A Google Earth Tour of South America

Developing geographic skills such as reading maps and understanding the concept of relative location is essential to the second graders continent study. After a lesson on different kinds of maps and their purposes (physical, political, road, topographic, climate, road, etc.), second graders enjoyed a virtual tour of South America via Google Earth. 

Facts for each country along with images representing the geography, economy, and people were embedded within the tour. Students were asked to read the facts at each tour stop. They also spent time using the navigation bar to zoom in on landforms and cities. Students loved zooming in on the Amazon River and were amazed at its size. They were also surprised to learn that the country of Brazil alone makes up half of the continent. 

Students will continue to use the tour in their classrooms over the next few weeks. A follow up activity includes using a graphic organizer to record facts for each tour stop allowing students to practice taking notes.

iPads in Kindergarten ... Finally!

I never thought the day would come. Weeks searching for applications and days for setup - but finally, the iPads have been launched in kindergarten. It was so wonderful to see months of work finally come together. I'm not sure who was more excited - me or the kids! 

I was so fortunate to buy ten iPads for the kindergarten classroom. While the devices were introduced in the lab, they will be living in the kindergarten wing. The three classrooms will utilize the iPads during center rotations. They will also be used over the course of the year by Miss Diaz Leroy in her Music/Spanish classroom. Special connectors have been purchased to connect the iPads to the classroom projectors to facilitate instruction.

After their introduction, each class developed a class set of rules to follow. This list wasn't too difficult for the students to develop, especially since so many of them use these devices at home.  Here were some of the student recommendations for Our iPad Rules:

1. Only use gentle fingers. Play with then nicely.
2. Make sure your hands are clean and dry.
3. Always carry with two hands.
4. Always make sure the iPad is in a safe place. Never leave it on the floor where someone might step on it.
5. Only get an iPad from the cart with an adult.
6. Always walk when you carry your iPad.
7. Only use the apps the teachers tell you to use.
8. Don't forget to turn it off when your turn is over.

I think we are off to a great start!

4th Grade Animated Important Poems

Students used the program Frames to create digitally animated characters of themselves reading important poems modeled after those in Margaret Wise Brown’s book The Important Poem. Characters were created by manipulating and layering shapes. Then, after selecting a relevant background, students duplicated frames altering mouths and eyes to animate their character. Finally, students edited their frames so the length of the images matched the length of the recordings. Timing mouth and eye movements with breaks in speech was especially challenging! Check out their movies here.

World Book for Kids: A Kid-Friendly Research Tool

The Internet is a wealth of information; unfortunately, helping young children find information that is developmentally appropriate can be a challenge.There are lots of great websites for children, but one of my favorites is World Book for Kids (WBK). This year marks the fourth year Shorecrest offers this online resource for our Lower Division students to use both at home and at school. This developmentally appropriate website offers:

• Simple search and navigation features
• Easy-to-read articles with embedded multimedia
• Thousands of images, illustrations, and videos
• An Important People feature with several thousand biographies
• A collection of age-appropriate science fair projects
• Atlas, interactive maps, and outline maps and flags
• A tool for exploring and comparing places and animals
• Hyperlinks only link within the site
• Educational games and activities

Second grade students were introduced to WBK in the lab this week. In addition to learning how to navigate the site, they were given instruction on how to read for information by taking short notes. Working with partners, students used graphic organizers to record facts about the continent of North America, their current unit of study. Students learned the technique of highlighting each sentence as they read to help them better focus on the content. This is an important navigational strategy to help children read and understand computer-based text. Next, they pulled the important fact(s) from each sentence. Students could record just one fact per circle on their web. Additionally, they had to figure out a way to write the fact with no more than five words. Learning how to take notes is difficult and one that requires lots of practice.

Teaching Digital Citizenship

Every Monday morning at Town Meeting, our Lower Division students recite the motto "We respect ourselves, each other, and the environment." Every time I hear it, I can't help but think about the motto in respect to technology use. As the technologies encountered by young children continues to grow, it is essential we redefine the concept of citizenship to include digital citizenship, using technology appropriately and responsibly. In his book, Raising a Digital Child, Mike Ribble discusses the important role parents play in educating their child in this ever-changing digital world.

While most of you have already read through Shorecrest's Responsible Use Policy for Educational Technology (RUP) in the Lower Division handbook, I encourage you to place the policy below near your home computer and engage your child in conversation about how they use technology in their every day life. Students in third grade started the year reviewing S is for Safety. Fourth graders are learning to respect the digital identities and work of others as they log in to their keyboarding program, Type to Learn 4, share laptops with other students, and access the school's server to save files.

Here are some free Brain Pop videos on Internet Safety and Digital Etiquette you can use to engage your child in conversation.

C•H•A•R•G•E•R•S
Responsible Use Policy for Educational Technology

C is for Courtesy.
I will treat others online as I would have them treat me. I will never send out mean or threatening messages nor will I respond to any such messages that are sent to me.

H is for Honesty.
I understand that it is against the law to copy others’ ideas, words, and pictures and use them as my own. I will document all information obtained from web sources such as sites and photos in class work. I will not plagiarize the work of others. I understand that copying software or illegally obtained files (i.e. MP3 files) is against the law.

A is for Accountability.
I will only use computers, technological devices, and the Internet for schoolwork. I understand I can only go to sites my teachers has approved. I will not enter chat rooms, play unapproved games, send chain letters, and download music (MP3) files. I will follow these same rules in all classrooms, in the computer lab, in aftercare and in the library.

R is for Responsibility.
I will be a good digital citizen and not do anything that hurts other people or is against the law. I know the Internet is a useful tool, and I will always use it responsibly. I will report to an adult any email, messages, or pictures that make me feel uncomfortable. It is not my fault if I see something bad accidentally. If I do see something inappropriate, I will close the window and tell an adult immediately.

G is for Gift.
Shorecrest has made and will continue to make a significant investment of time and money to bring technology into the classroom. Using computers and other technological devices at school is a privilege, not a right. I understand the importance of these privileges, and will follow all rules outlined in Shorecrest’s Responsible Use Policy for Educational Technology.

E is for Equipment.
I will protect all equipment including computers, printers, cameras, clickers, and other hand-held devices. I will handle all equipment with care, following the rules given by my teachers. I may not install software to any campus computer without permission and proper supervision. I understand that I may not change any settings on the desktop, including control panels, preferences, system components, or configuration files or unplug any parts of the computers unless directly supervised by a teacher. I understand that I will not eat or drink near computers.

R is for Respect of Classmates.
I will respect the computer identities of my peers. I will not log on as anyone else or use anyone else’s account. Except for my own schoolwork documents, I will not delete, change, or move files. I will not tamper with another person's files.

S is for Safety.
I will never give out private information such as my last name, my address, my telephone number, my parents' work addresses or telephone numbers, or the name and location of my school without permission from an adult.

Easy Access Bookmarks

In my role as Instructional Technologist, I try to stay current on the newest technology trends. This isn't always so easy given the rapid pace with which technology develops. In fact, at any given time, I can have forty to fifty different online tools or websites on my investigation list. My latest discovery is Symbaloo, an online tool for bookmarking websites. I've heard about this site for about a year now, but when I saw my 7th grader using it to access his class links, I knew I had to finally give it a try. This online tool offers many features.

• It's free.
• You can create an online account that can be accessed from anywhere. This means you can take bookmarks with you from computer to computer.
  
• It uses both a verbal and pictorial interface which makes creating bookmarks for non-readers easy.
• It allows you to create different matrices to organize your bookmarks.
• The site can be added as the opening page of your browser for easy access.
• You can add up to 64 links on each matrix.
  

So, I setup my free account and created my first matrix in about half an hour. Here is a first look.


This tool is a great way for teachers to organize bookmarks for easy access for students both at home and at school. Also a great way for parents of young children to make their favorite websites easy to find.

James & the Giant Peach Celebration

If you are looking for a fun reading and writing activity for the summer, you must check out Follow that Peach! Inspired by the 50th anniversary of Roald Dahl's book James and the Giant Peach, kids can send a virtual peach to travel around the world or download a paper peach to send through the mail. First, kids send their peach to their chosen "peach pal". Then it is forwarded to another "peach pal". The goal is for your virtual or paper peach to complete its journey by reaching 50 people. The website has lots of fun activities to download too. An interactive map tracks the movements of launched peaches. As of today, 1,578 peaches have traveled 182,777 miles around the world.

Thanks to @shannonmmiller and @kellyhines for posting on Twitter.