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/