URL'S

prezi.com
Live web presentations. It makes fun, creative and exciting presentations. More than just your average powerpoint!

Spookathon.com
This is a really fun Halloween site where kids can 'carve' and paint pumpkins. This is good for working on mouse movements. After you create a pumpkin you can 'light' it, name it and then turn it into a puzzle where it makes it into puzzle pieces and you have to arrange them.

Constructivism in the Classroom

There are so many different teaching styles and it is common for teachers to find it difficult to integrate technology into their classroom. The teachers are capable of the technology yet have a hard time letting the students have some of the control of their learning. They feel as though they aren't doing there job, teaching. Constructivist theory says that, "students make sense of the world by synthesizing new experiences into what they have previously understood". Constructivist teachers organize information around conceptual clusters of problems and questions as opposed to facts in isolation. Technology is used as a tool to help students solve problems. It is not necessary to teach every little bit of 'how to' when teaching technology. It is good to let the student's questions guide the lesson and exploration. We need to let students take more control of their learning and guide themselves through what they want to know based on what they previously knew.

Mental Challenges

http://smart-kit.com
Fun puzzles and games

highbeam.com
Students learn valuable manufacturing lessons

custompartnet.com
Manufacturing cost estimator

nlvm.usu.edu
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. Fun resource site!

Smart Moves

This is a fun ice breaker to get your brain and body moving!

Constructing Digital Stories

1. Write an Initial Script: This may be as short as a note card. To many students this task seems much more accomplishable and reasonable than a 5 page essay.
2. Plan an accompanying storyboard: This is the plan of what to show. For a 2 minute story, 12 images is usually sufficient.
3. Discuss and Revise the Script: Basically peer review to tweak the story for the better and decide what actually needs to be said vs. just visualized in an image.
4. Sequence the images in the video editor: Scan the images onto a timeline in the chosen software and organize them. Format the images to the proper size and resolution.
5. Add the Narrative Track: Record sentence by sentence. Read through as whole may take longer and more recording tries.
6. Add Special Effects and Transitions: Use minimal effects: use them when they contribute meaning in the story.
7. Add Musical Soundtrack: If time permits. Import a soundtrack. Background music and narrative may be heard together.
Make sure students are in the right place at the right time and using their time wisely. Remind them to keep it organized and to always save their work. It is also necessary to address copyright issues with the students.

How to Use Digital Storytelling in Your Classroom

This was an article about the use of technology and digital story telling in the classroom. This fun, new technology would work great in a class and students would enjoy it. Students have a little bit more freedom in their work and they get to show their interests and creativity. As teachers, we need to still be in control but let our students take more of a charge of their learning and what they want to apply their knowledge to. As with many things in technology we learn by trial and error. This goes just fine in a class full of students because some will pick it up faster than others or even faster than the teacher and are then able to teach the rest of the class. Taking that position, students get the feeling of responsibility. The students should be and will be more accountable for their work because it is their own.

Social Studies

teamslacoe.edu/documentation/classroom/angie/angie.html

Fun grade level links to resources on history, with activities, more resources and multiple units.

What's Not on the Web

This article discusses how today, so much of our students' research is performed on the Web, when they could be using so much other material that is full of great information and often free. We need to better direct our students to the libraries of text, books, and magazines. It is difficult to decipher if the text you are reading on the web is accurate and reliable. We can help open our students up to bigger and better things when it comes to research.

I Read it on the Computer

This article was interesting and brought some good points to my mind. Really, how do we know if information we are reading on the Internet is accurate and not false or fake? The article gives a few lesson examples to do with your class to help them be more aware of what type of information can be found on the Internet. You can give your class a age appropriate controversial topic and have them go to various sites, that report different accounts or information. Knowing that anyone can put just about anything on the Internet and even make it appear professional and accurate should make us cautious about the information we use and take to mind.