Just When I Thought it Was Over.

Well earlier this evening I was wrapping up my e-portfolio and quickly realized I had missed a learning opportunity. I quickly learned how to use Windows Movie Maker, something I'd had on my laptop all this time. What a fun opportunity, and now I will have the know-how to create family DVDs for special events or even classroom events. Wanted to share this on my blog because it's a work in progress but I fell I'm off to a great start.

Well That's All Folks!

There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Well the final week of class has been full of exceptional knowledge. I have always thought of myself as a technical savvy person, but this class has opened my eyes to many great products and taught me new skills that will be very resourceful in my future classroom.

For my instruction PowerPoint I chose to use a Sharpie Tie Dye activity. This could be a great reading/science activity for any classroom. I was able to embed the videos into my slideshow, something I have never attempted before. I have since used my new ability to embed an author's interview into my PowerPoint used for a lesson demonstration during an interview this week. This will in no way be the last time I will use video in a slideshow or flipchart.

Interested in learning how to do Sharpie Tie Dye? Check out this great tutorial .

Graphic Organizers

Working in a classroom I have had the opportunity to use graphic organizers. I have sat in on a few Thinking Maps in-services as well. For this project I chose my favorite fourth grade unit, Where the Red Fern Grows. The book is about a boy and his two Redbone Coonhounds, Old Dan and Little Ann. I created a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the two hounds which could be used in a writing assignment. I used PowerPoint to create my Venn Diagram however, I have also Activision to create a flipchart that could be used with the Promethean board.Students could actually use the smart board to write in the details (They love to write with the stylus).

This was my first time to work with Freemind. The product was simple to use. I created a mind map reflecting the team teaching duties of our fourth grade teachers and their class sections.

Animoto and Animal Teeth

Well I was never able to view David's tutorial on the Animoto project, but overall I thought the product was simple to use.


I created a video that could be used for a Fourth grade science lesson on animal teeth & diet. Animoto offers a free 30-second video so it may be difficult to get the entire point across using the topic I had chose. However, I thought the video process provided a pretty neat twist to the lesson. Check out my lesson Animal Teeth and Diet.


Once I completed the project I decided Animoto (the Pro version) would be a great project to use to post class pictures and field trips to a classroom website. A slide show with some added Justin Bieber might just be the hook to get students to log on and possibly utilize some of the additional resources provided.

I'm loving all these new and fun technologies that will help make my classroom one that belongs in the 21st Century.