North Pole Mom on a mission

Voice thread

2008-04-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

This project was easy to create and would be a great project for kids to share oral reports from most any subject. I simply used the pictures from the past projects a labeled it "Spring Break". However this tool could be used to convey a variety of messages from language arts to science and social studies.
I did feel uncomfortable talking to myself about my own pictures, however I am sure that could be rectified by using the tool more often. I browsed the other voice threads on web site and found them to be amazing. The wide range of uses for this tool are up to the imagination of the creator.

panraven II

2008-04-09T23:52:00.000-07:00

I have been using my children as guinea pigs to test all the tools and programs we have been using. When I showed my nine year old Panravern, she took to it very quickly and made her own storybook. It has her own photos that she picked out and placed in the order she liked with text that she wrote. I promised her that I would share it with you all, so I am posting it in my blog.
I am convinced that this program would be easy to use in a classroom because it is so simple with basic functions.
I hope you enjoy it.

panraven storybook

2008-04-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

I found this project easy to produce with simple step by step instruction for me to follow. I am sure that children could operate this program very easily. I can envision students using this for learning about sequential format for telling a story or relaying any information. This could be used for a language arts project, following an experiment, or even a current event / social studies project. The limits are up to the imagination and creativity of the student and teacher.
This is a neat program. It's like a scrapbook without the mess!

"sense of place" poster

2008-03-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Comic life is a cute program that was easy to manipulate. My children have made their own comics several times over and sent them out to their friends. They have been having a great time with the program and were engaged the whole time!
The most difficult task of this assignment for me was picking out the pictures. The rest was fun and relatively easy.
As a teaching tool, I can envision this being used in a variety of different ways and with many subjects. Students can use this in language arts to build a stories and possibly put their own art work into a comic form. This could be used in a social studies unit to learn about cultures around the world or around the state. Its fun, engaging, and it can be educational as well. It is all in how it gets used.

Flickrslidr

2008-03-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a slide show that I tried in class today.
Update 3-25 - Yesterday, I wanted to see if I could do this task easily before I came home and attempted it on my own. It worked well and quickly. I already had a set of pictures in Flickr so the process went quickly, just cut and paste. Today, I went back and added the much needed descriptions to my pictures and changed a few pictures around. Then looked back in the blog and there they where! Pretty cool!

Skip is right- this tool could be used as a potential link between home and classroom to keep parents updated or in touch on a weekly or monthly basis whatever the case may be.
The student potential with this application is endless that only the imagination can the limit. Here are a few: Students could also use this tool to show time lapse science experiments for example where they take a picture the same time same place every day and put them together. They can document events in class or their school and make a slide show. Students could take pictures of things (or find pictures) that had factors of a particular number or only prime numbers or an odd geometric figure.
Pick a subject and this tool could be applied. It will help the students creativity, making appropriate choices, sequencing, and a whole array of other skills depending upon how the project is structured and what the goals are of the project the students can use this tool as part of a hands on learning process.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

something new

2008-03-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hey to all!
I am feeling pretty slow as is the Internet. I cannot get my work done and I have a horrible headache. oh well, life must go on... I have been playing around with flickr and uploading photos. My family thinks that I have become a computer nerd. I am enjoying learning all these new things that I have been playing too much on this machine! My daughters have time limits on the computer and now I do as well! Mom needs rules too!
I need a way to get my real pictures and slides into a digital format. I have boxes full of them.

uploading issues

2008-03-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

I had more issue uploading that little movie to my blog! I saved it to all kinds of files because it was too big to upload the way I originally saved it. So, I ended up saving it as an mpeg file in iTunes, which looked just as good as the DV file. But it stops all the time in my blog! I will try again if any one can help me out ---SKIP!! My DV file was 109m which was too big for blogger to post and the mov file I finally created was just as large. All the other files distorted the pixels way too bad!

Oh well, I will stop for now! At least learning I'm learning!

Digital videos II

2008-03-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Here is the video or slide show I created.
The title is "I am...sailing home"
The music is by my second favorite artist.

Digital video

2008-03-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun creating this little slide show, as my husband calls it. iMovie was easy to use and the tutorials on line made finding answers to my question more accessible when I did not have Skip available at my kitchen table. I played with both versions and found them to be easy to use, however I liked the layout of the new version better. I found that I could manipulate each frame or picture more in the new version. The major difference I found between the two is where the pictures come from. With the new version all the files must be in either iPhoto or photo booth, but once I figured out that fix, it became a breeze.

In a classroom this tool can be both fun and educational. I can envision using this in a variety of ways with a variety of subjects - from filming experiments to making year end slide shows for the kids to edit themselves to keep. This is an awesome tool and a "must use" in the classroom.

Scribbles

2008-02-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

I forgot to tell you all about Scribbles!
This little program is so simple. It has large Icons with simple displays. I believe this program could be used with all kinds of children. The pen tablet works very well with this program, however it is extremely sensitive. I suppose I would have to get used to that sensitivity.
See you all on Monday! I am going to play in the snow now with my kids!

Power Point as an instructional tool

2008-02-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

In my opinion, students should learn how to use Inspiration prior to Power Point. In Inspiration, the student can export all of their information to PP slides, then worry about background and effects once the text is in place.

I should back up a bit. If the lesson is to learn how to use Power Point, then the information is not important. However if the information or actual presentation is the lesson and Power Point is the media used to present the information, then I feel that the student should start with Inspiration and export the information to Power Point once all the information is in place. Then they can play with all the cool stuff that Power Point can do with each slide. Sometimes the student can get lost in making the slides perfect with pictures, background, and sounds and then forget about the actual information they are supposed to be learning.

Power Point is a great tool to present information gathered by students in a professional manner. It can be used in any subject to present any material. It is fun to play around with and make presentations. My youngest daughter made her own 3 slide picture album with sound.
Overall, this is a commonly used program in the business world and students should become familiar with the program for future benefit.

2008-02-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

Some time over the week end, I lost the the ability to use the pen tablet. However, I am able to play with the programing. I feel uneasy with it and my husband pokes fun of me attempting to draw and color on my computer. I have no artistic talent and he does! Nevertheless, I feel much less intimidated working on a computerized art project versus with actual paper and paint.
As Tori expressed in her blog that there is no replacement for giving children the experience of creating art in any form. I agree with her in that as educators we must utilize all of our resources and not substitute one for the other. Computerized creative expression is an artistic expression in itself. We need to learn how to use it as such in order to give children another opportunity to express their own creativity.
Speaking for those of us "old children" who are artistically challenged (as my husband calls me), I wish I had gadgets like these in school to help ease the fear and intimidation.

2008-02-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

Software title: Word Frog
Grade level: 3-5
Subject : Language Arts
Platform: Mac or PC
Purpose: This arcade style game is one of several online games from Arcademic Skill Builders. Word Frog focuses on matching antonyms, homonyms, and synonyms. The game has 9 - one minute levels and displays the number of correct answers and misses after each level. At the end, the student can print out detailed results (correct versus incorrect answers) on a graph for future comparison when he/she takes the challenge on a different day.

Software title: Math Minute
Grade level: 3-4
Subject: Math
Platform: Mac or PC
Purpose: This game is one of many from Soft Schools. Minute Math is a skill builder of basic multiplication tables. It counts how many facts the student can get correct in one minute. The game challenges the student to memorize basic multiplication facts and to beat their own score.

Software title: USA map game
Grade level: 3-4
Subject: Geography
Platform: Mac or PC
Purpose: This game is also one of many from Soft Schools. The USA map game helps students identify state names, placement, and abbreviations. A state's name shows up on the screen, then student must decide where the state is on the map by moving the pointer over the correct location and clicking. Points are given based on the number of times it takes the student to get the correct location. The game can be played with or without the state abbreviations on the respective states. It is a fun way to learn.

My 3rd grader enjoyed helping me research these (and many others) web sites. Her favorite game was Math Minute.

one to one

2008-02-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

The whole idea of technology scares many of us from the "older" generation. My own kids know more about today's electronics than I do. I even knew more about my own generations electronics than my parents did. However now my 76 year old Father knows more about the computer than I do! What does that tell you!

I can envision teaching in a classroom with laptops all around. I believe that would enhance the students learning experience as long as the technology is used as a tool and not the sole source of their educational experience. There would have to be rules put in place for use of the systems. I am sure there would be security measures for what sites students could and could not visit on the internet. This teaching tool could also give students an advantage when it they are ready to leave school and get jobs. This all depends on how the teacher uses the technology as a tool and what he/she teaches them about that technology.

The one negative I see that can put a stop to this is the parent. That is not to say all parents. Some parents are going to have reservations and fears about their child having this kind of access when they either do not at home, or have limited access at home. This fear, in my opinion, comes from a lack of knowledge of how this technology can be utilized. Prior to any change happening the school board will have to ease those fears by educating the parents and teachers about the system's usage and its rules.

personal introduction

2008-01-30T02:35:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I am from a small town in South Carolina. I have lived in several different areas of the country and traveled to much of the rest. My favorite areas are the Four Corners Region of the Southwest and of course Alaska. I have two children, two dogs, a husband, and a brother that all help me with my quest to be the best I can be! They create challenges for me everyday. Together, somehow, we figure out how to maneouver our way.

I am looking forward to working with all of you in this class over the course of the next few months.

See you soon. Sarah