Sunday, March 29, 2009

Time For The Last JenuineTech Project For The Year

Most of you who have been in my workshops or have been following my blog know how passionate I am about the online collaborative project and what it can mean to your classroom. I especially am in awe of the projects done by Jen Wagner. Today she announced the opening of registration for her last project of the year: "The Places We Will Go"
The Project will utilize Google Earth as the main tool, however, if you do not have that option available, there are some alternatives provided for you on the project site.

This is a K6 project and is open to schools all over the world.

The main objective of the project as stated on the project website is that students will use google earth to locate a variety of landmarks around the world and calculate distance from their school to the location of each landmark.

This website of the prohject is HERE . Registration is HERE.

I'd love to hear from you if you participate.

Planning for Earth Day?

Many of us are the adults that model good citizenship to our students in the hope that they will then do the "right thing" as adults when they are in charge of the environment. This, along with oh, so many other jobs we have, seems to be a little "over the top", but, let's face it....the future of our planet depends on it!
Also, when you can integrate an appreciation of our earth with social studies and science through technology and/or online collaborative projects, it becomes an excellent learning experience for your students.
So, with Earth Day around the corner, I wanted to share with you what Teachers First, the newsletter, made available - a complete list of Earth Day Ideas, Earth Day: TeachersFirst Editor's Choices. It is full of great ideas, projects, and collaborations that you can use as resources for this year's Earth Day lessons or future Social Studies and Science Lessons. Check it out!

Monday, March 23, 2009

You Tube and Teacher Tube Without Distractions

Have you noticed lately that there are more and more advertising on You Tube and Teacher Tube? It is fine with me that they are getting paid for storing and supplying these videos for us, but when students are watching them, the advertising and print around the videos can be very distracting. The solution lies in a simple tool called Quietube . Go to this website and you will be given the option of dragging a tool up to your toolbar.
Open up any video from You Tube or Teacher Tube and then click the Quietube button on your toolbar. Presto! The video appears with no other print material surrounding it.
I usually give credit to the place where I find a good website, link, or tool - but I cannot remember whose blog I read about this on. It is really cool - give it a try!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

An Easy Project That Can Make A Difference

I bet some of you thought I was never going to come back from being on the high seas! I must admit, leaving the warmth and sunshine of the Caribbean was tough, but also not being waited on for each meal and snack is my least favorite entry into reality.

But, as I prepare for a five day week of workshops on the east coast next week - I have been catching up on my blog reading and podcast listening.

I remembered seeing this project that I would like to recommend as a way for students to use persuasive communication to influence the adults in the school community to make a small change for Earth Day.

The Project Description is as follows:
Elementary, middle school, or high school students will ask faculty and staff to carpool on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 - Earth Day. They will compare the number of cars in their parking lot on an average day to the number of cars on Earth Day. Students can determine the average amount of carbon monoxide not released to the atmosphere or just calculate the number of cars not on the road that day.


The website gives a lot of information about carbon emision and how students can calculate the carbon savings. There are already 26 schools signed up and students can find the locations of these schools on the map. They will also be sharing data with all of the other student participants.

You will also find materials needed to present this project to your students and to the staff at your school. Everything you need is here: Earth Day Carpoolling Project

I think it is a cool project!


The wwebsite for this projecty

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Goin' Cruisin'

As I prepare to take off for a little rest and relaxation with my husband on our yearly cruise, I realize that I will not be blogging for about two weeks. I was thinking how I could provide something for those of you who might like finding some new resources for your classroom through this blog, while I am gone. Many of you have just started reading the blog and may have missed out on the almost two years of posts that have appeared here. So, I thought I would choose some of the posts that were not connected to a special date or time, and give you a list of links that will take you to specific blog posts that you might have missed and would have an interest in. It was fun for me to go back and see the many and varied websites that I had heard about and then passed on to my readers.
I know that this list will keep you very busy while I am gone and you may not even be ready for anything new when I get back. However, I know I will be way behind in my listening to podcasts and reading blogs, but I know I will have lots of new things once I catch up.

So, here goes - Check these out if you missed them when they were first printed - from the archives of Tech Teach Seminar Updates:

2007
Tutorial Videos
Playing With Photos – Fun For You and Your Students
Keyboarding Across the USA
Need Some Funding?
Circling Illinois – Where I Talk About A Site That Allows You To Create Your Own Stationary
On The Road Again Where I Introduced Science Story Books
Sketchcast
Taking Some Courses Where I Introduced Citation Maker
Looking For A Bad Link? Where I Talk About The Way Back Machine

2008
Revisit To VoiceThread and Some Other 2.0 Tools
A New Online Story Site - Speakaboos
Another Great Free Teacher Tool – The Teacher Corner
Family Internet Safety
Non-Fiction Reading for the Younger Students
A New Online Story Site – Mrs. P’s
The Best Thanksgiving Website I Have Seen
You Tubes for The Little Ones
Copyright Info – Free Digital Images
Next Vista – Free Music and Sounds
A Great Graph Maker and Free
PBS Launches New Reading Website
Picturing America
You Tube-Then Teacher Tube-Now School Tube
Something You Do Not Have To Pay For – Class Tools
Some Flash Games For The Younger Set
Know Some Student Teachers or First Year Teachers?
ITunes U –Free Audio and Visual for Instructional Enhancement
Website For Your Class – Easily Accomplished
Websites With A Cause
Something Very Clever - Geogreetings
Literature To Go
New Way For Practice and Fun - TutPup
Interactive Websites For Summer Practice
A Cool Game – I Am Addicted
A Great Vocabulary Learning Game
Any Holiday – Any Date-Any Time
Help Make the Green Wave
Tumble Books For Free
Spelling City
Earth Day Groceries Project – Coming Up Again
Teacher Book Wizard by Scholastic
Have you Ever Kerpoofed?
Sheppard Software
Need Some Extra Help Funding A Project?
Interactive Resources
Great News For MAC Users
A Fun Activity That Will Provide Some Reading Practice
Book Trailers With Photo Story
Great Website For Learning About Animals

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Once again I am taking my post straight from iLearnTechnology one of my favorite blogs. I love the way she finds all of these really practical websites - the type that teachers like because they see how they can use them right away in their classrooms. Most of the websites that Kelly Tenkely, who writes this blog, posts for us do not take a lot of learning time on the part of the teacher and I just love how practical they are.

Her suggested website today is Switcheroo Zoo. Students can switch body parts of the animals and make their own animals. But, this website has so much more. The photos of the animals are very realistic. Students can also make their own and learn all about animal habittats. There are many more games about animals and their habits. Using this website will help teach students all about many animals and their behavior.When students complete the Switch Zoo Quest and complete 9 activities they then will become a Student Guide. They receive a certificate and will be listed as an official guide. It seems to me that this site would be very motivating.