Big Thoughts, little action!

I know what I want to do with the Truck Day photos. I have not done it!

I think I know what I will do for Podcasting/Voice Thread but I need to do it. I did talk to J.L. today about doing something with her class. We threw around a couple of ideas. I think she is going to read The Carrot Seed to the class this week (tomorrow). She will ask them to draw pictures based on the story. I will digitize the photos and make a few Voice Thread slides. The children will comment -- tell what is happening in the picture, react to the occurrence in the picture, comment on the comment. This part is a little fuzzy. They are 4-5 years old!

This year has gone fast! STEP has gone fast! I have good intentions but the work is still to be done!

I enjoyed MICCA. I was interested to hear many of the speakers mentioned their use of VoiceThreads, Podcasting and PhotoStory. It was great to know what they were talking about. In many cases they worked with older students but I am determined to make it work with our staff and students!

April

I love the photo story program. I am able to use it to demonstrate projects that students need to independently complete in the learning centers.

Since I am able to add voice to the photo stories, I have decided to create photo stories and allow the stories to run in the student computer center. This way students can use the photo stories as resources when the need reminder of directions or procedures.

The Micca conference was a great experience. Today was the first day and at first it was difficult to find seminars that addressed early childhood students (pre-k). However, I stopped choosing workshop that I thought matched my students and began choosing workshops that appealed to me as a professional. That’s when I really began to make good use of the information that was being offered. I also found that I don’t know half of what’s going on in the technology world the way I thought I did.


During the Micca conference I found that the county has more than enough technology to make every lesson interactive, reflective and interesting for students. During a workshop, a presenter passed out a list of technology pieces that can be used in a classroom (ex. DVD, laptop, desktop, smart board etc.). I said to myself WOW we have all of these. Other participants from other counties shared that the problem is their technology resources are limited.

MICCA!!!

The MICCA Conference was this week and it was very cool. I wish I could have gone for both days but it just wasn't in the cards this year. The conference had a lot more vendors than I thought it would (so lots of free goodies :) ) one neat thing I saw was a projector that attached to the top of a white board so it was up and out of the way. i thought about that for my students (in case I won the lottery) but I think they would still cast shadows because I'd want them up and interacting. Now what I really need is a gigantic touch sensitive screen, that is hard to break, and smeels like chocolate :) J/k





There were two sessions I particualry liked, The first was "gadget a go-go" and it talked about all the different software (web 2.0) and hardware that is new and possibly useful. Here is the link to the presentation the lady had http://mhmsmedia.wikispaces.com/gadget . The neatest think by far was the Flip Mino Video Camera. Its a digital camera the size of a large cell phone.. I think it would be great for data collection. The other session was "braving the wild" and it was the only session specifically geared for eafrly childhood (although still not all the way down to the two year olds ... but I swear i'm over it :) ). They had so many neat projects and ideas. One cute Idea was having color coded Ipod shuffles at a center with each color having songs geared for a particular concept or theme (numbers, alphabet, transportation) super simple and cute!

Anyways, it was very fun and informative (plus I got to attend with my sister who is also in a STEP cohort at a different school, double bonus)

neat Wiki

So I was playing around on wiki and I found a wiki for eductaors. It has tons of information and ideas (again not always geared for my specific population but i'm beginning to accept that there are children above the age of 2 in the world :) )



This is the site link...

http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/



Check it out when you have a free moment

Using photo story

I love the photo story program. I am able to use it to demonstrate projects that students need to independently complete in the learning centers. The first time I created a photostory I did not inculde voice. The next time I will be sure to record voice. My students seem to receive multiple steps easier when it is presented in a visual and auditory way.

Idea for PhotoStory

We had Truck Day last week. I took a BUNCH of photos. I am thinking I will work them into a PhotoStory presentation. At present my idea is to show the truck with some other photos that put it in context. This is easier with some than with others. For instance, the Fire Truck could go with the Fire Station. I need to get a picture of our mail lady to go with the mail truck. I may be making this project harder than it needs to be. I am very excited but a little overwhelmed. I just need to do it!

PODcasting

We just finished the session on PODcasting. It is very cool. I think I may use it for my final project. The possibilities are endless!


Here's a sample on a voicethread