Good Gravy...

Seriously?! School hasn't even started and I've already forgotten about my promise to post weekly! :( Sorry friends!

I haven't worked in my classroom nearly as much as I should have by now, but I've done a little. Today I went in and arranged the desks and my desk, but I'm not satisfied. I spent the afternoon at the elementary making behavior charts. Tonight I worked on my nametags and such. Tomorrow I will go back to the Elementary to laminate them and some posters I have purchased over the summer. I'm excited about my class and can't wait to meet the students!

This post was lame, but I promised myself I'd post every week. :)

Here it comes...can you feel it?

Another school year is heading our way friends! I greet this school year with mixed emotions. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, but I'll miss the face-paced environment of camp. I'm ready to meet a new group, but I'll miss last year's group. I'm ready to face the challenges of teaching in a new building, but will miss the old (but really new) one. Excited for new faces, but will certainly miss the familiar faces...I wouldn't dare call them old. ;)

My plan, as of today, is to blog at least once a week with the goings on in the classroom. That's not to say it is a promise, because we all get busy. I'm just going to try...that's all. :)

Here it is...the finale...#13

Well friends, I find myself at the end of an exciting adventure. As Rachel said, this is the official end, but I hope to continue on my journey into the Web 2.0 world.

Though the journey has been long, it has definitely been worthwhile. I've been introduced and re-connected with many tools that I would love to incorporate into my daily curriculum. I love all the different tools, but I would have to say my favorites would be the fun stuff we encountered and especially the blogging. I've even started a student blog on Kidblog! The students love posting their journal entries and can't wait to get the lab once a week to do so. If you want to look at our journals, let me know and I'll send you the link and guest password. I love this site because it is safe for the students to use. No one can see our entries without a login name and password.

I think this program has helped me to continue with my goal of integrating and continuing use of technology in the classroom. Learning about all the tools and how to incorporate them really helps make this goal happen.

13 things the Pretzel way has encouraged me to delve further into the world of Web 2.0.

#12...getting closer....

Well friends, interesting options this time around. I admit, I played with more than one of the websites listed for this week. Even the non-educational ones.

I did find one that will come in handy for years to come! I believe it is called .DocStoc (pronounced dot-doc-stock). This site has many documents submitted by thousands of people. These documents are downloadable by anyone and everyone. They are free and easy to use. I'm sure I'll be browsing this site for future ideas and documents.

Several of the top three winners for each category on the website I looked at, are ones that I've seen or used several times in the past.

Number 11

I just can't contain myself! I LOVE these websites! Wordle is by far, one of the greatest inventions of all time. I can think of so many different uses for this one. You could use it for spelling words, vocabulary, synonyms, adjectives, antonyms, the list goes on and on. I've seen Wordle used in my hallway since this tool was introduced. Nancy and Addie used it with their students. Students described themselves with different adjectives. They put their names in and then all the words that describe them. LOVED this idea!

Flash Card Exchange: I didn't really look into this one much, I just briefly glanced at the page, but I was talking to Sue about it at school. She told me about this being an app on the iTouch or iPhones. It got me thinking...what if I had 25 iTouches for classroom use? How cool would that be?! We could use it for SO many different activities. iTouches have several different educational applications available. I would be able to upload flash card exchange, utilize math applications, utilize the calculator feature, foreign language introductions, access to news articles and videos. The possibilities are endless.

Animoto is a neat website. I threw together a few pictures from an activity where my 6th graders helped out the 1st graders into a video. The outcome was different. I think we might be able to use this for a recap of the 6th grade's PBIS video project. It will be fun to take some pictures as we work on the project and then have the slide presentation to look back on.

Last but not least, Comiqs. Again, this would be a fun site to show the kids for personal use more than educational use. I could potentially see using this for creating a visual representation of a story or book. It could be fun to have students recreate a storyline from a book they've read.

Of all these tools, I would say Wordle is my favorite. :)

I guess 10 would be next...

Well friends, here I sit pondering what I've just watched and explored. Creative Commons, I like the idea behind it all. I think it would beneficial if I had the time and energy to sift through some of the ideas on the website. For now though I'm satisfied only knowing about the website. Possibly this Summer I'll have some "downtime" to sift through these tools again and really develop some knowledge on how to integrate them into the classroom.

Numba 9

Shelfari is the page of choice for me! :) I really like this type of website. I love reading, but often find myself asking others what books they recommend. When I run out of people, I stop reading for a while...with this website I can browse therecommendations of the my friends and others. My user name on there is mwainman if you'd like to see the books I've added. It seems as though I can't remember all the books I've read....

It is difficult to imagine using this type of tool in the classroom because I don't have a student computer in my classroom. I'm not complaining, because I didn't ask for one. I simply didn't have the need for one when the requests went out and I didn't want to be selfish. If I had a classroom computer or had access to the lab more than once a month, I could see using this as a means to keep track of books students have read. For example, when they do the Rebecca Caudill books, they could keep track on this program instead of or in addition to in the library. Just a thought...

This site is similar to one I use. I have an account on Swaptree.com On Swaptree, you enter the ISBN number of books you own. Then you browse through the millions of books and other items that other people own. If I remember right you can list books, movies, music, and games. I've only used the book trading on this site. Once you have selected books you'd like to read, the site automatically connects you with people that own that book and want one of your books. When you initiate a trade or if someone initiates one with you, you can accept or deny the trade. If you accept the two people in the trade mail the books to each other. Once you get that book, it is yours to keep. You can either swap it again or keep it for your library. I love this site and have made several trades on it. I haven't used it recently, but am thinking about using it again.

Actually, I think I'll go inventory my books now...:)