.:Lapbooks:.

We are starting our penguin unit – my personal fav. We read Mr. Popper’s Penguins and do experiments, mapping and more – all centered around penguins.

One thing we’ve done in the past is a lapbook (some resources here). It’s a great place to keep lots of learning foldables, organizers and information in one, (hopefully) organized place. We use file folders to construct a folder to make a lapbook where the students can glue in everything.

.:cover:.
the kids like to color/decorate it

all opened up

a few examples of what we discuss and learn
some are used for experiment questions, comprehension questions, maps of where penguins live and more
many found here

this is a great unit to learn about reading charts, highlighting important information, life cycles and a platform for other standards based skills.

Another example of a Mr. Popper’s Penguins lapbook can be seen on LapbookingAdventures’ Blogspot

I also love this for the fine motor skills that it requires the students to use and practice. Each piece needs to be cut out neatly and glued. It’s something we have to practice everyday it seems.

We also use lapbooks for our Space unit and Health unit. Some classes we’ve had love them, some (usually with weak cutting skills) do not appreciate the awesomeness that is a lapbook.

The Homeschool Share lapbook resources has great packs of blank foldables that can adapted for any unit or topic – and after you see examples it’s easy to get the ball rolling for new ideas.

Here’s to starting 6 weeks of penguins!

6.5

• Assess your learning in this class.  In what areas did you see the greatest growth?
  • My learning in this class has consisted of gathering resources and information and how others have used it in their own classrooms for various units. It has been great to be exposed to new uses of technology I am already using.
  • I see the greatest growth in myself in the area of trying to understand where others are coming from. It’s hard for me having grown up with technology, using it in my classroom every day, teaching my children how to use/apply it, and then going home and using technology more to see where others are coming from when they are hesitant about using tech even for personal use. Sometimes I think I jump into things a little abruptly and don’t think about all the potential challenges or hazards, so it’s a change of pace to hear what others have to say about their concerns and what they have done to address them.
• How will your teaching practice change as a result of what you have learned?
  • I have some new ideas for projects to do in the classroom, as well as some topics that need to be discussed when helping to train digital learners.
  • The other nice part about this course is that I have gathered some great ideas for a course/training I’ll be helping with this summer for our national staff. It is a goal of the elementary (and school really) to use our technology and to do so more effectively. I will be helping by giving short trainings about various pieces of software, as well as helping them to brain storm ways to integrate technology in new ways and for things they are already doing in a non-technological way.

5.5

• How can you encourage your professional colleagues to engage in ongoing development in terms of technology integration?

…We have Tech Wednesdays that are opportunities for our tech guy to show us some new things. It’s also a chance to discuss what we’re currently doing with our class in the way of technology. I think any time teachers can collaborate on a specific topic is the best plan time; exchanging ideas, gathering new resources, sparking inspiration! Great times.

…The other thing I do is send out new tech websites/tools/opportunities to my teaching “team” aka 1st & 2nd grade. Sometimes through newsletters, websites, etc I come across a tool that I just have to share: email away.

• How can you serve as a teacher leader for technology integration in your professional setting?

…I love technology and using it in the classroom. I know my second graders love to figure new things out, so we do lots of exploring. Being a teacher leader I think involves being willing to open the doors of the classroom to have others see what is going on as well as being open to constructive criticism and suggestions. Another form, instead of barging into the classroom, would be to post what I’m doing as the teacher as well as follow up posts with student work and how they were able to accomplish the task at hand. Sharing student work is a powerful tool for collaboration among teachers; it can help generate ideas for how it can be apply to personal classrooms and even personal teacher use.

• What tools that you learned about in this class might you use to facilitate this?

…Collaboration is awesome! The other M.Ed. peoples have been great for helping to to think through some implications that I might not have slowed down to consider while blazing the next technology in the classroom trail.

…It was also great to be able to connect to others’ blogs and see how they have been able to use tech tools: pod-casts, PowerPoints, mouse mischief, blogs, and more. Even being able to point others in a direction can be a great start to helping facilitate tech learning.

4.5

.:.What are your concerns about using various internet technologies in your teaching practice?
…With technology there are always new things coming out and improving; it’s hard to keep up with everything.
…It’s also hard to filter everything my kids see: ads, pop-ups, and more. I know I can’t protect them from everything, and eventually they will have to be discerning on their own, but for now it’s my job to hedge them in. The internet makes that task difficult sometimes. “Be careful little eyes what you see.”

.:.How can you alleviate these concerns?
…Subscribing to some on-line tech magazines or sites helps me to keep up with some of the latest things coming out and available. There are also some great educational tech websites that post and send out top tens or sorted by topic that have been useful.
…Recently a teacher sent out a few sites that help to filter and remove adds on other websites. This could potentially be a great help (though I’ve yet to try them) to help eyes see less of unnecessary things.

Teacher Technology Use

Microsoft Word: Love this for homework packets: inserting tables for spelling words, inserting pictures for examples and more. This is also what I use for most just plain text documents, if I want pictures or anything non-linear I usually use Microsoft Publisher.

Microsoft Publisher: If I could pick one program to use forever, this would be it. Newsletters, calendars, brochures, tests, cropping and editing pictures (basic), and creating pictures/logo for various things.

PDF24: Printing documents to Adobe PDF. This is great for maintaining fonts, spacing and pictures. I do this for anything I post online or email to parents.

PowerPoint: There are few things you can’t do in PowerPoint. We show morning work, present topics, MouseMischief (multiple mouse interactive presentation), pictures, kid use for various things.

OneNote: I’ve started using this for all the many resources for the units and lessons we do throughout the year. I’ve also imported the standards and benchmarks to link them to lessons that cover it. I’m looking forward to dumping all the websites, picture clippings, etc into the “notebook.” Our school blogs got transfered from one host to another and we lost all of our links, so OneNote will be a great place to keep the bits and pieces of 2nd grade.

GoogleChrome: This is the web browser I prefer. It has it’s problems, but overall it’s a great way to surf the web. The downloads are super easy and the start up page is convenient (the top 8 pages visited).

Microsoft Excel: This is the program we use to lay out our entire unit day by day.



3.4

.:.What software applications do you use regularly in your teaching practice?

In the morning students are greeted with a PowerPoint of their morning work. During the day I use Outlook to communicate with other staff members. The internet (Google Chrome) is used to gather resources needed for the classroom. I use Microsoft Publisher for newsletters, creating weekly tests, and various calendars. Microsoft Word is used for their weekly homework packet and various assignments. And after this workshop’s software assignment, OneNote is used to store all of the 2^nd grade’s units, resources and electronic materials.

The students use Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Paint (or TuxPaint), TuxMath, and other various programs as the need arises. They are familiar with how to boot up the computer, login, and start the program they need. Depending on the program they are able to insert pictures, type, change font and color of text and more. With the internet, they are able to locate our class website and surf approved websites for tech time.

.:.What other software skills would you like to improve to increase your professional efficacy?

Our school uses Atlas to store unit information as a whole. It would be nice to be able to use it more effectively for the time I put into it. I’m still learning how to connect and attach things to standards.

.:.Propose an action plan to improve these skills.

I need to set aside time after or before each unit to upload the resources and to link them to standards. If I wait to do it until after several units, it makes it time consuming and overwhelming.

2.4

• How well prepared do you feel for 21^st century teaching and learning?
• I feel fairly well prepared. I always wish there were more hours in the day so I could craft amazing lessons, but overall, I think my classroom is paving the way for young learners. My students enjoy trying new things, and ask to try new things, which really helps for instructing them. If they were hesitant or nervous about new things, then I think our classroom would look differently; or at least the preparation and presentation of information would. But they are curious, which is something no teacher can teach.
• Do your students leave your classroom equipped for success using 21^st century skills?
• I hope so, that’s my purpose in teaching them: so they will be prepared far beyond my classroom. Their education in my classroom is not just about 2nd grade, it’s about their life. My students need to be life long learners and be willing to learn all through their lives. In the classroom we take their questions and give them the tools to find the answers using whatever tools are available. I think this is valuable to their learning and curiosity.
• What are your strengths and challenges in regards to 21^st century teaching and learning?
• As a teacher (and learner) I’m willing to try new things both in and out of the classroom; I think this is helpful to be able to challenge my students to do the same. I’m always looking for new tools and technology to use in the classroom and for personal use.
• A challenge might be that I sometimes think I know more than I actually do. At times I don’t try new things in programs that I think I know. Also, it can sometimes be overwhelming to know that my students are learning essential things in my classroom. Making the bridge from core subjects to 21st skills can be challenging on its own, but then to do it in another culture with sometimes limited resources also makes things interesting.

Diggin’ Dinos

After a several week unit about dinosaurs students were put in small groups. Each group was assigned three different things: 1 dinosaur, 1 habitat, & 1 vocabulary/keyword from the unit.

They were to fill out a paper to help them find facts about their section. They used books in the classroom, unit work and more. Once they filled out their aid we hiked up to the computer lab.

I had already stocked our class website with web addresses of sites to get related pictures. Each student made their own PowerPoint to include their “research.” They inserted pictures, typed their text and put their own creative touch on it. For a beginning “research” project, I think it turned out well. After students were finished we presented their projects on the big screen so their classmates could see! 

Scrap-bookin’ It

The last Monday of every month the students make a scrapbook page.

It’s to help them review what we’ve done in class, but also serves as their technology portfolio as they continue to learn and grow with the skills. Their requirements: name, month/year, picture and at least one sentence. Before they get started we do a mini-lesson on a new tool they can use. It started with font, color, size; plus word art. Then moved to inserting clipart. Next pictures from files. The latest was changing the color/tint for the inserted pictures.

They have a great time with it and really enjoy inserting and altering pictures of their friends. (We teachers dump our pictures from the month into a shared folder on the server that the students have access to.)

I’ve loved looking back to see how the kids have grown: physically (looking at the pictures), emotionally / socially (how they depict their friends), and intellectually / skills (their projects and creativity). At the end of the year we’ll either print the pages for them or save them to a disc for the kids to take home and cherish 🙂

Computer Lab

My students go to computer lab every Monday for about 50 minutes. They are super excited, even from the beginning of the day, “Are we going to the computer lab today?!” “What are we doing today?” “Can we play games?!” My response, “Yes, work, next week.” Does this dampen them? No, they are relentless with glee until they arrive.

They walk in, turn on the computer, quickly place the headphones on and wait for the blue screen so they can log on. Over the weeks they have become pros – doing all of it as it they had done it all of their lives; and some of them have. They navigate to our class homepage to scroll through the websites we have collected over all of our units through the year. They see a post for next unit and nearly fall off of their chair to ask if they can click on those sites. “Not yet, those are for next week.” Resigned to visiting a site they know well, off they go to explore the world wide web.

Some days we design scrapbook pages to document what we have done in class over the last month. They know how to insert pictures, change the color/contrast/brightness, insert wordart: change font and color, make funny shapes over their friends’ heads and save it to it’s appropriate location. They are eager to try out what they have learned that day during our mini lesson. Sometimes it’s inserting something new and finding the location, other times it is changing what they already have. It never takes them long to take it into their own personal creativity territory; far beyond my expectations of their abilities. They surprise me each time.