Here it is! Digital Story!

Courtney and I completed our digital story together to tie into our character curriculum at school.  We read The Peace Book by Todd Parr and the students brainstormed what they think peace is.  Then, the students wrote independently what they think peace is.  We decided to use iMovie on the iPad to bring the digital story to life.  There were some difficulties because the version on the iPad doesn't show the full image.  This was very frustrating and Courtney and I were going to re-do it.  However, the students work is visible and you can clearly hear the students.  The students loved recording their voices and hearing themselves!  They were so proud of their work!  We liked it just the way it is!  Enjoy!

The Adventure of Digital Storytelling!

Courtney and I have been working on our digital story.  Since the theme of our school is character education, we decided to do our digital story story based on a character book we enjoy reading with our students.  The book is called The Peace Book by Todd Parr.  We had the students write what they think peace is.  They really did an awesome job!  However, putting the digital story actually together has been an adventure.  We decided to use the tool iMovie which wasn't easy at first.  However, once we got the hang of it, it all came together.  I'm sure that there are still some adjustments that could be made.  I am looking forward to showing it to the class on Thursday and getting any feedback to improve it in any way!  

Diigo Diigo Diigo!

When I first heard about Diigo, I really didn't want to even sign up because I have always been a user of "favorites."  I put everything into my "favorites" list.  However, now that I have been experimenting with Diigo for a couple weeks, I like it!  I like how all of my resources are organized and I can easily find them by the tags that I gave them.  I would like to eventually organize them into lists because it would make things even easier to find, but I'll take one step at a time.  My Diigo is a work in progress, so let me know what you think!

Who needs a February break when you can have SNOW days?!

So Blizzard 2013 has come and gone and I still have not gone back to school yet!  Hartford doesn't have a February break, however, who needs a February break when we have had snow days Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and now tomorrow?!  This is great...however, I may change my mind in mid-June when I'm still in school. :)  Oh well, I'll just enjoy my time off now!

I saw this video taken in Hartford from the blizzard and I think it is so cool to see how much snow we got in such a short period of time...CRAZY!  I got 31 inches where I live...how much did you get?

video from YouTube

Fantastic Flickr!

My husband and I started a Flickr account when our son was born two years ago.  Since our family and close friends live in other states, we use it to save pictures to and have it set so that just those that are invited to can access the account so that they can see pictures of our family.  It is a great technology tool and we love it!  I never really thought about how it could be used in the classroom, however.  I found a website on ways to use Flickr in the classroom.  Check it out...I especially like the idea of creating virtual field trips...AWESOME!!

I DID IT! My first Animoto project!

This is my first Animoto project! I decided to create an Animoto for our next district read aloud titled The Shoemaker and the Elves.  Before we read each story, we teach the kindergarten and first grade students vocabulary words that will be found in the story.  Providing a visual with the vocabulary word is always helpful, especially for our ELL students.  They are able to make connections between the word and the picture.  I decided to create a separate slide for the vocabulary word, visual, and the definition so the presentation would be broken down into small pieces for them.  This Animoto does not include all of the vocabulary words for the story.  I chose vocabulary words that I felt the students would not know.  I also decided to repeat the slides since my students are so young and need to have things presented  to them more than once in order to understand.  The first time they see the slideshow, they will just want to watch it and be amazed.  The second time they view the slideshow, they will be more focused to read the vocabulary word and start to understand the definitions.  I am super excited to share this project with my class!  I know they are going to love it!  I am also looking forward to creating more Animoto slideshows to use within my class.  I feel it is very engaging and is a great learning tool!  Let me know what you think!   

(images provided by Google Images)