Sites

I can see how having a website personalized to the classroom could be of great benefit. If you want it to be, it can function as an online syllabus for parents to keep track of things going on in the classroom. I know for my own kids, I have pieces of paper all over the place with contact information, classroom calendars, newsletters and homework assignments.  This is a great resource to have all of those things handy in one spot.

When designing my page, I tried to make it as if I were a kindergarten teacher.   Obviously I did not have a real school to put links to, etc, so I just used some fun clip art (free clip art...although I know you still have to be careful about that.  I would not use it on a real site) and made up staff name for the contact information.  I used lavender and purple as my background colors because, well...that is my favorite color and since it is a make-beleive school, I chose what I liked.  However, if making a site for a real school, I would have used school colors and pictures of the school along with a link to the school website and school calendar as well as just my classroom calendar.

I used a Google calendar gadget for my widget.  I added a few pretend field trips and events to correlate with the announcements page.  I also used sidebars and multiple page formats to experiment with the different types.  On my contacts page, I wanted to put a box around the information in each column but could not figure out how.  So, the information is divided into columns but I think boxes would enhance the page and organize the information to be more visually pleasing.

I added in Google Drawings in a couple of places.  It took me quite a while to get them sized to fit where I wanted them to go, but finally got my book-a-pillar to fit!  (I drew the caterpillar from Google Drawings!!)

I also got to experiment with organizing the order of the pages on the site list.  I created pages as they came to mind and then had to go back under the manage tab and figure out how to reorganize them so they would flow.

I made a "birthday" column.  In a real class, I might use the first names of the students after getting permission from the parents.

Overall, I enjoyed making this site and hope to get to use it as a kindergarten teacher someday!!

Here is the link to my site:

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbroaddusclassroom/

Drawing

Well, I think what I confirmed most out of this assignment is that I am not an artist!! Thank you for not making us share our work!  However, if you had the creativity, Google Drawings could be a lot of fun. I was especially amazed at the artist that was able to re-create Goofy in the YouTube video.  I explored with many of the shapes, colors and line options.  I attempted to draw a map!

Google drawings has the ability to produce a wide range of visual documents, such as flow charts, custom graphs, posters and graphic designs.  These documents can be published using a unique URL. Google drawings has the ability to share real-time creations, which according to our reading, Microsoft cannot compete with. One website suggested that Adobe Illustrator would take hours of tutorials before being able to create a document.  However, that is not the case with Google Drawings.  Google Drawings is easy enough you can begin to work on it immediately. And, it is Free!!  When creating your document, Google Drawings offers tools to help make your work percise, such as spacing and alignment guides.

For students, Google Drawings can help organize ideas when working on a presentation or when beginning the writing process.  The sharing feature allows the document to be viewed, edited or commented on by the people it has been shared with. This can be beneficial in a collaborative project.  Another website suggested that you could create drawings to enhance a lesson and then export the drawings into Google Presentations. It should be noted that once the project is published, it is no longer open to the edit options.  A teacher might want to use this option when providing a visual aid to share with the class.

As was demonstrated in the lesson plan we were asked to review, Google Drawings can be beneficial for exploring math concepts.  Students can manipulate shapes by rotating and flipping them.  They can use shapes to create designs and then label the shapes they used.  This activity can help not only explore how to manipulate shapes but also help increase exposure to mathematic vocabulary.

I can envision many uses for Google Drawings in the classroom.  Even as a young elementary student, I have seen story organizers come home in my son's homework.  Google Drawings is just one more tool to help to enhance the learning experience in this digital kids age.

Apps

iPad Literacy

•     Preparation Section:

I previewed both Dictionary and Merriam Webster dictionaries.  Although both had very similar features, I liked the Merriam Webster dictionary a tiny bit better.  The Merriam Webster dictionary offered synonyms and an example sentence on the same page as the definition.  Both apps would speak the word so you could hear the pronunciation, which is a very nice feature.  Both apps also offered a favorites list and a recently used list.

I also previewed My Spelling Test app. I could see very practical educational applications for this app.  Digital kids would most likely enjoy doing spelling practice on an app like this rather than traditional pencil and paper practice.  Practicing spelling this way seems more like playing a game than doing work.  The YouTube video had a testimonial from a teacher and a student. The teacher enjoyed the fact that the student could work independently and the student enjoyed using the technology for learning.  One nice thing about this app is that you can customize the spelling list.  This app can have practical application in the classroom as you can use it for your classroom’s spelling list.  This app also could be using on an interactive whiteboard, enhancing the abilities to use this app and capture student’s attention.

• ·      Presentations:

Educreations is an interactive whiteboard app.  Educreation gives you the opportunity to record a lesson. This app is a good way to individualize a lesson for a student and also to have a recorded document of the lesson in case students need to hear the lesson again. This app gives you the ability to use color in your lesson, which could be helpful in a math situation where you have multiple steps. Pictures can be inserted into your document if they are helpful to what you are teaching. You can use pictures from your library or take a picture to use.  You can also have multiple pages so that if your lesson has multiple points, you can have a page for each.  Educreations had editing features that can be used, such as zoom, rotate and annotations. Annotations can be helpful if you are making a study guide because you can underline, circle, X-out things. One neat thing about Educreations is that if you do not have an iPad, you can do this right off of the Educreation website.

• ·      Stories

The PuppetPals app was very interesting.  Students or teachers could use this app to create a story to enhance a lesson or just to experiment with creativity.  By picking characters and backgrounds, you could create many different types of stories. You can record your voice while moving the puppets around on the background. You have the ability to pause so that you can change your characters or backgrounds in order to make the transition smoother. If you do not see a character or scene you want, you can use file-sharing options to use your own characters or backgrounds from iTunes. The movies can be exported to your camera role for further use.  Right now, the process to upload your specialized settings is a little cumbersome.  However, according to the YouTube video, they are working on ways to make it easier. The downside I found to this app was that you cannot go back in and edit your puppet show. In addition to this version of PuppetPals, I also found Bible Buddies. It is the same format as Puppet Pals but uses Bible characters.

iPad Disciplines

• Languages Arts:

For language arts, I previewed, and later purchased at home on my personal iPad, Auracle.  I liked several features about this app.  I liked the fact that you could preview the stories before committing to buy them.  One thing I have found with purchasing books online is that many times, we get the story and there is something in its content that I prefer my kids not read or the title catches our attention but the story is not so exciting.  It is nice to get to try the book first. This is not a feature found in all story apps.  Next, I like the three reading options. The books can be read traditionally-you read the book, or you the iPad will read the book to you.  There are two options with having the book read.  One option is that the child can turn the pages at their own pace.  Sometimes, after reading a page, it is nice to be able to ponder the picture.  However, for kids that are not quite ready to be in charge of turning the pages on their own, you can choose the autoplay option and the book pages will automatically turn after being read.  

• Mathematics:

I previewed the Math Drill's app for mathematics.  In elementary school, I think it is important to lay a good foundation for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Just as I mentioned in the write-up for the spelling app, I think an iPad app for something that used to just be a pencil and paper activity, or classroom drills on a chalkboard, just makes the learning process more fun!  This app is simply old fashion math drills. It even looks like chalk on a chalkboard.  If you miss an answer, it gives you the opportunity to go back and correct it, showing what you had put previously.  I also liked the aspect of familiarizing students with using a number pad, as they have to enter their answer on the number pad and then press the enter symbol.  I have a testimonial from a 7-year-old boy that this app is a good way to learn math and is better than the math papers he had to do in class.  I could see this app being used in a learning center.  It is a good activity that could be done independently.  And...I have learned through observation that sometimes you may learn your user knows a lot more than you thought they did!!  In this way, it can help you to know when your student is ready to move on to something else. 

• Social Studies:

I previewed Stack the States (I know it said not available for summer 2013, but I looked it up on my own iPad).   This app was a fun way for kids to learn the placement of states and facts about the states.  Again, this app provides a fun way to learn these facts.  I like the way they animated the states to make them look fun.  However, as I use this app, I see that it might not be most appropriate for lower elementary students.  Students need to have a knowledge of state capitals and basic state information in order to play this game. They also need to have the ability to read the questions if they are going to play independently.  

I also did some experimenting with Google Maps.  I know we had a presentation regarding this app in class, so I will not re-write what we have already heard, but I did install it on my iPad and have had many conversations with my children about the world map thanks to this app. 

• Conclusion:

It dawns on me, as I look at so many of these apps that help students learn independently, how effective iPads can be for learning centers.  I know from the limited amount of substitute teaching I have done that one teacher in a classroom is many times pulled from group to group and learning centers are not always as effective as they might be. Providing an activity that you know is a core education standard to be done in centers can really help enhance the learning process.