17 things......

I love, love, loved this class! I felt really out of my comfortzone at the beginning - and never thought I could have done a blog! Now, however, I am comfortable with at least 15 of the 17 things we had to do.
Lee LeFever is very good at explaining his ideas too! Not sure how much he makes for his work, but I hope he knows how easy he makes it seem for the outsider looking in!
I would recommend this class to any of my colleagues!

Thing 17...Web 2.0

After spending a significant amount of time on many different websites, I have come across a list of those sites that I find I can/will use in my classroom.
Wordle: I already use this website. We have weekly word wall words and we write them out and then use Wordle with the words.
Classtool.net: This website has Venn Diagrams, Fishbones, and flash cards.
Photobucket: I am going to use this site to make a slideshow with music and words for Meet the Teacher Night next week.
There are others that I find interesting as well...Glogster, Spokentext, Quizlet.com, Createagraph, and GLiffy.

Thing 16...Podcasts

After some doing, I figured out how to navigate this site. My kids have always downloaded music, etc from this site so all of their passwords were on it. My first reaction was why was I doing this? However, once I figured it out, I have to say it was easy.
I love Reading Rockets. We talk so much with the Gretchen Courntey iniative about the authors when reading a book (as well as in the elementary setting library) that many of the kiddos remember authors from one book to another. This way, during computer time, they can actually learn more about the author and other books that they have written!
I am on vacation in the mountains and don't have good (if any) cell reception so I will be trying iPadio when I get home.

SlideShare

Photography math problems

View more presentations from kdanie20

This Slide Share was on Photography Math Problems and it explained story problems using pictures. The author is a kindergarten teacher but this could easily be adjusted for 1st grade use. I do not like the fact that there is no sound, but I do like the use of the pictures and the plastic animals and coins that are used. They are very easily seen and as long as you are a reader, you could utilize this presentation to the fullest. For those students who do not read, Slide Share will be very difficult.

Screenr

I made this so hard and it was actually very easy!  Arrgghh!  Now that I have it figured out, this could be a great tool for the classroom.  Since first graders LOVE seeing themselves and hearing themselves, we could do many, many lessons through Screenr.  My young students love sending books they have read or songs they have learned out over the World Wide Web for their grandparents to hear, their cousins that live in another state, etc.  I am going to start looking for ideas this week in order to start the year off with Screenr. 

Here is my first try:
http://screenr.com/Pq1s

Voicethread

I may be the only one, but I do not like Voicethread.  It will be hard to utilize in the lower elementary classroom.  I think I could set it up for Art Outreach and it would work.  I guess I am doubting that my students could work with it and be successful.  I know that I could set a lot of things up and do them FOR the classroom, I just think my students may be too young to do Voicethread by themselves. 

Wiki's

Wiki's are not a new thing for me.  My daughter's 5th grade teacher used a wiki the entire year so that we could (as parents) do the things we needed to without sending massive amounts of e-mails back and forth....holiday parties, homework assignments involving more than one child, classroom news, etc.  I think they are a great tool for the classroom and through this class I can also tell my team how the wiki can help us - and save time- if we all utilize it. 

Kiersten J!

Kiersten J!

I love this site!  Matter of fact, when I showed my other kids this video they wanted to know how come I didn't do one for them.  So...now I am going back to do a few more.  My students will love this.  I need to subscribe to this site just because!

Creative Commons

I had no idea that this website even existed!  I will definately investigave further for classroom use.  However, my students at the 1st grade level probably won't use this site.....maybe my more advanced students at the end of the year but definately not before April.  I love that there is no concern about the copyright laws.  It makes it just that much easier!  :)

Blog Additions...

I added a slideshow, a text box (a favorite quote of mine), and a page count to the bottom.  I just wanted the swimming pictures of my daughter and worked at that for a while.    This is way easier, in my opinion, than putting pictures on a classroom website!

Grant Middle School Math Rap

Here is a math rap done on Teacher Tube by some friends of mine that teach Math at Grant in Springfield.  It was their first Teacher Tube.  It is pretty good! 
http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=31041&title=Crank_That_GMS&ref=Aandersonsummerfun

Flickr

I love Flickr!  I cannot believe I didn't know too much about it before.  This is a picture of some of my students after our chicks hatched.  This would be a great tool for classroom use in that I can post pictures on Flickr that I can share with parents.  It would also be good for Student of the Week.  I can archive each week the pictures that the parents upload.  First graders love to look at each others pictures and this way, I can store them for all to see at any time.  My next bit of time I am going to use organizing the pictures on Flickr.
My Flickr name is alisonanderson if you want to see the photos I have up.  Check back soon though because I am going to be working on this site!  :)

Google Reader....

I am a bit lost on Google Reader.........I did it to myself though!  :)  I started looking at everyone else's posts and the SJ-R post, several news posts, and many sports postings.  I went back to re-watch one of the videos just to see if I was doing it right.  Ahh....I forgot the "orange button" at the top of the page.  I have it all figured out now and I think that it could become addicting!  I am setting it as my home page.  The one concern that I have is that I am wondering if all the things I have on this page are usable under District Policy.  It would be so nice to have these at my finger tips when school starts again. I am saving all my 'favorites' to GReader so that when school does actually start again, it is right at my fingertips!!

Twit, twit, TWITTERING....

I have to admit that I am not an advocate- am not trying to be an advocate of Twitter.  I Facebook and I thought just adding another social network to an already packed life....would do me in!  I have tried it and found it to be interesting....to say the least.  I chose to follow Kristen Wilburn (because I know her), Mike Wisniewski (because I agree with him on the Twitter facts and he will have my daughter next year so I need to make friend with him (Ha!) ), Edublogger Vicki Davis, Steven Curtis Chapman (love his music and his story), and Larry Ferlazzo (he is an inner-city teacher and I spent 5 years doing the same).
I have to agree with Mike Wis in the aspect that Twitter will only help us when we are NOT at school as it is unacceptable and I do not have the app for it on my phone either.  I just don't think that by the time I get home (during the school year) that I will have to time to Twitter.  I am, however, finding it at least interesting though in the summer!
If I were in the business world (and Twitter was accessible from work), I could build a great customer base on Twitter.  I could find out info on my customers likes and dislikes, etc.

Google Docs, Double Trouble

I uploaded (correct word?) to Google Doc a document I have been working on for Classroom Placement of Multiples.  I have it shareable with several different people so that it can be adjusted as needed.  I love that it can be in one place and not have had to be sent from e-mail to e-mail.

Delicious

I have 15 bookmarks which I have moved into tags.  I cannot figure out how to add people though.

The sites I chose are condusive to lower elementary students.  However, many of them have higher level learning on them.  I took a gifted class last summer and put most of them together.  I used them all year and shared with many in my building.  This seems like a much easier way than sending each teacher a link they would have to click on for each different topic.

aandersonsummerfun is my account name.

About Me....

This is my family at Christmas Dec. 2010.  We were a family of 5.  Kiersten is a 7th grader at GMS, Cara is a 5th grader at GIS, and Adam is with me at Ball in the 1st grade.

My twins were born on March 14th.  Ethan is on the left and Elijah is on the right.

Following....

I am following Joan because she was on the IPI team with me, following Shea because she is going to be new to my building (Ball Elementary), and Chris because his page looked like he knows what he is doing! Maybe I can learn from him.
Since no one is lower elementary, I am just following different things. :)

The Great Kapok Tree (Readers Theater)

Introduction

Hi!  I'm Alison Anderson and I teach 1st grade at Ball.  I am starting from scratch and trying to become computer literate!  I am hoping at the end of the summer, I will have conquered my computer demons!