Free Choice!

I have been looking for fun and educational study tools students can use to study their spelling lists. This is a great online tool I came across this summer. I hope other teachers will like it too.

Fitness Assessment Scenario Six

I can see the parent's point of view. We had a similar situation at Valentine last year. When the district made the new policy about communication hours. It was a positive move because teachers could personalize their communications with parents. At Valentine it was not coordinated enough between grade levels and specialists. Parents ended up having to come several times to speak with reading/math teachers. We also used many different tools to enable our parents to sign up fro communication nights. The feedback was that they enjoyed more flexible communication nights and they wanted to see some events coordinated. Also they wanted a uniform way to sign up for conferences. So, I think we need to embrace new technologies but be mindful in how we use them.

Fitness Test Scenario One

Senario One rang a bell with me. Not while I am teaching first graders because I need to supervise them more. I could really see this happening when I was teaching fifth graders. I love the idea of student peers reviewing each others writing. Google docs seems like such an easy, fun and educational way for students to collaborate. When I taught fifth grade I had the students peer review each others work with highlighters and then write comments in the margins. It was hard for them to comment on specific writing details. Google docs would be great because you could highlight and then use the comment section. When I introduced peer reviewing/editing in my classroom, we first discussed what would be positive/constructive comments versus negative comments. Fifth graders can be harsh with their peers. We also discussed staying on topic. With Google docs you would have to remind them of the acceptable use policy. Students need to be reminded of the rules. You can't tell them once and think they will remember. I don't think the child should be suspended from using the technology indefinitely. Make the child use pens and highlighters for awhile and then remind the student of the rules. And of course the teacher needs to monitor student activities.

Google Form

I created a google document I will share with parents to get permission to use photos of their students. I shared it with some of you to get feedback. I allowed the people I shared it with to edit it. When I went to google docs and clicked on it, I was unable to edit it. Do you have to download it first? It gave options to make comments as well. I would have liked to the people I shared it with to be able to edit and make comments.

Polling

This is easy and fun! It was fun to text my answer to Barb's poll and then watch it show up on the poll. Since I have first graders, I might use it with their parents to find out what they are thinking about field trips, etc.

Cloud Computing

I merged a couple different documents my first grade team has been working on. My goal is to create one document we can all access and add read aloud ideas to as we come across good books. It is a work in progress. I access google documents to view documents others have shared with me but this is the first time I have uploaded anything. Here is the link First Grade Books

Study Tool Activity Two

This site was hard for me to figure out. I never did figure out how to embed it. I would use this to brainstorm ideas about an upcoming unit. At the end of the year, I could use it with the kids to brainstorm all of the fun activities we did in first grade.

Tagxedo

Study Tools Activity One

I made a Quizlet for short vowel sounds. It was easy and fun. I could see using this in small groups or during Daily Five.

Youtube Channel

Well this was frustrating but rewarding. I had trouble linking my Screencast to my channel. But, I was finally successful. I did find a really wonderful video on the lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly and I placed in a playlist. I do use many Youtube videos in my classroom. So, having my own channel will be a great way to organize them so I don't have to keep looking for them. I could not figure out how to place the Youtube video about the Monarch butterfly on the main page. It is in a the butterfly playlist. If anyone has an answer to that,I would be grateful! Youtube Channel

Screencast

The hard part was finding the best Screencast software to work with my computer. I ended up using Screenr. It seemed to be the easiest for me to use. I definitely see myself using this with my first grade classes. A special shout out to my daughter, Tess, for helping with the finding the right program!!!