FotoFlexer

I used FotoFlexer to manipulate a class photo from our field trip to the Museum of Science. By adding glittering writing, adding stickers, putting a "frame" around, and changing the color I could make the picture my own. It was a really neat way to change and share pictures!

Vodcast

I found a great "Vodcast" to supplement my social studies curriculum on Ancient China. It provides a great overview of culture and daily life. Unfortunately a link wasn't available so below please follow the steps to get there.

go to: www.voicethread.com
in the browse bar type: ancient china
click: the first box on the left (it is untitled)

I plan to use this in my social studies lesson this week!

Class Website

I created a class website as my final project. It was surprisingly very easy! I went to freewebs.com and signed up (for the basic free version). I was able to post my weekly announcements, mcas dates, spelling, vocabulary, and school wide reminders. I haven't attempted the video portion yet. However, the option of uploading a video to the site is a possibility. I created a video of field trip pics in Windows Movie Maker and I am going to attempt to post it on the site and/or teachertube videos to supplement our social studies/science curriculum. An issue that I did have was when I was attempted to update the website over the weekend on my home computer, it would now allow the changes to be saved. However, when I went to school Monday morning and used my work laptop it was updated in a matter of minutes.

Check it out at: www.fourthgradewithmrsk.webs.com

Link to Delicioushttp://www.delicious.com/skinsley

Delicious URL

http://delicious.com/skinsley

There are a few great resources that I've found!

Social Bookmarking

I used Delicious as my social bookmarking website for this assignment. I found it extremely easy to use. The biggest challenge I faced was finding sites to link to Delicious! I would really be interested in looking at other teachers sites that they're using. The idea of having all bookmarks in one place is a great idea. I'm not sure that I would use this with my students, as they're fourth graders and have limited internet access,however with fellow teachers I could definitely see the benefit. We could gather together sites that we access to gather materials, teaching tools, videos,etc. A second way, I could use Delicious is with parents. For example, right now we are working on an invention social studies/writing project. I could bookmark sites that they could access at home to help with the project. Realistically, it will take me some time to get used to. It sounds like a great idea, however I'm not sure if I will be able to break away from my typical bookmarking (using "favorites"). But I will certainly try!

Author Study with Google Docs

I am attempting to use Google Docs with three of my students to create an author study. They are in the same guided reading group and have been reading different titles by Kate DiCamillo. I created an outline that they will add to. My questions is...do I have to create a mock google doc account for each of them to use and/or email address? If anyone knows or has tried this could you let me know? Thanks!