A Hunt for Adjectives

     Students in my 3rd grade resource room have been working hard on reading, writing, and identifying adjectives.  We looked for adjectives in sentences we were reading in books.  We described pictures using adjectives.  We described things we saw in our lives around us using adjectives.  We used the ColAR app and describe our coloring pages that came to life.  We even used our 5 senses to talk about adjectives by eating food like grapes and pop rocks(I will post more pictures soon).  Soon, we will be learning about cocoa (because that is something our students wanted to learn and we posted on our Wonder Wall) and trying out.  I am pretty sure we will be talking about adjectives then too(they don't know what REAL dark chocolate and cocoa tastes like).

Students on a hunt for adjectives

    One of the projects we did to wrap up our adjective unit was go on an adjective hunt.  Each student was given an iPad and sent out into the school for about 7-10 minutes in search of things they wanted to take pictures of to describe.  To manage the time they took on this activity, I had their timers set up on their iPads, so they knew when to return to class. Students LOVED this activity.  They had so many pictures.  I had to convince them to only choose between 4-6 pictures.
    Once the students picked out the pictures they wanted to use, we listed adjectives to describe their pictures.  The graphic organizer for this activity is located at http://www.fcrr.org/studentactivities/v_007a.pdf. When they completed the list, we edited it by checking their spelling.  We practiced sounding out the words and finding word patterns in the words. If they did not know how to spell it completely, I taught them how to use spell check features using technology like Google.  I had the students see if the picture of their item matched up what they were trying to spell. 

    Finally, when they had their words spelled correctly, I had the students get onto pizap and text to their pictures.

    Pizap was very easy for my students to use.  They really enjoyed the all the creative features that were available on Pizap.  Some of the students edited one picture with me and could upload pictures from the computer onto Pizap quickly without my help.   On a side note, As student were working on finishing their project a student said, "Miss Breneman, are you going to post this on the internet?"  I said, "well, of course!  You guys are doing such a great job at this."  He responded, "Well, good!  Are you going to post it on Twitter?"  I said excitedly, "Most definitely!  I have to tell the world how awesome my students are.  You guys did all this hard work and had fun doing it, might as well share it!"  He smiled.  I could tell that he found more value in doing this unit now that he knew people outside of the school would see his finished product

    When the students were finished with editing their pictures, I had my Maymester student from Albion College record the students introducing themselves and their pictures.  I gave them an option of a scripted introduction or they could make up one of their own.  Many of the students wanted to do the scripted recording this time.  I think next time I am going to tell them they have create their own script.  Since this was the first time around, I wanted my students to feel comfortable speaking.

    When all pieces were finished, I pulled all the videos and recordings together and created a video using iMovie.  The video turned out great!  Please take a moment to view it and feel free to comment on their video on this blog.  I told my students I would share some of the comments that I get about their video.  

Options Off The Traditional Bookshelf

 

Image taken from http://pixabay.com/p-67049/?no_redirect

    It is the end of February, and I wanted to wrap up Black History Month with a great book that I could do some close reading of with my 4th grade group.  I also felt I needed try someone else's example of close reading and compare it to how I have been doing close reading with my students.  Also, I craved something that I haven't read before and I needed more than 1 copy.  Where can I get more than 1 copy of a book that I haven't read or the students haven't read from my school's Book Room?  There are many options.
    To start, I went to readworks.org to view some of the book lesson units that they have provided on the website.  There are a variety of lesson units for each grade level.  I chose a grade level lower than what my students are at because my students are reading at a 3rd grade reading levels.  As, I was going through the list of lesson units, I noticed I didn't have most of the books that were listed.  I decided I would start browsing the digital world for the books that were listed.  I hopped over to one of my favorite websites called wegivebooks.org.  We Give Books has a splendid amount of books to choose from that parents, teachers, and students can read for free online.  I have use this website in the past do read books as a whole group with a large class and a small group with my students with learning disabilities.  I have read the book from the Promethean Board to reading books from iPads with the students.  We Give Books also has lessons and activities to go with some of their books.  A book that interested me from ReadWorks lesson units was The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind By William Kamkwamba.  I got lucky because We Give Books had that on their bookshelf.  Yay!
    To help students saffold before reading the book, I will be using Padlet for students to reflect on what they think life would be like without electricity and running clean water.  That question was apart of step 1 in the lesson from ReadWorks.  I thought it would be a great way for students to be engaged with the book and reflect at the end of the book on what they thought before reading and how they felt about it now.
    Now, I had a plan, a lesson and a book that my students would find interested.  My students and I will be reading a great book this week to wrap up Black History Month.  The students really enjoy the change of reading books on digitally on the iPad.

DTL- Cloud Computing and You Reflection

https://www.flickr.com/photos/linhngan/2580325511/
Find the rainbow in the clouds.

  Cloud computing is a outstanding way to organize documents, pictures, websites, videos, music, and more.  Cloud computing is a useful tool for students to use inside and outside the classroom.  Students can save links to your favorite pictures, searches, and stories.  On several clouds, user are able to upload their own documents and media files.  This would be a great place for students that enjoy doing art, photography, and creating things to store pictures of their completed work or even the process of completing their work.

    Students can be more efficient using the cloud in many ways.  One of my favorite clouds that I use is Dropbox.  I have been using Dropbox recently for students to pool the stories we have read in class, images of their Word Their Way studies that they did using Padlet, and documents that they have created that they want to share with me or others.  Dropbox can also be used for students to save worksheets they completed digitally on their iPads or tablets.  The other great thing about Dropbox is that is so easy for students to access.  Students and teachers can access their Dropbox or a shared Dropbox through the website or through applications on the PCs, smartphones, and tablets.

    A cloud computing tool that I use will use personally is Diigo.  I love this cloud because I can add documents, links, and images on this cloud.  I think this would be one of the easiest ways to share professional journals, activities I have done in and outside the classroom, and so much more with others.  To share information, I would just give them the link to my Diigo page.  The other great thing about Diigo is the wide variety of groups you can join to learn more about topics that interest with you.  Who doesn't want to having a bigger personal learning network?  Diigo is just another was to connect with other educators.  Diigo would be a great tool for anyone, personally or professionally.
    I have just started using Dropbox to help me share documents with students.  I will continue using Dropbox to share books that I am reading with my students.  I also would like to get some applications on the iPads for students to complete their worksheets from their iPads and drop their completed worksheets back into the dropbox.  I also would like my students to be able to create videos on their iPads to show what they have learned and share them on Dropbox with each other.

DTL Reflection- Diigo and Symbaloo Reflection

Picture from http://pixabay.com/en/users/ikuki-98708/
So many clouds!

   People are always on the go and need tools that will support them in organizing their favorite websites and documents.  Many people use clouds to store their documents, pictures, and videos on the go.  Websites are as important too for people to be able to access on the go.  People sometimes attach their favorite websites to their Google account or even e-mail web address to themselves.  There are more organized options to access your websites on the go.
    Diigo and Symbaloo are key resources to organize your favorite websites.  Below is a comparison of the two websites.

Diigo

Pros:

• It is professional looking.
• Capability to tag your resources to easily search them.
• Upload images, documents, and notes.
• Bookmarking websites is easy.
• Diigo application available for easier access.
• Diigo Google app to bookmark websites easily.
• Option to join groups of people that share interests.
• Tools available to organize notes, documents, images, and websites by date, type of file, unread, and public or private posts.
• Able to share Diigo bookmarks.

Cons:

• Not very kid friendly.
• Can seem very wordy for students that have difficulty reading.

Symbaloo

Pros:

• Easy for students to use.
• Use of pictures to connect to websites.
• Able to make a variety of Symbaloo pages to organize bookmarked websites.
• Can share and search other user bookmarked pages.

Cons:

• Not able to upload images, documents, and notes.
• Not an option to join groups of people interested in the same thing.
  

    When I think about which website I prefer, it depends on the purpose of the bookmark site.  If I am bookmarking sites for myself or to share with other professionals I would use Diigo.  It looks more professional and it is more organized.  It is also helpful that you can upload pictures and documents to this website.  I would prefer to use Symbaloo with my students because pictures represent websites and it looks more fun.  I could see my students not feeling swamped with all the text that is on the Diigo website.

DTL Reflection- Search Strategies

Research can be overwhelming for students

    When I think about search strategies my students are using, I am reflecting on that I am not doing much research I have done with my students.  My students in my classroom are not good at evaluating information they find online.  We have not done a lot of informational text research, since I focus more on giving them support on decoding and comprehending text and math in the classroom.  I think if I were a general education classroom teacher, my students would spend some extra time in the classroom exploring the web and doing research.  Also, in the elementary grades students don't do as much research online as they do in middle school and high school since they are developing more skills they need to be successful in high school and middle school.  My students are lacking exposure to researching information online.

 
    When students start doing research online, I will have them use a citation maker.  I think that a citation maker website will make it very easy for students cite their resources.  Citing sources can be very difficult, especially for elementary students, but it is important for students to understand the purpose of citing and practice citing at a young age.  This will help student be more prepared to write research papers when they are in middle and high school.  They will be adequately exposed to what citing is, why we cite our sources, and how to do it.  Students with learning disabilities usually need extra practice to understand how to do things correctly, having them start citing their sources in 3rd and 4th grade using a citation maker will give them the practice they need.

This is kind of what my brain looks like when I web search.
Taken from https://www.flickr.com/photos/toprankblog/2757847443/

    Education databases are very important for my students to use when they are researching.  Kids, and adults, are relying on Google too much when they are doing research.  I think people are starting to forget that there are education databases that give you more concrete, accurate and credible information.  Students also have trouble with focusing.  I think Google can easily become a distraction for students because there is so much information and one link, links to another link, and before you know it...you forgot what you were looking up.  I know this because I have done it(many times).  :)  Education databases are less cluttered and focus on the topic better.  Students will be less likely to get distracted by the other information that comes up from a web search.

DTL Reflection- Guidelines for Web Evaluation

For Evaluating Websites

Here are some guidelines for evaluating if websites are credible to use for research:

1. What type of web address is it?
• .gov, .edu, .org are more reliable than .com websites.
2. Does the website look well organized?
• Does it look cluttered?
• Are the pictures, articles and text on the page aligned?  
3. Are there any errors in grammar or spelling?
4. Did the author on the website cite their resources?
• Did they tell you what kind of research they have to back up their information?
• Did they reference other cites they got their information from?
5. Do links of the website work?
• If the links do not work, it may mean they were fake links or they have not updated their website recently.
6. Does the pictures support what the author is trying to convey?
• If the picture/s do not enhance what you are trying to learn about from their article, then it may be not be a credible resource.

Guidelines taken from 21ThingsforTeachers.net powerpoint at http://www.21things4teachers.net/downloads/search_strategies/bogus_websites_20140508_143242_26.pdf

DTL Reflection- MeL Resources for Students- Focusing on Students with Disabilities Needs

Large library are not only physically available, but also digitally.
Picture of the Inside of the George Peabody Library

   When students are working on projects they need a lot of different avenues to give them options of ways to collect resources such as videos, articles, books, and pictures.  When students with disabilities, and struggling students, work on projects they need differentiation and accommodations  of the text and ways to obtain their information.  MeL or Michigan eLibrary, offers a variety of resources for students at many different reading and technology use levels.  MeL provides a connection to sites that provide information on kid-friendly websites.
    I choose to review sites based off their accessibility features for students:

Scholastic BookFlix-  This site has their large selection of fiction and non-fiction text and video format.  For every topic that it covers(for example, owls), it had a story to watch, which was Owl Moon, and a non-fiction story to read online.  Something that my students would really like is the ability to read along with the story that they found.  Each book that they can read has an option to Read-Along.  The website will highlight each word that is read to them.  Another great feature is that, each book has vocabulary words highlighted in them.  If you hover your curser over the highlighted word, a bubble will pop up telling you the definition of the word and let you listen to the word.

Plus side for teacher- there are lessons for any topic you wish to teach your students about in the classroom based off the resources provided.


Kids InfoBits-  This website has a very calming look to it.  I could see my students finding this website very pleasing to look at because of the contrasting colors they use on the website.  On Kids InfoBits students can look up images, magazines, news, and books.  When students want to read magazine, news, and book articles they found on this website, it will give them the option to listen to what is on the page.  While they are listening the students can track what is being read to them because it is being highlighted.  The website also gives students the capability to download what they found in an audio format, which I would find very empowering for students with reading disabilities and visual impairments.
    The other positive thing that this research site offers for kids is it gives them an idea of how difficult the reading will be through a "Content Level" symbol.  They do this by placing colored symbols that mean "basic", "intermediate", or "advanced."  I think this tool would make it easy for students to find resources close to their reading level.  They wouldn't feel like they have to sift through a lot of content that is too difficult for them.
      Kids InfoBits also offers citation tools, options for highlighting information, advanced search options, and a dictionary for students.  I would highly suggest this website for students.


eLibrary Elementary-  I love all the resources on this website.  When searching for something you can search pictures, maps, audio/videos, transcripts, books, magazines, and newspapers.  I really liked the option to search maps.  I haven't seen the option to search for maps on a kids research website before.  I could see eLibrary Elementary making my students feel anxious because the way it lists resources when searching a topic and the website is a very bright white.
    This website has the same option Kids InfoBits by reading text and highlighting text that is being read to them.  You can also download text into an audio format.  This site does separate the resources collected better by having each type of media found(i.e., pictures vs. magazine articles) on their own page.  Students will not easily get distracted by pictures or videos being automatically in their search results.
    Another great feature of this website is that it places a reading level on all the text by rating them by number.  It does not explain what each number means, so the teacher would have to spend some time talking to the students about what each number represents when looking at reading levels.

Do your research

   These are just a few resources available through MeL.  There are several more webpages that students can use in the classroom.  It is always helpful to do your research on which research tool would be more appropriate for your students before they start their projects.  You don't want your students to feel overwhelmed when doing research, which in turn would create more work for you(the teacher).  Empower them by giving them tools that will be easy to use.:)