jlwagner

School District 109 in Deerfield, Illinois is using web 2.0 tools such as blogging, Wikis, podcasting, Skype, etc. with K-8 students. To check out the sites, go to blog109.org and scroll down to a school. Choose one of the schools and look at the blogs!

Sites To Check Out

Room 102: http://room102superstars.wikispaces.com/

Video In The Classroom: http://www.needleworkspictures.com/vic/

The Shining Stars: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=233646&blog_id=&listclass=27811

McKelvey: http://www.pkwy.k12.mo.us/mckelvey/library/index.cfm?userid=mcklib

Primary Math: http://primarymath.wetpaint.com/

Russell Computer Lab: http://www.eps.n-cook.k12.il.us/epsweb/Russell/Computer_Lab/Welcome.html

AllanahK: http://allanahk.edublogs.org/

Lesson Ideas:

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=164 -- Kindergarten Takes a Trip To the Zoo

http://www.digitales.us/story_details.php?story_id=6

http://ecakinderkids.weebly.com/index.html

http://www.cdli.ca/Groundhog/NewGhog/

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=101541

http://staff.prairiesouth.ca/~cassidy.kathy/index.html

http://www.mrcoley.com/

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/educational-voices-from-the-ripplingpond

REAL LIFE EXAMPLES

Name: Susie Goneau

School: Random Lake Elementary School

Grade: Second

Location: Random Lake, Wisconsin

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: I took a web design class online this summer and have started a class Web site. It is a super tool for parents, kids, and fellow teachers. The parents love it for staying connected with what we are doing in class. At the same time, it is an easy way for my students to access links to further their learning.

Mrs. Goneau's Second Grade

Then at the beginning of the year, we took part in a contest through Scholastic Online where we had to create a describe an imaginary monster and make a story to submit online. We are waiting for Author David Costello to illustrate the winning monster online for us all to see! Our Monster Story

What I found to be even more exciting is that my class is blogging!!! My students, parents, grandparents, and cousins are all communicating and posting work on our blog. Kids who do not like to write are coming to school with stories so they can post them on the blog. A teacher from New Zealand is also communicating with us, and we are learning about the seasons. We found out that the students in New Zealand are on their summer break right now. Mrs. McGillan tells us that it is very hot right now too.Our Class Blog

For me, learning to use new tools for technology integration can be time consuming. No matter how many classes you take, you still have to spend A LOT of time on your own to become more familiar with the tools. We have a computer lab at the elementary, approximately two computers per classroom, and some projectors that we roll around on carts for sharing. Budget constraints have not allowed us to equip our school with technology like I would like to see it. I would just love to have a smart board in my room. I also use technology for lesson plans, e-mail communication with parents, projects online, attendance, to correspond with other second grade teachers The Second Grade Teacher's Club, and as an ongoing learning tool. Recently, we took part in a wonderful online Christmas Card Exchange Jennifer Wagner's Technospud Projects with twenty-four other states. When we received a card from a state through the mail, we also put the location on Google Earth. I found this to be a wonderful tech tool to use for Geography and Measurement. Here are the schools we exchanged cards with...Christmas Card Exchange. The Google Map was made by Ms. Wagner, and I could not have successfully used Google Earth without Jennifer Wagner's tutorial.

Technology is moving at such a fast rate, that it is difficult to keep up with. I look forward to the challenges!

Name: Michael Richards

School: Mildred L. Day School

Grade: K-5

Location: Arundel, Maine

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: I use technology to enhance what the classroom teacher and their students is already doing in their classroom. In the primary grades we do a lot of activities to help build literacy skills. Our first graders are making a wiki to support their learning of dinosaurs and our second graders use Voicethread to showcase their knowledge of Christopher Columbus, Pilgrims, and for their book reports. Our second graders type their letters to their penpals which has been successful for many years. Our kindergartners will be documenting their learning experiences with bears through a Voicethread project. We provide parents with links to online resources to help extend classroom experiences into their homes.

Name: Brandy Magdos

School: PH Greene Elementary

Grade: First Grade

Location: Webster, Texas

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: As a first grade teacher responsible for all areas of the curriculum and no computer teacher, I do lots of different things with technology in my classroom. After successfully writing several grants, my students use and have access to a SMARTBoard, a visual presentation station, video conferencing equipment, iPods, laptops, AlphaSmarts, handheld classroom perforance systems, desktop computers and our own green screen. My first graders create word documents for poetry, invitations and reports; they create power points on research of their choice and use the alphasmarts for both nad we do all the editing in the computer lab. We create excel graphs and spreadsheets as we collect data and show different ways to show it. They use the SMARTBoard for math, phonics, morning messages, and spelling practice. They use the visual presenters to share weekly projects and their final writings for writers workshop. We connect weekly with another first grade class with our video conference equipment and do review of curriculum with games and such. We also connect with experts from different places throughout hte year as it fits our curriculum. They use to iPods to beat the computer on math facts and sight words, listen to poetry and songs, and to watch short videos related to what we are studying. I am hoping to create some podcasts this year as well! We use our handheld classroom perforance system to review our curriculum. We are currently working on a video to send to an author we have been studying. This year I created a class wiki that I am keeping updated with class pictures, info and student work this year. I also have a website that my kids have acccess to with related links to what we are studying each month. I have used it for about 7 years so far. As a class we also participate in many online projects throughout the year, such as the Monster project, many Jenuinetech.com Projects, and a teddy bear exchange.

Name: Cassie West

School: St. Mary's / St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School

Grade: Second Grade

Location: Glens Falls, NY

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: I am lucky enough to have a Smartboard in my classroom. We use this daily in many ways. During our morning meeting, we go over the Daily Buzzword which can be found at www.wordcentral.com. We learn a new word each day and we use an excel graph to participate in the short quiz. Each student has a turn accessing the website and opening up our buzzword graph in excel. They easily input the information. I also use the Smartboard to review by creating Jeopardy! games in all subjects. I take my class to the Technology Lab once a week and use this time to enrich in all subjects. We use Kidspiration to create graphic organizers, go on the internet using links on my webpage to research different projects. We also try to participate in Read Across The Planet each year. This is a videoconferencing project where you are paired with another participating class. Each class completes a project and presents it. In the past we have done poetry readings, a play based on the book Caps For Sale, and a Reader's Theater of one of our favorite stories. We also try to participate in as many Techospud Projects as we can. We have palm pilots available to use and are using themto perform DIBELS testing and to help those children in need to do some skills work. I try to offer my students practical uses of technology and skills that they will take with them through subsequent grades. The use of excel, powerpoint and the internet for research are all skills they will utilize more and more as they get older. When started at an early age, confidence in using technology

Name: Kevin Hodgson

School: William E. Norris Elementary School,

Grade: 6

Location: Southampton, Massachusetts

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: I use all sorts of technology -- from Weblogs to Wikis -- but podcasting seems to have taken hold with my young writers, and last year, I started up a site called Youth Radio (http://youthradio.wordpress.com/) that connected my classroom with other upper elementary classrooms from around the United States, and the world. This started mostly with teachers in the National Writing Project but has now extended beyond those circles as more and more teachers get interested in flattening their classrooms. The blog site allows us to post podcasts and then use the Weblog comment feature to provide peer feedback and reaction to what they have heard from others. I find the technology has opened up windows for new audiences and changed the way my students view their work. Teachers have freedom and flexibility for integrating the podcasting site into their curriculum, and there has been a variety of projects -- from found poems inside of literature books, to first-person fictional narratives, to full-length digital story/plays.

Name: Charlie Unkeless

School: John Burroughs Middle School

Grade: 7

Location: Los Angeles

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: I have been a 6th grade teacher for four years as part of the core math and science curriculum. I also taught art in the spring semesters. I am currently teaching a 7th grade elective in our computer lab. I started a class on Aeronautics using flight simulators purchased with a California Career Technology Grant which I was awarded this year. Some of our classes projects and pictures are located at GlidersAndAeronautics

I also encourage kids to create artwork in traditional ways after which I will allow them to scan or create alterations using Wacom tablets and paint programs. They learn classical techniques like constructing a golden rectangle and logarithmic spiral as an extension from their math class. Art Class

Hi Jen,

As a K-5 MST Specialist I have a few examples to share.

2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are part of an HP grant, award and are collecting and identifying macro invertebrates to help determine water quality. They are also documenting examples of seasonal changes and human impact both positive and negative. These kids are using Tungsten E2 handhelds with Pasco sensors (temperature and pH) out in the field to collect real-time data. They are documenting their collections using digital cameras, recording their voices out in the field using iPods with Belkin voice recorders, and are marking the data collection spot with GPS units. Back in the classroom they are sharing their findings on our Pond Partners Wiki. They are scheduled to present their findings to the Monroe County Water Coalition meeting later in the spring.

3rd graders collect real-time weather data each morning using a Kestrel Pocket Weather Tracker. They also measure the length of a shadow stick (when we actually have a sunny morning here in western NY), and use a website to find the sunrise/sunset times and figure out the photoperiod. Every other week they use Excel to create graphs of the data. The amount of data collected so far and the opportunities for data analysis have been awesome.

To help 2nd graders explore concepts of migration related to the Monarch, we symbolically "migrated" from Canada to Mexico using GPS receivers. After our initial science classroom lessons on Monarchs, students used a Google Earth file created to mark key locations and travel the migration route of the butterfly. Then we headed outside. With GPS receivers in hand, students first had to locate and start at waypoint "CANADA". Once there they found a hidden cache with the first part of a story of a butterfly named "Monarch X." They navigated next to the second waypoint, in our town of Webster, NY. The story in that cache continued the story of Monarch X telling of the dangers the butterfly faced crossing Lake Ontario. The story continued on at each waypoint (total of 6) cache until we finally reached "Mexico." The GPS activity outside matched the locations previously explored on the Google Earth file. Throughout the journey the students learned what is meant to migrate, heard examples of perils faced by animals as they migrate, discovered predator/prey relationships, reinforced key geography terms and skills, and identified cause/effect relationships. The activity was followed up by sending paper butterflies to Mexico through the Journey North program. Journey North also provides students with maps of butterfly sightings during the migration.

Name: Carol Broos

School: Sunset Ridge School District #29

Grade: 4-8

Location: Northfield, Illinois

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: I am the music teacher at the school and have a Soundtree Mac MIDI Lab. It has a GEC3 controller for communication with the students and teacher. iLife (iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand, iWeb) is the center of the lab, along with Sibelius, for composition. First, the fourth graders start on Sound Studio and the keyboard to record their stories. They compose music and produce projects that involve multi-media. The goal is to have all files posted on my website www.carolbroos.com Students comment on each other’s compositions and share files within the school. A group of talented musicians are also part of the Vermont MIDI project, where professional musicians comment on their compositions on the password protected site. www.vtmidi.org Students also create websites involving podcasts and music. Some of the more interesting ones are www.lazertron.net and www.chordsville.com Sunset Ridge just started a district-wide podcast website www.pod29.com where students and teachers can post podcasts on the web. There is an all-school musical where the stage crew runs the computer light board, wireless sound system and with headsets. Students run the technical side of the show. There are many “toys” within the music classroom: an audio recorder, so students could interview various people outside the classroom; two still cameras; three video cameras, for students to use in the classroom and home; various card readers, use for their personal memory sticks; and a HD camera for important music events. Finally, for teachers I developed a teacher-friendly website with links and where teachers can post their compositions. www.beatechie.com and two wiki's one for my presentations for teachers (http://musictechie.pbwiki.com/) and one for the teachers of Sunset Ridge to post their notes from conferences. http://srsconferences.pbwiki.com/

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Name: Effie Waguespack

School: Paulina Elementary

Grade: First

Location: Paulina, Louisiana

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom: I try to incorporate technology in my classroom in meaningful ways. We have 5 desktop computers, 25 handhelds, 5 wireless handheld keyboards, a mimio, and an ELMO. We use Kid Pix, Kidspiration, Waterford, and Accelerated Reader software. On the handhelds we have vocabulary, spelling, and several math software. We also have an animation software called Novi Animator. We use the wireless keyboards along with the handhelds to type our creative writing stories. We use the mimio in a variety of ways such as watching Brainpop junior movies, creating whole class graphic organizers using Kidspiration, accessing information over the internet, and participating in internet projects. We have participated in many Technospud internet projects, Monster Exchange and The Tooth Tally Project. Our ELMO is another tech tool we love because it projects everything. We enjoy using it not only for teacher read stories but sharing our creative writing stories with the whole class. The ELMO has helped us all become better writers because we can project our stories and the whole class collaborates together to help find ways to make our writing better. As part of the Salute to Dr. Suess Project we created a class wiki. http://wagsclass.wikispaces.com/Dr.+Seuss We also have a classwebpage. http://www.stjames.k12.la.us/pes/ewaguespack/classwebpage/wag07.html

Name: Melanie Lewis, instructional technology resource teacher

School: Amherst Elementary

Grade: 3-5 grade gifted

Location: Amherst VA

How You Are Using Creative Options in your classroom:

As an ITRT, I have helped or handled many many digital classroom projects with students as young as preschool to students as old as middle school. I work in three different schools and absolutely love the elementary scene! My favorite project is a digital story telling project.

Six years ago, I was a third grade classroom teacher. I had just attended a conference which showcased DST. Being a bard at heart, I fell in love with the idea. The conference presenter had provided only examples of high school projects. I approached her after the conference and asked her how to work this with elementary kids. I was told not to try. They were too young! Being a stubborn individual, I researched and found Joy Buckingham's site. She walked me through the project and even highlighted several projects that my kids did when we were finished. Although the link to our projects is now gone, my love for DST is still very strong! I can now say that even kindergarten students can create DST projects!

In the past students have used Movie Maker and Photo Story to make their stories. This February (2008), I will work with a small group of gifted students ranging from grade 3-5 in making a digital story project. This time we will use VoiceThread.

I am also working with a middle school ITRT this spring to use voicethread to create peer to peer slide shows which will assist our fifth graders to transition into the middle schools.

I am looking forward to both of these projects and will provide links as soon as they are completed. Elementary kids are creative; standing back and watching what they are capable of is very exciting!

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