Give the Dog a Bone

I was in a 3/4 classroom today while subbing for a resource teacher, and some of the kids were playing a fun Math game.  It will sharpen their hundred chart skills in a fun and engaging way on the Smartboard or computer.  It's called "Give The Dog a Bone". 

Can you find all 10 bones in one minute before the time runs out?  Give it a try!

Clustrmaps!

Hi!  Today I decided to add a Clustrmap, which is a way of tracking visitors that view my blog.  I will definitely use a visitor-tracking widget with my class/student blogs because it is an invaluable way for students to see who is visiting their blog from around the world. 

This can be a great motivator.  Once they see that they have a global audience, they will be enticed to continue writing for this audience and the excitement increases! 

Students will also be interested to check who has been visiting their blog, and find out more about where their audience is from.  What a great way to encourage students to learn more about the countries where their visitors are from. 

Clustrmaps do not have a counter to show exact numbers of people that have visited from a particular place, but the size of the dot in each location is relative to the number of visitors.

I'm curious to see who will come and visit me!  Do you know other ways that you can track who comes knocking at your door (so to speak)? 

Word Clouds Rock!

I first heard about Word clouds during a PD while I was in my internship.  The Word cloud generator that I first heard about was Wordle.  I taught a unit on Growth, Change and Life Cycles in a grade 2 class, and at the end of the unit, I wanted to pull it all together.  So I decided to use Wordle to do that.  Here is a sample of what we created together:

This Word Cloud was very useful to show what the students had learned within the unit.  What I liked about Wordle was that if the students said the same word over and over again, it would reflect as a bigger word within the Wordle. 

Lately, I have learned that there are many more options besides Wordle.  My son and I made a Tagxedo Word cloud yesterday.  He uploaded a picture of himself (eating a hamburger-one of his favorite things to do), and then typed the words that he wanted within his word cloud.  Here's what we came up with together:

 

I loved that you could choose the shape of the word cloud by uploading a picture.  This would be fantastic as a "get to know you" activity at the beginning of the year with students.  We could take a picture, and they could add the words that make them special.  Another great idea would be to use this to make a cover for your project on a particular animal, etc.  You could copy what you typed into the Tagxedo and use the corresponding shape that you wanted. 

 

In addition, there were also shape templates on the website that you could use if you did not want to upload a picture.  I liked that option.

 

Here are some other ideas of how to use Word clouds in the classroom:

 

 

• Use it to introduce a new topic to the class
• Self-reflection on work – as Wordle makes a word larger the more frequently it is used, students will be able to see at a glance which words or phrases they are over-using
• Put a personal narrative into a Word cloud so that students can see what is important to their peers within this narrative
• Use it to introduce new vocabulary
• Encouraging creative writing from key words in a Word cloud
• Turn essays or projects into posters
• Summarize survey data-type the responses into a word cloud to see the most common answers
• Create a gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc.
• Student profiles-have students write a few positive words to describe each student in their class, then create a Word cloud with the compiled lists as a positive feedback exercise
• Word walls-brainstorm synonyms, antonyms, etc.  This would help stimulate critical thinking, while at the same time having fun!
 

Another great Word cloud site that is great for younger students is ABCya .  You can save and print the Word clouds that are created.  It is very user friendly. 

 

So what is your favorite Word cloud maker?  Do you have any other ideas on how you could use them in your classroom?

 
 

 

 



 

Tech 20 Tuesdays

When I attended Learneast 2.0.12 ,one of the teachers mentioned "Tech20Tuesdays".  It is a web-based Professional Development opportunity for New Brunswick teachers.  Anyone can join on these quick, 20 minute tech tips sessions.  The purpose is to introduce some helpful technological tools and how they can be applied in a pedagogical way in your classroom.  I'm in!!! 

All of the sessions from 2009-2011 are archived on the site, so I am going to make my way through these and hopefully find some useful and inspiring information that I can use. 

New Blogger Alert!

Well, here goes!  I have been learning so much about the importance of technology in the classroom, so I decided I would start my own blog to gain experience so that I will be prepared when I have a classroom to call my own.

I hope to experience and explore many of the 21st century opportunities for the digital learners of today.  This adventure that I am embarking on will give me some insight as to what may work in the classroom environment and how I can use these things to engage my students. :)