Google Earth

Google Earth has much to explore!! It's a little creepy seeing my house on Google Earth....I could imagine some wackos out there could really use Google Earth for some bad stuff. At any rate.... I never really knew about the layers thing. That was pretty cool - there was a layer called Global Awareness which looked interesting (although I didn't look into it too much).

The lesson plan for Elementary Age kids gave some great ideas on how to use Google Earth in the classroom. I especially liked the weather layer idea - to track rainfall totals and then discuss how rainfall helps our crops, animals, and so on. You could really get into a lot of detail and different aspects of geography and probably some global awareness issues.

Googleearthgoods was also a neat site to check out. Looks like TONS of ideas to use in the classroom! Ways to use Google Earth in math, science....well, just about everything.

I think everyone is waiting on me....and I'm feeling a little drowsy, so bye-bye Google Earth! :)

Google Maps...a nice alternative to Dan Blackburn

Dan Blackburn (my father-in-law) is a walking atlas.....he knows every road imaginable. But, since he lives in Ohio and I can't just call him every time I need directions, Google Maps is a nice alternative. :) I've used Google Maps several times - I actually use it every time one of our athletic teams goes out on the road for an away game....I print off the written directions as well as the map. I thought I knew about everything about Google Maps, but nu-uh!! I didn't know you could do the "my map" thing and put the little push-pins on the map to "map out" a trip you might take. How fun! And what a smart thing to do before you head out. You can research the area in depth and mark the destinations you want to make sure to stop at. Cool.

I loved, loved, loved Google Treks!! One of my goals as a teacher is to help my students to think globally.....to open their eyes to the world around them. I could definitely see myself doing something similar to Google Treks. I looked into her lesson on Earthquakes and was just amazed at how informative and fun it was. She used the map to show students where major earthquakes had taken place and then inserted hyperlinks into the sidebar to web pages with more information (vocabulary and what-not).... I was just really impressed. I hope to use something similar in my own classroom to make students aware of global issues like poverty, the need for clean drinking water and a host of other things. I could use Google Maps to help broaden the horizons of my students.

Boo-yah!!

What just happened?

Oh....well, I just created my own website. No biggie.

WHAT?! I feel so proud! :) Love me some Atomic Learning, that's for sure. And once again, I heart Google...and Google Sites. I created my very own website about volleyball. Since I've coached for 12 years, it was the first thing I figured I could write enough about to create a website.

Volleyball 101 by Anyssa

Yay me. :)

Picture Perfect Picnik, Picasa

First, my work with Picnik: I love how you can connect with Facebook through Picnik and have all your fb photos there to edit! What a great feature! There are a ton of ways to edit as well - Natalie just found that you can remove wrinkles, give yourself a tan and make yourself lose 15lbs in your pictures! Fun, fun!! Now, if I can just add my pics so you can see!





On to Picasa....
I really like the organizational feature of Picasa....I generally use iPhoto at home, so Picasa seems pretty similar to that. I enjoy editing and messing around with pictures, so I'm sure I could waste lots of time on Picasa!

Picnik and Picasa = Picture Perfect!

Searching, Searching....what was I looking for again??

I don't know how many times a day I walk into a room to get something, get distracted and start doing something else and then remember that at one time I was searching for something - but I can't remember what it was!!

Searching the web can be a lot like that....you're searching and searching for something but get distracted and then forget what you wanted in the first place. That's why the search helps I've looked at today will be such a huge blessing!! You'll find it as no surprise that I didn't know much about specific searches you can do on the web.....I learned SO much in the "more search help" section! I had no idea that you could do a phrase search to make it search for the exact words/phrase you're looking for by using " " around the words. And then the excluding terms and fill in the blanks stuff.....I mean, I had no clue you could do all that! It makes searching for stuff so much simpler!! This would be so useful as a teacher....being able to be precise in your search so you're not wasting time and then forgetting what you're searching for.

Custom Search was really a neat feature as well. Being able to narrow down the search for your students (and keep them off sites you don't want them looking at) would really help them in their research. It would keep them on track and minimize their time searching by creating a custom search for them. I like that you can also collaborate with other teachers within this feature.

But my favorite of all was Google Squared. Wowzers!! I mean, that is just so stinkin' cool. Once again (surprise, surprise)....I had NO CLUE this could be done! As a teacher, you can create handouts or spreadsheets in a snap - and you can export it to the cloud. Ooh...I wonder if you could also then create a form or quiz from that spreadsheet??? Might have to look into that one. Google Squared would have multiple uses in the classroom! What a gem! :)

iPad Apps

#1 - Pile Up the States

a) how it works - This app is a geography game. The goal is to "collect" all the states in America to complete your map.

b) what it does - This app brings up pictures of different states and then asks a question like: Boston is the capital of what state? Then you select which state is the answer. If you get the question right, it will put the state in a bubble - which you then "pop" to stack at the bottom of the screen (you can drag your bubble and rotate the bubble); once you have stacked all your "answer" states up over a striped line, that session is over. Then the app shows you what % you answered correctly - if you do well, you earn a "state" for your map.

c) why you like it - I enjoyed this app. It was easy to use and very informative regarding State Capitals, state shapes and State abbreviations.

d) how it might be useful in a classroom - I think this could definitely be used in the classroom to emphasize or review basics on the geography of the United States. I would expect this game could be utilized by 3rd grade and up (and possibly 2nd grade). It is fun and interactive.

Math Drills Lite

a) how it works - This app is a simple math drills app that allows you to add, subtract, multiply and divide. You can adjust the settings to the level of the student.

b) what it does - You can select what math function you want to work on, or choose a mixed drill. It brings up a series of problems to answer. After all are answered, it will tell you how many you answered correctly and ask if you'd like to correct your incorrect answers. In the drill, it also gives some visuals to help if a problem is taking a while to answer.

c) why you like it - I really liked this app. It is a great way to focus in on specific math functions, or overview it all. I like that you can adjust the difficulty. I also liked the visuals it provided to help students on more difficult problems.

d) how it might be useful in a classroom - This would be a great app for the classroom. It would really cover all levels of children as well as different learning types. Math is tough for a lot of kids, so the interactive aspect would really make math more fun and be more engaging for the students.

Jumbo Word Search

a) how it works - This app is just like it says...a Jumbo Word Search; You can select a theme and choose from easy, medium or hard levels.

b) what it does - After you choose a theme and a playing level, the app creates a word search. You touch and drag across each word from the list that you find, then it removes the words until you've found them all.

c) why you like it - This is a basic, easy app. It looks like you can also create your own word lists, or theme.

d) how it might be useful in a classroom - This would be useful to review spelling words, or vocabulary words or to just create a word search to go along with whatever unit you're doing. It's fun and interactive....and doing it on an iPad is way better than on paper! :)

fun times

drawing

Yeah....I got creative tonight, eh?! (Thank you, Christine for helping me to link my beautiful creation!) I had fun doodling on google docs drawing. I'm sure there is MUCH more that you could use this for in a classroom - but I would have to really spend some time figuring it all out. It would have been helpful to have an atomic learning session which went over all the different drawing functions and what-not. But since there wasn't one, I'll just have to doodle around and do some more playing on it.

I would imagine you could use this feature for some students who might use pictures/drawing better than text. You could have them draw to show their understanding. It looked like there would be ways to use the drawing feature for sentence structures and diagrams as well. Again, I'm sure there's much more to it than what I really know. It is definitely fun!!