Twin Hickory 3-Medium

In 3rd Grade at SPES, we have been learning about a Famous American each week. The students research each Famous American, and then they have the choice of projects to present the information they found. One of the choices is making a Who am I Voki.

What is Voki?
Voki enables users to express themselves on the web using a talking character. You can customize your Voki to look like you or take on the identity of lots of other types of characters… animals, monsters, anime etc.

Here’s the steps we went through to complete the product:
1. Students research a historical figure reading print resources or internet websites.
2. Students create a short and concise summary of their Famous American focusing on important information but DO NOT state the figure’s name.
4. Students then enter their synopsis onto their own Voki.
5. Each student then presents their historical figure from the class blog after embedding the code into a new post.
6. The rest of the class has to guess which historical figure is being presented.

An example can be found at Mr. Hart’s Class Blog

–Tyler Hart

At Lakeside, we are having monthly technology meeting with interested staff members based on our needs and interests.  What’s great is that these meetings are being led by Lakeside staff.  These staff members attend trainings or consult with technology trainers and bring back info to share with other staff members during times that are more flexible for us.

In the month of November I always have the students write what they are thankful for.  I had Jen Barnett come in and help teach the students how to use iMovie.  I’ve asked the students to bring in pictures from home of the things they are thankful for.  We are going to take their writing and turn it into a digital story.  Their iMovie will incorporate written words, pictures, audio, and video.  It is something they can share with their families over the holiday – Brooke Mondy

One of our fourth grade teachers had her students create weather reports using Photo Booth. Students completed research in the library on different types of extreme weather. They used this information to write “weather reporter” scripts before recording. Students added hurricane or tornado videos to background and then recorded themselves explaining weather conditions and safety precautions for the “audience”.  Some even held umbrellas, wore rain jackets, or swayed back and forth for effect!  Kim Slayton

Technology Contacts -  By November 15 – please post a brief description of one great idea, observation, strategy, or something you have planned for your faculty or classroom in the weeks ahead.  Please be sure to include your name and your school’s name and any links that would be helpful.

Andrew Einolf (Contact at Three Chopt) was unable to attend the Idea Jam in May; however, he sent these links to share:

http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/threechopt/moran_s/ko-mo/Henrico_21.html

http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/threechopt/moran_s/ko-mo/Henrico_21.html

http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/threechopt/whitehead_r/Site/Washington.html

http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/threechopt/moran_s/ko-mo/Smithsonian_Projects.html

I showed the 3rd grade Henrico 21 Project.  We used Blabberize, PhotoBooth, Comic Life and Keynote for individual projects about Greece and Rome.  Then all of the movies and pictures were uploaded to Museum Box for viewing.

museumbox.e2nb.org/creator/viewer/show/77400

museumbox.e2bn.org/creator/viewer/show/77905

http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/jacksonjournal

This is the link to the class blog I started this year with the help of our ITRT, Stephanie Wright.  The goal is to give students more opportunities to write about math, science, and social studies curriculum.  Each student created an avatar in Pixie for their log in – they like seeing their avatar on the blog when they post.  The children comment on the posts, and then they also respond to other students’ comments with ideas and edits.  The librarian and resource teacher reply to the students and encourage them to think further.  This definitely encourages higher level thinking of content material, which helps students to be successful on tests.

I am looking forward to introducing the blog at back to school night next year, and hopefully get more parents involved (the ones that read it now tell me how much they enjoy it, and some even comment).

Please let me know if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions.

Catherine Jackson (cmjackson)