I started reading Discovery Education blogs about a year ago. I plan to continue reading those. The rest of the information on this page will probably only be helpful if you teach K-3.

I learned about the blog Adams’ Technology Spot http://www.k5tech.blogspot.com/ when I attended the Orange County CUE Conference in Newport Beach, California. The author of the blog was the presenter. I have spent hours and hours on this blog. There are so many great areas to explore. These are three of my favorite links: 

 Starfall I use the “Learn to Read” section the most. This is a site that most of my second graders enjoy as they are reviewing digraphs, r-controlled vowels and vowel combinations. This site is even more valuable for my struggling readers.

PBS Kids-Between the Lions This is my favorite show for helping kids learning to read. They have great songs under video clips that include closed captioned and address many of my standards. My kids love to watch these over and over.  

HMTech  Wikispaces  http://hmtech.wikispaces.com/2nd+grade . This is one of the most beneficial links and site I have ever used. This is part of the description of the wikispace, “This site has been made by teachers that use technology daily to motivate and engage students in authentic learning, differentiate instruction, integrate many standards into one lesson and like to have FUN!”  All the resources are tied to the Houghton Mifflin language arts program. I just look up the theme and the story and there are many links to websites where my students can practice the exact skill of the week. For me there are links to websites for teachers with PowerPoint presentations and more resources. A couple of years ago I made PowerPoint presentations covering the vocabulary for every story. The PowerPoint presentations that other teachers have created are quite different from mine. I think it is helpful for the kids to see both versions.  Two of the best sites I have found from this wikispace are:

Kathy Kronemeyer  http://cms.dsusd.k12.ca.us/education/staff/staff.php?sectiondetailid=5806 . Some of her resources are on Debbie Ferguson’s wikispace but there are even more on her own site. It was from visiting Kathy Kronemeyer that I got the courage to try to have my students create PowerPoint presentations this year.

Mrs. Rios  http://sbusd.schoolwires.net/171020712185516350/site/default.asp. The same holds true for Mrs. Rios. Some of her resources are on Debbie Ferguson’s wikispace but there are even more on her own site.

Debbie Ferguson’s profile shows the several blogs she has authors http://www.blogger.com/profile/10398471214857279488.

Debbie Ferguson and the other teachers she collaborates with on the wikispace are teachers that I have a lot to learn from. These resources, the Global Classroom 2.O project through my district and Discovery Education are my resources for professional development between now and mid January when I plan to sign up for my next Wilkes/Discovery class. Last night I was invited  to join this wikispace that has been so helpful to me!

Julene Reed says that our students will need to be able to work with people from all parts of the world. I am not sure that students need to travel very far to encounter people from many parts of the world. I have had many students from different parts of the world including: Mexico, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Germany, Korea, etc. Many of my students and/or their parents were not born in the United States. I remember answering someone who asked me if the kids spoke Spanish at recess, that because the kids come from so many different backgrounds, English was the only language they all understood and that is all I usually hear at P.E./Recess.

Gardner asserts that ‘By the age of five, at the latest, the lines for friendship or hostility, group inclusion or group exclusion …have already been drawn.” Gardner also states, “An ethical orientation begins at home.” I see this idea in the striking differences among my students. Some students come to school and they are very respectful. They have care and respect for their belongings, school property and learning. I never hear anything hurtful coming out of their mouths. Obviously, they have been exposed to good role models. However, other students flounder. They don’t know how to make friends. They push fellow classmates away by their words and actions. A few students have little respect for property (their own or others) and they don’t think twice about pushing the other student out of the way or saying something that will hurt another student’s feelings.

Our school has a program called Second Step which is designed to build feelings of inclusiveness and respect. The Second Step website claims the program is research-based and demonstrated effective. “Research indicates that children who are socially competent perform better academically.” The program provides lessons that teach skills that promote empathy, emotion management, problem solving and cooperation. The lessons include discussions, role-playing and video. I have not really used this yet, but my current students’ first grade teacher found the program very valuable.

Since being able to work with others will be an essential skill for students, I plan to start teaching some of the Second Step lessons. I am glad that this reading has reminded me, “Teachers serve as crucial models.” This is important because some of my students don’t have positive role models at home.

For those that don’t have Second Step at their school, I found a very good video by searching for “respect” in the Discovery Streaming Library, the title is Respecting Differences. This K-2 video lists “understanding the importance of giving and getting respect” under its learning objectives. The part I viewed was very good and would be easily understood by my students and could also lead to good discussions.

I am taking a class through my district to learn about web 2.0 tools and how they can be used in the classroom. At the first meeting we joined Skype, Wikispaces, DIIGO, and Delicious. In looking through the Wikispace for this class it looks like we will be signing up for VoiceThreads too. VoiceThreads looks like a program that I could definitely use in my classroom. For $60 a year the students would have their own accounts and we could participate in a K-12 only collaborative network.  In viewing a presentation about VoiceThreads it related that there is a great feature called comment moderation. Comment moderation can be used for safety and to keep the teacher in the loop so only appropriate items are added.

I can see that VoiceThreads would be a great way to get an opinion from all of my students. Since VoiceThread is verbal recordings, my students would have an easier time expressing themselves. (They could still write before recording, but they wouldn’t need to worry about spelling and punctuation.)The comment moderation feature would allow me to have all my students respond to a prompt or answer questions and not be able to see their classmates’ responses until everyone had responded. At that time, I could accept the comments and then their comments would be visible. I believe that students could then share this with their friends and family. There is also a doodle feature that would just be fun.  If you would like more information, this is the classroom example site I was sent to: http://voicethread.com/#home.b409.i3131

There is another second grade teacher taking this class. We are determining how to have our students discuss communities (a second grade standard) on Skype. This would also require extra writing by the kids because the time for them to Skype would be limited and they would want to make the best use of it. When I polled some second graders about how they used the computer at home, I was told that they talk with their friends on the internet.

I am developing a classroom website on wikispaces. I can set up a section where students could add content. This would be a place that they could be on the web and share their creations with peers and family. I need to learn more about a password and login system for people to interact with the site. I would like to open up the website to allow student to add their own projects, as well as classroom projects. When the students complete the PowerPoint presentations we can post them to the site. We could add graphics, their printed stories, and audio files. The kids like to learn poems that they recite in groups or individually in front of the class. These could easily be added to the classroom website. I think these kids would be thrilled to go on the web at home or at the library and be able to see their creations. I think this would generate a lot more reading, writing and creating by my students.