Angry Birds in the Classroom

Great idea to engage kids in math, make it relevant, and fun!
Playing with Proportions

Elephant Painting

Worth the watch!

Creating to Learn- 21st Century Learning Conference @WCPSS

Saturday I had the pleasure of co-presenting at a county wide conference on using technology in education. It was an amazing experience and my colleague and I were so thankful for the positive reaction! We put together a website that showcases our students' digital work (www.ddesbuzz.com), and included a 25 page document available for download. My colleague and I created a practical explanation of the projects that we assign and how to carry them out on your own, from beginning to end.  We hope that more teachers can begin to use technology in their classrooms, no matter what barrier.

Here is a link to the paper, best of luck and we hope it helps!

You can also check out the conference info and handouts here: https://21stcenturyconference.pbworks.com

Kerpoof!

This site is owned by Disney and it is FREE! You can create accounts for your class, allow students to send messages to each other, and save and publish student work.

Here are the activities that they provide:

Spell A Picture- Add pictures to your landscape by spelling the items correctly.

Make A Movie- Create a basic animation that includes adding characters and programming a variety of movements for them, adding music and text bubbles.

Make A Card and Make A Picture-

Make A Drawing - Kids can save their drawings and insert them into other activities (Make A Movie, Tell A Story)

Tell A Story- Kids can create a digital story by selecting backgrounds, characters and objects to tell their story. There is plenty of space below the scene for students to type their story.

Lego Creator

Here is a fun site for kids if you need them to be kept busy or if you want to give them some free time. I introduced it to my kids last week and they LOVED it!

Storybird

Storybird is a site that promotes digital storytelling and inspiring the imagination. Teachers can create a free account, create a class and create up to 75 logins for students. Below is a Storybird that explains more about the company Storybird.

About us: a peek inside Storybird on Storybird
Want step by step directions?  I found a tutorial on YouTube, click here.

Doodle 4 Google 2012 is Open For Submissions!

500+ Creative Lessons To Teach Almost Anything | Edudemic

I found this on my new favorite social bookmarking site, Pinterest, and decided it was just too good to pass up. This post is an oldie but a goodie. Like the title says, it has a TON of creative lessons.
500+ Creative Lessons To Teach Almost Anything | Edudemic

Exciting find!

I was mulling over what to post this week and came across a really great site! It is a Glogster that features and links a bunch of Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom. A lot of the tools listed are favorites of mine (i.e. Dropbox, Wallwisher, Voki, Kerpoof and Audacity). I'm really looking forward to finding out what some of these other tools are!

http://karenogen.edu.glogster.com/web-20-tools/

Wonderopolis!

I have been inundated with great resources lately and this is the first in a long list...

Wonderopolis.org does a "Wonder of the Day" every day that is geared towards kids in grades 2-8. Each wonder of the day starts with an essential question. Recently an essential question was "Do you believe in UFO's?". Each wonder has a brief video clip (3 minutes or less), an explanation/information passage, vocabulary words, and questions to reflect on.

Happy wondering!

6th grade iPhone Application Developer

I showed this to my 5th graders and they all wanted to create apps afterwards. This boy is very interesting to watch! I would keep an eye out for him in the coming years. 

Out of sight

"Out of Sight" -Short animation created by 3 students at the National Taiwan University of Arts. 

I showed this clip to my students, ranging in grades 3-5 and they all picked up on what the story was about. I didn't realize it until the very end!

What are we doing?!

Normally I catch myself watching stupid videos on YouTube: crazy kittens, little kids singing, and adults doing crazy things. I caught myself watching the “illustrated” version of Sir Ken Robinson’s “School Kills Creativity” talk on TED and sat for the whole thing. After watching it, it made me question how I can make a difference in a child's life. It also made me wonder how I am contributing to decreasing kids' capacity for creativity. 


In education we have this push to bring schools into the 21st century, yet our foundation is rooted in a past that does not represent us.  This video will definitely motivate you, and it will also help you think about your effectiveness as a teacher and what you are really here for.


Or go directly to YouTube-School Kills Creativity- Sir Ken Robinson on TED