Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year

Hello All! Just wanted to say welcome to everyone! I cannot wait for everyone to arrive tomorrow and for us to get to know each other and begin our learning journey together.

You will see some empty posts on the blog-for now they are holding spots for 11 Tools. 11 Tools is a technology project that I am working on. I wanted to have all the 11 Tools posts together, but I also wanted to welcome everyone to school. So, this is my solution!

For tomorrow, please bring a water bottle. It's really hot and I want the kids to be able to get water when they're thirsty. Our water fountain doesn't work well [I've asked for it to be fixed.] so if we all have water bottles for awhile that'll work.

I would also like for the kids to bring one of the books they read over the summer to school. My plan is to have the kids share them with everyone-not sure if we'll get to it tomorrow, but we will before the week's up.

I've got my clothes laid out, my lunch packed, and plans for an early bedtime and a good breakfast in the morning! I'm ready! See you all tomorrow!

Miss Roth

11 Tools-Tool #11

I will definitely use Stupeflix for students to create short video clips. This program/website was very easy to use and students will be able to share their knowledge creatively by producing videos with music and captions.

I also will use Today’s Meet.com for students to share their thinking publically. This is a great website to use during a Science investigation where students respond on the website while making observations.

The importance of technology is immeasurable because my students are of the digital age and demand learning take place with the use of technology tools. I will continue to think about ways to incorporate technology with my lessons and with the learning outcomes of my students.

I expected this to be difficult, and in the beginning it was difficult; but with each tool the tasks became more manageable and I found them to be useful with my students.

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to participate in 11 Tools so that my students can benefit from my understanding! Thank you!!

11 Tools-Tool #10

I will teach digital citizenship, copyright & fair use, and On-line behavior by using the videos on the EdTech website. I particularly liked the BrainPop and YouTube-Mousetales. Cybersmart for Kids and Cyberethics for Kids are also good resources for teaching these concepts.

To teach digital citizenship, we will watch the BrainPop videos [or others listed above] and then debrief by having students turn & talk about what they learned from the video. Then they will complete a writing activity using a sentence stub-‘Digital Citizenship means ________.’ We will then post these writings on our class blog so that parents can follow up with their children at home as they work together with home technology.

11 Tools-Tool #9

Technology is the way to show what you know. The objective is what students are to learn. Technology should extend the objective; therefore, the must be closely connected.

Students must be engaged in meaningful work and the way to help make work meaningful for students is to hold them accountable. It is a waste of time for students and teachers if students are doing work they are not being held accountable for; so a system for keeping track of work students do is essential.

I visited Tutpup and liked the spelling and math sites. I can see how students could easily use the spelling & vocabulary site to increase their spelling ability and the Math activity will increase their fact recall for problem solving.

I also visited Learning Games for Kids and I enjoyed the vocabulary game as it challenged even me to learn new words. Students can use these new words in their writing to show syntactic maturity.

I will have students use BrainPop App to watch video clips about famous Americans and then use the quiz to confirm their learning and then send the results to me in an email. I will then use the data to design more projects. I am also excited about Flashcards+. I can use this website to create flashcards for all of our content area vocabulary. Students need to know these words to succeed on STAAR. They can be customized for each student and content.

The iPad & iPod touch are very motivating for students! The possibilities are endless because the iPad screen is so large. Any app will work! As a station, I plan to select apps that fit with our curriculum and ones that students want to use.

11 Tools-Tool #8

Tool #8

I am thrilled to be getting the iPods & iPads for my classroom! I just purchased an iPhone for myself and have been so excited to see all the cool things it can do. I am most amazed at the 11 pages of Apps that the iPod & iPad will hold. I am anticipating that I will find many I can use and I am sure my students will have favorites that they want to load on our class devices. Also, the district has many suggestions for Apps that go along with our curriculum that we will download.

My favorite feature of the Dell Mini-computer is the camera and microphone! I am so excited that my students will be able to record their thinking for others to see and learn. Also I would like to get into using Google Docs more so the fact that students will use Google Docs on the Minis is great. I anticipate students composing on Google Docs as a group with everyone contributing.

I plan to use the devices for small group work as students work on projects in all content areas. I will allow students who are ready for enrichment to use the devices to design their own projects. I will have students record their book club conversations for me to listen to later as well as recording book reviews to share with others.