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Currently (halfway through) April Edition

Techie Tuesday - Screencast-o-matic

My latest tech tip is that I've recently started filming tutorials for my projects. My 3rd graders are starting Excel so I'll introduce the vocabulary words and point out a few things over the next week as they explore it. Then the following class, we'll work on creating our multiplication table by following along with my tutorial that I filmed using the free website www.screencastomatic.com.

I'm most excited about this new tool because when I teach the same thing 5 or 6 times over a week or more I sometimes leave out details like remembering to change the page breaks before printing or I might forget to discuss why we're doing this process.

Also, I think this will be an exciting tool as students are beginning to be interested in trying certain things at home or showing parents how they did something. This might be the beginning to a flipped classroom model.

Be sure to check out Screencast-o-matic. I thought it was easy to use, didn't require a download, or account.

Next time, I plan to create a title slide in Power Point so that the first screenshots look uniform and organized when I begin posting them on my class website.

Currently...March

Wallwisher/Padlet

Have you used Wallwisher (now renamed Padlet) in your classroom? What age level? Is there a way to moderate to make sure all comments are school-appropriate? Would love to use an instant-feedback/collaboration tool.

The Newspaper Clipping Web 2.0 Tool

I saw this site late last night on Pinterest. I repinned like any good teacher would do with the intentions to check it out thoroughly later. If you're like me, you know that often you never get back to looking at your pins.

I went back and explored this link today. The first link will create a custom newspaper clipping. You can customize the date, title and the article. I didn't see a spell check feature so I'd likely have students use Word to proof-read/spell-check then copy and paste into the clipping generator.

I played with it briefly and created this stream of consciousness style article about teaching & tech.

http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

The same website also has a movie clapper board generator. I'm not sure how I would ever use this in my tech class. Maybe in a movie making unit? Anyways - here's the example that I created. 

http://www.fodey.com/generators/movie/clapper_board.asp

There are also options for HTML wizard and ninja words as well as animals with speech bubbles. Both seem interested but not something I would likely use in my class. There are ads on this site but none that appeared inappropriate.

I'd love to hear ideas on how you might integrate these tools into your class.

Tech Freebie

I wanted to share one of my favorite sites: http://www.abcya.com/animate.htm My students love to animate different scenes like cars driving, flowers growing, even their own name. It is simple enough for even my 2nd graders to play with and enjoy.

I hope you will enjoy too!