After reading Karen’s Chalktalk and her description of  Thirteen EdOnline, I discovered a site called Science Updates Podcasts, which feature a plethora of fascinating information on current science topics. Podcast are presented daily or weekly. It is also possible to access archived podcasts or transcripts. Unfortunately, textbooks are often outdated, this is a great way to enhance your existing curriculum. Did you know that seeds can crawl? Check it out: http://www.scienceupdate.com/show.php?date=20070613

My fourth grade class is scheduled to go on a field trip to the Nature Center of Cape May. For one of the activities, the students will be conducting a field investigation on an aquatic food chain. We will also be enjoying a Salt Marsh Safari at Turtle Creek, hoping to spot  terrapin turtles.  As we’re finishing our unit on plants, I was interested in finding a way to connect the two studies. Two years ago, my students created a website recommending various websites related to conservation . I remember PBS was a excellent resource, so when I noticed NCS’s technology facilitator, Kevin Jarrett, featured this site on his blog, I had to check it out. Eekoworld offers the perfect bridge to connect the relationship between plants and animals. Lesson plans also accompany this topic. The entire site  is a “world” of information for teachers and students alike.  

 A perfect site to enhance your whiteboard presentations can be found at a ClassTools.net This site is full of interactive graphic organizers. Students can create simple learning activities to share with others: ManicMiner, CannonBall Fun,and Word Matching. Teachers can utilize interactive graphic organizers templates. Many teachers will recognize many of the basic graphic organizers. For example, the ” Burger Diagram” is often used to help elementary students write a basic paragraph  in a fun way. Students would enjoy this activity and others, even more because it’s interactive. Teacher will also find tools to assist in classroom management. The Random Name Picker, Quiz creators, and fun musical Countdowns( i.e. Mission Impossible) are fun.

Just for fun … or is it?  Several educators  are all a buzz, over the following site: http://plasq.com/comiclife-win . Reasonably priced, this may be the perfect antidote for antsy students (or teachers) still in school for most of the month of June. A free 30 day  trail is available. Another free site  that allows students to create their own comics around the classic book Charlotte’s Web can be found at Scholastic. Time to play!

I was unable to attend the My Classroom to Yours Conference at Stockton College on Wednesday May 14^th . However, Kevin Jarrett, Northfield Community School’s technology facilitator K-4, presented a Google Applications Case Study with our very own Kathy Fields.

Kevin writes, “My co-presenter, Mrs. Cathy Fields, arrived soon thereafter with her own gear, including a tablet PC, actual “sludge” samples, test tubes, finished “Sludge Test” reports, and a variety of other lab tools. All this was crammed on a podium that had about 2′ x 2′ of open space to begin with. Like I said, if only I’d take a picture.”

He also presented Please Me: Creating a Personal Professional Development Learning Environment. Kevin said that overall, the conference was professional and well organized. There were a variety of presentations, which differed in quality. Kevin concluded that the morning sessions seemed more dynamic than the afternoon sessions. He was disappointed that he was unable to attend some of the morning workshops because he was presenting at that time When learning  about new “best practices”  technology applications, Kevin prefers  to have the “big picture” presented rather than a step –by –step “how to” demonstration. We discussed how as a technology facilitator this was understandable, but for a teacher, the “how to” might be a better option. Overall, it sounds that the conference offered something for a very diverse everyone. Generalizing, Kevin observed that the educators from North Jersey seemed more informed than our South Jersey counterparts. I guess we have some catching up to do!

Luminosity is a Web site that was developed to provide basic training in brain fitness. The games are based on research in neuroscience and have been proven to be effective in clinical trails. I am not and have never been a “gamer”. Years ago, I played a game on one occasion called Mario Brothers.  I lost to a six year old and decided it wasn’t my cup of tea. However, for the sake of brain fitness I tried the games on this site and found them to be engaging. I would be interested to know what others thought. I think children could profit from these exercises.  I tried Birdwatching.  This game is designed to promote and measure attention. This game could be used as a spelling exercise with students.. Word Bubbles  is also a great activity to encourage language skills. Monster Garden is intended to advance memory skills. There is a fee for this site, but a free seven day trail is available. Check it out! http://www.lumosity.com/

One of my goals is to be able to integrate technology into the language arts classroom. Specifically, to enhance the existing curriculum. The third grade MacMillian McGraw -Hill series has a story in Book 2 Unit 2 titled Time For Kids: Pure Power. The article tells how scientists are turning the sun and the wind into pollution- free energy. I ask the students to design a future car using pollution -free energy power. The students always enjoy the task, but I found some excellent resource to enhance their understanding at the following sites:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/educational_resources.html

http://sycd.co.uk/is_there_life/pdf/engage/gsp.pdf

http://www.re-energy.ca/t-i_solarelectricitybuild-1.shtml

http://www.re-energy.ca/t_solarelectricity.shtml

The focus of this class is Integrating Technology into the classroom.  Speaking of innovation.. The students in my third grade class are in the process of reading about Ben Franklin, A wonderful way to encourage our students to be creative innovators is to have them learn about inventors who have made signficant contributions that have changed the world for the better. I thought the following  site is a great resource to inspire our young students: http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/ilives/index.html 

An easy tutorial on Google docs – a great resource to use to for an introduction to google Docs for students and parents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA

While designing my Instructional Design Plan, I ran into a bit of a challenge. To begin their project my students needed research information on the Palace of Versailles during the time of the French Revolution- not your typical elementary fare.This proved quite challenging for a number of reasons. The Internet presents an ideal opportunity to conduct in-depth investigations on a variety of topics that extend learning beyond the traditional classroom and provide authentic learning experiences. The Internet is an ideal venue to promote understanding. However,  the challenge I face is when the learning activity requires students to research, using the Internet can be difficult to navigate.  Often because of time constraints, the primary objective is one other than navigating the Internet. Although it is  literacy skills that students need to acquire, often other goals, such as encouraging the role of Web2.0 as a problem-solving, collaborative tool, take precedence.  Therefore, when I present a project  I will often provide a designated list of links. This task is time consuming, but necessary when working with young students. Educators need to evaluate Web sites for quality, content, accuracy, appropriateness, and purpose.  Fortunately, I have just discovered there are some excellent resources available to help educators evaluate Web sites. I feel like I hit the jackpot finding Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/eval.html Also,the link from Cornell  University looks useful.

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html

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