Category Archives: Technology Integration

True Confessions of my Webquest Blunders

Screenshot 2013-12-27 20.32.39

Lesson Background:

I had previously created a webquest on the life cycle of butterflies and frogs.  I wanted to update these lessons, and I decided to give creating a webquest in PowerPoint a whirl.  I thought PowerPoint would give me capabilities to meet criteria for creating a kid-friendly webquest for my primary students.  I wanted to be able to insert hyperlinks obviously, but I wanted something that would be easy to navigate, and would allow me to embed video and insert photographs.  I also wanted to be able to easily insert audio clips, because my students are emerging readers.  Unfortunately, things did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. Continue reading

Top Ten Things Teachers Should be Able to do in ActivInspire

Thumbnail 2 for PumpkinsIn my previous post Using ActivInspire to Create Cross-Curricular lessons, I introduced you to some basic ActivInspire skills when I created my Boots for Beth cross-curricular lesson.  I wanted to advance my ActivInspire skills, so I viewed some different tutorials to learn how I could make my ActivInspire Flipcharts more engaging.  
Continue reading

Introducing Students to Story Elements through Comics

Lesson Background

We read a delightful story titled Space Pup, about a super hero dog who rescues a bus that is stuck in the mud. I thought it would be fun to challenge students to extend the story by creating their own Space Pup adventure. I thought I could introduce my students to story elements by having them create a comic strip. Continue reading

Creating a Glog on the Life Cycle of a Chicken with Glogster EDU

Glogster Thumbnail
Lesson Background

In Reading we read the story, Dan’s Pet, about a boy who keeps a pet chick named Jen for pet. Throughout the story Jen grows into a hen. At the end of the story, Jen lays eggs. I thought this week would be a good opportunity to teach students more about the life cycle of chickens. I had used Glogster EDU during my graduate studies, and I always wanted to try to use it with my students. I set out to have my class make a Glog on the life cycle of a chicken. Continue reading

Using ActivInspire to Create a Cross-Curricular Lesson

Thumbnail Boots for Beth 1 thumb

Lesson Background

In class we read the story Boots for Beth about a pig named Beth. At the beginning of the story Beth can’t get her boots on because they are too small. Throughout the story Beth’s animal friends offer their boots, but none of them are right for Beth. At the end of the story the friends surprise Beth with a new pair boots. Our focus reading comprehension skill for the week was retelling. I knew I wanted to work this skill into the project if possible.

In math we have been working a lot with ten-frames. I thought it would be fun for students to drag boots onto the ten-frame instead of boring counters. I decided to use ActivInspire to create this presentation.

Continue reading

Mind Mapping with Popplet

Popplet Image
Project Background

This week we read an informational text titled All That Corn in our Harcourt Trophies reading books. On Day 2 of the Harcourt Trophies plan it recommends that the teacher help students create a concept map about farms. I have been eager to use a new, web-based, mind mapping tool with my students and I saw this as the perfect opportunity. When I did my action research during my graduate studies with my PreK students, I used Kidspiration software for mind mapping. Kidspiration is a good software package, but for the purposes of this blog I want to make sure that I am showcasing applications that are free and accessible to everyone. Plus, I know there are many mind mapping tools that have come out in the past few years, so I wanted to familiarize myself with the new tools out there. The world of educational technology is ever-changing, so it is important to stay up to date!
Continue reading

Creating an Interactive Virtual Photo Cube

20131014-214538.jpg

Lesson Background

This particular week we read the story, Todd’s Box, about a boy who takes a walk with his mother. Along the way he collects artifacts from nature, and he saves them in a box. At the end of the story he surprises his mom with the box. In math we were still working on subtraction, which was the focus of our Jack and Rick Subtraction stories the previous week. Incorporating science was a logical choice based on the reading selection for the week. For this project I decided to have students go on a nature walk and take digital photos of what they found. Then students created their own virtual box to showcase the artifacts they found on their nature walk.
Continue reading

Using iMovie to Turn you Students into Music Video Stars!

2013-10-08 19.38.59

Project Background

We read a nonfiction story titled Ants in reading. An exciting addition to our classroom was an ant farm this week. On Day 4 in the Harcourt Trophies lesson plan students sing “The Ants Go Marching”, and are engaged in some phonemic awareness activities using words from the song including identifying rhyming words. I thought this song was the perfect opportunity to tie in music, art, math and literature.2013-09-20 13.20.10
Continue reading

Using PowerPoint to Act Out Mathematical Story Problems

Jack and Rick Cover

Lesson Background

This particular week students read the story Jack and Rick. A charming story about two lovable characters, Jack, a rabbit and Rick, a bear who find themselves on opposite sides of a river. The pair have to problem solve to get on the same side of the river, so they can play together. In math students have been working on subtraction with an emphasis on story problems. For my cross-curricular project I had students work in groups to create their own taking away story problem. I thought using PowerPoint would be the perfect tool for this project, because students can deepen their understanding of subtraction by using animation to demonstrate taking away.
Continue reading

Virtual Tour of the Niña

Nina thumbnail

Background
A few years back a replica of the Niña, one of Christopher Columbus’s ships, visited Pittsburgh.
Check out the Official Website

I was able to take photos of the ship, and at the time I put them into a PowerPoint presentation that I shared with my students for several years in honor of Columbus Day. Then I learned about Mapwing. This is a great Web 2.0 tool that allows you to make your own virtual field trips!
Continue reading