Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is a way to save all your favorite websites to one place that can be accessed from any computer. Its like a normal bookmark you make on your laptop or computer but you can look at and find those bookmarks using any computer anywhere! its like Google Drive, but with bookmarks!!

Heres a link to one social bookmarking site

Reading Strategy: Book Pass

The Book Pass is a neat way to get students to look through many different kinds of texts in a short amount of time. You would use this strategy as an  introduction to a unit to build background knowledge, to choose a new reading book, or select research texts for a project.You want to choose books from many different genres, including poetry, research texts, novels, etc. You want these texts to be based on a certain theme.

What you do:
1. You can do this with either the whole class or small groups depending on the topic.
2. Once you have decided the grouping, you want to pass out the Book Pass sheet, and then explain to the students that they should write the authors name in the author box, the title of the text in the title box and either comments, questions or something they have learned through the book, in the comment box.
3. Give students 2-4 minutes to "sample" the book. Once the time is up, say "Book Pass" and have students fill in the boxes and pass the book to their partner.
4. When everyone has gone through the books, you can bring the class together and discuss some of the things they have learned as well as any comments or questions they have.

Web Quests

Web Quests are fun and interactive ways to encourage collaboration and deeper thought. Teachers must create the web quest, and students once put in groups, would work through the web quest.

Im still a little uncertain about the webquest, but here are some websites to help me and you out.

example of a Web Quest




Web Quest Building:
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=68367

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=51190

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=68364

http://zunal.com/index.php



Evaluating Web Quests:
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/processchecker.html

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestrubric.html



Web Quest Resources:
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/finepoints/index.htm 

http://www.webquest.org/ 

Web Quest Template 



My Web Quest

Reading Strategy: REAP

Read
Encode
Annotate
Ponder

In my content literacy class I had to give a lesson based on a reading strategy. My observation classroom does a lot of textbook reading so I thought the REAP strategy would be great for them.

What I did:
First I had students draw the four boxes with each letter separately written at the top of the boxes. In each separate box will be filled in with specific information relating to the letter in the box.

Next I had the students read by themselves, the first section of lesson two of the chapter.

Once they were done, we filled in each box together.

R box: the title of the section

E box: encode, which I had students write summaries in this box

A box: annotate, have students write notes about important aspects of the section they just read    include key terms

P box: ponder, have students think of questions they have based on the text as well as connections to other things they have learned from other classes

The first time around we filled in the boxes together. Once the students got the gist of what we were doing, I allowed the students to pair up, read and fill in the boxes themselves. When they were done we came back together to fill in my boxes that were on the smartboard.

I got to use smartboard with this lesson and it was so much fun!!

REAP reading strategy

Halloween crafts!

At the day care I work at, we decided to do some Halloween crafts. Usually the basic craft we do is coloring, but since we didn't have any printed, I decided to make my own!!

We also decided on an easy craft where the kids can get a little dirty (which they love). We will be making spiders with our hand prints, googly eyes and hand drawn spider web.  

Items you will need:

Fun colored construction paper (we used orange and purple)

Black paint

Black marker or crayon

Googly eyes 

Glue

You first want to draw your spider web in the corner on your paper.

Next get some paint out and allow the kids to dip their hands into the paint.

Place the paint filled hands onto the paper making sure only 4 fingers and down. 

Once the paint has dried, glue the googly eyes on and draw a mouth on him if you'd like and there's your little spider!!

Podcast Update

I was just given a few great video tutorials on how to use Audacity from my professor and wanted to share them with you. This program is usually not used for Mac computers, Im not sure if the program even exists for them or not. Anyways if you don't have a mac and want to learn how to make a podcast, here are three great videos telling you the basic steps on how to make a podcast using Audacity.

Video #1

Video #2

Video #3

Reading strategy: concept ladder

This strategy can be used for pre-reading, post reading as well as during reading.  I would use this strategy for text books. It encourages students to generate their own questions so they will be more invested and interested in their reading. 

At the top of the ladder you put the main idea of what ever you are reading. So for the example I have provided, the main idea of the chapter is the Nile river. 

Then as students are skimming the chapter they will write questions they have. This can be done individually, with small groups, partners or as a whole class.  You can add as many questions as you would like for the students to generate.  

In my example the textbook described the Nile as a giver and taker of life. So I asked the question "how can it give and take way life."  

While skimming, students may find the answer to their question, but if they don't, that's ok. The unanswered questions allow for further learning, whether it be as homework, extra credit or can be discussed with the class to see if they can figure out the answer on their own. 

Update on Reading Circles

Yesterday students presented their books and they were all great! I think the students really enjoyed the project, although some did not like the presenting part of the assignment. Other than that I think students really enjoyed doing the assignment and share their knowledge of the books.

What I was impressed with the most were the amount of great questions the other students asked. I could tell they were really thinking about what the presenters were saying and were genuinely curious.

Reading Circles

In my classroom that I am observing in, they are currently working on their final project for their reading circles. The way my teacher uses reading circles is by allowing the students to choose their group members as well as the book they would like to read. Students were able to choose any book they would like as well as any grade level, as long as the teacher approved.

The students were encouraged to read 30 pages a week in order to finish their books in 5 weeks. Students who chose larger books were expected to read more.

Today the students were working on their presentations on the book. They had to include a pyramid describing 3 rising actions, the climax, and 2 falling actions/resolution, as well as a summary, the title, and author.  Students will also give an oral presentation of their books, describing their poster, the summary of the book and their opinion.

I think this is a great way to encourage students to read. The ability to chose the book you want to read greatly impacts your whole view on class reading. And because students present on the books, other students can get ideas for the next book they would like to read. Reading various books also helps students learn what kind of genre they are interested in.

Padlet

Padlet is a cool interactive tool where you post anything you want on a blank wall that can be shared and collaborated on. I think this tool would be great for many assignments in the classroom and its great because the students can easily contribute to the discussion.

To make a new wall, you can either sign up or just start a new one with out an account. I got an account because its free so might as well.

So how do you do it? To post you simply double click onto the wall and add text, picture, articles, or video. You can also just simply drag and drop. It's easy!

Heres a few helpful videos if you are still confused.

http://padlet.com/

How to use Padlet


and here is my Padlet
 Ms Cryders Classroom

Podcasts and Vodcasts

 In my class, one assignment I have to do is a podcast. I had listened to a podcast during an online course once, and it was okay, but other than that I haven't had much experience in it. I have been listening to a few podcasts as well as a few vodcasts, and to my suprise, there is a lot you can do through this tool.

To make a podcast you must have a mic, headset, and software. Some software is free, while others you have to pay for. One free software for Mac users is Garage Band.

When making a podcast there are a few things you should be aware of.

You should probably have some kind of background music, either while you speak or during silent moments.

You should also be sure to pronounce words correctly and clearly to enable to listener to be able to fully understand you.

Last thing I would be aware of is the inflection of your voice, being sure to emphasis words to make your point as well as make it a little more interesting to listen to.

Here is a great example of the use of podcasts in the classroom. Students make the podcasts for their fellow students.
  Podcasts by students for students

Here is an example of a vodcast that would be great to use in the classroom. This vodcast allows students to search books based on subject, author, title and grade level. Once a student has chosen a book, they can watch the vodcast giving a summary of the book.
Book Wink


My last example is a website that allows you to search a large database of many podcasts. They have many different categories of podcasts, from history, to education, crafts, etc.
 www.podcastalley.com


Just kidding, another great website full of music that could be used in a podcast.
freeplaymusic.com

The Smart Board

In my classroom that I am observing in, the teacher has a Smart Board. This is one thing I want desperately for my classroom. I think it would be a great tool for the classroom. I love how interactive it is and I think students would really enjoy it.

The first time I saw my cooperating teacher use her Smart Board, I was so excited. She used it to fill out a concept map as a review for the test. It was great because she was able to show the concept map to the whole class using the Smart Board, and then was able to fill it in right on the board with the provided Smart Board markers. She was never in the way of the screen and was able to write neat and clear so all the students were able to read it.

My mom, a third grade teacher, also has one in her classroom. She uses her Smart Board for math class the majority of the time. She likes the Smart Board because she is able to write a math problem, have students come up and answer it, and if the student is wrong, she can move the number onto a different part of the screen. I thought this was such a cool thing to do when teaching math because students are able to see exactly what went wrong, and how to fix it.

check this out if you want more info on smart boards

Using Google Form in the Classroom

Google is probably the most amazing free program to use in general but extra amazing for the classroom. Using Google Docs allows you to collaborate documents, spreadsheets, forms, etc. from the comfort of any computer with many other people. I could use google drive in class projects, presentations, book reports, etc. As the teacher, I am also able to form online assessments and then compare the answers within a spread sheet.

So how do you make an online assessment using google drive?

1st: Go to your drive and click "create"
2nd: Choose form
3rd: Choose your theme and title of your assessment
4th: write your questions!

Google form allows you to create many different questions including multiple choice, fill in the blank, as well the ability to answer a question through a date, grid, table, etc.

The worst part about this is the use of the spreadsheet to grade the responses. The formula for grading each cell can get confusing and as numbers already confuse me, this was somewhat of a double whammy.

Here is my online assessment as an example.

Prezi

Today we learned about Prezi, a fun and unique alternative to boring slide show presentations. What are the benefits to Prezi? The possibilities are basically endless, you can take your audience on a unique ride, not only going linear, but also up, down, side to side, as well as zoom out and zoom in. Prezi allows the user to put photos, videos, and music into their presentations. Its great for projects, presentations for lessons, to your boss, or what ever you need to present on. There are countless ways to make one and you are able to put a little bit of you into the presentation by being able to be creative with the project.

I would use Prezi as a way to teach a lesson, introduce a project, or make a book review/report. There are many other uses for Prezi.