matt Damon’s Speech to Teachers at SOS Rally

Matt Damon’s Speech to Teachers at SOS Rally

I had to share after seeing this on a fellow teachers blog.

Well, the first week has come to a close

I got some great advice from an article on another blog. It was vert relevant and helped keep me refocus when I got off track. http://corkboardconnections.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-advice-for-new-teachers.html

My only kink at the moment is trying to figure out how to handle 32 kindergartners at a time, on my own. The hardest part is finding a way to get them to be patient while I get them set up. I have the computers logged in to the program they are going to use before they get to class, thanks to the help from my wonderful fourth grades and a system called lanschool. Being that it is the first week they haven't gotten the hang of assigned seats, which is to help me remember who is who, or to work quietly while in the computer lab. I have a seating chart pre-made but keeping littles occupied while I get everyone seated where they are suppose to be is proving a challenge. I know that over time they will become accustomed to the flow and remember where they sit but trying to figure out how to get through the next couple weeks is my own personal challenge.

On another note I love the school and the staff that chose me. Everyone is great, yes, I know that sounds disillusioned, but they really are. Everyone has their idiosyncrasies but  each person has been helpful and welcoming. Even though the school is at the end of a major over haul with a few issues still hanging out there the principal and Vice principal have both at different times taken the time out of their overly busy schedules to just peek in and see if I need anything.

I am very glad that I took on the challenge of teaching Technology.

Second Day of school

Time has moved so quickly since I took on the Technology position. I suppose that it didn't help when I helped with a graduation party for a friend on Saturday and a Birthday party for my son on Sunday on top of trying to pull a classroom together and write lesson plans. I have not posted pictures yet because I have not finished the classroom to what I had planned. With glitches and a learning curve to adapt to cosmetics have not been at the top of my list, I will get there though. The cabinets full of supplies and old lesson's have come in handy as a great guide for planning.

So, I think that there is a special place in heaven for Kindergarten teachers. I spend forty five minutes a day with a group of 32. Yesterday, the first day of school, I had two breakdown in tears. Today was better but I had little ones who tried to run in the classroom instead. Kinder requires so much repetition.

For first day activities for my fourth and fifth graders I borrowed from a colleague. Students use a computer program to create a bubble map. The center bubble is the students name. Each outside bubble is a letter of their name, two words describing the student starting with that letter, and a picture to represent one of the words. The bubble maps were printed out and hung on the project wall.
For Second and third graders students used the same program but instead of creating bubble maps students were able to use the workspace as they liked as long as they name was present with two words to represent them from each letter, and of course a picture. First and second graders used a program called kidpix to practice click, drag, and use of a mouse. The kidpix program allows students to create pictures.

Day 2

I feel a little more in control today (haha fantasy!) I got all the printer cartridges (new and old) put away and organized. All the extra computer supplies are also now in some type of organized fashion. Although, this now leaves me with 5 cabinets of old programs, past lesson plans, and lord only knows what else stacked along the wall on the floor.

Tomorrow's mission: 1. organize the stacks o'stuff   2. Get stuff on my walls.

I went to our local teacher store today (with my own kids in tow) and let them pick my theme(s). One room will be technology themed with robots and the other will be a jungle theme (mostly monkeys). I think these will be more fun than the white walls.

I will post pictures of before and after when the room is completed. I better hurry, school starts Monday.

A New Classroom

Well, after all the frustration I have finally gotten a classroom. It wasn't something I would have thought about doing but it is now my new adventure. I have inherited an old computer lab, a new computer lab, years and years worth of e-mails, lesson plans, and computer programs. Being that school starts on Monday, I am feeling overwhelmed. The school was a refurbish school this year so it is getting a make over which is great, the drawback is that with the new computer lab is not even set up yet and nothing (smart boards, whiteboards, and activity boards,) is back on the walls in the old computer lab it is a little difficult to determine where things should be hung.   I would like to have a fun technology classroom instead of the same old room with white walls and a few posters but I am not sure how to get there. I know the obvious direction would be a computer theme but what fun is that when you are surrounded by computer items. I did see a fun idea using old discs, maybe I will borrow the idea and use cd's instead (and go for a space theme, hey that's an idea!) With two computer labs to decorate I essentially could go with two different themes. Decision, decision, I need to make some, soon.