I have missed every presentation given on geocaching. I am still not understanding exactly what it is. Are students going to sites to read and learn about a specific topic as they go? Or are they simply just navigating through the web? Who can explain to someone who has had no visual explanation to learn from? Thanks!

I’m interested to hear how many of you are currently using Google Reader? Do you love it? I know I do!!

If you get the chance, I recommend reading this blog from a teacher in Canada.  As part of her unit on the winter olympics, her class spent the night at school so they could video conference with classes around the world without having to worry about timezones.    The start of her post is “What so you get when you take 24 grade 5 students, 5 parent volunteers, 1 student teacher, and 1 slightly crazy classroom teacher and lock them in a school over night? You get one of the best experiences I’ve ever had as a teacher.”   What a great adventure for her and her students!

With the help of the  second graders I work with, we are finally ready to send our travel bug out into the world on his journey to Washington state.  You can read more about our travelbug at its homepage.   We plan to track his adventures using google maps and we will be skyping with the class in Washington that we are trying to get our travel bug to.

I know I should not have went ahead..but ..I have learned how to SKYPE using our the webcam in our mini. SKYPE is an awesome site and very easy to use  (unless your name is Julie). I have been able to connect with old friends and my sister-in-law who lives in Seattle. What I am most excited about is that my fifth grade class has pen pals in Moreno Valley, California and we are planning to web cam together in May just before the students leave for summer vacation!  If you have not experimented with this site yet, I encourage you all to do so!

I have been following this blog in Google Reader and found it very useful.  I wanted to share.

Free Technology for Teachers

I am so excited that the pieces of my project are beginning to come together. My PLN on Plurk has been a wonderful help. The second graders I’m working with will be connecting with a second grade class in Washington State to compare our community to theirs. I showed the kids on Google Maps today the satellite view of our school and neighborhood and then that of the school in Washington. They were so excited and can’t wait to continue on with our project.

I am really working hard to try new things with tech. in my classroom. The blog was a great success. Tomorrow I plan to introduce my Wiki in the same class that worked on the blog. It is very worthwhile to include technology in the classroom. I feel that it really has enhanced student learning as well as my own. It does take some extra time, but is so worth it. I would encourage anyone to try using some Web 2.0 tools in your classroom, choose one you love and go for it. So far the Wiki is my favorite, we will see what the kids think of it tomorrow. I’ll keep everyone updated. Also, my students have been using the Kindles lately as well and LOVE them.

In November, our first graders learned about the First Thanksgiving. We took a virtual tour of Plimoth Plantation and read a variety of books. Our culminating activity was a Thanksgiving Feast. We found a wonderful website that enabled us to easily make a slideshow with music and graphics which we have posted on our classroom website. You may want to explore this website at slide.com.

I am totally lost in the sauce on this site! Need to spend more time or seek help. Not even sure if this is a post, blog, comment…wonder where it will go…

During P/T conferences I had a number of positive comments on the use of technonlogy to connect home and school. Parents spoke of their use of the classroom website to stay informed. They also spoke of their use of suggested educational sites to reinforce skills taught in school at home. Parents stated the use of technology helped them engage students as opposed to the paper and pencil tasks they had used.

My students have been working on their classroom blog for the book Rules for the last month. It has been a great success overall. I really enjoyed it and know that the students did too. Some used it as a communication tool between myself and them while out of school. That was a great idea. It was nice to see how technology can enhance one’s learning experience and reading experience. Our last blog was about thankfulness and it really made us open our eyes to all we have to be thankful for. If you get a chance check out the blog and even post if you want. . . wchmaloney@edublogs.org.

RSS is wonderful to work with! I highly recommend it for anyone who has felt overwhelmed trying to keep organzied with all the new information coming our way. I like having the information I am intested in coming to me rather than dreading the idea of going and “finding” it myself. I feel like I have more control.

Here is a great link with 5 tips for creating your PLN (personal learning network).  The suggestions were written for Twitter, but would also help with Plurk.

I love the idea of using technology in my classes…..but when things do not work properly it is SO FRUSTRATING! I have only limited access to certain tools (Smartboard) and not enough time to play around and learn the ins and outs of all the different programs and features available on-line and here in our own building.

This year my students will be taking a virtual field trip to Plimoth Plantation to learn about the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Native Americans.Our students will be dressing up and reenacting the First Thanksgiving. They will be sharing what they have learned and we will have a celebration with food and games. My plan is to record highlights of the day with my new FLIP camcorder and put the videos on my website.

Two second grade classes participated in the Fairy Tale Ball last week. Mine was one of them. I took many pictures and used the voice recorders to record reader’s theater and oral report presentations to add to my website. I was also given many pictures from parents, but for the first time ever a parent put some of the pictures to music on YouTube. I showed the kids and they loved it! Should I be concerned about confidentiality issues or school policies that the creator did not look into (since he/she is not a school employee)? If not, are teachers free to integrate the use of this tool into the classroom?

One of the people I am following just posted this link for finding other teachers on Twitter.  I found it very helpful and thought I would share.  Have already gotten some helpful information from the new teachers I’m following.

I have been having a hard time deciding how to integrate technology into my classroom since I work with many small groups throughout the day. I came across this article called Technology Intergration Made Easy.  I think it is important to integrate technology in the curriculum as a regular part of the day.  This article gave me some ideas for making that possible.  I hope you’ll check it out and see if there is an idea you could use too.

I was introduced to Plurk in April but couldn’t understand what the interest was.  I began by looking at the friends of cfox2 and then lorim and dawne.  I would look at what they posted and if I found them interesting I became a fan.  Slowly as I’d start to respond to something they said and they would ask to be my friend.  I also searched some keywords that I was interested in.  One was “geocaching“. It would show all the plurks that had that word it in. I then either became a friend or fan of those people. It started slowly but I love the PLN I have now and am continuing to find new people that I want to add to it.  I find myself spending more time on Plurk than Facebook!  I still check out Twitter because I have some contacts on there that are not on Plurk.  I have learned so many new things through my PLN’s comments and links.  I’ve gotten some good ideas to use in the classroom too.  So I would encourage those that are unsure or wondering about Plurk to read what others have written and don’t be afraid to befriend a “stranger”.