Life On The Train

Life on the Train

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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.