K-12 Online Conference

Tonight I went to the K12 Online Conference. I decided to check out the "Little Kids, Big Possibilities" Presentation. It appealed to me because it was designed for teachers of students under 13. I really liked that I could work on this while in the comfort of my own home. This could be a problem if you are easily distracted. It was nice being able to pause the laptop when I needed to attend to my own children.
I found this presentation to be beneficial. There were several ideas and sites that peaked my curiosity. This is a wonderful presentation for fourth or fifth grade teachers. I highly recommend it to intermediate teachers.
I experimented with a few of the sites that were introduced. Click on the link below to see one of the things I did.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1448177/Maria%27s_




"Comic Creators" was one section of the presentation that I found most interesting for my second graders. However, when I went to each of the sites mentioned I had trouble creating one. I will need to do more research to get these working.

EtherPad and Scriblink

I recently explored the site EtherPad and Scriblink. I wish I would have had these programs at my fingertips when I was working on my master's degree. They would have made editing much easier. I imagine sites like this are wonderful tools for authors and their editors.
I really like the idea of EtherPad. I imagine I could find a way to incorporate this into a lesson for my second graders using their sixth grade reading buddies.
I know that they would enjoy Scriblink. They could each work on an assignment using laptops. I am thinking this would be great for teaching transition words and phrases. We could write our directions for building a snowman, add transition words or phrases, then underline them. We could look at each others pieces and circle the different transition words that they used.

Screencast

I created my screencast using my morning message. After making the first one, I decided that I really like the idea. This is great for days when you have a substitute.
I can also see using this for math games and activities. I can't wait to try it again.
Click on the link below to visit my first attempt with screencasts.
December11 0607.wmv

Getting Started

I am still having a difficult time trying to find a great way to use a blog in a primary classroom. I spent countless hours searching the web for ideas that I could use. Unfortunately, all I could find were for fourth grade on up. I am still optimistic that I will come up with something, even if it is as simple as creating a place to "publish" my students' work.
I did come across a site that appeared much more "kid friendly"; thinkquest.org. I'm currently looking into how to make this work.

Where do I begin? Every time I take a new class I find myself overflowing with mixed emotions. I am always a bit excited and overwhelmed at the same time. My mind seems to race away full speed, ready to start everything at one time. I love all the new ideas and the possibilities they promise. I compose lengthy lists of the ideas I hope to use to transform my classroom. Usually, the classes I talk are grade specific or at the very least geared towards a primary classroom. I am a bit puzzled as to how to incorporate blogs, wikis and more into my room. I'm thinking that it would be a great idea to develop videos of the math games we use in second grade. Then the parents could access the instructions online, to reinforce them at home. This should be an interesting and enjoyable adventure.