Beyond Four Walls: Mrs. Smith's Tech Blog

Elementary teachers from Hempfield attended and presented at an Elementary Technology Conference at IU13 on April 15th.  It was a day of sharing how technology is being used in K-6 classrooms.  Here’s what some of our teachers had to say about the sessions.

Today I used the projector and Word to go over our reading pages.  The kids thought it was so cool that I used that instead of the blackboard.  A student shouted out, “I just love this digital classroom!”  Since the conference I have been using the projector everyday in more creative ways.  The students love it.  I enjoy it too!     - Christine Ruhl, FES Grade 1

I was amazed at what primary kids are doing with technology. I am so looking forward to trying out things with my first graders next year!    -Missy Paup, FES Grade 1

The Moodle and NetTrekker sessions were super. The NetTrekker session was good because it was something that could  be used and integrated immediately.    -Ronda Miller, LPC Grade 3

I learned a lot at the conference and even started a wikispace for one of my writing classes to try to incorporate an online journal of their writing piece for the 4th MP.  -Ian Daecher, FES Grade 6

The day provided  A LOT of ideas. The actual classroom teachers presenting were able to present as a “tried already” idea with much insight to what might need to be adjusted in the classroom. It was hard to choose between presentations. This should definitely be an annual conference!

-Cheryl Plotner, EPES Grade 3

Mrs. Bauer worked with Centerville students on writing and publishing poems in April. Mrs. Mowery’s first grade class wrote “Clue Poems” and Mrs. Chester’s second grade class wrote “String Poems”. Click on the link below to see their poems. The students would love to hear your comments. Click on the Comment link on the main page of the Technology Blog to tell them what you think!

http://einstein.hempfieldsd.org/technology/centerville-poems/

Student technology projects are now available for viewing on the Technology Blog!   So far it it just the Farmdale First Grade Digital Stories listed there, but there is more to come.  Check back often to see what students are doing with technology across the district.

Link to main blog     http://einstein.hempfieldsd.org/technology/

Direct link to FES Digital Stories   http://einstein.hempfieldsd.org/technology/fes-digital-storytelling/

Digital Storytelling

There are many ways to publish digital stories.   Some teachers use iPhoto, while others prefer PowerPoint or Keynote (Apple’s presentation software), iMovie, or Garage Band.   Click on the Digital Story link in Pages on the left to learn more about doing a digital storytelling project in your classroom!

Third and fourth grade classes work together to prepare clues on a mystery animal of their choice prior to this event.  On the date of their video conference, classes from other states try to guess what the animal is based on the clues that may describe the animal’s habitat, behavior, or physical characteristics.  We will provide support to participating classes on the video conferencing aspect.   YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THIS THROUGH MYSELF OF SUE ALLEN SO WE CAN MAKE SURE THE EQUIPMENT IS AVAILABLE!   We can only take one class in the district per available date (there are 3).  If multiple classes express interest, we will select a class based on a lottery system.   Click on Projects & Opportunities page to the left for more info!

Discovery Education and 3M are sponsoring a national science competition open to students in grades 5-8.  Individual students must submit a 1-2 minute video on a particular science topic to demonstrate and understanding of the concept.  They have until May 20, 2009 to submit their videos, which will then be reviewed over the summer to select finalists next fall.   For more information on this opportunity, go to the “Projects & Opportunities” page on the left and click on the links for this competition.  Contact me if you have questions or would like assitance with this project!   This is not something that has to be done at school, so if you have students who would like to participate we can see that they have the information that they need.

Several classes recently participated in virtual author visits with their students.    The presenting authors were Eileen Spinelli, Jerry Spinelli, and Robin Moore and were done through PDE-sponsored webinars.   A webinar is simply a presentation or workshop delivered over the internet.    A laptop is connected to a projector and speakers so that the entire class can view the event.    There are often audio and video components to the presentation, though sometimes it is just audio with visuals.   Participants can participate by typing in questions to the presenter and in some cases are allowed to even speak to the presenter and entire group.   It is very cool!  If this is something that you’d like to try in the future, please let me know.    The Spinelli event was recorded and is currently available to be shown in your classroom when and if it fits into your schedule.  Robin Moore and the History of Groundhog day will be available for viewing soon.

Some of the participating teachers in recent webinars were Dara Bower (EPES Gr.2), Clare Daher (LIC Gr.4), Jeanne McCreary (LIC Gr. 5), Scott Podgurski (LIC Gr. 5), Christine Ruhl (FES Gr.1), Missy Paup (MES Gr. 1)  and Barb Wagner (LIC Gr. 6)  If there are others of you out there who did this on your own, let me know who you are!!!  Many thanks to all of you who joined in  for being among the first to try out this emerging opportunity.

Mini-tech sessions will soon be offered at each elementary school on a monthly basis.   These sessions will be held from 3:45-4:45 on various topics.   Some sessions will be led by teachers in the building, while others will be done by members of the technology department.

As with other district staff development, teachers will sign up via MLP.   January sessions will be eligible for both Act 48 or AIS credit (08-09 school year only) for attending.  Teachers are certainly not limited to attending sessions in their own buildings.

Let me know your questions and thoughts on this!

I am often approached by K-2 teachers wanting to know about programs they can use with students in the lab now that so many of the older ones don’t work.   Although there are many great websites, typing in website addresses and/or bookmarking websites can be difficult with younger students.   To make this easier for you, I’ve collected some websites and put them in one location in this blog.  Please note the page link on the left side of the window called “Lab Links (K-2)”. The purpose of this page is to organize educational activities to be used by K-2 students in the lab, classroom or at home. I will update this page periodically, adding and removing sites, as I become aware of changes. This site will be bookmarked in all labs in the near future. The idea is that you can have one place for students to go where they can access games and activities that relate to your grade level. Each website listed will also have an icon/picture which students can click on to go to the website. This way younger students can simply “click on the dog” to go to the desired website. Give it a try and post feedback to me here. If you have websites that you know of, please share them with me and I’ll get them posted!

Many teachers have come to me wondering what to do with their students in the computer lab.   We are far away from the day when a class would go into the lab, sit down and use a piece of software for 30 minutes.  With the increasing number of educational activities available on the internet, the days of purchased software packages are drawing to a close.    Yet finding quality websites takes time and navigating to them with a group of 7-year-olds can be cumbersome.  I am hoping to use this blog to give teachers one easy location to go to to locate activities to use with students.    To access them will require only one website address, which can be bookmarked.   I’ll take care of updating the links, adding websites I come across as well as ones that are shared by you.    Some of the links will be games kids can play, but because this is a generation of creators, others will give students a chance to create stories of their own.   Please email me or add comments here on the websites listed in the Lab Links pages.   I’m starting with K-2 because I think that age group needs the information the most right now (since they don’t use Study Island in the lab).   I’m looking forward to this being a collaborative effort!   To get started, click on the Lab Links (K-2)  on the left.