Virtual Tour/Screencast projects

For my virtual tour project, I did a Google Earth tour of National Landmarks in the United States, which went along with my First Grade curriculum. Then, I created a screencast giving additional facts about the landmarks. I thought the virtual tour was a lot of fun to make and would be great for the students to create on their own. But I found the screencast to be a little more challenging. I recorded many times and seemed to never have a perfect recording. I think screencast would be very helpful, but for me, I would have to prepare myself that no recording would be 100% perfect. But I think the students would love to hear the teacher's voice while taking a virtual tour.  I think students would be able to use the virtual tour to show places they have traveled to share with the class.  That would be a fun project.  For the screencast, the Third Grade students could use this technology to show websites they found to research a topic for a writing assignment. 

Screencast of Virtual Tour

PLN assignment

For my PLN assignment, I used bubbl.us to create a web with the information I have learned in ED 514.  I thought the website was creative to create webs for our thoughts.  I liked how you can change the color of each brank.  I also enjoyed the ability to move the bubbles around.  For my classroom, this would be great for my informational writing unit when the students write books about animals.  I think the kids would be successful using it to help form chapters to their books.  I would recommend this site for young students, I just think it might take some practice to use it successfully. 

Wiki AND Podcast project

For my podcast project, I wrote a fictional story and recorded my voice.  The wiki project was for teachers to go through the writing process with their students and as students publish their work, they may create a wiki for the whole class to listen to.  The teachers can even incorporate the story elements at the end of listening to everyone's podcasts.  I think this is a great idea for elementary aged students because it will get them excited about the writing process.  It will also have the students listen to themselves for fluency.  I would have students create podcasts from the books they write on their own. 

Writing Process with Podcast wiki

Slideshow Project-living and non-living things

I created a video slideshow of pictures that showed living and non-living things in the world around us.  This lesson is for Kindergarten/First Grade students.  I would have each student use the camera to take one picture of a living thing and one picture of a non-living thing.  As a class, we could create a class video of all the pictures the students took so everyone could see the different objects their classmates came up with.  I think this project would be great so parents could see what we have been working on in Science.  Students could create their own slideshow from photos they take from class assignments.  For example, we work on a weather unit.  They could be responsible for taking photos of all different types of weather and create a slideshow for the class about weather we see out our windows. 



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Webquest assignment

My webquest assignment was created for my First Grade class.  One of our science units was Construction.  The students were given an assignment to create a shelter of some type.  They gathered materials and built shelters that they shared with my class.  Instead of sending home a letter, I created this webquest so the students could work on their projects in the classroom.  I could also modify the webquest for a home project.   If students wanted to work on something on their own at home, they could pull up the webquest for reference.  Parents could also see what the students are working on in the classroom.  I think creating a webquest would be challenging for some First Graders, but at the end of the school year, they could create a webquest about the writing process or a writing activity. 

Webquest for building a shelter

Photo Album

These are photos I took for my Kindergarten/First Grade lesson on living and non-living things.  The idea for the lesson is that the students can take turns using the camera to take photos of living things and non-living things and can create a slideshow as a whole class.  I think this is a great way to get young students to use a camera, especially since young children love taking pictures of funny, random things.  We could create photo albums of the class throughout the year so the students have a book at the end.  Students can create photo albums of their families for a Social Studies lesson about their cultures and traditions. 

Living and Non-living things photos

Quiz assignment

For my quiz assignment, I chose to create a quiz for my First Graders reviewing story elements and important messages of fairy tales.  I decided to use the story "Little Red Riding Hood", a story I usually start off my fairy tale unit with.  After reading the story and teaching what story elements are (character, setting, problem, solution) and what important messages are and after doing class activities to enforce the concepts taught, I would allow the students to take the quiz while at centers to review.  I found this quiz to be helpful to check for understanding from all students.  I also liked that I could upload my class list from excel if I was teaching for the kids to log on and take the quiz.  I think these quizes would be beneficial for First Graders when reviewing story elements from books we read in class.  The quizes would also be fun for math concepts! 


Little Red Riding Hood quiz:  username/password:  samplestudented514