Thing #23

Celebrate!

It felt so good to finally type Thing #23 in the title box. I never thought I would get here! This journey has been a long but awesome one!

When I began, I had no idea the number of hours it would take to complete each thing. The summer flew by as I was busy working on the web. I have learned more about web 2.0 than I ever thought possible. I am so anxious to try to use some of this new technology in my classroom this fall. In the beginning, I felt that many of the things that I was learning were not applicable to a first grade classroom, but as I traveled along in web 2.0 my views started to change. I knew that there must be elementary teachers who were using these tools and was determined to find examples of how they were doing it on the web. As I began to search for, and find ideas at the elementary level, I became so motivated to learn all that I could about each 2.0 tool. I was inspired by so many of the things I found. I want to do everything, but know, to do it well, I should just start with one thing. The wiki that I created in Thing #22 to document our observations of the monarch caterpillars seems like  good place to start. I am excited about sharing lesson plans, websites, and ideas with colleagues using Google Docs, SimplyBox, Screenshare, and You Tube. The website that I found for leveled reading using ebooks is going to be an invaluable tool this year. Many of the web 2.0 tools will also be useful for strengthening the home/school connection.

This experience has helped me to gain the confidence needed to try using technology that I had only heard about, but didn't understand, with my class. I constantly strive to improve upon my teaching methods and this PD will certainly help me to do that.  I want my students to learn with the most up dated materials and resources possible. In order for that to happen, it is my obligation to learn all I can about technology in the 21st Century. The things that I have learned this summer will certainly help me to do that. Technology is the wave of the future and I don't want to be left behind. I am sure I will need to refer to my blog and the 23things website many times during the school year to review how to use some of the 2.0 tools. Terri Buganski will be a great resource for me as well. She is always offering to help in any way that she can.  This year I plan to take her up on it! I  will continue to take the PD workshops offered by the town and will check out the websites listed in Thing #23 to further my knowledge of the web 2.0 tools. Practice makes perfect so the more I use these tools with my students the more comfortable and knowledgeable I will be with them.

Thank you!

Joan and Maureen, you did an amazing job setting this all up. I am in awe of you both! I appreciate the time, effort and care that was put into commenting on each one of my posts. This was one of the best PD workshops that I have taken in all of my years in Newington. Thank you for spending your summer reading my blog and encouraging me with your kind comments! I truly appreciate it!

Thing # 22

I tried several times to add an image to the 23things wiki but wasn't too successful. The image showed up in the preview but when I clicked save, all it showed was the image name. I tried following the directions in the video, but didn't have much luck. I was able to add text without any problem though. When I created my own wiki, I made the photo a jpg image and didn't have any trouble adding it. Maybe I should have tried that with the 23things wiki.

I created a wiki to track the observations of our monarch caterpillars this fall. The wiki is in the beginning stages. I would like to add additional pages with resources for students and families about the monarch's fall migration along with some good books to find at the town library, both fiction and nonfiction. I am hoping to add a comments page where families can leave a comment about what they are reading. It took me a while to set up the wiki but once I get the hang of it, I it was not so hard to do. I think this is going to be so motivating for the students.  Monarchs In Room #3

The blogs that I have explored are mainly personal accounts of the author's experiences. They are usually written by one author and serve as an online journal. The opinions shared are mainly by the author of the blog. Comments may be exchanged with the author but seem to be limited to a small group of people with the same interests. A wiki may be created by one person but is edited by several authors who add many different opinions, and post many resources. The wiki seems to be a good way to gather several resources on a topic.

Thing #21

I have heard so much about Wikis for both business and education but really didn't know what they were until today.I found a wiki on apples that has inspired me to try something similar. In September, we do an apple tasting in my class. I bring in 4 or 5 different types of apples for my students to try. We could do a wiki about this apple tasting and ask families to add to it. The students could type a sentence about their favorite apple or how they like to eat apples.

During our life cycles unit students study the monarch butterfly. They are always so interested in this unit because I bring in monarch eggs and caterpillars which I have found in my garden and around Newington for students to observe. During this unit, as a class,the students chose one caterpillar to observe. With my help, students write and illustrate their observations in a journal. I would love to do a wiki with photos and written observations. I know students would enjoy sharing this with their families. The only hurdle that would stand in the way of using a wiki would be the time involved. Our curriculum is so tight as it is and trying to fit this in might be difficult, but I think it is something that young students need to be exposed to. If first grade classes around the country are creating and using wikis then. We can too!

Thing #20

So happy to break into the 20's! I'm getting close...
When I clicked on to the NHS ebooks site it brought me to the NPS site. I had no idea that I could access my school's library collection from home! What a time saver this will be when I am searching for resources and planning from home.

I was unable to log in to the NHS ebooks site. I used the user name and password that was provided in the initial email, but for some reason, it didn't allow me to access it. I can remember when my daughters were in high school and they were carrying books back and forth to school, their backpacks were extremely heavy. Being able to access books on line would certainly help with that problem. How great to know that you didn't have to bring the novel you were reading in English class home each night, because you could read the required pages on line.

The first site I explored was Ripple Reader for kids. http://www.ripplereader.com/Library.aspx Ripple Reader is a free eBook reader for kids. Parents and other adults purchase recordable eBooks that work on both a PC or Mac. Titles on Ripple are presented just like the original book with both illustrations and text. Users can record themselves reading the story or invite someone else to read it. Kids can also record each page over and over and listen to both their voice and the parent or friend's voice for each page. This seems like a great idea for developing children's fluency. I can see using something like this in the classroom with all readers. I think both students and families would love reading the stories and recording them. Students could listen to the story over and over again and evaluate their own fluency. This also might help with reading at home. The parent could read one page to model fluency and expression, and the student the next. I think our reluctant readers would be highly motivated by this variation to their nightly 20 minutes of reading. The disadvantage of this site is that each book costs between 5 and 10 dollars to download. Once the book has been purchased it is yours. I am not sure how it would work if multiple users tried to record the story.

Raz-Kids http://www.raz-kids.com/ offers leveled ebooks for students. There seems to be many advantages. These include, listening for modeled fluency, reading for practice, recording their reading,checking comprehension with quizzes, leveled texts which correlate with DRA reading levels, teachers are can assign books at a student's independent reading level, students can log in from home or school to get books and quizzes assigned by their teachers,student worksheets can be downloaded for each book. Students record the story as they read it. Later the teacher can play the recording and do a running record. Hmm... something to think about. What a time saver this would be. Students' fluency is being assessed and the teacher is still able to take small groups! The only disadvantage I could see was cost. $79.95 per classroom for 12 months. The cost may actually be worth the money if students use this site one to two times a week. I would like to investigate the benefits further. This may be a site that is well worth the $79.95 investment.

I know many people who download books to their Kindle or ipad, but call me old fashion, I still love to curl up with a good book on the couch or on the beach and turn the pages. My home is filled with books that I love both for adults and children. My classroom collection contains hundreds, possibly thousands of books that I have purchased with my own money. I love taking those books off the shelf, thumbing through the pages, sharing them with students and remembering times spent with my own children cuddling and reading. Each book is like an old friend filled with happy times and memories. I doubt ebooks would have the same effect. So for now, I will stick with my hard copies to love and enjoy.

Thing #19

The screencast itself was easy. I used Screener and found the one minute video to be helpful. Trying to narrate as I clicked through the slides was not so easy. I redid it about 10 times. I'm still not really happy with the final product, but it's getting late and I really need to go to bed! I will never finish my 23 things if I spend any more time on Thing #19. Other than the fact that I kept changing what I wanted to say and continued to "try again" so many times, it was fun to do. I'm not sure how I will use screencasting in my classroom but I have a few ideas. I am glad I learned how screencasting works and hope to do something with it in the future.

Last year, I put several math NoteBook files in the first grade folder on the NPS public drive for teaches across the district to use. This year all K and 1 teachers will have access to a SmartBoard in their classroom. Since more teachers will be able to use the files, I decided to make this screencast to introduce them to the calendar activity file that I use each day. As the year progresses and new skills are introduced, new slides are added. I have updated last years slides over the summer and have even added song links to many of them. These are songs that I discovered on You Tube while taking this PD. When school begins I will send Wendy a copy of the updated calendar activities to add to the public folder.

Thing # 18

I like the idea of students being able to learn anywhere and at anytime. A podcast allows us to do that. The idea of students giving a tour of the school was one that I would like to try. I was thinking that my students could give a tour of the classroom explaining the different learning areas. We could also do "A Day In The Life Of A First Grader" to show their family and possibly incoming first graders what a day in first grade is like. I could also use podcasting for readers' theater, book talks and for students to retell a story.

I searched on You Tube for podcasts in first grade. As I explored, I found a lot of classroom tours. Most were done by teachers. I got a lot of good ideas from looking at other teachers classrooms. It was fun to compare them to mine and note the similarities and differences.


Our First Podcast
A group of first grade students made a podcast about the benefits of podcasting in the classroom. Each group had a MacBook and used Garageband to to make their podcast. The students seemed so motivated. They have inspired me to try this my students. Hopefully, I can get Terri over to help.




Top 10 Things You Don't Learn About Teaching in College - just made me laugh!

Thing #17

I choose to embed "Life On A Train" from Slideshare. I have seen this before, but it is still as powerful as the first time I viewed it. This train ride is a beautiful illustration of the ups and downs in our journey though life. The heartwarming message helps me to remember the things and people in my life that are truly important. It makes me appreciate the family and friends on my train ride who have left a hand print on my heart. I hope the readers of my blog enjoy watching this train ride as much as I did.

Slideshare might be useful in the classroom to showcase student work or share special events with parents and other teachers.

Life On The Train

Life on the Train

View more presentations from Boland.

Thing #16

After exploring the recommended sites on Thing #16, and not really finding anything that really made me want to continue learning more,  I decided to Google "2.0 Tools for Grade 1".   I checked out a few of the sites and found Top Ten for Young Learners. TopTen for Young Learners - All the Best!  There were several 2.0 tools that interested me on this site as well as an amazing blog by a first grade teacher. (Her blog has inspired me to explore and experiment with using some of the 2.0 things that I didn't think were possible with 5 and 6 year old children.) One of the tools that I found and explored was SimplyBox. http://simplybox.com

SimplyBox is a bookmarking tool which can be used to make a picture of the website. It makes finding links quick and easy. The picture allows non-readers to access the site with the click of the mouse. Sites can easily be shared and organized. I love the visual aspect of this tool.  I may switch from Delicious to SimplyBox for storing my favorites for both personal and school use. I am going to add more links to this tool over the next few days. I'll experiment with both bookmarking sites, but I think Simplybox is going to be my go to site.


In the past, when I took my class to the computer lab to practice math and language skills using sites on the web,  the students needed to find a folder with my name, and then click on the word document for a list of links. This was not easy for most students in the beginning of the year  and was very time consuming. Most students are non-readers at the beginning of the year so a lot of time was spend just getting to the website. With SimplyBox a lot of those steps will be eliminated and students will be able to spend more time working on skills. I am anxious to use this bookmarking site with my students in the fall in both the classroom and in the lab.

Thing #15

Love being able to store my documents on the web! I knew people did this, but I had no idea how to go about putting my documents on the web... until now.  There are so many times when I want to use a document at school or home and it is located on the other computer. This is very similar to the bookmarking issue I had earlier. This seems so much easier than bringing a flash drive back and forth to school each day. This tool will make sharing large documents with my grade level so much easier, too. There are often problems with sharing, due to the limited storage space on school email. The storage limitations make it hard to send/receive files. Now, when I create a document at home or school, if I upload it to Google Docs I can easily download it to one of the other computers. This will help to keep all of my folders up to date. Now, the most important question... Will I be able to access Google Docs from school?

As far as using this tool with first grade students, I don't think it would be worth the time and effort. Most 5 and 6 year olds do not have the computer skills or background knowledge necessary to be able to effectively use this tool.

Thing #14

I had no idea there were so many social networks out there. About.com opened my eyes to the endless possibilities for social networking. I joined Facebook because many of my friends are on it and it looked like fun. I checked all of my settings to make sure everything was private. I have untagged myself from photos, not because they were inappropriate, but because I want to be extra cautious about what others can find out about me on the web.  My opinion about social networking has changed in regards to the educational possibilities. Until I explored the NHS library Facebook page I really couldn't see any educational value to social networking. I saw social networking as a way to connect with others on a fun and informal social level. The NHS site really got me thinking of all the great ways teachers could use social networking to motivate students and parents. This also seems to be a great way to connect with colleagues from other schools in the district or throughout the country.

Thing #13

After watching the clips and reading about both Diigo and Delicious, I decided to open my account in Delicious because it seemed easier to use. The features of Diigo looked amazing, but for now, the easier the better. Getting current bookmarks to the Delicious site was quick and easy. At first, I set everything to private and later edited several for public use. There were over 300 sites bookmarked on my computer. Most of them were default settings that were installed on the computer when it was new. It took some time to delete all of those unwanted bookmarks.  I couldn't see any reason to keep them if I wasn't planning on using them. At first I was deleting them one at a time and then I read something about bulk editing.  A quick change from deleting one to man speedup up the process immensely.

I think social bookmarking will be an invaluable teaching tool. It will help me to quickly obtain the sites needed for student skill practice and teacher resources. I plan to embed some of the bookmarked sites in notebook slides so they are right where I need them during a lesson. Having my favorite sites in a place that is easily accessible from any computer will be wonderful for me and will allow me to easily share with others.

Thing #12

I am so excited to learn how to use tagging and social bookmarking in Thing #13. I work off of three computers, two at home and one at school and have several bookmarks on each computer. I am always finding and bookmarking great sites but can never remember which computer has which site or what I am actually looking for. Currently, I have to go down a long list of bookmarks to find the one that I need. It is time consuming and often the desired site isn't found. In the morning when I sign on to the school computer to prepare for the day's lessons, I search through a long list of favorites only to discover that the bookmark I need is on my laptop at home. This can be so frustrating! The folders that I've set up are helpful, but with social bookmarking and tagging it will be so much easier to retrieve the information I need when I need it. With tagging, resources can be grouped by subject, skill, interest etc. and will be much easier to find. I use tagging to sort photos for school and personal use. The tagging makes organizing and finding the photos quick and easy. I am hoping that tagging bookmarks will offer the same quick, easy retrieval of information. With social bookmarking emailing colleagues to share good sites will be a thing of the past. If I understand it correctly everything will be conveniently located in one place.  Sharing resources with others and getting ideas from teachers around the globe is something that I am looking forward to.

Thing #13 Here I Come!

Thing #11

After playing with several widgets and gadgets,  I selected a weather gadget from Widgetbox. I thought I would try it out, and maybe use it during our calendar activities each morning. When I chose the location for the weather, the Anna Reynolds weather station was an option. I am not sure how accurate it is, but I think my students will be excited to get an updated report each day from their school. The weather at the bottom of the widget is set for San Francisco, CA. I tried to change the location and save it, but was not successful. I even tried signing up for an account, but that didn't work either. For now, we will compare our weather to the weather in CA or at a later date I will try to find a different weather gadget.  Embedding the code doesn't seem to be a problem when adding it to the blog.  I am wondering if widgets and gadgets can be embedded into Notebook slide as easily or at all. I will have to experiment with that later.

The addition of a "live" weather report will enhance our daily weather reporting and will give the students accurate information when collecting, recording and comparing weather data. The excitement and motivation of getting a chance to be the day's weather reporter will have all students engaged and on task as never before. This adds such a fun element to our daily calendar activities because the students are working with something that they see on t.v all the time.  


I know there are several other widgets on the web that will enhance my instruction and look forward to exploring them in the future.

Thing #10

I am not sure what the value of Twitter would be educationally, but I  think it is a fun way to keep up to date with family and friends. I have heard a lot about Twitter and people "tweeting" so this was an interesting "thing" for me to explore.  I'm not sure my "tweets" are all that interesting or that anyone would want to read them. I'll keep up with Twitter for the rest of the summer and just have fun with it. I did find my daughter on Twitter and have had fun following her.


I explored several sites in The Best of theWeb 2008 and Time's 50 Best Websites of 2009. The one I liked best was Pandora. I set up a radio station, added a few of my favorite artists and listened to music through my computer for the rest of the day. I had heard of others using Pandora but was not familiar with how to use it or set it up. I found it quite easy and love that I can set up different stations with various genres of music. I can't wait to make a Christmas station when the holidays roll around. A classical station on Pandora, playing during morning work time might be easier that changing CD's or tapes. This site would also be beneficial for exposing students to different genres of music.

I continue to be amazed with all there is to explore on the web. It seems as if I am spending way too much time on each "thing" and need to speed it up if I am going to finish in the next few weeks! 

Thing #9

Web 2.0 offers a variety of opportunities for teachers and students to learn about the world around them. The changes in teaching and learning at the elementary level as a result of Web 2.0 may not be as easily incorporated in daily assignments as those at the upper levels, but I do feel that Web 2.0 can have a positive impact at any grade level. Even at a young age, students can be exposed to the many resources on the web. Technology seems second nature to our youth, and that alone makes it a highly motivating teaching/learning tool. My students are always excited to go to the computer lab or work on the SmartBoard. As a first grade teacher, I want to use all the technology I can with my students, knowing that in a few short years, they will be experts on the web.  Web 2.0 is giving me so many new ways to  incorporate technology based lessons in all subject areas.  With the installation of a SmartBoard in my classroom a few years ago, I have begun to use technology on a daily basis. I have found amazing interactive resources on the web and enjoy seeing how first grade teachers around the country are using technology in their classrooms. This fall I will create a blog or web page to help keep parents informed.  I may use Flicker to post photos of special classroom/school events as well as a resource for when introducing new vocabulary or when building background in all subject areas. I have found many music and movement videos on You Tube that will be perfect for transitions and skill reinforcement. The above examples are just a few ways that Web 2.0 is going to change my teaching this fall.

Web 2.0 easily provides ways for teachers to collaborate with each other within a district or the entire country. I have always felt that if 20 students can benefit from my ideas, why shouldn't a whole grade level? With Web 2.0  the number of students who can benefit from one teacher's ideas/resources is endless. I just love that so many teachers take the time to share their resources on the web. I have thought about sharing some of the things that I have created on the web, but I wasn't sure how to do it. I now have a better idea of how to go about sharing my ideas.  When I am ready to share, I will use the Creative Commons site to let others know how I would like them to use my work.

After learning about copyrights and Creative Commons, I will be sure to pay more attention to the creators of the teaching resources I download, and will make a conscious effort to educate my students about the importance of citing the creators for all web based material.

Thing #8

This video is by Harry Kindergarten who I wrote about in Thing #7. I realize that most of the people taking 23Things are middle and high school teachers. From reading their blogs, I have noticed that several have young children. This video may encourage them to check out the Harry Kindergarten videos for their own children's enjoyment.

I am thinking that it would be great to add a few of the concept/skill song videos to my classroom blog so students could sing along at home with their family. What a fun and easy homework assignment for students.  I was amazed at how easy it was to post the video to my blog.

I truly feel like a kid in a candy store with all I am learning in 23Things. There is so much to chose from and everything is looks great. I know I won't be able to do everything I've learned this summer, but I am so excited with the things I have learned so far and can't wait to see what is ahead.

Whatcha' Gonna' Do? (Count by 2's, 5's, 10's)

Thing #7

Once again I got lost on the internet. If I don't stop searching and finding wonderful things, I will never get all 23 things done this summer! I have spent the last few days exploring You Tube. I had no idea there was so much there for teachers and students! In the past, when I have gone on You Tube it has been to see a replay of a sporting event, watch an out take from a TV show, listen to a musician/band or view something that was recommended by a friend. I use a lot of music and movement in my class for transitions and to review and reinforce skills in the areas of math and language arts. (I have absolutely no musical talent so I have to rely on others for help with this.) I found some great phonics and math videos which incorporate music and movement. "Lets Start Smart" had several lessons for reviewing phonics. At some point this summer,  I will embed the most useful ones into the appropriate Notebook lesson slides to use during my whole group language arts block. I also found  many excellent videos by "Harry Kindergarten". There are several that I will be using to reinforce math concepts. All are set to catchy tunes and reinforce key concepts such as the days of the week, months, coins, addition and subtraction, adding doubles, etc. I don't know when people found the time to make these videos, but I am sure glad they did! I have searched Google and Discovery Education for similar type songs to use with my first graders. You Tube was the best resource by far and without this class, I never would have thought to search there!

Last year, we were able to log into You Tube for the first time at school. I have used it in the past a few times to show my students short clips to build background before a lesson in reading or social studies. I will definitely use it more often this year, now that I know what a great resource it is for educators. I am excited to share these new discoveries with my first grade team.

Thing #6

Oh my goodness... I spend days on Flicker just looking at photos and uploading some of my own! I wish I had known about this site in the spring when we were making a slide show for Ellen Miller's retirement party. During one of my searches I typed in Anna Reynolds and found lots of photos of our students using pointillism to paint our lobby mural. Unfortunately, we were not able to include photos of this project in the slide show because no one seemed to have any. Who knew that Flicker would provide what we were looking for? I think this site will be helpful for building vocabulary and background knowledge in all subject areas.

Thing # 5

I chose this photo of a monarch because it is a beautiful picture of the butterfly drinking nectar from the flower. It reminds me of summer.  I also liked it because the proboscis is so clear and easy to see. In the fall, we study the monarch butterfly during our life cycle unit.  I was amazed at all Flicker has to offer. I spent a long time typing in key words and looking at photos.

Thing 4

I enjoyed setting up a homepage. I chose igoogle  because it seemed to be the easiest one for me to use. I like the way everything is so neat and organized. It is easy to move things around, add new gadgets and delete current ones if I no longer want them. I played around with a few before I decided on what to keep. I added the weather, date and time, gmail, a to do list, free worksheet of the day and educational quotes to my home page. (I also added People Magazine updates so I can keep up on the latest celebrity gossip.) When school begins I will take off the gossip link. The weather link will be helpful in October when we do our daily weather data collection.  Currently we just track the type of weather, but we can now add the daily temperature as well. This was a fun activity. I am constantly looking for cool and interesting things to add to my homepage. I am wondering if it is possible to add our school email to this page and if my gmail account will show up when I am using a school computer.

Thing 3

After reading the "33 Ways to Use Blogs in Education" and looking at blogs specific to my grade level, I am motivated to create a classroom blog. I would love to set up a classroom blog to showcase student work and inform parents of classroom/school activities.  I could add links to the math and reading sites that we use in the classroom and in the computer lab. This would allow parents to have access to educational sites and allow students to practice at home. I liked the idea of having students comment on their art work using audio. My students are just beginning to write, so I don't see them using a blog the way students in the older grades might. At the end of the week, I might have students summarize the week's activities and tell about the things that they learned as I type it on the blog. I am wondering if a blog is the way to go or if a class website would be better. Maybe after I finish the 23 things I will have a better idea.

I found some good sites for adding child centered clip art and backgrounds to blogs. I bookmarked them and will probably go back to them when I set up my classroom blog.

The video on blog settings was helpful. I had discovered some of those things on my own when I was working on Thing 2. I am sure I will refer to this often when I set up my classroom blog.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Well it looks like I may have created a blog. It still needs a lot of work, but it's a start! I can't remember what the URL is so I will have to figure out how to find that. It took several tries before I was able to find one that was available. I know the beginning is gingerbreadcrossing, but I am not sure what comes after that.

I am participating in 23 Things because I want to learn how to use all of the technology that I hear others talking about. I am not as internet savvy as I would like to be so I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to become more familiar with the programs that are out there. I am also hoping to incorporate some of the things learned in this course into the first grade curriculum. After watching the video and reading the article, I feel that I am in way over my head! I am excited to learn and feel pretty confident that at the end of the 23 things I will not be as overwhelmed as I am right now.