I be done again!

I had wanted to get some ideas about Kidspiration and Inspiration this week end. I will use Kidspiration a little more now. There are a few things that I can do with it that are appropriate for Pre-K. I may make more charts to use for centers in my classroom.
I am now able to loop the power point so that it keeps going continuously.

Final Project

My final project is a Power Point to be used for open house. I am going to hopefully have it set up so that it will run on my TV continuously so my parents can view it. I am also going to print out hard copies of the presentation and include a copy in the welcome packet that goes home on open house night. I feel this will be a more creative way to communicate important information with the parents than a letter. I included information about the school, our hours, bus adn car rider policies, field trips, birthdays, and contact information. The information will be easier fior parents to access from the power point pages.
I enjoyed making this power point. I'm sure Brooke and Blythe will critique it and tell me how uncreative and bland the entire thing is! If I let them get hold of it, the info will be the same, but the slides will be more creative.

My Inspirational Kidspiration!

I am going to blow this up poster size. I will use it in my classroom as my daily schedule. The state requires Pre-K classrooms to utilize interactive daily schedules. I did not put arrows on here because the kids will be able to move a velcro marker from one activity to the next. Sometimes our schedule changes due to specail events. I had fun making this. I just wish I had been to able choose better clip art.

Weekend 2 Goals

I have worked extensively with Power Point for about 5 years. My girls have taught me a few tricks over the years. Some of the ones they have turned in for assignments are truly amazing. I guess they are willing to experiment a little more than I. I enjoy Power Point in Windows 2007 because of the new features. I am looking forward to making a power point to loop during Open House thisyear. I think it will be more interesting for my parents.

While at Wrens Elementary, I took a class on using Kidspiration and Inspiration but I haven't used either one very much. I would like to explore more ways to incorporate Kidspiration with my Pre-K class.

State of Flow

The article that we read for class was titled MI & Technology: A Winning Combination! Our group discussed state of flow. State of flow is achieved when you are so "into" what you are doing that you are "in the zone". You may tune out everything around you because you are trying to get that next step mastered. Technology is a great way to reach all the multiple intelligences while "in the zone." Tamara taught herself to use Excel at work and was at work very late one night and didn't realize the time. Margo found her zone in Photoshop during class. Leslie's zone was Facebook on her home computer. I talked about my students who taught other students while using computers to virtully disect frogs. It's interesting to look around the computer lab and see ohter people in the zone.

Weekend one..... I be DONE!!!

I think I have met most of the goals I set for myself so far in this class. I could have tried to do a few more "tricks" if I had more pictures on my camera. Watching Kristle play with all of her wedding photos has really inspired me. I may have found something to fill my down time this summer. This is one image that I played around with that was just a little fun thing.

Photo shop elements

NATURE IS TRULY A WORK OF ART!!!

This picture is the second one that I did. I did my midterm first.This one is named my nature picture. I took a picture of a couple of plants in the school. I choose a background that fit with nature. I put one of the pictures in a frame that had rough edges and copied the picture again. I then choose another picture and did the same thing with it. I wanted the picture to be symmetrical so the two pictures are in opposite corners of the page. I added words as a title.

I think I have missed my calling. I should work with graphic design!!!! I love trying different effects and seeing what my picture will look like!

OUR WONDEFUL COHORT!!!!

Aren't we just the best!?!

Using Digital Cameras for Multidimensional Learning

This article, written by Viola Supon, was very informative. Digital cameras should be used with a vision for instruction, curriculum, assessment, and reflection. There were three main ideas in the article.

The first point is the impact of digital cameras in schools today. They are considered the hottest technology trend right now. Most students are visual learners, so we should be tapping into that learning style through the use of digital cameras. We, as teachers, should change our teaching methods to use digital imagery to develop higher level thinking processes in our students.

The second point is to use digital cameras effectively in the classroom. Make sure you have permission to photograph the students, align with the curriculum and assessments, take appropriate images, and establish ground rules for higher grades.

The last point was to use the camera for more than visual images. The pictures can be used to impact both writing and math skills, can provide ownership to the work, can clarify concepts, and can be used by the students for self-reflection.

my goals

One of my goals for this class is to be more technology savvy than my girls. They have been wroking with power point since they were in the third grade. THey have already taught me how to work with Excel adn also Publisher. For an eighth grade project, they worked with partners and made videos using Movie Maker. Of course, they like to remind me that I can't find any song on Itunes or Limewire to listen to on the computer.
Another goal is to learn to use photo shop so I can take and edit pictures from my house.

Born into Brothels

I was impressed with the movie, Born into Brothels, that we watched last night. The most impressive pictures to me were the ones taken by Avijit. He took the most basic ideas and captured the images. My favorite was the picture of the sand pouring out of the bucket while they were at the beach. It was interesting to me to watch how these children handled the adversity they were facing everyday. They didn't think of themselves as poor and underprivileged. They seemed to be normal children who you would see in any walk of life. They did at times come act like the adults and show more responsibility than the parents and grandparents.
I would like for Brooke and Blythe to watch the movie so they see how good their lives actually are. The movie will hopefully show them that rich is relevant to the situation and lifestyle.