Tool #5

I love using different web based tools with my class.  Two of the easiest are Glogster (new for me this year) and Animoto. I have used Glogster since the beginning of the year.  The kids created a Glog that contained information about themselves to share with their classmates to build community.  We have used Animoto for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle as well as for their math technology menu where they are choosing a math concept to create a short music video for.

Miss Lopez's Back to School Glog

student Animoto example

Tool #4

Using Google Apps will aid with collaborating among the team.  Teams will be able to work on assignments without having to find time to meet. In the classroom, teachers can create a document of some type and edit/revise as a class, student groups can work on projects together whether at school or at home. Documents and forms will be the easiest to start out with.

Tool #3

I use You Tube and Teacher Tube  all the time for music videos (ex. Bill Nye) related to science as well as United Streaming for math and science. These are my 2 most favorite science videos of all time (so far anyway).  The kids LOVE them!!!

Copyright/Fair Use- not new.  This is something that is discussed with our students quite often. We always talk about not using other people's work as our own as well as giving credit for what is borrowed.


For Picasa, kids love looking for pictures related to various concepts to show their learning. They also love using the images to create products such as mosaics, flipcharts,...

Tool #2

I think participating in a PLN is great for educators since we are collaborators. Diigo is also a great way to keep track of sites you visit often and can then access them anywhere as opposed to just on your school computer. I joined Diigo because it’s easy to use and it keeps your sites/blogs organized for you. I am visiting/following 3 sites: Edutopia.com, Funbrain.com, and apple.com

As far as commenting, it is very important to practice online courtesy and of course you want people to visit your blog so you have to do things such as post questions or links so that others will be interested in what you have to share and continue to visit your blog. I don’t mind sharing my thoughts publicly via a blog or web site.  I prefer this much more than standing in front of a group and saying the same things. My team is a small group so I don’t see a difference between posting and sharing with them in person.  Larger groups are a different issue. 

Tool #1

Using Blogger is very easy and user friendly.  I have used it before and definitely prefer it to Word Press.  I forgot how fun it is to create a Voki.