Tool 4

I like the idea of using Google Apps instead of attaching files to an email and sending it to various teams.  The team can give feedback or change if needed.  I will use Google Apps anytime I am taking minutes for a team from now on.  Still working on playing with the different tools and really want to have better understanding of each one before moving on.  I love collaborating with teams on using the tools.

Tool 3

I really enjoy visiting youtube for educational purposes.  The videos are usually so short which helps with keeping students engaged.  Since attending the in-service with Alan November, I especially love to visit KhanAcademy and wolframalpha.
When reading about fair use and copyright, educators can pretty much use whatever as long as the entire work is not copied or the entire collection not scanned.  It all brings back memories from high school and making sure not to plagiarize will writing papers.
I love the idea of using Picasa.  The real life images are great for quick sets and also for visual support my ESL learners.
On to tool 4 and 5.

Descriptive Writing

Everyday in the summer, my sons and I ride past this house. We do this mainly because directly across the street is where Craig Biggio lives and my older son is hoping to one day see him in his yard and get his autograph. Anyway, in the area the homes are prestine except for this house. Because of the fact that it has not been kept up, the boys and I like to tell stories about the house. My younger son thinks it is haunted while my older son and I imagine the grand parties that happened in the garden and around the porch and all the famous presidents and people that may have visited the house. But, mostly we all wonder who left this grand home in such despair. 
I can see how students can take real life pictures found on picasa and create beautiful pieces of writing using their imagination and background information about an area. For example, the area in which this home is found was a summer hot spot for the presidents back in the day. Also, many famous people have summer homes in the area. Students can search an area that they have visited and find pictures that trigger memories to create beautiful pieces of writing.

Exit Tickets

http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/bestpractice/exit/index.html


Exit tickets can really give you insight on the students understanding as they leave your classroom.  They can be used in all grade levels.  Look at the following website on exit tickets.

Counting by 5's

When looking for videos to post I remembered going on Dr. Loa's blog and seeing a video from school house rock.  It brought back so many memories of my Saturday morning learning that I decided I would share some of the videos on math with my students.  This video is great for grades K-5.

Math is Everywhere!

For years I have said that math is everywhere well Tom Lehrer seems to agree with me.  As educators if we continue to tell and show kids how math is everywhere maybe it won't be so scary.

Moving Concrete to Pictorial...next stop abstract

When I entered second grade I was so excited to see the students in different groups, with differentiated work.  Two tables were using concrete manipulates to work their word problems and another was working with their teacher using pictorial representation.  The teacher explained how her group was ready to move into the pictorial representation while the others where still needing their manipulatives.  She also showed me how they were anchoring their numbers to ten for easy calculation.  It was a great learning environment.

Tool 2

The process of moving through the 11 tools is actually fun.  Okay I have only finished 2, but still. My biggest challenge is staying on track and not spending all evening searching through websites for great teaching ideas.  Blogging with my fellow co-workers will help me with this.  I can follow different people and get immediate information that I can use with the kids at school.
I am really looking forward to my own personal growth with technology and trying to stay in line with the kids.

VOKI

Our librarian, Ms. Foster, is wonderful!  That was so easy.  I just needed to make sure my voice matched my picture. 

Creating Blog

Way too easy!  Now on to a VOKI.