All About Me Box

 

 



I created this box out of five sheets of 12x12 Cardstock paper. The three layers are the same shape, but get smaller in size. When opened it shows pictures I took that explain About Me. This is a fun project to make and can be used in many different ways. Some ideas are for holiday presents, mothers or father’s day gifts, or birthday gifts. The students can create them and put inside whatever they would like. Another great idea would be to make it a keepsake box for when a student moves so they can remember their class or for a new student who has just moved to the town and the students can put their pictures inside with their names and what they like. This is great way for the new student to learn the names of the students and what they like. It can also be used to store flashcards or write information on the different flaps for a certain subject. Again, a fun project and children can show their creativity!

 

Final Project- Tiki Toki

My final project was on how to use Tiki Toki! It is an interactive, multimedia timeline. I have listed some ideas on how to use Tiki Toki in the classroom

Uses
-         Have the children create a timeline of their life to share with the class
-         Research Projects to talk about a person’s life or the events of a war.
-         A classroom timeline- how they grew throughout the year and what they learned.
-  The students can also create a personal diary of what they do and learn each day.

Tiki Toki Tutorial

This is a tutorial on how to use Tiki Toki.

NETS

In order to be successful in implementing NETS in my classroom I will educate myself on them. Knowing that NETS is the standards for evaluating a student will help the teacher out. I will also educate my students on what is their job to be successful with the NETS standards. NETS are a great guideline to follow for teachers. It states what is expected of the teacher and what is expected of the students. A huge part of NETS deals with technology too. Technology is used in the classroom a majority of the time. It is important to teach the students how to properly use technology and what they can do with it. Teaching the students how to use technology by analyzing data and to learn from it is what NETS is looking for. So being able to be successful with NETS in the classroom is the teacher having a good understanding about what it is and also being able to tell the students too.

Thanksgiving Holiday Plans

For the Holiday Break my family and I went to my aunt’s house. I was able to prepare the Thanksgiving meal with my aunt and my grandmother. Usually we always go to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, but my mother handed it over to my aunt. We had a wonderful family meal and then we went to the hotel and were able to go swimming. Later that night my aunt and I attended the Black Friday Festivities. We were able to get some great deals and had a blast shopping.

How to Blur out a face or faces

It is important to know how to blur out faces in photos for the security of the people. I used Gimp when blurring out faces. -Download Gimp -Open Gimp and then open the image you want to blur out a face on -Choose either the rectangle or sqaure shape or circular shaped blur to blur out the face or whatever you want to blur out. -Draw the shape around the object you want to blur out -Click Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur -Increase the Blur until you have the blur you want -Then click OK and save the picture.

Apple in Education

The apple site I visited is very helpful. It provides tutorials and guides to look through that will be beneficial to educators implementing iPads in their classrooms. On this site they categorize the apps so they are easy to search by content areas. This ways is helpful in being able to read about the apps and what they do. This site also breaks it up on how to teach with the iPad and how to create classroom content. There are many areas under each of these sections. Out of all that I learned from this website, I will remember how they explained how to build courses off of the apps and also how to use iPads in the classroom. This site will be very helpful when I get into the classroom and use iPads.

How teachers are using iPads in the classrooms

These are only a few of the ways teachers are incorporating iPads into their classrooms. In the not to far off future iPads will rule the classrooms and 90% maybe even 100% of the work will be completed from the iPads. Below are some ways to use the iPads in the classroom. - Digital Field Trip- Have students create a digital field trip while on a field trip. Make sure it is ok with the place you are visiting. Have the student record themselves and them explaining what they are seeing. This works great for students who were unable to attend. It also helps the students conducting the field trip get engaged with what they are learning about. - Teachers can find apps for all content areas, plus more. A teacher can organize all the different content areas into their own folder. - Socrative helps the teacher get students to interact during class time. Using Socrative students are able to answer the questions teachers have and then the teacher is able to see the student answers. They upload onto the teachers computer. Socrative is easy to upload and use. - Using Snapguide helps with students and the copyright issue. Snapguide only uploads free images. This would be a good time to teach the students about copyright. -The Wet-Dry-Try app deals with Handwriting without Tears. It works with children and learning to write their letters and numbers. As I stated before there are so many apps and ways to incorporate iPads into the classroom. I will attach websites to help your search go smooth in finding ideas on how to use iPads in the classroom.

About Me!

My name is Emily Hansen. I grew up in a small town about two hours away from Fargo. I grew up on a farm and attended the local public school. I graduated from there and attained my high school diploma. I am now in the Elementary Education program of Valley City State University that is offered at North Dakota State University. I am in my fourth year at NDSU and I have one more to go. After I graduate I plan to return to a small town and teach. My hobbies are reading, cooking and baking, spending time with family, pinning, and the one that tops the rest is helping on the farm. We have 900 head of sheep and 200 head of cattle. This is the way I usually spend my weekends. I love being outside and working with the animals. This is just a little about me. Stay tuned to find out more!

 

Paperless Educator

I love the idea of the paperless classroom. I believe that one day this will be possible. The biggest issue would be for all students to be able to have their own personal computer. They would need their own computer in order to be able to complete homework. Either the school or if the parents are able, provide a computer for the student. This can cost the school a great sum, but just think of all the money that is spent on school supplies. Another issue would be to educate the students on computer and internet safety. This is very important in protecting the students. The ideas that I found that I will use are: Google Docs- This application is very useful. Students can upload papers and other assignments to this. It can be shared amongst the rest of the class as well. Livebinder which is a binder anyone can create. It is organized for students to use. It can be organized into subjects, projects, etc. Many works can be done with it. It is also safe for the students to use. Zoho Challenge. This is a Quiz and test maker. A teacher can trust this site and use it to administer tests and quizzes to the students. Evernote- This is where teachers can upload their notes. They can keep them neat and organized for the students. A problem that I do see with going paperless is that older students may become lazy. If they are able to access all of these applications why not just skip class. That is an issue teachers will have to work out if the classrooms do go paperless.

QR Codes

We have been learning a lot about iPads in these last few weeks. One app I learned about was the QR Code Scanner app. This app scans this QR code that is made from an internet site. The QR Code can direct a person to the desired place that the product wanted people to go to. I created a game out of it. I will attach it at the end of this post. The game is dealing with English terms. On a sheet there are twelve English terms. The studnents need to use an iPad and scan the pop tops. Once scanned they then need to match the definition that was scanned to the correct term. Students can use this like flash cards or a game can be created out of it. Studnets would be able to play tic-tac-toe or a form of Bingo. This would be a fun activity to create with the students. It can be a great form of flash cards. The site I used to create my QR Codes is as follows: http://www.snapmaze.com/ This site is very user friendly and easy to follow.

Flickr

I have created an account with Flickr. I am able to upload my pictures to this and it is safe. I am also able to access them from where ever I am. A person can also publish them on the internet as well. The link following is a link to my Flickr account. http://www.flickr.com/photos/87927497@N05/

Ispy

This is a fun activity to make for your class or have your students each make a page. It is a book a teacher would be able to put together for the class and may not even be a big expense if there are good deals out there. How I created this picture was my teacher brought buckets of goodies to use. Our teacher brought her camera for us to use to take the pictures. She then uploaded them for us to use. I then picked out what I wanted people to find. They can either rhyme, list, or just make a sentence.

Magazine Cover

I created this magazine cover in Photoshop. It was very easy and fun to do. It is a great way to showcase a student, a niece or nephew, or anyone else. It can show off what they like and what their hobbies are. So many neat ideas can come from this project.

iPad Rules

This is the poster that I created for the iPad rules in my classroom.

Polaroid Pictures

Our teacher provided this template for us to create polaroid pictures.

Form

I created a form using PowerPoint. The form I created was dealing with a worksheet. I used the subject of spelling. I created three different sections and used words that are from the spelling words for that week.

Germ Cover

I created this germ cover to make my hand sanitizer spray look better. Children are always getting sick and sharing germs. Here is a fun activity to get the children involved and have fun with being clean and careful.

Instagram Pictures

Here is a link to the site on where I created these instagrams. http://www.thecollegeprepster.com/2012/01/tutorial-instagram-photostrips.html

Cupcake

Our teacher provided us with a template of a cupcake. We then learned how to use tools in photoshop. We learned to use the magic wand to cut objects out and how to add sprinkles to your cupcake. This is the final product.

Reflection #4 Copyright

Reflection #4 15 Copyright rules every student should know This is a great website. Every teacher should use this site as a teaching tool. Copyright is a complicated issue for students to understand. When the information is so easily accessible they might not think twice that it belongs to someone else. Going over each and every rule will give the students an understanding about copyright and how it works. I even learned something new from this site as well. I did not know that there were certain limitations on how much information a person could take from another person. From a video a person can only use three minutes. From a song a person can only use 30 seconds. I also learned that some authors like to be credited a certain way. Some authors even want people to ask for permission to use their work before they do anything with it. I would use this site again. It is a quick read and reminds a person of what they can and cannot do with copyright. The rules are also some that a person does not think about when working on an assignment. So it is a good reminder of what to look out for. I also viewed the website on “taking the Mystery out of Copyright.” I think this is a fun and interactive site for students. It would be great for the students just learning about copyright. It is rather boring to read about copyright and all the information that goes along with it. This site helps make it a more fun to learn about it. What I enjoyed from this site is how they set it up like a mystery being solved. They started out with a detective going through copyright and whoever creates it owns it. It is fun and bright colored so it will grab student’s attention. They also have a link to the official site of U.S copyright office, which is a good site to know for later reference. The site takes the children through all the right steps. It is the basis of copyright so it does not overwhelm the student. It does not share everything on copyright, but enough so they understand how it works. As the students grow they will learn more and more on copyright.

The Bears and the Great Big Storm

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/bears-bed-and-great-big-storm

Show your WILDSELF!!

This webiste is such fun!! It would be fun to incorporate this website into the classroom. It may work when learning about different animals or even to let the children describe themselves. It is up to you what you want to be and what you believe you are. It is your choice! Here is a link to the website: http://www.buildyourwildself.com/

Favorite Teacher Site

It is hard to pick my favorite blog or website. I have come across so many great ones! I will share one of my top favorites though. I love the blog by Erica Bohrer. She teaches in a first grade classroom. I love her site becuase it is fun and she has so much information. She has many links to freebies and other great activites that do not cost much. Her site is organized and user friendly. She likes to share pictures, which I love because it makes it more personal. Like I said this is only one of my favorites. There are many great sites out there and I cannot wait to find more. Here is the URL for the blog: http://ericabohrer.blogspot.com/

Poster Program

I was going to use this site to make my poster, http://www.blockposters.com/, because it looked easy to use and some fellow classmates said it was. I struggled with it. I was not able to make my image smaller than one megabyte. I am going to try and work that one out still. The website I did end up using was http://www.postermywall.com/. It works Great! Friendly and easy to use. I did not have to download anything, which I love, besides my poster. I will be using this site to creat posters around my room. It is cheaper than buying posters and I can make them how I want them to look. I also will be able to control what is on them. Here is a how to on the website: I went the easy way and clicked on the green button titled "Creat your poster now!." From that point you can choose how you want to make a poster. I selected "upload background." I was able to upload a poster I had already created in Photoshop. From there it uploaded and I was able to choose if I wanted anything else. I left it just the way it uploaded and then downloaded it to my computer. I really like how on the homepage a person can take a tour of the website. This is very helpful to get to know the site better. Again here is the site URL: http://www.postermywall.com/

VCSU Education Program

Everything is going well for me. I am enjoying all of my classes! The classroom that I am completing my practicum in is wonderful. I am able to recognize the teachers routines for activities such as art class. I learned about routines in Introduction to Education 250. I also have learned about the teacher and her planning methods. I never realized how important planning is and how important it is to be organized. I am an organized person so this is great for me. From being in the classroom I feel that I need to learn so much more. I am not very confident in delivering a lesson to the students. I know that will come with more experience. I also need to work on writing out a lesson plan in more detail. I like to have a plan laid out completely. Even though I may not follow it exactly, I will always be prepared.

40 Hour Field Experience

I am completing my 40 hour field experience at Jefferson Elementary. I am in the Kindergarten classroom. I thought I had an idea of what to expect when I entered the classroom, but I was surprised. I have been in a first grade classroom so I was expecting it to be like that. I was wrong. It is very fast paced and high energy in the room. I am having a great time and I know this is the profession that I want to be in. I am learning many different things. I am working with the children on learning the sounds of their letters. It also is a review for me. Breaking up the words is sometimes a challenge. I am so use to just knowing how to spell them. It is going well though. It is very different to be in the teacher role. I like being in the teacher role and having a majority of the control. I enjoy helping the students learn and when they succeed it is such a great feeling. I have not encountered anything that I do not like, yet. I am sure I will. Until next time, Have a wonderful day and always keep discovering something new!

First Snow

I love all the seasons in North Dakota! I do love the first snowfall of the winter season, but the one we had today was not one of my favorites. I like when it is a light snowfall. Not a wet and slushy one like we had today. I wish I was better prepared for it. I have been planning on bringing my winter coat up here from home, but I keep forgetting it. That will be the thing at the top of my list to bring from home. I do love the winter months for the fact that I am a farm girl so I love the harvest season. I also love lambing season that goes on. The little lambs are so cute and adorable. I wouldn't say winter is my favorite, but I do like winter!

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Reflection 3 Google Apps

Emily Hansen
Reflection #3
Google Apps Training

The more I learn about Google and all it has to offer the more I like it. Before this class all I used Google for was as a search engine. Now that I have read more about it, Google has so much to offer. They offer from the basic email (Gmail) to storing documents. This website I reviewed walked through the Google Apps and what they do.
The website laid out six of the most used apps. The apps are email, calendar, talk such as instant messaging, documents, sites, and video. There are even more than that and guess what they are free to schools. Google is able to set up the schools with accounts then the students are able to set up a gmail account. They are also able to access Google Docs and upload assignments to it. This helps teachers out because then the students are always able to access their documents at schools. The students can publish and share these documents as well.
Along with using Google Docs teachers and students are able to create websites. Teachers can create websites for each of their classes and list what they will be doing from week to week. It is a great source for students to keep in touch with the teacher and know what is going on in class. Another neat part to Google is that teachers can customize Google Apps to their school. Teachers can do many things with this, but one important one is teachers can create groups that are in school and make policies for their domain.
Now you all are wondering why schools would choose Google Apps, for one thing it is free. It is also easy to keep up to date with. Schools do not need to worry about maintaining it. Google is kept up to date from the company itself. There are no servers or hardware that the schools need to worry about. That is a costly part that schools can now put that money towards another expense. Also Google Apps requires no licenses. 

Photo Cube

Making this cube was a great time! It is easy and inexpensive. I love to display pictures around my house so this is a neat idea to incorporate more than one picture. The website listed below is where I found the template and step-by-step guide on how to complete the cube photo block. I would suggest understanding how photoshop works before attempting this project. Or some people might see it as a way to teach themselves how to run photoshop.


http://styleburb.blogspot.com/2011/04/fun-family-photo-cubes.html

Wordle

To create this wordle I went to the following site: http://www.wordle.net/ Here I was able to create a wordle about me!

Reflection #2

How to keep all kids busily engaged at all times

    In Marc Prensky’s article on “What I learned recently in New York City Classrooms- How to keep all kids busily engaged at all times” he had great points on how to keep the children busy and engaged. In this article Marc talks about setting up a workshop at a school that just received a grant in their technology department. The school was able to purchase new technology. Marc was there to introduce it to the staff and students.
    The only part I did not like about this article was that the teachers were suppose to take one or two students to the workshop. I have trouble with the fact that only some students were able to attend. They did come back to the classroom and teach the rest of them. I just found it unfair to the other students. They were not able to all get the same experience.
    I did find great parts in Marc’s paper as well. Through this project Marc always included the students. Each student always had a job to do in the classroom. This helped the teacher with learning the new technology. Such as if the teacher needed to reboot one of the computers she could ask the student with that job and they can complete the task and the teacher does not have to stop what she is doing.
    Another part of this article that I thought was great was the part on how Marc interviewed the students and recorded them. By doing this many of the students were shy so they had to complete the recording again. I believe this helped students learn how to speak out to a different audience and boost their confidence. For the classes that were larger Marc had to the students interview each other which is great experience for all the students.

Second Article

Using Cell Phones for Exams

    In Marc Prensky’s article about “Using Cell Phones for Exams” was short, sweet, and to the point. In this two page article Marc got his point across. Even though we the people of the world have all of this new technology surrounding us and many of the people still live in the past. Instead of setting aside technology we should be embracing more.

Marc makes a great statement about how attitudes need to change. If students do not get to use technology we are only preparing them for the past. The future will be a shock and the future generations will not be prepared. We are preservice teachers need to seriously think about how we can incorporate technology into our classrooms. It is only going to become more common so why not embrace it.

Reflection #1
Educational Technology Bill of Rights

The educational technology bill of rights is very interesting. I agree with some of what Brad says and I disagree with some. Number seven on Brad’s list is very true. The world we all live in is ran through technology. We as educators need to let the children use different machines and use different programs to complete projects or assignments. We are only going to become a more technological advanced society so why not start teaching the children young so they have a strong etiquette on technology.

I do struggle with number one though. Being able to make it fair in the classroom for students is the hard part. I know that life is not fair, but that is very hard to teach young students when they are very naive. Adults still do not understand why life is not fair. Not all students can afford new technology and not all schools can either. I would say either each student gets one or none of them do. I do remember back to my elementary days the school bought about 50 laptops that could be shuffled between classrooms, so that is one idea that schools can do. Since I am considered “old” now schools have probably done that and are onto something new. The Bill of rights were fun to read and think that way about technology and the student. I did find that some of the comments were rather rude.

I found some comments rather harsh. I do not take criticism well when it comes off in a rude tone, so while reading the comments I found them rude. My mother and others always tell me that I am too nice, but I was told to treat others how you want to be treated and that is what I go by. It was hard to read the comments, but everyone has their own opinion. If I do not agree with someone I try to tell them in the nicest way possible, but these people let Brad have it.  

At the bottom of my post is a link to his website.

http://www.schooltechnology.org/

Childhood discovery is so very important!