Monthly Archives: March 2014

Shaking the Winter Blues in the Classroom with iMovie Music Videos

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Project Background

At the beginning of the school year I created an interactive presentation for the daily calendar routine in my classroom. Included in this PowerPoint were YouTube videos of a weather song and a calendar song. Unfortunately, these songs seem to keep getting taking off YouTube. My students happened to be learning about proper nouns including the days of the week, so I decided film our own days of the week rap video.  We had previously filmed a video of the Ants Go Marching which was one of my favorite projects this school year!  I felt like it was time for another music project;, what better way to shake the winter blues!?  I love using songs to teach concepts, because they really help to make the material stick!
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Top Ten Intearctive Websites to Use with Your IWB

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My fellow building Technology Integrator and myself recently presented our favorite interactive websites to our faculty.  We presented these to both our building staff, and then we were honored to share the list with the entire district-wide faculty.   Our district has recently installed Epson Brightlink Interactive Projectors in the Elementary classrooms and the Junior High classrooms.  We have found that many of of staff are uncomfortable with the new technology and have become overwhelmed some of our trainings on IWB software, such as ActivInspire.  We compiled this list of our favorite interactive websites to provide teachers with a list of resources that they can go to for ready-made activities to use with their IWBs or on student computers. Continue reading