Technology Article 2

Sheppard Software

This website claims to "make learning fun", and I would have to agree!  There are literally hundreds of interactive activities for children (and adults) to use.  There are links to geography games where a student can visualize the continents of the world, see the different countries, learn their capitals and gain an understanding of their landscape and culture.  There are interactives that teach students about health and exercise, ways for them to learn medical terminology and understand what causes/prevents a stroke.  One of the tools I am gong to use in my classroom is under the vocabulary link.  Students are to figure out the meaning of a word and then they are quizzed in an interactive game.  The words are all used in the standard SAT test.  This will be a great way for students to study without the typical structured way of studying for the SAT.  Although my 4th grade students will not be taking this test for several years, it will be fun for them to add a new word to their vocabulary each week.

A few other topics available for students are Astronomy, Chemistry, Endangered Animals, and Math.  Within the math link there are games that challenge even the best math students.  I actually found them very helpful as a review for myself, not just the students.  When the students feel like they have mastered a math concept they can challenge their time and see how fast they can go.  There are many, many more topics to choose from and each one links you to games and information that will create hours of learning for educators to use in the classroom. This is just one more fabulous tool to use in the world of technology!

Technology Article 1

Utah History For Kids

This Website is an incredible resource for students in the 4th grade. It is loaded with historical facts and interesting ways to help children understand Utah state history.  There are several games students can play, one of which is "History Detective" where they are instructed to take a few minutes and study a picture, focusing on the details. Then they take a little test at the end to see how much they remember.  For every activity students are learning skills they will need as they read informative essays and analyze information throughout their education. There is a link to a UT history Encyclopedia that is packed full of history, plus over 250 pictures to scroll through and study as well.  Within this link there is also "Utah History To Go" which is an online resource where students can read articles from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Another part of this website that I love is a link entitled "jump in" where students can dive deeper into understanding and analyzing information.  Just one of the interesting facts shared is the comparison of how people lived thousands of years ago and how we love.  The authors make the kids think about the similarities of living in a house like we live in compared to living in a cave.  All of the tabs within this website give you one simple sentence such as "In 1854 grasshopper plagues endanger crops."  Just enough information to peak their curiosity and keep their attention.  This website is a great "Tool in Technology."

Final Project

Yippeeeeee!!  I can't believe the semester is coming to a close.  This class has been a great stretch for my little brain.  I have definitely been challenged and have come to appreciate technology in the classroom.  I don't think I would have EVER stepped outside of my comfort zone and researched the many different software programs available to students and teachers if I were not required to take this class.  

I have really enjoyed being pushed into discovering the amazing tools available at our fingertips.  Not only have I gained a lot of knowledge, I have made several new friends along the way.  Thank you Sandie for your inspirational and humorous way of teaching technology!  I will look forward to taking part 2 from you in a year or so!

The final stretch!

I appreciated all the time we had in class to work on our final project.  Each section seems to be a little bit of a challenge mixed with just the right amount of fun and learning.  I feel like I have acquired several new skill that will help me day to day as well as in my career as a teacher.  My only concern is the fact that I don't want to forget how to use and access the many, many different software programs I have found.  I am looking forward to getting a lot of pactice as I continue my eduation.  By the time I am finished with my Master's degree I figure there will be a whole new world of softward at our fingertips.  I'm excited to see what the future holds for technology in education.

Kidspiration/Inspiration

We were asked this week to play around on "Kidspiration"/"Inspiration" for 30 min. or so. The biggest problem I had was making myself stop after 30 minutes. By the time I was done "playing" I realized I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface. What an incredible resource for teachers and their students! "Kidspiration" seemed to be geared more toward younger children and "Inspiration" was geared for a little bit older student, but both were amazing!

A few of the activities I tried on "Kidspiration" were, "Alike and Different", "Balanced Meals" and the "50 States". In the "Alike and Different" category a student learns to group similar items. After removing items that do not belong and finding a new item that matches the others the student then moves to step two. This step involves critical thinking as the student must think about what makes these items alike, such as animals, or flowers. Then the student is to write down these similarities. Since students learn in several different ways, this is a great tool to help children learn the same idea from many angles.

"Balanced Meals" was a lot of fun. Students are to create a nutritious meal from the library of food items displayed on the side. The students drag the items onto the lunch tray and creat a healty choice of foods for their meal. There are several choices of "junk food" items as well as healthy foods for them to choose from. What a creative way for children to learn to make good food choices when faced with many options.

The "50 States" were a great tool as well. Each state was layed out like a puzzle. Students are to move the states into their proper location on the map and make the United States look as it should. Then they can add labels with the democraphics of the state featuring items such as the state capital, or the terrain in the area...

Mathematics were very colorful and fun for the students as well. The children could learn even basic statistics by learning to use bar graphs from data they can pull from at school. One way they could do this would be to count how many students ate each different meal for lunch in their classroom. The possiblities in "Kidspiration" were endless!

Like I said earlier, "Inspiration" seemed geared toward a little bit older crowd, but had very similar software. The students were able to have help outlining and creating an essay, doing a science experiment, adding hyperlinks to their projects and increasing their vocabulary.

One of many tools inspiration has is a word guide to pull from as you are writing research papers and essay's . If the student were to type in a word such as "happy", not only would they be told it is an adjective, they would also be given a huge list of synonyms as well as Antonymsn(the opposite meaning). The student can then click "insert" and it will automatically insert the word into the writing assignment.

As the students read a book they can also take the main character and find how every other character in the book influences or connects to the main cahracter, such as enemies, friends, relatives, school friends... Students are then able to practice retaining and recalling information which is a skill they will need throughout all of their years of school.

If taken advantage of in the classroom, this software, like all the others we have been learning to use are a wonderful resource for students and educators everywhere!

Powerpoint Presentations

This week both class periods consisted of presenting and watching others present their powerpoint presentations.  I have been impressed by the endless possibilities available through this one piece of technology.  

We were divided into groups.  Each person was assigned a different segment to work on.  I found that it can be helpful to work with other students who have had significant experience with computers, but sometimes it comes so naturally that they just prefer to do it themselves. My favorite project that we worked together on was our comic strip.  We downloaded it to a google account and everyone was able to work on it from home.  Thankfully everyone carried their weight and it ended up turning out well. 

The presentation of our first project infront of the class was pretty frustrating because the music didn't attach like it was supposed to, but we learned from our mistake and now we know what we need to do next time.  I have also learned which students I would want to work with down the road and what we could do to make the finished product more polished and ready to go.

As I refelect on the past several weeks participating in this class I have come to truly appreciate technology. It has been such an exhilarating experience as I've accomplished things I never would have imagined I could do.  I'm looking forward to what is yet to come!

Powerpoint!

This has been one of my favorite weeks in my technology class.  We've been working on 2 different Powerpoint presentations as a group, and lucky for me the other students that joined me are fabulous on the computer.  The taught me several shortcuts and some great tools that will save a lot of time as I put together projects in the classroom.  

For the first presentation our group decided to make a comic strip. Since we LOVE UEN so much (LOL) we did the comic based on the 7 dwarfs and tied each of their personalities into the PPT.  It was fun to see the finished product. 

For the second project we made a book mark with a picture of Helen Keller and inserted one of her an inspirational quotes.  This would be a great way to introduce a new author to my students as they are preparing to read a book.  Another idea would be to have the students even create their own bookmarks. 

  

I am looking forward to next week when we get to present our finished product with the students in another class.  I'm a little bit intimidated to stand up and do the presentation, but that's actually a blessing in disguise because it means my comfort zone will continue to expand which is always a good thing!