Activity 1: Communication

I feel that a blog could be useful in my classroom as a means of communication with families and for students to follow as well.  It would be great if our whole team was doing the same types of blogs and sending the same messages out so that more parents are connected to what we do in the classroom.  It is interesting to follow the blogs of others and it would be fun to follow blogs that the kids would be interested in such as authors, illustrators, Bill Nye, etc. I would like to investigate http://kidblog.org/home/  further to see what this site has to offer for kids, teachers, and families.

Activity 1:Tour the States - Official Music Video

As my fourth graders learn the 50 states and their capitols, it is fun to show them various video clips like this one to use as a warm up for the day or to review each week.

Kickoff

I decided to become a tech nerd this summer because I have never created my own websites or blogs and I felt I needed to be fluent in these skills. Summer is a time when I can be more focused on my own growth and learning. My 4th grade team will be getting new Chromebooks this fall and we all want to work together to create Google classrooms with amazing lessons.  I do enjoy learning new things and I feel that I have an open mind when it comes to technology.

My goal is to become a more fluent user of technology in my classroom with students.  I want them to remain engaged in their own learning and to stretch their creative boundaries.  I am eager to learn ways to incorporate existing lessons into my new Chromebook/Google lessons once we get up and running this fall. Using technology to reinforce skills is incredibly valuable to me and to students today.   I am nervous about how much I will be able to retain, but will give it my best effort, realizing that my students will catch on very quickly and I want to be able to effectively help them to succeed.

Currently, I use docs/word processing, spreadsheets, and have used Prezi, and other presentation programs.  I have a medium comfort level with technology because I am not a person who normally uses technology a lot when I am not at school. It will be exciting to create this blog and get used to updates as well as following the other blogs from class.  I know I will learn a lot from my colleagues, and this is most important to me to foster my own development!