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!!

iPad = must have?

Well, after using the iPad in our class, I told my husband yesterday that I really wanted my own iPad. I love this little device!! It's so fun and there are so many ways it can be used in a classroom. There are MULTIPLE applications that are so perfect for "student-centered" learning. From the articles I read, iPads get kids excited about learning. iPads are fun and interesting and seem to encourage inquiring minds. HOWEVER....

iPads may not necessarily change education. It is the TEACHER who must inspire, not the iPad. Two of the articles I read spoke about this issue. The iPad is great, absolutely - but if it's not used in the right way or with the right methods it will not be effective in the classroom. I liked this quote from a link to one of the suggested articles: "It's a tool, like any other, and in the classroom it must always be thought of as being in the service of pedagogy. The pedagogical foundations must be solid, because the tool will achieve no heights the underlying pedagogy will not support." (taken from - It's the Pedagogy, Stupid: Lessons from an iPad Lending Program By Heather Beattey Johnston and Carolyn J. Stoll, University of Cincinnati)

I agree....TEACHERS have to use the technology of the iPad in proper ways in order to effectively serve students. The iPad, in my opinion, would be an awesome tool to use to help educate and inspire students.

Now on to the ebook reader....
Wow.
I really liked using this feature! I love being able to highlight and add notes - and then to be able to see all your notes/highlights is really great. I also love that Apple (apparently) has made up a new word: oleophobic....I tried to look up that word on the iPad dictionary, but it said there was no definition found. I love the creativity and ingenuity of Apple. :) The ebook feature is cost effective and saves some trees....I'm all for it.

Quiz Me

Ok, so I'm not a pro yet at the quizzes, but they are spectacular!!! I did a test quiz (or survey, I guess) with the lovely Christine. Once again, Google makes it so easy and simple. And the self-grading system is just incredible. I love all the analysis it provides and the different ways you can check everything out. This would be immensely useful in a classroom!!

The lesson plans were cool too.....very interesting to see it utilized by students as well as teachers. An excellent way to do scientific surveys for kids!

Yay Google. Yay Friday. One week to go.

.....I worked some more with the quizzes today (Saturday) and now it totally makes sense to me. I just needed some more time to really let it all sink in, I guess. I did basically the same form as the tutorial guy....hopefully I can get it embedded to the blog....

delicious......or not

Delicious was a pretty cool site. It is nice to know you can bookmark your most used sites and access them anytime you're on the internet. I especially liked that you can not only do a search but you can also get "opinions" of others who liked sites enough to bookmark, which gives you a good idea of whether site is really worth checking out. I did a search for some elementary lesson plans and found some sites with more than 10,000 bookmarks! So, I'd say Delicious could really help as a teacher.

Google Reader....eh, not so much a fan. Mostly because I just don't do a whole lot of searching for stuff on the web, and at this point in my life I sure as heck don't have time to be reading extra stuff! :) I could see how Reader would be useful for keeping up to date on stuff....when one has time for that sort of thing.

Library Thing was alright.....again, I think I could utilize this site when I had more time to read. I did, however, add our lovely textbook to my library. :) I can definitely see how Library Thing would be useful in teaching - it would be nice to get reviews of books from others who have read them before implementing them in the classroom.

Spreadsheets

Well, no one should find it surprising that I've never really created my own spreadsheet. Looking through the Atomic Learning tutorials for Google spreadsheets, once again, made it seem quite simple. Setting the spreadsheets up seems easy enough...I like how you can make it colorful and easy to understand with a lot of simple functions. I haven't played around with it enough to know if I could format cells in order to use it for grading, like is done in our class, but I think I could figure it out.

As far as the lesson plans go.... I liked both elementary ones: Consumer Product Testing and Marble Stacking. I definitely could see myself using similar spreadsheets in my classroom. Science lessons and experiments would be easy to incorporate a spreadsheet, as well as any sort of survey. Add to that using spreadsheets in keeping track of grades, and I think it's a no-brainer! Speaking of no-brainer.....I'm fried. :)

Gmail, Calendar and iGoogle

I've used gmail for a good while now....but as with other programs, I've never really checked out the details. Once I figured out how to send emails, I was good to go. So, there were several tutorials that were helpful. I have never applied filters to my emails before, so that was a nice feature to help keep things organized. I also never knew about the advanced search options to help find emails (since I have hundreds which have never been deleted!). I always just did a simple search and had to scroll through to find what I was looking for....but with the advanced search, finding things is quite simple. Another feature that I would never look at is the Activity on your Account feature. I actually received and email from Google several months ago stating that there was suspicious activity on my account....someone in China had accessed my account! So I had to change my password. At any rate.....knowing that I can check the activity on my account by myself was nice to learn.

Google Calendar......Ah, it looks so nice. If I would just get organized enough to actually use it!! I have a desk calendar that I write everything in for work - I know I would love the organization of having it on Google Calendar, if I would just take the time to type it in. Sharing your calendar with others is pretty sweet too. And the feature of having events on the calendar sync with your phone is really nice. And I had no idea I could text and event to Google Calendar from my phone. Cool. Hopefully, I'll get organized and actually use it!

iGoogle, uGoogle, weallGoogle!! I never really knew what iGoogle was all about (of course), but I like it. I added some different things to my iGoogle (which I never even knew I had)...things like quotes of the day, Google Docs and Bible verses of the day. I'm sure there's so much more I could explore, but I'm feeling tired.... :)

Presentations

Once again, I must say.....Google Docs (and presentations) Rock. I made my very own presentation which you can check out:

If I can do this, anyone can!! Google makes it so very simple to do a presentation....of course, the Atomic Learning helps as well. I love the different presentation themes and layouts that are easy to choose from but make the presentation more appealing. I also thought the sharing feature of Google Presentations is awesome. You can share a presentation from "the cloud" with whomever you wish! By emailing the presentation for others to view, it saves so much time. And if you're working together on a presentation, then the editing and revisions would be much easier. This would definitely be a useful tool in the classroom. Not only for teaching and instruction, but also for students to learn and engage in the technologies it offers.

I looked at two different lesson plans listed: Language Arts, Choose your own adventure story and Book Buddies. I really liked how the Book Buddies lesson had older students working with younger ones to make a presentation. And I thought the use of the presentation to do the "Choose your own adventure" was smart and fun.

I will definitely be using Google Docs, Presentations and Forms in my classroom. Yay Google.

The Web: Basics and Browsers

Welp, I wouldn't say I have a super strong opinion on any of the browsers I checked out tonight....I looked at multiple ones: Opera, Chrome, SeaMonkey, Camino and Shiira. I guess I didn't really like SeaMonkey all that much.....the home page was all about troubleshooting and updating old problems. Sort of just gave me a bad impression, I guess....I can be judgmental. Plus I wonder if Mozilla will come out with another browser called LandHawk.....just sayin'.

Opera and Shiira....work just like what I'm used to, for the most part (Firefox and Safari). I didn't notice much difference. I can search the web with them.

I definitely liked Chrome and Camino. Both had informational home pages that were easy to navigate and learn about. Chrome was zippity-quick, which is always a plus when you tend to have patience problems. :) I plan to introduce both Chrome and Camino to my husband when I get home!

Google to the Rescue!!

Well, I'm just super-duper impressed with Google Docs. Now, I'm a pretty positive, easy-to-please person....so it doesn't take much, but seriously, I'm a fan! First of all the ease in which anyone (and if I can do it, then I seriously mean ANYONE) can access and utilize Google Docs rocks. All of my experience with documents has been through Word - and I'll just be honest....once I figured out the minimal basics of creating a document, I didn't try to learn anything else in Word. I've never done a powerpoint, spreadsheet, etc. (don't judge me :) ) I just always got by using what I knew (which wasn't much) - I guess because I didn't feel smart enough to figure things out on my own, and felt embarrassed to ask someone to help me out since I assumed I was probably the only one ever (besides my mama) who didn't already know what I was doing! But now....
GOOGLE DOCS TO THE RESCUE!!!!
I feel confident that I could figure out the forms, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. with ease! Woo-hoo!! Praise the Lord! Add to it that anyone with internet access can utilize Google Docs, and it's just so simple and makes so much sense. Plus being able to collaborate and share documents is SWEET. It saves time and enables cohorts like ours to work together without being together.

And then....all the lesson plans having students utilize Google Docs was just so cool. I mean 4-6 graders sharing documents, making presentations, developing forms, etc....What?! Really?! I mean, I'm just super impressed.....and oh, how I would LOVE for my own kids to do this in school! I really liked the lesson plan on Erosion by Ronna Van Veghel. In her lesson, she had the students research erosion and then create a Google presentation. I liked the layout of the lesson plan because the students had to have each step of the process signed off by a teacher. I just like having the teacher(s) be so involved. I also really liked the lesson plan on Google Sites for State Research by Molly Schroeder. She implemented the use of Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Forms in her lesson. I just really like it that Google Docs can be used by elementary school students with such ease. Utilizing Google Docs also helps teachers make sure to meet NETS standards.

I'm sure there are some downsides to Google Docs - limited internet access, the 13 age requirement, etc.....but for the most part, I'll say it again....GOOGLE DOCS ROCKS!