Friday, October 12, 2012
Curriculum Video
Finally finished! I love the movie maker but had a terrible time with my audio. I finally found a mic that worked and got it finished! I'm excited to share it with my class. They will think I'm awesome. Enjoy.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Class Reflection
Okay, I succeeded making a Voicethread! I think I'm ready t share it with everyone. I loved this class even though it took me a lot of time and I never seemed to have enough to get to everything I wanted to look at. Listen to what I thought was best for me.
https://voicethread.com/share/3519409/
https://voicethread.com/share/3519409/
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
I love being on Twitter.
I have found new friends and resources through the connections I have
made on Twitter. I have not spent the
time I would like to go searching all the resources I have found through
tweets. I saved them for later.
I don’t really have a favorite follow yet, I follow Andy
Roddick and he is definitely interesting.
I enjoy tennis so I thought would be interesting. He made a comment on Twitter that seemed
negative about Jordy Nelson (fav former Wildcat). Kansans don’t like hearing people speak badly
about their Wildcat players. I really
like following the teachers that teach the same grade levels because we have
more in common and I know I will get great stuff. Last week on 1stchat I got a whole new book
list for great Halloween books and new poetry to use.
I will definitely continue tweeting. I think I will use it most for professional
use but it’s fun to use it personally as well.
I have told teachers about it and they want me to help them set up a Tweetdeck.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Cute Halloween Activity
I inherited this cute little story from a teacher I taught with years ago. The kids absolutely love it if you can keep them from opening it or "spilling the beans". =) I attached the story below. Hope you can use it too.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Blogging
I spent some time looking through Richard Byrne's blog freetech4teachers.com. Here's a link to his blog - http://www.freetech4teachers.com. He is a wealth of information. I found his blog to be extremely useful. I like the way he organized his page. The advertisements were handy and had great resources. I have used both Spelling City and Class Dojo so I was familiar with both of those but I know other teachers will love them too. He had so many great things on his blog that I marked it in my favorites to come back and view often. If I keep up with all the new stuff he posts I will become the techie in my building. =)
He had a post about Scootpad. I just recently heard about it and downloaded Scootpad. His most recent post was my favorite. I love Dropbox but am leery about what I put out there. I know longer have a Facebook account after it was hacked and then of course deleted. I think it's important that our information is secure and his post had a way to do a two step protect. I will definitely be using his resources on that one.
I love to read blogs. I have many in my favorites that I spend time reading and finding all kinds of fabulous resources. I would love to make this blog a great resource to my parents and students. I think it could be just one more way I can improve communication from home to school.
He had a post about Scootpad. I just recently heard about it and downloaded Scootpad. His most recent post was my favorite. I love Dropbox but am leery about what I put out there. I know longer have a Facebook account after it was hacked and then of course deleted. I think it's important that our information is secure and his post had a way to do a two step protect. I will definitely be using his resources on that one.
I love to read blogs. I have many in my favorites that I spend time reading and finding all kinds of fabulous resources. I would love to make this blog a great resource to my parents and students. I think it could be just one more way I can improve communication from home to school.
Podcasts I Like
I had an enjoyable afternoon searching through podcasts in iTunes. I haven't spent a lot of time there but am excited about learning more about it. During my search I found a new podcast that just got started. It is entitled What's Become Clear. It caught my eye since it was about where schools have come from and where are we heading. Here's the link if you think you might enjoy it also. =)
I also found a fun one for me as a mom, not a teacher. It's called Manic Mommies. The first podcast I listened to was about exhausted moms on a Friday night. This is so much my life. It's hard to find the energy to even go to the home football game. I thought I could probably relate to these two moms. =0 If you are a crazy, busy mom, you might enjoy it also. Here's the link.
The last one I'm going to share is for my kiddos in second grade. I found another fun storyteller podcast. It had a great list of stories I could use in my classroom. I'll have to load it on the iPods and let them veg out on a Friday afternoon. =) Here's the link The Story Home.
I also found a fun one for me as a mom, not a teacher. It's called Manic Mommies. The first podcast I listened to was about exhausted moms on a Friday night. This is so much my life. It's hard to find the energy to even go to the home football game. I thought I could probably relate to these two moms. =0 If you are a crazy, busy mom, you might enjoy it also. Here's the link.
The last one I'm going to share is for my kiddos in second grade. I found another fun storyteller podcast. It had a great list of stories I could use in my classroom. I'll have to load it on the iPods and let them veg out on a Friday afternoon. =) Here's the link The Story Home.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Week 7
I'm relaxing on a quiet, cold Saturday evening after having a crazy week. My daughters finished up their fall sports this week and we dragged our boys all over Kansas for tennis and volleyball. They of course did not enjoy it one bit, except they had time with Nana and Papa. I don't know if you have spent much time watching tennis, but it is a quiet sport and I stress quiet. My 7 year old twin boys do not do well with quiet. We survived and everyone is back home watching the recorded Sunflower Showdown. The Cats won. =)
The past week at school was a blur. I had my mind on all the things that needed to be done. Only forgot picking my boys up at daycare once. Luckily our sitter is very understanding. My little second graders are almost done with MAP testing. That has been crazy. We have 10 computers running, but at times we are down to only 7-8. Needless to say, it has been very slow. We'll finish up this coming week. Yippee Skippy! as my second graders cheer. =) We started our first unit in science and attempted an experiment. The kids went wild. They love hands on activities. We have really become a family in our room. We do Rocket Math (math facts in a minute) and every time someone passes a level the class says Yippee Skippy. It's so darn cute. And when I mention someone that needs to try again they all do this super sad AHHHHH. We celebrate everyone's successes and encourage each other to try again.
We had our whole staff PLC on Wednesday that focused entirely on bullying. We use Olweus and are getting ready for Unity Day this Wednesday. Our councelor is going to help us with our class meetings so we can get those off and going this week as well. If you haven't had a class meeting with your class where everyone knows the rules and boundries you should really try it. You quickly learn a whole lot about your kiddos.
So now I am setting a few goals for myself.
I am going to try to blog once a week
Let my parents know about my blog
Put photos of what's going on in our classroom on my blog
So if your reading this I hope you tune back in and let me know what you think. =)
The past week at school was a blur. I had my mind on all the things that needed to be done. Only forgot picking my boys up at daycare once. Luckily our sitter is very understanding. My little second graders are almost done with MAP testing. That has been crazy. We have 10 computers running, but at times we are down to only 7-8. Needless to say, it has been very slow. We'll finish up this coming week. Yippee Skippy! as my second graders cheer. =) We started our first unit in science and attempted an experiment. The kids went wild. They love hands on activities. We have really become a family in our room. We do Rocket Math (math facts in a minute) and every time someone passes a level the class says Yippee Skippy. It's so darn cute. And when I mention someone that needs to try again they all do this super sad AHHHHH. We celebrate everyone's successes and encourage each other to try again.
We had our whole staff PLC on Wednesday that focused entirely on bullying. We use Olweus and are getting ready for Unity Day this Wednesday. Our councelor is going to help us with our class meetings so we can get those off and going this week as well. If you haven't had a class meeting with your class where everyone knows the rules and boundries you should really try it. You quickly learn a whole lot about your kiddos.
So now I am setting a few goals for myself.
I am going to try to blog once a week
Let my parents know about my blog
Put photos of what's going on in our classroom on my blog
So if your reading this I hope you tune back in and let me know what you think. =)
Friday, September 28, 2012
Email Screencast
I made a screencast using Screenr this week. So excited to use it with my second graders. I made it to help them email our Trucker Buddies. We send them letters but our technology goal is to learn to email this year. This screencast will allow me to give directions on the Smartboard and be moving around my room to help students at the same time. We can even rewind to hear it again! Can't wait to try out some other lessons.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Copy of Landmarks for 2nd grade
Check out my Animoto for my class. =)
Copy of Landmarks for 2nd grade
I created this movie to use in my second grade classroom for social studies. During October we learn about our national and local landmarks. I take my class to visit the local ones. We take a day and spend time learning more about the special places in our area. This movie will be the perfect way to start the lesson. I'm excited to WOW my kiddos and hear their oooohs and aaaahs. This was a fun project. If you haven't tried making an Animoto you have to check out this site. Go to animoto.com/education so you can get an upgrade to make longer movies. I'm excited about making more to use in the classroom. It will be a fun way to introduce new units of learning!
Copy of Landmarks for 2nd grade
I created this movie to use in my second grade classroom for social studies. During October we learn about our national and local landmarks. I take my class to visit the local ones. We take a day and spend time learning more about the special places in our area. This movie will be the perfect way to start the lesson. I'm excited to WOW my kiddos and hear their oooohs and aaaahs. This was a fun project. If you haven't tried making an Animoto you have to check out this site. Go to animoto.com/education so you can get an upgrade to make longer movies. I'm excited about making more to use in the classroom. It will be a fun way to introduce new units of learning!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Week 1 Intro
My names Angi Williams and I teach elementary grades 1-2. This year I looped with my class from last year and am teaching second grade. I am also a mother of 4 busy kiddos from second grade to junior in HS. Our family is pictured standing over the Gorge in New Mexico. I graduated from Kansas State University, home of the WILDCATS! I am finishing my Master's degree this spring!
My experience with technology depends on the day. =) Some days I feel like I am pretty comfortable and can try to fix a lot on my own or figure out what I am doing. I help most of my staff with tech issues with our computers, projectors, Smartboards, etc. But today I have been frustrated with installing a new webcam and trying to figure out why I can't get the practice video to work! Ughhhh! My school district uses PC but they just pucrhase iPads for all the HS students and hopefully that will eventually trickle down to us in the elementary. All the teachers got an iPad to use in their classroom. I'm excited to find new things to do with mine on my Smartboard and with my little kiddos. We are currently updating our school computers to Windows 7. At home my desktop is running Vista but my laptop is Windows 7. We are currently having issues with our wireless at home so I am stuck on the desktop.
Why am I working on my Master's? I had thought about it for a long time, but never thought I could afford to go back and complete it. Then one of my friends at school told me about Peru's online program. Our district pays up to a certain amount for college courses and Peru comes in under their cap. So, I could get my Master's online with friends AND my school district would pay for my college hours! I was sold. I have to be honest and say I was most excited about the pay raise I would be getting when I finished. But the new knowledge I have and the skills I have improved are very powerful as well. I have enjoyed all of my classes and have found ways to use it in my classroom or during our professional development.
My experience with technology depends on the day. =) Some days I feel like I am pretty comfortable and can try to fix a lot on my own or figure out what I am doing. I help most of my staff with tech issues with our computers, projectors, Smartboards, etc. But today I have been frustrated with installing a new webcam and trying to figure out why I can't get the practice video to work! Ughhhh! My school district uses PC but they just pucrhase iPads for all the HS students and hopefully that will eventually trickle down to us in the elementary. All the teachers got an iPad to use in their classroom. I'm excited to find new things to do with mine on my Smartboard and with my little kiddos. We are currently updating our school computers to Windows 7. At home my desktop is running Vista but my laptop is Windows 7. We are currently having issues with our wireless at home so I am stuck on the desktop.
Why am I working on my Master's? I had thought about it for a long time, but never thought I could afford to go back and complete it. Then one of my friends at school told me about Peru's online program. Our district pays up to a certain amount for college courses and Peru comes in under their cap. So, I could get my Master's online with friends AND my school district would pay for my college hours! I was sold. I have to be honest and say I was most excited about the pay raise I would be getting when I finished. But the new knowledge I have and the skills I have improved are very powerful as well. I have enjoyed all of my classes and have found ways to use it in my classroom or during our professional development.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)