The Importance of Sleep iMovie

I created an iMovie on the importance of sleep for elementary children. I thought this tech project went really well. I actually enjoyed creating the iMovie. The only thing that was a little difficult was finding pictures, referring back to their original site, and then siting them on the credits page. Other than that, creating the actual movie went smoothly. Planting the pictures was simple, finding how I wanted my captions was fun to play around with, and finding a song to go with the movie was simple as well using the public domain website.

I could use this iMovie activity in the classroom by having students (in the upper elementary level) create a movie that goes along with a book they read; for example a book report. I could also use this as a virtual field trip of the zoo or somewhere out of the country during a history lesson. Also, I could use an iMovie to demonstrate an experiment for a science lesson. The ideas are almost endless, and I think the iMovie is a great tool to have and know how to correctly use in the classroom.

If I could do anything differently, I would have chosen all my pictures originally from the public domain website to avoid tedious siting of the my pictures regarding copyright. I'm not sure what else I would do different because I thought for my first movie, I did fine without many obstacles! I really recommend this as a great and fun tool to use inside and outside the classroom! 

My New Mac Book

So, I use to be a 100% PC and had a Dell ever since I could remember! I had my whole life on my Dell with nothing backed up or saved to a flash-drive. This actually made me think back to the Sex and the City episode where Carrie's computer crashes and looses all her work. Fortunately, I did not loose anything too personal. My pictures are really the only thing I want off my Dell, but it comes with a price... $100. No, thanks, not right now! I'm a college kid that has to eat! But the good news is my mom went out and surprised me with the Mac Book Pro!

There were many things that went wrong getting to the know the Mac. First, my mother was fooled by the Geek squad and did not get me Microsoft word, she got me pages. It is not easy to transfer documents since the whole world uses Microsoft word. It took me a little bit but I finally figured out how to save my Pages documents as a Word document. It is about time, and this has saved me a lot of revising on the computers in the library! Now, a lot of things have gone quite well. I love how light the Mac is, the keyboard, and how it is compatible with more things. I very happy to no longer have a PC and have a Mac... they are the future!

What I will do differently next time is back up my work and start putting everything on Dropbox (which I am still getting use too). I have learned not to keep everything on a computer because they cannot be completely trusted, and there comes a hefty price with get your own things back from the geek squad. Also, I will forever be a Mac user and no longer a Dell.

Exel Spreadsheet, a little tedious!

I did my excel worksheet on the solar system, asking questions about the sun and the 9 planets. This tech project did not go so well for me. I ended up doing it wrong the first time due to my questions being too long and making the spreadsheet more than one page. So, I can it another try! It was not as hard the second time because I had gotten and expected the tedious steps to making the "perfect" excel spreadsheet. However, I still did not get it down correctly. I forgot or did not do the name and date correctly to where students or myself could write something in the blank. This excel sheet was frustrating for me, but I'm sure once I get the hang of it and a little practice it will be a useful tool for the classroom and outside the classroom because of how organized the structure of an excel sheet entails.

I could use this type of excel sheet in the classroom by giving mini quizzes and testing my students knowledge. It could be a weekly practice worksheet as well and give students immediate feedback if their answer is correct or not. However, I would have to use it in the upper elementary grades that are familiar with technology. The excel spreadsheet will not be my go-to tool for the classroom, but I can see its benefits as well!

Next time, I will check over my excel worksheet multiples time and make sure my frustration stays at the door. I feel I was ready for the project to be over, I did not check to see if everything was working correctly. It just looked good on the surface, and at the time, that was good enough for me. However, I want it to work as well and have this technology skill down for the future!

My Planet Spreadsheet....

Smilebox

Smilebox was Bethany and my Web 2.0 tool. Smilebox is a free, read-to-use tool that allows its users to get creative to share photos and videos in a variety of formats. It gives the options of designing your own invitations, greetings, slideshows, online scrapbooks, photo albums, newsletters, and calendars. Smilebox is fun to use and play around with, it can turn any event or project into something visually appealing. After becoming familiar with the website by creating our own account we were able to present and teach the class how to navigate and use Smilebox. The overall learning of Smilebox and teaching the "how tos" to the class went well. It has become a useful tool of my own, and once I figured out how to use I have become familiar with each format and have many of ideas how to use it now and in the future. The presentation went smooth as well. My peers seem to catch on fast, and we had each one of them create a Halloween party invitation. They were spooky cute!

I could use Smilebox in my future classroom with a number of things. The invitations could be used for holiday classroom parties, up-coming events throughout the school year, and for student's birthdays. The scrapbooks and slideshows would be essential assets for collecting memories of the things going on in class or simply a student's progress and "milestones". Also, Smilebox helps with creating newsletter to send out to the parents and calendars for families to keep in their homes. This Web 2.0 tool has endless opportunities to better organize a classroom and a teacher's way of communicating with parents.

I'm not sure I would do anything differently. I loved the Halloween classroom party invitation I designed. I enjoyed learning, using, and teaching what I know about Smilebox! :)

All about the four seasons diagram

I made this specific diagram to help second graders learn more about the four seasons, and how the seasons change throughout the year. I provided each season with three to four little facts that would help kids recognize certain changes they experience during the spring, summer, fall, and winter. I used pictures to provide a visual aid for each season and little notes to add additional information as well. I think this assignment went well. Once, I understood how to use the tools provided in Inspiration it was easy to navigate and create an appealing diagram to a second grader's eye. The images were easy to find and relate to the topics in the symbols box. Also, posting the diagram to my blog and website went smoothly too.

I will use this tool in my professional instruction with students when going over the atmosphere during a science lesson. The four seasons are great and vital teach the students what happens when the seasons change and how to prepare for the temperature changes. It would also serve as a great way to lead into discussion on what each student does for the upcoming seasonal adjustments. I will definitely use Inspiration in the classroom to be a tool that accompanies my future lessons. Inspiration can provide connection with an organized and grade appropriate structure.

If I had to do something different, I would put more thought into the fonts and figure out how to size everything exactly the same to make it flow better. Also, I would extend the information and put more facts with each season or what ever the concept to elaborate more. However, I feel this was a great start to using Inspiration and happy with the overall outcome of my diagram.

Excel Activity