Final Literacy Project

This is my final Literacy Project. It is book that my preschoolers made after reading the story Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear? By Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. My students were unable to read the sentences to narrate the story. I collaborated with the Kindergarten teacher next to my classroom. My students were the authors and illustrators. The Kindergarten students were the narrators. We created a digital story literally. I hope you enjoy it. NETS for Teachers:1,2,3; NETS for Students:1,2

Digital Citizenship

I feel it is very important to teach digital citizenship.  However, I feel if we teach citizenship globally the digital piece will be included in that.  Growing up my parents taught me that a good person does not lie, cheat, steal or disrespect.  I took those words as gold!  If only our society would too we wouldn't have to teach citizenship so blatantly.   That saddens me.  I digress.
Digital Citizenship as well as citizenship itself has to be taught throughout the areas of learning.  Not only how you treat others, but also how others treat you. Learning how to be safe in society to today and what to do  when you feel unsafe.  Thank you to all who posted the resources on our wiki page.  Although I can not truly use them for preschool they will be welcomed resources if I am bummed up in the grade levels.

Early Childhood Websites

Since the websites featured in the homework all related to early childhood I researched them all.  The ones I found to be most useful for myself would be starfall, kindersite, the google doc listing, and PBS kids.  I feel that K-Crew,  and Read Write Think would be added to the list if I was teaching kindergarten.  I enjoyed the site Scholastic: Interactive Learning and Reading Activities but it was obviously not for my age group.  All of the above mentioned I put on my Diigo resource list.  There were a few sites I didn't like.  Wikijunior was confusing and hard for me to understand.  I feel if I could not understand then how could my students.  Hubbards Cupboard was very religious and not for me.  One More Story looked good but it was not free so I really was not able to research it.
Altogether, this list is very helpful for me and I hope for others.
NETS for Students-  3,4

Digital Story and My Wiki

So I started the Weebly page yesterday and thought, why am I reinventing the wheel.  I already have a Wiki page for my parents.  So I decided I would start spending more time further developing my page.  Then, on the way home from class, I started thinking about how I want to make an Animoto for my end of the year slide show.  How am I going to show, that, the digital story and the farm Animoto to the parents in one sitting.  Holy Cow, would that be visual and auditory over stimulation for the parents, the students and myself!  IDEA! put the digital story and the Farm Animoto on my wiki page and email the parents telling them.  This way they have it at home and can watch at their leisure.  After much trial and error with the digital story I was able to embed it and my Animoto into a new page called Classroom Videos.  I will add my literacy project on to it also when it is finished.  If you would like, check out my Wiki .

NETS for Teachers 2,3,4

Age and Digital Literacy

In Darcie's blog Technology in the Pre-K Classroom she states that Technology should begin in the preschool classroom.  I agree not only as a preschool teacher but also as a mother of a preschooler. Many of my students come to me with some experience and knowledge using computers, iPads and hand helds like Nintendo DS or iTouch.  Under my supervision my own three year old uses the iPad and iTouch.  I believe he has gained great learning from these devises in the all areas of academic development.  He is able to maneuver websites and Apps I have set up for him as well as Utube videos.  However, like all things these devices are not babysitters and need to be supervised and contain appropriate rules and regulations.
By having a computer, iPad and or iTouch in the classroom it gives all children the advantages of technology that they may not have at home.  These advantages are not only for regular education but should also be used in specialized instruction.  In my preschool classroom we (mainly the students) use the Promethean Board daily to take attendance, make KWL charts, interactive literacy and math flip charts, music and movement and art projects.  Our SLP uses an iPad for vocabulary development and problem solving activities.  We are only at the tip of the iceberg in what we can do with preschoolers and the Internet.  With this said my hope is that preschool teachers understand the need for a balanced curriculum where technology has it's place.  Some websites I use with my students are starfall.com, helpkidzlearn.com, kidpix, pbskids.com, and bookflix

Welcome to WECMS

After a multitude of tries I finally was able to save my completed Digital story with the music. I am glad it is finally finished. I really didn't enjoy hearing myself on a recording but oh well. This is my school and a day in our classroom. I will use this as an introduction to school when my students and parents visit the night before school starts. I hope you enjoy it. NETS for teachers 1,2,4

Flocabulary

Flocabulary was a website I searched after I read a blog by Mary Ellen.  I love it and so does my son.  He is three and the sight is really for vocabulary in the older grades, but what a great concept.  The stories are raps of vocabulary.  Dae loves the one called Look Before You Leap. He has been asking me daily to watch it.  IF a three year old wants to watch it I am sure an older student with love it.  Once you have a membership there is different content and grade levels on the sight to choose from.  Thanks Mary Ellen

Farm Animoto

Google Reader

Google Reader is great. I like the way that it organizes all of the blog posts in order and gives a short version of the posts so can scroll through and see which ones I want to read. Since there are many I am following for school I can quickly see the topics. I will eventually add blogs to my reader so I can quickly see new items on blogs to help me with my planning and curriculum. This class has opened up a whole new world for me. I can't wait to have the time to just enjoy the searching.

My Diigo

As I am working more with Diigo I am thinking it will be used the most when I am finished. I find I am book marking a lot of sights that I will refer to when creating my curriculum. Since I can't access Pinterest from school, I have found many sights I would use for curriculum, then putting them into My Diigo. Diigo is a communication and collaborative tool for students and allows teachers to model digital age work and learning

Animoto Project

I created an Animoto about the Auer Farm. Every month each classroom from our school visits the farm, each month we are given a different lesson about nature and/or animals. I will share my Animoto on Blogger when I receive all the signed release forms from the parents. I currently have a third of them. I will use my Animoto at the end of the year at our party to show students and parents. I will also use it as an informational video for my new parents on orientation night. I have shown it to my curriculum person and they are considering using it for the parent information sessions for new incoming parents. Animoto is a great tool for teachers to teach students to be creative and innovative, while modeling digital age work and learning.

30+ Wikis

Today I read Digitally Speaking a wiki that I got off of 30+ open wikis every educator should read. I feel that the front page of the intro was fantastic and so true. I really wish we as teachers interested in technology were given the time to explore, the PD to learn and the updated equipment needed to use and teach our students. 30+ wiki's is a great site to help teachers professionally grow.

Classroom Rules

Empowering Students with Technology

Chapter 1
In Chapter 1 the discussion of Blocking Versus Access interests me.  We need to teach our children how to find the information they need by being able to read the URL address.  Alan November's book has shown me how to do this, which I didn't know before.  This tells me that the school systems should not be blindly blocking websites and not giving the teachers professional development to understand the information themselves.  It is the teachers responsibility to teach the children research and critical thinking skills but how can they, if they themselves don't have the pertinent information to understand the addresses they are searching?  Filtering gives all parties involved (teachers, parents, administration and students) a false sense of security. However, filtering also takes away many educational opportunities from students by blocking websites like UTube.

  Chapter 2
The school to family connection part of this chapter affected me the most. There are many times when we have school functions that working parents cannot attend. At least two or three students don't have family members who can not attend and that makes the students feel sad and uncomfortable. Being able to SKYPE parents or grandparents into the environment is a wonderful idea. I also like how our curriculum has the capability for our parents to see videos and pictures of our students hard at work. It gives new meaning to the dinner time conversation. As the students are more capable to connect to family, the world and new cultures the more they are able to see the world through a different lens. This will given them real world experiences within the classroom helping them for for the workforce of the future.


Chapter 3
The shift of control is a difficult change for most students and teachers. In preschool we spend most of our day facilitating problem solvers. The problems arise and the teacher doesn't give the direct solution. We guide the students to find the answers themselves. This way the students has ownership of not only the problem but of the solution that is found. Somewhere this breaks down and changes in the primary grades. Through units of study in preschool students are coming up with the topics of interests. if we continue in this constructivist way of teaching right from the start and into the primary grades, the shift will not be so drastic. As they grow and work together to solve problems using their resources, students will not feel the shift. It will be second nature, this way the change from school to the work force will also not be so uncomfortable.
  Chapter 4
My thoughts for this chapter are sparse, since I will only teach younger children. I feel I would never encounter giving them the freedoms of archive research. I do understand the need for organizing the information so a student can use it. Therefore as a teacher of younger children I would create a folder of websites my students could use to research a topic. Using this method could then spark a group discussion on research and what is useful and what may not be. Younger students need to be guided through the organization process and practice continuously throughout the early grades.
  Chapter 5
Online learning seemed like a dream or a sci-fi movie when I was in high school. Now it is a not only possible but attainable in all classrooms. If schools institute online learning, they can combine resources and possibly save money to be spent in other ways. In a time where texts books and supplies are so limited, pooling resources with a high initial cost investment could save future supply costs. Schools, students and teachers can begin slowly. Like any new program, there is bound to be fight and anxiety. As the participants practice and gain knowledge the anxiety and stress lessens.