Week 12 - Website Design

What fun! I began this activity thinking that I'd create a website for my students and parents with just a few pages and it turned into a much bigger project. My goal was to create a site that was accessible by students and parents and could be used on a regular basis. Creating each page, I searched through the Google Gadgets to find appropriate content. Many of the gadgets had inappropriate ads and I didn't think it looked professional, so I really tried to streamline my choices. First, I chose a clock on the homepage, as a helpful tool. Then, I inserted photos and clip art throughout the site so that it would be aesthetically pleasing. After that, I included Picasa slide shows (definitely my favorite feature of Google Sites so far) to showcase some of the activities that have happened in our classroom so far this year.

I chose to purchase a web address through GoDaddy.com so that I could have the changclassroom name, back in August. I wanted it to be something that my second grade students could easily type in and access in the computer lab at school or at home, independently. I've been uploading newsletters since then for parents who preferred a digital copy. I didn't feel like the content was being accessed, though, so I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to add to it! I've dabbled in adding content to my site since then also, but I didn't feel like I was ready to present it to students and parents until this point. This is just the beginning of a much bigger project. I am so excited to continue working on this and improving this classroom website.

My Classroom Website

Week 11 - Concept Mapping

We're currently starting a unit on expository text patterns. Students will be able to identify these text patterns and use graphic organizers to write expository pieces in each of these patterns. I'd like to build this graphic organizer with my students as we move through the unit. Initially, I'd start with the "Expository Text Pattern" bubble. Each week, as I introduce the new pattern, I'd add the description and cue words. My visual learners may find this helpful to use to keep track of the wide variety of patterns that we'll be studying for the next few months. This will be a student-led activity. Although I'll be doing the typing at the computer, we will create this concept map together, as a class, and add to it each week. At the end of each week, I'll print a copy for the students to use as they begin writing using the new text pattern.

Week 10 - Screencasting with Jing

The purpose of this screencast is to formally introduce my second grade students and their families to the Spelling City website. This step-by-step screencast will enable students to not only see and hear how to access the site, but they will be shown exactly which features they may use on the website to study and practice their assigned words. Using Spelling City has been an option for my students each week on Thursday nights to prepare for their word study (spelling) tests. However, only a few students have taken advantage of this. Spelling City will be a required homework activity beginning after Spring Break. This screencast will give the students the information and confidence they need to be successful.

http://www.screencast.com/users/changclassroom/folders/Jing/media/999b57bb-9d78-4ef4-b37c-97c7399dfbb1

Week 9 - Google Maps

In our letter-writing and geography unit, we have been sending a "Flat Stanley" to students' friends and relatives around the world. Until last week, we had a Michigan, United States, and World Map posted in the classroom and we put a pin in the map when Flat Stanley came back from another destination. Our customized Google Map has been a much more exciting way to log, follow, and track Flat Stanley's progress across the world.

My second grade students would have a very difficult time mapping this on their own, so I have created this map with them as our Flat Stanley unit has progressed. As a class, we read the information that is sent back from the recipient, mark it on the Google Map, summarize the content of the letter we received, and customize the map to meet our needs. It was the students' idea to color code the map the way that we did (e.g. red pin/red line). They were really excited about working on this together and being able to access the site from home to show their families. In our classroom, this is a map that we will be referring back to for several months, as our Flat Stanley letters come back from the recipients.

View Flat Stanley's Journey in a larger map