Digital Book

Here is my PowerPoint book titled "Meet Miss Cunningham." I will use it to introduce myself at the beginning of each school year. I was so excited to learn how to use PowerPoint in this way. I can't believe I wasn't taught this before now! It is so easy! I will definitely be telling my colleagues how to create digital books. I can't wait to make one in my own classroom to put on our website.

Update: I almost feel comfortable enough allowing my students to create their own "About Me" digital stories. It is pretty simple with the template. Now that I have created a "How-to" guide tutorial, I hope to teach a workshop on digital stories at my school.

Check out my tech video

Check out the technology video I put on here from Youtube. It is very powerful, and will make you want to use more technology in your classroom. Click on "A Vision of K-12 Students Today."

Class Blog!

I'm so proud of myself! I made a classroom blog at wordpress today! I'm so excited to use it with my kids. I'm going to spend a day or two just modeling how to use the site first, though, so it doesn't turn into a disaster. Tomorrow I'm going to link it to my regular class webpage so it will be easy for my kids to link to it. AND not only did I create the blog, but I used slide.com to download a slideshow of my kids! I'm about technologied-out for the night! Check it out, though. http://carolinecunningham.wordpress.com/

Update: Our classroom blog is coming along nicely! At first it was like pulling teeth to teach the kids how to get to it. Now it is linked to our school page, and the students are so used to visiting it that they never need help finding it anymore (that is an accomplishment in itself). It is very useful to me, because the kids never have to type in web addresses. They always know to go to the class blog and find the appropriate heading. This made our webquest very simple. I also used the blog to let the kids write comments about poetry before our poetry unit. I have uploaded our biome PowerPoints, our digital story, and other poems to the blog so that the parents can understand what their kids are doing. I also hope that my blog will serve as a great example for my students next year. It will be a great storage device for me, too!

My Webquest

I created a Biome Webquest through Zunal.com. My students are researching a particular biome in small groups in order to create a Powerpoint presentation for the class. I hope the Webquest will help them with their research. I tried to keep it simple, since my kids get very distracted and click everywhere they can! My quest can be viewed at the following website:
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?user=7567

Update: I was very impressed at how well my students worked on their Webquests. They were so enthralled that they were doing science in the computer lab (oh, imagine that)! Just the presentation was stimulating enough to keep many of them interested. I have a better idea of how much information I can put on future webquests. If I had put many more links on there, the kids would have lost focus. I think most of the time the fewer links the better so they will really take their time. Check out our class website to view the Biome PowerPoints they created after researching via books and the Webquest.

A funny technology Poem

http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/tek1/rememberwhen.htm
A funny technology poem

Class Webpage

So here is my class webpage. I just created it this past week, so it is still in the works. I'm just impressed that I figured this much out. Check it out!! Next year I hope to use it a lot more, and hopefully parents will check it out for homework assignments, etc.

http://qp.lincoln.k12.nc.us/QuickPlace/kiscunningham/Main.nsf/h_Toc/451552b8236632a085256f260015445f/?OpenDocument

Update: Now that I have a class blog, my webpage almost serves no purpose! My blog can do everything that the webpage can do and more! Plus, to edit my school webpage, I have to save to a template on my computer (in other words, I can't edit it unless I'm using my own computer or flash drive). I can edit my blog anywhere easily!

Projector

I finally learned how to use our school's projector in my classroom. I was kind of avoiding it because it is such a hassle trying to borrow the projector/laptop in the first place, much less trying to plug everything in etc. It actually worked very well. We were able to look at lots of videos of fractions from United Streaming (another great teaching website all teachers should use)!! I'm excited about using our projector/ELMO more. I'd like to write a grant to get one that is solely for my room to make it even easier.

As of April, I have received my own projector that I only have to share with one other teacher. We have watched several videos via United Streaming. My students have enjoyed watching their own digital PowerPoint books through it. I have also been able to better explain how to navigate through programs such as PowerPoint. Since I can teach them using our projector beforehand, we do not have to waste valuable computer lab time working out kinks. Still waiting on that promised SmartBoard!!

Smart as Springdoo

I FINALLY made my Springdoo video. It was actually very easy for me to record (no webcam problems etc.) I just wasn't uploading it correctly. So for those of you that haven't tried it yet, don't be scared! After you record, press the button that says Springcast (I was dumb and kept pressing springmail b/c I thought that was how you email it. Then, once it's downloaded, go to My Caster at the top (I think) and find the link somewhere on the page. Next, copy the link and paste it in your email to everyone through nicenet. Hope this helps!!

My video: http://www.springdoo.com/M1F9B97C10FEB6565B

I plan to use Springdoo or another type of communication software so that my students will be able to communicate with people around the world. For example, this year we have been writing to other fifth graders in Alaska and soldiers in Kuwait. It is important to me that my students see how powerful technology is, and how it can overcome thousands of miles! Not to mention, it is instant and free! Springdoo is blocked on my school computer, but I am trying to either get it unblocked or find a new type of software.

Elephant Math

Inspiration Bubble