The children use a hand held throughout the day. It is used to take notes that can be taken home with the children to remind them of things that happened throughout the day. They use it for all different subjects. This handheld can help the children learn better because it is more hands on for them and interesting since they are in charge of the equipment. This could be used for future teaching because pretty soon a lot more things are going to be used through technology and this is a way of getting children started with it.

Here is a link that shows how the day goes with the handhelds.

http://learninginhand.com/articles/photoessays/taylor/index.html

Second Life with Autism

I watched a Second Life with Autism. It is a video about a person who is autistic and how people don’t pay attention to her, unless she speaks in our language. She types and talks online then people are there to listen to her. She uses the computer to talk and communicate with other people that have autism. The computer is something that is needed in her life because that is the only way that she can communicate. The internet and computer are very important in her life because they let her be herself and not hide from everyone.

Picture from: Morguefile.com

Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmTXGQ2BhUA

Collage of Rainforest pictures

This is a collage that can be made by children. I put many of my rainforest pictures into Picasa and from there I clicked on make collage and then moved them around. I think this would be something that children would really like to do because they would never be wrong and it is a way for them to be creative. It is also a hands on activity, so a lot more learning will be done when the children are using the program. It could be a nice activity to be used if children need to find some reptiles and make a collage or some sort.

www.picasa.google.com

Video Project

I made a video that shows some animals from each layer of the rainforest. The video starts with the forest floor and works the way up through each layer. I also labeled each animal with the animals name, so children are recognizing words. I used transitions through the video to make it flow better. I also used editing in order to put titles on over the different pictures. I also used a fade out on the credit page so it doesn't just end. I also added music to the video. I used a rainforest sounds, it goes very well with the pictures. Included is a copy of my video.




www.teachertube.com this is a website of many different videos that teachers either made or can use to help in the classroom.

Spreadsheet

I made a spreadsheet that I will use with my second graders. The children have to go online and find out about the different temperatures in the rainforest and where they live. They will then put the information in the spreadsheet and already calculated for them is the average of the two temperatures. There is also a graph so the children can see the difference in the temperatures. The students will use hands on to learn about the different temperatures.


http://www.alicechristie.org/edtech/ss/shoes.JPG This is a website showing a way that teachers can use kind of spreadsheet with younger children.

Picture of my spreadsheet:

WebQuest

With my Web quest, I created a five page website that describes everything a student needs to know to do a project. It talks about the tasks and the process, then it goes to different resources that the students can use to do their project. It then goes to an evaluation page, it is a simple evaluation that can easily grade the students project. Then to the conclusion page, which helps the student answer a few questions to reflect on what they have learned through the project. The last page shows how the INTACS standards apply to the project. By doing this hands on project the students will have a better understanding of what they are doing because they are doing it all themselves. I think it also makes them like it more because they are more in charge of the project rather than the teacher.

http://sites.google.com/site/hoffmaahwebquest/

Kidspiration

The Kidspiration that I have created will encourage children to use information about what they know to place the animals in the correct layers of which they live. It will also help with finding new information because if the children don’t know in which layer all the animals live they will need to go to the website that was provided and find the animals. This will help the children have a better understanding of where animals live and because it is hands on the children will enjoy the project as well as learning more from doing it themselves.

http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration

Picture of my Kidspiration:

LOok at me

Preschool Graduation was great!