Media Mavericks: Using Technology with Elementary Students

I’m extremely interested in how educators use Twitter.  Being a Twitter-aholic myself, I’m wondering how you might be using this revolutionary site…

Please check out and answer my poll: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cjlZTXlyMWJlSXA3SWROVzVfN2o1TEE6MA..

I’d appreciate hearing any of your thoughts!

This is a video I recently created with the help of wonderful editable clips from Discovery Education.  I also used clip-art and my own artwork to bring this video to life!

Get to know Professor Hoppy, Molly, and Otto as they travel the globe to visit habitats near and far.  I’ve used my Habitat Hop videos with my second grade students to introduce and reinforce science concepts.  My students seem to love them and I hope you do too!

You can also view my video by clicking here!

I’ve found a great way to keep my students interested in the daily morning message we use to practice and learn new literacy skills… video!

Gone are the days of using chart paper or the white board to record the morning message.  Now I have students watch a short lesson and message on video and follow along with a paper copy in hand.  Student generally learn  or review a new phonics skill , by reading the message with the video and then highlighting these words on their paper copies.

Check out my school blog with a link to this morning message video!

The mad rapper has returned… Check out The Name Game Remix.

This video is part of a series of back to school videos. These videos will be used to prepare my students for responding to video instruction…

Check out the summer project I’ve posted for my students at our classroom blog:

address:http://gcs.infostreamblogs.org/tthompson

Students are being contacted in the next week to let them know about the online project!

* I know… I know… It’s not back to school time quite yet! But I’ve been hard at work on some projects for the beginning of the year. One of my goals has been to help students get ready for standardized testing they will face in the future. This episode focuses on just that… Test Taking Skills!

* My Morning Work Show is a daily show I share with my students. I play it on a loop as students arrive in the morning. They watch as many times as they need to and complete paper and pencil tasks to go with the show…

Check out this episode!

* I think it was the Grateful Dead who crooned, “What a long strange trip it’s been…” Those well penned words describe my ’07-’08 school year to a tee!

* As the school year began in August I faced the spectre of my mother’s heart-attack and impending triple by-pass surgery. The fall and winter months were filled with 90 minute commutes back and forth to my mother’s room at Eastern Maine Medical Center. This was the most difficult part of my year…

* Then things took a strange turn for me, professionally. On the last day of school, before winter break it was announced that I had won thePatience Norman Award for Teacher Excellence. Needless to say it was a tremendous honor!

* Then in the early spring my former Superintendent decided to write a blog about me for an amazing web site: Open Education . Another honor, to say the least!

* Based on my mention of the wonderful services at Discovery Education I was contacted by Dennis Swain, Accounts Manager for Discovery Education. After our talks I applied to become a Star Discovery Educator… and received a scholarship to the Discovery Education National Training Academy!

*It would be a severe understatement to say that this year has been the highlight of my teaching career. But my gushing isn’t quite over yet. The other day I stumbled across this blog: 50 Teacher’s Who Drastically Changed the World by Laura Milligan. It was overwhelming to find myself listed among the many amazing teachers on that list.

* In reflection it’s been a year of challenges and blessings. I’ve been honored, thrilled, and humbled time and time again. I’m generally not one to promote myself, but I just had to share the joy these wonderful events have brought into my life again and again. I’m so thankful and overwhelmed I just had to share.

* Thanks for listening!

* I do firmly believe music helps attach new learning to student’s young minds. We all know how powerful visual images are (Thank you to Hall Davidson’s brilliant keynote address…) and when we hook these images to music it’s all the more powerful!

*Here’s another rap I wrote to help my students learn about clouds… Notice the student illustrations that are part of the video.

It’s easy being green… I don’t care what Kermit says. After much experimentation I’ve created my first video with several “green screen” scenes! My first attempts were with a dark blue background. And finally I procured a green one. The last few segments of the video were much clearer.

Enjoy this video constructed using Premier Elements and Windows Movie Maker…

*During the past school year, I’ve been using music to help my students retain  concepts we’ve worked with in class. This strategy has proved most effective in science!

*I don’t claim to be much a rapper… but my students do really enjoy listening to, and learning with rap. So, supply and demand… demands that I rap!

*Enjoy this rap I wrote to help my students practice and review concepts they learned during a science unit on weather.