Postcard Exchange

Mike Ryter, a Social Studies Middle School teacher from New Jersey, organizes a postcard exchange every year. I'm not sure when he started this, and I can't remember how I found out about it, but I've had students participating in this every year for probably 6 or 7 years or more. The goal is to have one school from each of the 50 states participate. Each school sends the 49 other schools a postcard with information about their school, city, and state.

I've had the students create Wisconsin themed artwork to use as the front of our postcard. Then I print our information on labels which get put on the back of the postcard. The students choose which school they'd like to send their postcard to. I also print a second copy to send home to their family to enjoy.

What do we do with the postcards that we receive? There are lots of great things that can be done with the postcards to enhance a variety of subjects. This past year we created a Google Map to display the locations of each card as it arrived. This is a great way to work on map skills. We also used the information on the postcards to learn about creating spreadsheets and charts. The students get to keep the postcard that we receive from the school their postcard was mailed to.

World Math, Science, and Literacy Days

Every spring, the World Education Games site (sponsored in part by Unicef) hosts World Math, World Science, and World Literacy Day for students. The idea behind this is that students get to review their knowledge of these subjects while competing in a game against three other students from other places in the world.

I have enrolled our school in this event for a number of years, and every year the students look forward to it. I think it makes learning fun and it makes our world that much smaller when we are able to compete online with someone halfway across the world. Exciting!

Keyboarding Bootcamp

I teach keyboarding to third graders. To make this a little more fun and interesting, I've given it a Keyboarding Bootcamp theme. This idea came from Beth Newingham and her article, "Take Your Students to Typing Camp."

Each of the third graders gets a dog tag after learning the home row keys and completing a quiz on them.

They earn more charms to go on their dogtags after they complete various missions. We even have a bootcamp chant which I made up that they learn over the course of the unit. Listen to the verses:

listen to ‘Keyboarding Bootcamp Chant Verse 1’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Keyboarding Bootcamp Chant Verse 2’ on Audioboo

For Teachers

I try to help my co-workers learn about new technology and ways to incorporate it into their teaching.

EDCAMP
I've attended Edcamp Chicago and Edcamp Madison, and I look forward to Edcamp Janesville in July. What is an Edcamp? These are free unconferences held on Saturdays for professional development opportunities. Educators gather in the morning to decide what topics they'd like to discuss which sets the agenda for the day. Then they are able to attend sessions that are of interest to them. It's a great way to network, learn new information, and share information with other educators.

I have been able to encourage several co-workers to attend an Edcamp with me, and they all agree that it has been very worthwhile. Here are some photos from Edcamp Madison:

FACULTY BLOG
I created a blog for the faculty with which I work as a way to teach them about the blogging experience and as a way to share new technology information with them. They were able to add comments to posts as well as create posts to share with everyone.

FACULTY MEETING
I have become a permanent fixture on the Faculty Meeting Agenda. I share lesson ideas that incorporate technology with my co-workers and give them tips and reminders about the technology available at school. I share websites and information about upcoming conferences and Edcamps that may be of interest to them.

Recent Activities

Here are links to posts about some of the recent activities that I've done with students.

Stop Motion Animation, Gr. 6
(scroll down to May 9th or 10th on Kidblog page)

Flat Adventures, Gr. 3

Chocolate Easter Bunny, Gr. K

Science Research, Asking an Expert, Gr. 8

Skyping with an Expert, Gr. 8

Spanish Review Using WordFoto, Gr. 7

Can you guess the 8th Grader?, Gr. 8

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Kindy

GAFE

GAFE stands for Google Apps for Education. This a suite of free programs online for teachers and students to use. They can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations among other things. A nice feature of GAFE is the ability to collaborate with others on these projects. Everything is stored in "The Cloud".

With a little help, I was able to set up a Google Apps for Education account for a school and have been the administrator of the account. This involved adding student and teacher users and assigning users to groups with different levels of security.

iPad Adventures

This year, I was able to learn about setting up 30 iPads on an iPad cart to prepare them for use by the teachers and students. I am responsible for adding any new apps which have been approved by the Principal for purchase using Apple Configurator and the Apple Volume Purchase Plan for Education. I also try to find apps that are free or are free for a limited time.

Some of the Apps that I have used with students are: iMovie, Prezi, Voicethread, AR, My Story, Flat Stanley, Songify, Skitch, Toontastic, Flashcards +, TypeDrawing, Comic Life, WordFoto, Halftone, Audioboo, StripDesigner, Alien Buddies, Counting Dots, and Scan.

To keep anecdotal records of students, I use the Evernote App. It allows me to type notes, record audio, take pictures, and create notebooks for individual students or for a whole class.

Blogging

Students in grades 2-8 have been blogging for the past two years through the use of a site called Kidblog. One blogging activity that we've participated in is called Quadblogging which was created by David Mitchell in the UK. Four schools are partnered up and then share their blog posts with each other so the other three schools are able to read the posts and leave comments. It's a great way to give students a purpose and an audience for their writing.

Similarly, we've also participated in another British project called The 100 Word Challenge created by Julia Skinner. Students in grades 4-8 were given a writing prompt and then had just 100 words to use in writing about the prompt. The version for younger students in grades 3 and under who are still beginning writers is called The Five Sentence Challenge.

Projects by Jen

Projects by Jen is a site that has numerous fun activities in which students can participate. It provides an opportunity for students to collaborate with their classmates and with other classes around the U.S. and the world.


Creative & Collaborative
PK- 6th grade projects!
Some of the projects in which I've participated with my students include: The O.R.E.O. Project, Holiday Card Exchange, and St. Patrick's Day Project.