Google Earth Tech Article

Google Earth: I choose to do an Tech tool article on Google Earth. This is an amazing school... Just to the world at the students finger tips to explore is a wonderful lesson all in it's self. I enjoy playing on Google Earth and finding my house. I can't even imagine how much fun third graders would have if they were able to find there house on the internet and actually see the world. This tool would be so useful if I were teaching a lesson about Africa I could actually take them there!!! To be able to show the students actual pictures and images of the world, where they live would be an amazing experience for them and also myself. I continue to learn every time I play with it. This could also be beneficial if I wanted the students to draw a picture of how they think a place in the world looks and then I could actually take them there with Google Earth. It would be very fulfilling.

Blogger Tech articles

Blogger:
Blogger will be sooo helpful in my classroom. Well not so much “in” my classroom but if I set up a blog for just my class, I will be able to update it daily to let the parents what is going on in my classroom. I will be able to post homework that may be due the next day. And also I will be able to tell all that we are doing in class. It will be so convenient for the parents to go online and see what is new with their students and what they are learning. Blogger is so convenient and easy to use. Changing the colors and background is as easy as clicking and changing the appearance. Posting blogs is also very easy!
Altogether blogger will be very useful and I can’t wait till I can have my own classroom and a blogger site that will help me keep my students parents posted about what is going on in my classroom.

Finishing Final Projects

This past week I worked on finishing my final projects to go in my UEN site. I was able to finish most of my google site I just need to finsh my google calendar for my google site and then also I need to finish my brochure.
This project has been very useful I was able to teach myself how to use different programs on my computer such as publisher. Publisher is an AMAZING TOOL!!! I highly suggest it to everyone who needs to make some sort of document that can easily be laid out. While using publisher making all sorts of documents such as resumes, newsletters, flyers, and countless other documents.
Also while I was working on my google site I have learned many things in there as well. I learned how to add pages and also how to edit my pages. I am working on making the site look better by enhancing the colors of my site and also text on my site.
I look forward to having these assignments done, but all in all they have been helpful, and sometimes fun. :) It was fun to make up the information as if I were a real teacher and going to have a real event happening in my class. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Thanksgiving,

Last week was a pretty lazy week! It was Thanksgiving so not much happened. I looked into working on my website because most of my assignments are done. but I do still need to finish my brochure and my website. I look forward to working on these and finishing the projects!
Sorry this isn't a longer entry. But really it was good to take a break and enjoy the Thanksgiving break!!!

Newsletter and Classroom Rules

This week I was able to finish two more assignments. The newsletter and also my 10 classroom rules.
It was really fun again to work in publisher and just find the layout and design that I wanted and be able to change the color and also the font to personalize it more to me!
In my newsletter I told how my class is going to be having a Christmas Party, and also how my students will be going to the Nutcracker. It was fun just to pretend, and I hope here soon I will be able to actually make a newsletter telling my students of the fun stuff we will be doing!!
Next in the newsletter I spoke about the students of the month and why they were chosen, and also I wrote about they would be learning next... Roman numerals. It was fun just to pretend. And finally in the newsletter I spoke about how we would be getting a fish and the start student would feed the fish on Monday Wednesday and Friday, and the star student could choose two friends one to feed the fish on Tuesday and the other to feed the fish on Thursday. Even though the whole newsletter was fake it was fun to think about fun things I could do in my classroom. And publisher makes things so easy to just put the information in and then call it your own!!!
I did the classroom rules in just a word document and that was super easy because I just clicked the icon to enable the numbers to come automatically and I was able to just type those in there... it was fun to choose clip art to go with the rules. It was a little corny but for the most part really cute. The last rule I had was: "no excuses that your dog ate your homework". All and all these assignments are pretty fun!

Flyer

This week in class we went over the rest of the products that we will be doing in class...
On Thursday I did one of the projects that will go on my final project page in UEN. In publisher i choose to create a new page and then I choose to create a flyer. It was extremely fun!!! The first thing that I did was choose what layout I choose a really cute one that had snow flakes. Also in publisher i had the option of the color scheme that i wanted to use! The flyer that i created was for a Christmas Party. It was so easy just to fill in the spaces that were premade.
This will be SOOO useful when i am a teacher. It will save me so much time to just fill in the information. I also can't wait till I am a teacher and able to create actual flyers that will be real events for my students.
Also i started working on my newsletter. Again i am working in publisher and filling in the blanks!!

here is a link to my UEN site so if you would like you can see my fake Christmas Party flyer:
http://my.uen.org/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=PUB.78023.7

Kidspiration!

This is such an amazing tool! There are so many amazing activities that can be done in this program. I am so excited to become a teacher just so I can have my students use the program.
As I explored the program there are different sections. There are sections for reading, writing, math, science and social studies. And in these sections the students can either create their own activity or work on an activity that is pre created.
This was the most fun that I have had in a long time!! Even though I am not a student I was having so much fun creating ven diagrams to do word webs and then in the math section there are all sorts of shapes to create equations with!! It was so excited to see my work come together and it was so easy! That was probably the best thing about Kidspiration... It is extremely easy to maneuver around the program and one can create just about anything! There are sections where the students could just write up a story and then make that story into a diagram of events. It was so neat, even to me, to play with this amazing tool!
Because Kidspiration is so easy to work in, it will be so nice for students of all ages. There is even a section in the program where there is a dictionary. And for those students who don't feel like creating their own work, there are examples already done!! And it wasn't just one example there were a lot! But I really think that the students would LOVE to work in this program just as I loved playing with the Kidspiration.
In Kidspiration it's not just math and writing. There are social studies as well. Now I believe that that will be a harder subject to teach the students. With kidspiration they can create their own project or look through the premade projects and do them. It was interesting to see the projects that were premade. And then when I was looking at them it was so easy to see how they had made them!!! It was exciting to see my work come together and also to see that I could create something fun. I think my future students would love this program. It will be a constant adventure because countless things can be created!!!!

Group Work

This past week the entire class split into groups, (different from the group we were in for out "grade" powerpoint). The goal was to create two powerpoints out of our powerpoint book, one of our powerpoints was about the solar system, the other about idioms. This was an interesting week. I got a feel for the people that I was working with, I learned more about my classmates. Some I found out are a little more power hungry then others. And also there are some people who are content not to give any feedback regarding the project at all.
It is aways interesting to meet new people and try to figure out how to change ones personality to better work in a group. Some people don't change at all, which can be good and bad. It is important when working in a group for EVERYONE to be involved. I know, for me it is sometimes easier to work in a group. But it does depend on the project. When people are together working there are more possibilities that a greater project will come to be. But also there is the possibilty of people not getting along. This is when the people in the group need to grow up and just get the project done.
I'm excited to be a teacher, and I think that it will be benificial for my students to work in groups. There is a greater understanding when there is more than one person. Some of my students may understand half of the project and some may understand the other half. Then during group projects the whole class then can get together and better understand everything! It will be interesting to see how certain people do in different groups, but all together I feel that group work is very benificial.

This Weeks Events

Well... this week we went over PowerPoint.
I LOVE powerpoint, but I'm also excited to learn new things.... This week we got into group, (different from our grade group) the groups were random. But we were able to make two powerpoints for our powerpoint books... There are SOOO many different ideas in there that is was really fun to see what all I could present with powerpoint.
My favorite one that we did was "Idioms." It was super fun looking for different idioms and finding pictures to go along with it! Also there are so many different things that you can do with each slide that the presentations never get boring. I was able to put entrance transitions on each of the slides so that they all come onto the page into different ways!! Also when I was doing the template I could choose different ways to lay the page out and also I had the option to put different colors as well.
I'm really excited to be a teacher, and taking this class will be so so so benificial because it is helping me learn how to play with different technologies to better teach my (soon to be) students. I look forward to teaching and also being an active teacher and think that powerpoints and everything that we've gove over will help me be a better teacher.

5 Uses for a Digital Camera in MY classroom

This week in class we were able to work on our power point that we will be presenting to the class. Sandy took us into Picasa and we were able to modify and alter our images that we took last week. It was super fun adding different effect to the images to make them look completely different. We also were able to start putting out power point together; it was pretty fun to see our work coming together! Not quite finished yet.... But it will be!!
Now for the main reason of this week’s blog: 5 uses for digital cameras in my classroom...

1. Take pictures throughout the year, and then create a year book for each student.
2. I can use photos for seating, and attendance charts.
3. Take photos of the child and also have the child bring in photos for a book about them self.
4. Create step by step instructions using images.
5. As a class take pictures of all different things to help prompt my students to write about certain things in the pictures.

This will be so exciting for the students. With the pictures throughout the year it won’t just be pictures of them in the classroom, but it will picture of them at all of the field trips we go on… Anything special that we do!
Now with the seating chart this will be super helpful to anyone who comes into my classroom! I will not only be able to learn their names quicker but also those who come into my class will be able to match a name to the students face!
I can take pictures of the student, and also have the student bring in some of their younger pictures. This way we can create a book that they could narrate along with the pictures of the student’s life.
Step by step instructions are especially helpful if someone can actually SEE what is going to be done next. In the younger grades the students may not be able to read complete instructions on how to do something. So having pictures to illustrate what needs to be done would be super nice!
I know how hard it is to think of something to write about. So if I were to take my class outside, through our class, and around the school we could then take pictures of all sorts of objects and places. This could then be part of a daily rotation. Look through the different images and find one that inspires the student, then they would write about the object or place. It would be very interesting as a teacher to see what the students write about!

Digital Cameras

This week we were able to get into groups according to which grade we want to teach. I was in the third grade group. Sandie asked us to go out and take pictures of certain things which could be used in a third grade curriculum. Once we had taken the pictures she asked each of us to get the pictures. Because we used a digital camera we were able to transfer them to the computer then onto everyone in our groups thumb drive. This was so convenient. With a regular disposable camera we would not have been able to do this. Also a great thing with digital cameras is that you can view the image before it is printed. This saves so much time and also a lot of embarrassment.
In the articles we were able to see how digital cameras can be used. The "100 ways to use a digital camera" was very interesting. I know that I have used a camera in some of those ways such as taking in the changes of the weather. But I would have never thought about using a camera to take pictures for a seating chat. That would be so nice!! It would help me learn the students’ names quicker! And also it would be fun for the students. Also photos for step by step instructions would be very convenient for the students. Because some students learn visually better than just reading something. It would be a way to actively engage the students.
Then the article about 10 tips when buying a digital camera was very useful because I didn't know that if I wanted to be able to print a 8x10 I’d need at least 3 mega pixels it was very informational.
Then finally the digital snap shot article was very neat to read. I would one day like to do a similar activity with my own class. It would be an easy way to engage the student and also make it fun. This also would be especially nice because they could look back through the book we would make and SEE exactly what they did. It is sometimes much more fun to actually see and view what you once did instead of just read about it.

PowerPoint

This week we learned all sorts of stuff in power point. I was taught how to go through and put links on images or text, and not just to sites on the internet but also how to link to other pages within the PowerPoint. So when I create my PowerPoint for my assignment next week I will be able to link between slides and this will help me be more organized.
Also in PowerPoint there are plenty of ways to do graphs. The options are way more than just line graphs or pie charts. It has so many different graphics that I can't wait to explore all of the different options that PowerPoint offers.
Also all of the slides don't have to look the same. I can change the layout and the color and put different Word Art on every page. This is a great tool so that my PowerPoint wont be boring. I know that grade school kids can get distracted very easily, so if I have viberant colors and difference between slides it will help them stay more alert to what I will be teaching. Also a major plus to using a slide show to present information is that it actively ingages the students, for example pictures help students who are visual learners.

Technology in the classroom

This week, after a rigorous assignment for UEN, I was able to do an assignment that taught about Internet safety. While reading through the assignment I was supposed to do I was asked to think of 6 questions that I could ask myself in order to tell if a site is credible or even worth my time. The questions that I came up with are as follows:

1. Authority: Who wrote the article or webpage? Is that person, or persons, credible?
2. Purposeful: Does the site meet my needs for the information I am seeking?
3. Updated: When was the site created? When was it last updated?
4. Formatted: Is the site put together well? Is it easy to navigate through the site to find information?
5. Reliable: Are there reliable links that take me to other credible sites?
6. Citations: At the end or through out the site are there credible citations?

The Internet is such an amazing tool. It was neat to learn how I can weed out questionable sites to find better sites with more credible information. This will be extremely useful when I am a teacher. I know that I will have to teach my students way that they can be sure that a site is useful and not fake or just someones opinion...
Also using the Internet in the classroom will be one of the main sources of information... By using the Internet I can get the newest, and most updated material to teach my students. I just hope that all my students can learn to decipher good sites from bad ones... They need to stay safe. That is the main goal!!!

UEN Reflection Paper

This week I learned about UEN. This is a website with many resources that will be very valuable to me when I become a teacher. This site has information about course curriculum specific to every grade, and not only does it have it specific to every grade, it also has it specific to every subject. This will be very helpful when I am learning what I will need to teach. Then going from there UEN also offers ideas for lesson plans.

In UEN one can search for just about anything. There is an option to use interactive learning. Once in the interactive learning I could have my students, for example, create their own play. This is fun for the students and it also makes it personal to them! Everyone would be able to choose their own subject and then go from there to create whatever they wanted.


Also in UEN, I can search in Pioneer Library. This is a very useful site, in that I can search for all sorts of articles from different data bases that will help me with research. One data base in Pioneer Library that is extremely useful for elementary students is EBSCO. While in EBSCO the students will be able to click on “Searchasaurus”. This is a wonderful site for elementary students to use. It is composed of articles that will help students, at an elementary level, with their research.

Creating MY own personal website

This week we went over creating a website. It's sort of like a blog, (at least that's what I understood). This will be helpful in my classroom, just as a blog was, but probably more so, to involve the computer and internet in my students learning. I can set it up, just as Sandie has it, so that I can put assignment and daily things that the students should be doing and learning. I also liked it for my own personal use, because my sister is in Canada and now I have another way of posting information.
The website will be more helpful during a classroom use, rather than for my own personal use.
There are so many options for the website, I can add pages, pictures, create links, and add text... I'm really excited to go through and explore it more.. And once again it has to do with my Google account!! Things just keep getting better.
Also with my Google email account Sandie, showed us on Tuesday that Google has a calendar... Now I bet you are thinking "Big deal!!! It's just a calendar.." But it soo cool. There is an option that you can go in and put in your cell phone number, and then when it is time for something on your calendar to happen... It will send you a TEXT!! I thought that was really neat. I'll have to go through and put in some events :)

PIE charts

This week in class we went over some of the options and tools in both Microsoft Words, and Excel. I honestly thought it was going to be a boring two classes.. Sorry. But then while I was in class it was REALLY exciting. It was awesome to learn about different tools that Microsoft and Excel had.
I created a PIE chart. haha Not the real pie though. Darn it... but it was SO easy. All I had to do was type in some information (We were doing our projects on the Olympic Medal count, I chose gymnastics) which wasn't hard at all!! And then the hardest part about creating the chart was figuring out which one you wanted to use! LOL There are so many choices you get to choose all sorts of different designs and also the color options are endless. I was really excited to learn how to create charts because I'm sure that I'll be using charts almost daily when I'm a teacher. Whether it's for math, or just explaining to my students some statistics. It will be SOO helpful.
Also it was nice to learn more about microsoft and that it isn't just for writing papers. haha
I'm looking forward to next week!!

Awesome Gmail account!!

So... I thought that i was very content with my yahoo email. It's served me well. But today in class we went over how you can use "document" in Gmail. IT'S AMAZING. I'm so impressed that I can go into my email and create an excel spreadsheet. That was way cool to me because I don't have that program on my computer.. But know I do.
This is going to be such a great help when I do projects in a group for my classes now. For example in my Intro to Education class I have to get into a group and prepare a chapter review that we are going to present to the class. This will be so convenient. The people in my group will be able to log on to their Gmail accounts and see the exact document that I've been working on for our review. This is going to help a ton when we wont be able to meet in person!
Also in class we went more in depth of some of the options for our blogs.. I'm still exploring but it seems like fun. This blog spot will be helpful when I'm a teacher. I'll be able to blog about daily things that we did in class, and then the parents of my students will be able to see what their child did that day. I think it will be very exciting!! But for now I'm still exploring :)