Are you looking for a fun way to integrate technology with a research project?   Try using ToonDoo.com with DiscoveryEducation.com resources to create factual comic strips!

Start by using DiscoveryEducation.com with your students so they can learn about their topics.  Discovery has a variety of content for your students to explore (videos, articles, handouts, interactives, audio, songs, etc.). Then have students use DiscoveryEducation.com to search for images that they can use in their ToonDoo project.  (As students download and save the images, make sure they copy the image citations for use later in the project.)

Next, start creating a comic (toon) in ToonDoo.com.  Import your images from Discovery into ToonDoo by using the ImaginR button on the bottom right.  Once the images are uploaded, students will be able to use the images in their comic frames along with any ToonDoo images and word balloons.

Some ToonDoo tips:
If the student needs more frames, have them create a second ToonDoo comic.
If the students all log into the same ToonDoo account, teachers can go to the My Toons section and use the Book Maker tool to create an embeddable player that will display all of the class’ comics in an interactive format on the teacher’s classroom website or blog.

You may know that Discovery Education has a great selection of educational videos for your classroom.  But, did you know that they also have an impressive collection (over 200 titles) of children’s picture books on video?

Here is a sample of some of the titles that you can find:

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
• Danny and the Dinosaur
• The Emperor’s New Clothes
• Harry the Dirty Dog
• Make Way for Ducklings
• Miss Nelson Is Back
• Officer Buckle and Gloria
• Stone Soup
• Strega Nona
• Where The Wild Things Are
• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears

Our Nations Leaders:

Dynamite Presidents:

The American Presidents:

Find The Data: US Presidents:

Presidential Portraits:

The Many Jobs of the American President:

The Presidential Seal:

If You Were President:

The Seven Hat Challenge:

Introducting SC DEN LC’s Social Media Coordinator and winner of a coveted seat at the DEN SI 2012~~

Karen Ogen is the Technology Integration Specialist for the Richland 5 School District in Lexington, SC. She has been teaching technology integration for 15 years. Ogen began her teaching career in New Jersey; moving to South Carolina two years ago.

Ogen began using DE products while providing training to teachers and saw the STAR program as a good way to meet other educators and to stay up-to-date on DE products. “The DEN has provided professional development, networking opportunties, fun events, and great support for teachers.”

Ogen can’t list her favorite website as she has too many. You can find many of her favorites at her blog: karenogen.

We are looking forward to Karen Ogen’s future blogs. Her DEN prize is in the (snail) mail. Thank you Karen for sharing!

What is your favorite tip? Just send me an email: cemsteacher@gmail.com and you, too, will win a fun DEN prize. (Sorry, I can’t send you to Montana in July, but you can apply here .)

Last week at the FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference) I attended a session about online tools that can be used for assessment by Kyle Schutt.  Although I have used PhotoPeach before, I had forgotten that the program had the ability to create a quiz from your images.  This makes PhotoPeach a great assessment tool.

I recently created this presentation to share with the Reading Council of South Carolina to show educators, media specialists, and administrators how QR codes could be used in the media center and with literacy.  I have updated the presentaion to include examples of how QR codes can be used across the curriculum.   Do you have an idea or other examples of using QR codes in the classroom?  Please add your ideas to the comments below.

This was a full day packed of learning and fun with Dr. Lodge McCammon and NC teacher Katie Gimbar.  They explained the Flipped Classroom concept and how it has transformed teaching and learning in Katie’s classroom.  If you aren’t familiar with the flipped classroom, visit Dr. Lodge’s FIZZ Project site to find video explanations on how to flip your classroom and video examples from Katie’s classroom.  Katie also answers the tough questions about how you can make the flipped classroom concept work for you.  Of course, a day with Dr. Lodge McCammon would not be complete without some singing or dancing!  Dr. Lodge explained how students can become more engaged in their learning by creating their own video products and we followed his lesson plan for the song “Solids, Liquids, and Gasses”.  Finally, we ended by creating paperslide videos.  Here is an example of a paperslide video for the same song.

Thanks again to the Florida DEN Leadership team for hosting this wonderful event.  Also, don’t forget that all of Dr. Lodge McCammon’s songs can be found on Discovery Education!  Just type Dr Lodge in the search box and select “songs” from the drop down box.