Link Love: Big Universe (Online Books for SmartBoards)

Children's Books Online - Read, Create & Share - BigUniverse.com

Great resource featuring online books.  Also allows creation and publishing of books by students.

http://www.biguniverse.com

The TeacherMate is the Mail!

I am very excited that I will have a chance to actually use and review the TeacherMate handheld computer. These handhelds are being promoted as a low cost 1:1 computing solution for grades K-3. For a limited time they are allowing teachers to test the machines for free for 30 days! I am looking forward to seeing how the software works. I am looking into how I can possibly create a 1:1 environment for the 2009-10 school year, but I am not sure what hardware (whether it is the TeacherMate or XO-1 or something else) I will try to get.

http://www.innovationsforlearning.org/about_teachermate.php

What Works 4 U Wednesday - L.I.O.N. Books

This is the first post in what will hopefully become a series. Don't you love visiting other classrooms? This is something we, as educators, may not have the opportunity to do as much as we like. But when we do, we enjoy it so much. Why? Because we are picking up tips and ideas that we can use in our own classroom. Now we can use the internet to do a bit a virtual snooping. What works in your classroom? What tips would you give the online teacher community? Please tweet your responses to @happyhappyapple and I will post a suggestion each Wednesday. It can be a strategy, classroom management tip, online site -- it doesn't matter. Just post what works for you! Just a small caveat, I am focusing on K-5 tips, but if your tip can be adapted for elementary grades, it can be posted too!

This is a low-tech idea that I came across about 4 years ago online. Once I saw it, I've been using it in my classroom every year since. They are called many things, M.O.O.S.E. Books, B.E.A.R. Books, B.E.E. Binders, etc. But one thing you can be sure of -- is that they work. They are simply organizational binders that students use through out the school year. Students take them home and bring them to school each day. They can be used as a communication tool between school and home. They house homework packets. They hold behavior reports. They are basically hubs of student information.

There are many different acronyms that you can use for your own organizational binders. I chose L.I.O.N. (Let's Instill Organization Now) because that is our school mascot. These binders have saved me so many times. Students stopped losing their lunch money because they now had a secure place for it. I got notes from parents (and vice versa) because their child would see the note in their L.I.O.N. Book and actually remember to give it to me.

Here are the sections I use in my L.I.O.N. Books (maybe one of these days I will remember to take pictures):

In a white 1" three-ring binder we have:

Homework pocket: The front pocket of the binder is labeled for homework. Students know where to put it and parents know where to look for it.

Money pouch: A clear ziploc pencil holder works best. I simply label it "Money Pocket" because it can hold picture money or field trip money, in addition to lunch money.

Behavior Calendar: I use the green, yellow, orange, red card system. (All students have a pocket with the four cards. They all start the day on green. If they are reprimanded or break the rules, they turn their card). The students have a grid calendar I created in excel for each month. Every day, I stamp the color they are on in their LION Books using the appropriate Dot-to-Dot marker color. At the end of the month, parents sign the behavior calendars to verify they have seen the record of their child's behavior. Students who have 20 green dots and a parent signature get to choose a prize from my toy chest. This motivates students to keep their calendars even though they may have had a few bad days.

In clear protective sheets, I put:

Monthly lunch menu

School calendar showing vacations/no school days

My rules and procedures packet that parents can reference

Other L.I.O.N. Book components are:

Absent notes: These are sheets that parents can fill out for students being absent.

Parent/Teacher communication notes: Lined paper so parents can write me a quick note. I tell parents to take the note out and fold it up and put it inside the protective cover on the front of the LION Book. The child can see it and remember to give it to me.

Returned work: The back pocket of the binder is where checked work to go home goes.

L.I.O.N. Book Resources (with pictures):

http://www.teachingheart.net/moosebooks.html

http://www.mrsmcdowell.com/bee%20book.htm

http://www.davenportsclass.com/moose_books.htm

http://www.madison.k12.al.us/mtcarmel/0_kindergarten/solley/moosebookpage.html

http://www.msvines.com/beebook.htm

L.I.O.N. Book Acronyms:

http://www.smithsroom.com/MOOSE_Acronyms.htm

http://www.geocities.com/jankwv/beabooks.html

If you are looking for a way to keep your students organized and responsible through the school year, I highly recommend using these binders. They really work for me!

Baby Signing - It works!

After my daughter was born, my aunt gave me the book Baby Signing 1 2 3. I heard of using sign language with babies to help with their language development. However, I was a little skeptical about its effectiveness. But I decided to go ahead and try it with my baby -- it definitely could not hurt her, right?

I began signing with her a few weeks after she was born. The book stated that most babies would not be able to sign back until they were 4 months old. However, some may begin to recognize signs at 3 months. With my daughter, I started with the "changing diapers" sign. During diaper changes, my daughter would normally get upset and cry, but as I kept signing with her and singing "time to change the baby", I noticed she began to calm down. Soon, she began to smile and laugh when I signed to her. Then, last weekend, when I was changing my daughter, I noticed she was trying to put her hands together to make the changing sign when I signed it to her. I thought I was seeing things! I did it five more times, and each time she signed back to me! When my husband got home, I told him what the baby did. He was skeptical, but when he changed her and signed to her, she did the same thing.

Now, here's the kicker. The next day, I could tell my daughter was, uh, taking care of business, in her diaper. While she was doing it, she began to make the sign for changing the diaper! She was talking to me, telling me that her diaper needed to be changed! It was amazing!! So I would highly recommend a baby signing book to anyone with a baby. It truly works!!

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Signing-1-2-3-Easy-Use/dp/1402209789/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241574809&sr=8-1

Link Love: JeopardyLabs - Online Jeopardy Template

• JeopardyLabs - Online Jeopardy Template

  build jeopardy games online; choose number of teams and track scores

  tags: jeopardy, online, games, interactive, smartboard

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Can the Palm Pre work in the classroom?

I was checking my email last Friday and was excited to see the an email from Sprint about the new Palm Pre. If you have been following the buzz about this phone, you already know how gadget geeks have been salivating over this upcoming smartphone since it was unveiled at CES earlier this year. I admit, that I, too, have been drooling over pics at the official Sprint site.

All of this started me thinking: if - and that is a big IF -I were to plunk down the money for this phone (as of now, Sprint has not announced a price yet), I would need it to function for my personal life and in the classroom.

Personal use of the Palm Pre looks pretty sweet. It looks like my dream phone -- one that can sync information into the cloud. Like many, I am a heavy user of Gmail, Google Calendar, Reader, etc. What bugged me about my Centro is that there is no way to sync my Google calendar or Gmail contacts with my Palm software (without paying hefty subscription fees. Boo Goosync!) But the Pre will be able to sync wirelessly and intuitively to my cloud information. At least that is what I am hoping... And all this with (finally!?) updated multi-touch hardware and software that can is worthy to be put in the same category of the iPhone. I even downloaded an WebOs emulator, but it has been removed from the site. It works pretty well though and wetted my appetite for the Pre even more...

The Pre may be up to the classroom challenge as well; but we will have to see what applications will become available through the Sprint/Palm WebOs application store. In the past, the Palm platform has had quite a few programs that worked well in the classroom environment: Quiz Buddy, Inspiration, grading scales, outliner applications, just to name a few. But is it worth it to use a smartphone in the classroom instead?

Then I came across the following post from the Learning is Change Blog about "Strategies for Mobile Devices in the Classroom." Very interesting links including a blog solely dedicated to using cell phones in the classroom. But what really caught my eye were the sites TextMarks (even if you just used it to post school closings or emergencies would be great) and TextTheMob (which would work fantastic if you have a Smartboard!) Very cool stuff. Has anybody used these sites in the classroom? Has anybody used cellphones with K-2 students in the classroom?

http://learningischange.com/2009/04/16/strategy-for-mobile-devices

Link Love: SMART Boards and a Simple Number Line Tool

Great resource from James Hollis.  Interactive number line tool to use with the Smartboard.  Great for Everyday Math lessons.

Teachers Love SMART Boards: SMART Boards and a Simple Number Line Tool

http://smartboards.typepad.com/smartboard/2009/03/smart-boards-and-a-simple-number-line-tool.html

Link love: Inspired Classrooms » home

What a great idea!  Found this site via Learning is Change (great blog).  Inspired classrooms is about finding the middle ground between having computers in the classrooms but not yet having a 1:1 computer situation.  Simply by placing a few computers in an accessible manner where students can access them regularly can cause a huge shift in instruction.  Make sure you check out the videos on the philosophy behind Inspired Classrooms -- good stuff, especially for elementary classrooms. When I return from maternity leave, I can't wait to try to implement this!

http://inspiredclassrooms.wikispaces.com

Link Love: Ideas to Inspire

• Ideas to Inspire
  

  Great site of ideas on how to use technology (via Teaching Saggitarian)
  

• tags: google, presentations, education, inspire, ideas

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Why I haven't blogged in 6 months

While I've been actively reading other edutech blogs this school year, I have not posted much. That is because in June 2008, I found out that I was pregnant. And on Monday, February 9th at 6:07 AM, my husband and I welcomed our first child, Charlie Star, into the world. Charlie is named after my maternal grandfather who passed when I was young. My husband picked her middle name. She is my heart! Although, I'm suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation, we are all doing well. Of course, Charlie has totally changed my outlook and schedule (I'm stealing time now while she is sleep to post this.) But I would not change this experience for anything. Hopefully, as things settle down, and I get back to work, I can rejoin this digital conversation.

What type of blogger are you?

Just heard about this neat site called Typelyzer via the Cool Cat Teacher Blog that will analyze your blog writing style and theorize your personality traits. Here's what it said about me:

The analysis indicates that the author of http://thehappyhappyapple.blogspot.com/ is of the type:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.


While not totally accurate, this analysis does hit pretty close to home. I think I'm more of a creative-type than an active outdoorsy-type. But the "impulsive, starting something new" description was dead on.

The other good thing about this post was that I found out about another blog, The ETLMS Blog which is sponsored by Oakland Schools -- my district! I don't know how long Oakland Schools has been offering the option of starting a blog on their site, but I think it's a fantastic way to keep the dialogue about educational technology open -- especially at home. And I can't wait to explore the other blogs on the site. Thank you Cool Cat!

Typealyzer

VIDEO: Do You Believe In Me?

Just saw this post on James Hollis' blog. Had me in tears... What a great way to start the school year.

Our Movie is Finished!

We finally finished our reader's theater movie of Three Cheers for Tacky a few weeks ago. It was definitely a learning experience for the students -- and myself. Right now, my main concern is getting it uploaded. More commentary on the process/bugs/lessons learned below.

I got the idea of making a movie with my first grade students after visiting Mathew Needleman's site, Video in the Classroom.com. (Be sure to visit his blog too!!) I was very impressed with the improved reading scores he noted with his ESL students after creating a Readers' Theater movie with them. The idea of allowing students to learn reading within a digital medium also impressed me. So in February, we began shooting Three Cheers for Tacky.

Initial Preparations
The students became extremely excited once they learned we were making a movie. Once I finished the script, we practiced our dramatic readings in class. I also gave the students personal scripts to take home so they could continue to practice their lines. We discussed what emotions they wanted to display in their voices while reading.

Costumes
I had a found a simple penguin costume design online, using a hooded black sweatshirt with felt beak and eyes attached. I sent this home with the "penguin students." I had two students who had different costumes; they were the walrus judge and polar bear judge. Their costumes consisted of a gray sweat outfit and a white hooded sweat outfit with bear ears attached. My parents' support for this project was phenomenal!

Audio
I had a SmartBoard installed in my classroom this year. So when we recorded the audio for the movie using Audacity, I let the class see what the soundwaves looked like. They began to to quickly understand how the software worked. I heard comments like: "She'll have to record that again. The lines aren't big enough!"

Shooting
I'm so glad that Matthew recommends using a storyboard to guide the pictures of the movie. Even though I don't think my pictures are the best, without the storyboard, they would have been a lot worse.

You'll notice that in the pictures, the students are standing in front of a green background. That's because Mrs. Bit-Off-More-Than-She-Can-Chew thought she could do a green screen effect on her first movie! As you can see, it didn't happen.

Putting It All Together
Once the shots were done, I uploaded them into Photo Story 3 (a free Microsoft program). I decided to not to just use Movie Maker because it did not have a wide variety of zooms and transitions like Photo Story did. After I finished editing the timing of the zooms and transitions in Photo Story, I exported the file into Movie Maker to add the credits and audio.

Movie Premier
If you stay tuned after the credits, you'll see a brief movie of our "Red Carpet Movie Premier." Again, my parents' support was wonderful! The students dressed up in their movie star threads and shades and walked the red carpet. Paparazzi-parents and relatives snapped pictures while the stars posed and strutted. I didn't get pictures of all the students who were there as I was setting up for the movie, but we had a great turn out. So much fun!

What I Learned...
Overall, creating the movie was a wonderful process. I'll definitely attempt it again next year. However, some of the audio did not match up perfectly with the visuals. Next time, I think I will do the visuals first and have the students read their lines while looking at the movie (like voice actors do for animated films). Also, I will add music during the actual course of the movie. This summer I plan to look for some inexpensive movie editing software to help this process go smoother next year. (What I really need is a Mac!!) Anyone have any suggestions?

Many thanks again to Matthew for inspiring this project! Your site is a wonderful resource for teachers looking for ways to use technology effectively!!

Hey You Guuuuyyyys!! They're Back!

While doing some research for a parent meeting presentation, I stumbled across some good news. One of the best educational tv shows is returning to the small screen. That's right -- The Electric Company is coming back! Right now, in NYC, new episodes are being filmed. The new show is slated to run in January of 2009. While I know they will update the show to appeal to today's youth, my heart will always belong to the orange-hued, scanimation-filled original. The show helped me continue a love of words and language that was started by my parents. Hopefully, the new show will do the same for a new generation. "Sounds righteous, delightious, and out-of-sighteous! Heavy, heavy [*finger snap*], heavy! Ha-ah!"

NY Times Article: "PBS Revives a Show That Shines a Light on Reading"

To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

Ok. I've been on Twitter for a few months now. And while I think that it is applicable in an educational setting, I don't feel that I have been using it very effectively. In fact, for a while, I even removed my Twitter widget on my blog.

Then, about a month ago, I tweeted that I had posted about Google's Android software. And Vicki Davis (I know this is late -- but thank you!) actually linked my post! So then it started to click with me that the content of my tweets needed to be different from what I would send to my sister, for example. It needed to have a professional focus. Duh! Tweet about a blog post, an educational resource, ask a question, etc. Now, the whole point of tweeting started to make sense.

I just wish there was a way to integrate Twitter into my Google reader. Does anybody know if this is possible? Hey, I think I'll tweet it and see what happens...

Anyhoo, watch the video posted at Utech Tips. Thank you, Jeff, for posting.

 

 

Sent to you by Mrs. Green via Google Reader:

 

 

Jeff Loves Twitter

via U Tech Tips by utechtips@gmail.com (Jeff Utecht) on 5/7/08

Me personally….well that is another story. But for those of you trying to figure it out, learn about twitter in Plain English:

 

 

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to U Tech Tips using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

 

 

PowerPoint Games and Voicethread Presentation

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of presenting at Oakland Schools' 2008 PowerUP Conference. It was my first time presenting in front an audience outside of school, so needless to say, I was very nervous. So while things did not go exactly as I had planned, I am happy to have had the experience. And I learned the most important thing: make a backup of the backup.

Anyway, my topic was Using PowerPoint Games and Voicethread in the Classroom. PowerPoint game templates are fun easy way to use technology in the classroom, especially if you have some sort of data projection available (like a SmartBoard or TVator, etc.) For those who may not feel all that comfortable with technology, PowerPoint Game templates are one way to ease into technology integration pool. The kids absolutely love them, they can be used for any grade level and subject, and there are tons of games available for download online. I personally like the Jeopardy templates and have used them with my first graders for a few years now. It is a great way to review material before a test.

Voicethread is fantastic online site that allows you to upload photos, video, or PowerPoint slides and then add narrative text or audio to your visuals. It is a great way to introduce your students to digital storytelling. I've also used the site for spelling practice and math casts. If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it. Voicethread also has added an community specifically for teachers and students, so definitely check it out.

Oh yeah. Here is the presentation...

Taking Notes With Mind Maps: Presentation and Video

A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation on taking notes using Mind Maps. Since I have been using this method to take notes, I have found that I stay focused on what the speaker is saying and that I retain information better. Mind maps help me organize my thoughts as well. I know this method has been around for a while, but it seems that it is not used as much in school today. However, I think students today, being such highly visual learners, would greatly benefit from using mind maps.

Here is the presentation:


Also, there is an excellent video by Tony Buzan (considered to be the father of the mind map) where he explains the psychology behind mind maps and why they work. Check it out here:

3B Village: 3D Avatar Browser

I have not had a chance to download or play with this yet, but it does seem very interesting. Came across this post from the Learning Technology Teacher Development Blog for ELT:

What is 3B Village?
3B Village is an amazing cross between a 3D virtual chat room and a web browser. Using the free software you can visit or create your own 3D rooms which have walls lined with webpages that you can click on to visit. You use an avatar to wander the rooms visiting various websites whilst text chatting with other virtual visitors.

* Watch a demo here: Exploring 3B Village (2.4Mb Flash)

The learning potential for this software is huge and I can see how it could be especially useful for creating webquests or web based treasure hunts and other collaborative tasks for groups of students working virtually / at a distance. The software has none of the versatility of virtual worlds like Second Life, but partially due to that it seems like a much ‘safer’ environment to take students into and a much simpler one for teachers and students to learn how to navigate.

It is very easy to create your own rooms for your class and then just invite them along. You can create a room by specifying the URL of particular resources you want to share with your students or you can generate a ‘quick room’ using a range of other sources, like Flickr , Google, MySpace and you can even generate rooms full of YouTube videos.

I created a room just by doing a search in YouTube based on ‘Shakira’ I then create a quick room by pasting in the URL of my search results and within less than 5 clicks and 5 mins I had room full of videos to wander around.

* See how it looks: Shakira video room (2.5Mb Flash)

I also created a gallery type room by typing the word ‘family’ into Flickr and generating a gallery based on the results.

* See how it looks: Flickr gallery room (2.0Mb Flash)

Here’s a quick tutorial movie to show you just how easy it is to create a room

* Creating a quick room using Google search (1.5Mb Flash)

How to use this with students

* Create webquests and store the resources in a special 3B room(s) so that groups of students can work together virtually analysing data and searching for and sharing information
* Create film shows from Youtube that students can watch together. They can then do their viewing tasks together and discuss them as they watch.
* Meet together virtually and discus / share web resources
* Create your own collection of bookmarks to share with your class
* Students who have a 'MySpace' can convert it to a 3B room and show their classmates around. This should help to build up a sense of presence and familiarity with virtual classes, something that is often hard to do.
* Get your students to create their own collection of study bookmarks as a project to share with other students
* Create rooms based on materials from Flickr and get students to meet virtually to discuss the images
* Students can work together to create a 3B room or village which represents their town or country
* Students can visit a 3B city and write a report on it, plan a visit to that place based on the resources they access there.

What I like about it

* A nice collection of rooms already created including some for kids
* You can either create rooms quickly using searches through various online content such as Flickr, YouTube, or Google, or you can hand pick websites to create a customised room specifically for your students
* It’s simple to use
* It’s free
* At 14Mb it’s not too huge a download
* Love wandering round the YouTube video type rooms and this may well be a way around institution that block YouTube!!?

What I'm not so sure about

* No MAC version yet
* Would be great if it had voice chat too
* It’s definitely for broadband users only
* A lot of the ready made rooms seem to be aimed at online shoppers
* There aren’t many casual visitors, so it’s not a place where students are likely to bump into people for casual conversation. Though that could well be an advantage too.

For anyone involved in distance education or any kind of online courses, I think 3B Village could make a really valuable contribution.

To use 3B Village you’ll need to download and install the 3B browser software from.
http://download.3b.net/
There’s no MAC version yet, but they are working on it.

As ever, I would love to hear from anyone who uses this with their students. Please feel free to leave comments, though they will be moderated.

Best

Nik
Posted by Nik Peachey at 14:20

Seems this may have a lot of potential in an educational setting. Check it out for yourself.

The BEST Social Bookmarking Tool You Should Be Using

Yeah! Diigo has finally released version 3.0! Looks pretty slick, I must say. I absolutely LOVE Diigo! The fact that you can highlight and leave sticky notes on sites that you bookmark were the main features that attracted me to try it. So many times I had bookmarked sites on del.icio.us only to go back wondering, "Why in the heck did I bookmark this Winnie the Pooh site?" But once I began using Diigo, I could see what part of site I found interesting/important/relevant by looking at my notes or highlights. If you already use del.icio.us, Diigo will even import all of your bookmarks.

If you have not tried Diigo, I highly recommend it. You can even join my Education Technology group! Check the video below to learn more about Diigo...

The Death of Palm?

I have been using Palm based devices for almost ten years -- from my first Handspring device to my current Palm Centro. While my Palm devices have served me well, I must admit to gadget envy when the iPhone was released last year. And to make matters worse, the Palm OS has not made any major changes or improvements in years. When I updated my Treo 650 to the Centro, the only notable changes were that adding the third-party apps of PocketTunes and Google Maps.

However, for the past couple of years, there have been rumors flying around the net about a "gPhone" being released. In the video below, you will see that Google will NOT release a "gPhone." However, what Google has shrewdly done is create a new open-source mobile platform called Android. And it looks poised to deliver the death-blow to the Palm OS, while giving iPhone some much needed competition. The video shows Android in action on an unidentified handset. Check it out:



Did you see it? Looks pretty slick, huh? My green-eyed gadget monster is rearing its ugly head. Could this also be the answer for using cost-efficient mobile computers in the classroom?