Letters

There are two types of letters you can send and receive, formal and informal.

Have a look at the letters below and decide if they are formal or informal. How can you tell the difference?

Letter 1

Letter 2

Letter 3

Letter 4

Letter 5

Convict research

Http://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/day-life-convict

Http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/other-subjects-and-projects/history/convicts-in-australia

Http://www.convictcreations.com/history/description.htm

Connecting

I am excited!  I signed up for the Global Read Aloud but due to time differences am behind everyone else.  But I have finally linked up with a teacher in Texas who we are going to complete a project on animals with. 

We have been reading the "Mixed up Chameleon" by Eric Carle.  Each class will research animals from their country and then create their own mixed up chameleon using native animals.  We will then learn about the other countries animals and create a completely mixed up chameleon.

We have decided to share our learning through kidblog. You can see what we get up to through this link.
http://kidblog.org/MsReddenMrsMuellersClasses

Pic Collage

This year I am working in Pre Primary and as of term 2 have been lucky enough to have 5 ipads permanently in my classroom.

I wanted to share an app that I think is fantastic to use with the younger years.  It is called Pic Collage and after completing a few activities with it my kids are becoming whizzes at it.  Here are a couple of examples of what they have created with it.

We went for a walk through the school in two groups and took photos of living and non living things.  The children then used those photos to create either a living or non living collage.  This was our first official lesson with pic collage.

We made a pretend trip to the moon. The following day they used the pictures we took of them in their astronauts costume to make a picture of them on the moon.

We used the option to import pictures from the web to create a collage of our solar system.  The search option for web photos is very simple to use.

Ok, so this one is obviously mine but it is another use for the app.  I created my alien using the collage materials we have collected in our classroom. I am encouraging the children to create things with them but then take a photo and pull it apart so we can reuse the materials.

In Maths we were learning about wide and thin.  The children had to create a collage of things that were wider than them.

 

I highly recommend this app.  It is simple to use and produces a great product that the children love.  It could be a great story starter as children put themselves into unusual places and then write a story about it.  When playing with my 6 year old niece I put her in the fridge, what a great visual prompt for a story!

Two

One

QR codes

I am trying to work out a place to store information I can link qr codes to. I created a wiki but the settings are private and if I am not signed in then it won't work you have to pay to make your wiki public....bummer!

So I though I would try a blog post. Please excuse the random posts.

Scrap It

Last Friday we went on excursion to Perth Hills Centre at Mundaring.  I thought I would try and integrate a bit of technology into the recount rather than the doing the same old recount every time you do an excursion.

We used an app called Scrap It.  It is a scrapbooking app so it was a bit 'pretty' for this activity but worked well otherwise.

The children had to choose 3 events from the excursion and import them into the app.  They then had to type up a sentence or two to go with each picture and a title.

I then saved them to the camera roll so they could be used.

So, how did it go?

The kids loved it.  They were so engaged in it.  We had a photographer come in to take photos and they barely looked up from the ipads, unlike normal occasions where any interruption is an excuse to stop working.

It took them awhile to make the page but if they used it more frequently they could be quite quick.  The app itself was pretty easy to use and once they worked it out they were off.

We will need to do a lot more typing lessons if we get them next year as some of the spelling is atrocious and I know they would have done it much better if they were writing it.  I think it was hard to sound out words while using new technology at the same time.

Getting the photos onto the 5 ipads was a little tricky to start with.  I tried emailing them but could only send 2 or 3 photos per email- way too hard when there is over 100 photos!

I ended up setting up a dropbox account for each of the ipads.  I then set up a year 1 folder and shared it with all 5 ipads.  This meant that everything I uploaded into that file would appear on each ipad.  Genius!

However, it appears that things stored in dropbox still need to be downloaded onto the ipad if you want to use them so I then had to go through each ipad and import the photos onto the camera roll. Fiddly!  This syncing business just keeps looking better and better.

Reflection

Yay!  No more worrying about cords and Apple TV.  We have downloaded an app called Reflection onto our pc's and can now connect any ipad in the classroom to the smartboard wirelessly.

Today I used it with a number line.  The kids passed the ipad around and had to find me the number on the number line.  The rest of the class was able to see what they were doing on the smartboard. Love it!

There was a bit of a delay today however, but only a few seconds.  The computers seem to be running really slowly today.  Maybe it is the weather.  The other day when we were testing it was running beautifully with no delay.

I can see this would be useful as a way for kids to show their learning.  When they have done something good they can just project it up and I can direct the rest of the class to look and listen.  Not to mention being able to play games on the ipad that everyone can watch.

Scribblepress

Today I tried using the app Scribblepress during literacy.  Scribblepress is an app kids can use to create their own books.

I have started with my top group.  The idea was to have the title on one page, then the orientation then the problem and then the solution.  I am trying to teach them the structure of a narrative at the moment.

It was very slow going as they hadn't used the app before.  If they were handwriting it they would probably have written nearly a page in the same time.  They only got a sentence or two done on the app.  Having said that, the app is not hard to use and if they had time to play with it and use it regularly I think it would be a very effective tool.  I am really hoping we can get the 5 ipads into each class next year because I think I could have the kids doing some amazing things before the end of the year.  The problem with only having two weeks is not having the time to let kids experiment and play with the apps.

Now I am experimenting with ways to share the books.  They can get shared with ibooks but Iwould like to be able to share each book across all the ipads.  I assume that syncing would do that if we get a mac but until then I need to find other ways.  I am pretty sure I can email myself the link and then download it to each, but once again, fiddly!!

Educreations

Today the children had to retell a story using educreations.  They drew a picture of the story and then had to take a photo of the picture.  They then put that into educreations and told me about the story.  It was slow going but they were all so eager to have a go and do something on the iPad!

Some of the pictures were....interesting, to say the least.  Lots of pics of feet and hands but they got there.  Most of them used the app really well but it helped that we had used this once before (last term). 

If I wanted to make the activity purely ICT I could have had them do the picture on the ipad but having them draw the picture first staggered the use of the ipads so they weren't all trying to do it at once.

The issue now is in getting that work off to share with others.  I know I can put a link to the lesson but it would be great to be able to have it come up as a video.  I am going to try to embed the link in here, but I have yet to be able to do it.  If not, then simply follow the link.

Nope, can't work it out. I am following the instructions but there is no embed button appearing. The other option I may have to investigate is capturing their video using a screen capture tool.
Memory by Kate

Memory By Ashton

I was a bit worried about how much background noise you would hear if you were recording in the classroom but the voice you can hear the most is mine!  I had told the kids that there was no talking and they were pretty good.  Recording in a normal classroom would be difficult though.

Memory by Elisajane

Fiddly!

Kylie and I have been trying to set the iPads up with more of a system. We have done up a page for different learning  areas, creating, literacy, maths and other (we are just starting!).  I can definetly see the benefits of a syncing device as we stood there for ages this morning moving apps to the correct page and trying to make sure each device had them in the same spot so it would be easy to direct kids to the right app.  Fiddly!  Hopefully once they are set up and we are just adding the odd app it wont be too bad.

We also noticed that it was very slow to download when we were trying to do 2 or 3 apps on each device.

On a positive note, the kids absolutely love them.  They are now familiar with the volume, earphone port and can close all their apps completely when finished.  So far they have been really good at looking after them.  Although, I can see that those covers are going to be very dirty, very quickly.  Perhaps we should look at getting black covers if we end up getting more.

I am hoping to teach them how to use the camera tomorrow and then how to put their picture into educreations and tell me about it. I think this will be particularly useful skill in the early years as verbal explanations are done regularly.  It would be great if I could just have them take a photo of their work and then narrate it. Educreations is a great app because you can access their work via teh internet and it doesn't matter which iPad they used, as long as they are logged in on my name. http://www.educreations.com/

I am hoping to set up folders for the kids to put photos in but I think it may be a bit soon to do that.  Maybe next week.

New iPads

YAY!  Year 1 has iPads!  Our school has been lucky enough to get funding from the P&F to purchase 10 iPads.  We have decided to trial them in the year 1 and the year 5/6 class.  The idea of this is to work out all the kinks of how we are going to manage the iPads and children's work when they are being shared.  Having them in two different year levels will give us a better idea of what the children need and can use appropraitly at different ages.

We got them yesterday afternoon so I let the kids just play with them as they finished their activities.  I think it will be important to give them time to just play before we try and learn with them.  There is only a few apps on there at the moment (stupid wifi was down today so I couldn't put more on!) but the popular choice was sparkle paint.  They seem to love colouring and drawing.

I have told the kids that we have to find ways to use them to help us learn and not just play so it will be interesting if they actually come up with any ideas as we start using them.  I don't think 2 weeks will be nearly long enough!

Account For Your Practice

In August all education ministers signed off on an agreement that will provide an annual performance review for teachers against the National Professional Standards for Teachers.

'The National Professional Standards for Teachers are a public statement of what constitutes teacher quality. They define the work of teachers and make explicit the elements of high-quality, effective teaching in 21st century schools that will improve educational outcomes for students. The Standards do this by providing a framework which makes clear the knowledge, practice and professional engagement required across teachers’ careers. They present a common understanding and language for discourse between teachers, teacher educators, teacher organisations, professional associations and the public.

Teacher standards also inform the development of professional learning goals, provide a framework by which teachers can judge the success of their learning and assist self-reflection and self-assessment. Teachers can use the Standards to recognise their current and developing capabilities, professional aspirations and achievements.'

http://www.aitsl.edu.au/verve/_resources/AITSL_National_Professional_Standards_for_Teachers.pdf

This post aims to familiarise you with professional standards for teachers with a particular focus on ICT in the curriculum.
 

The National Professional Standards For Teachers
The seven Standards identify what is expected of teachers within three domains of teaching. Teachers’ demonstration of the Standards will occur within their specific teaching context at their stage of expertise and reflect the learning requirements of the students they teach. These standards are listed below.

Standard 1:	Know students and how they learn
Standard 2:	Know the content and how to teach it
Standard 3:	Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
Standard 4:	Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
Standard 5:	Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
Standard 6:	Engage in professional learning
Standard 7:	Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community

The National Standards document provides a more detailed explanation of each of the standards. This post will be focusing primarily on the standards that relate specifically to ICT.
 
 Within the seven standards there are three that relate specifically to ICT.

Standard 2: Know the content and how to teach it
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)	Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students.	Use effective teaching strategies to integrate ICT into learning and teaching programs to make selected content relevant and meaningful.	Model high-level teaching knowledge and skills and work with colleagues to use current ICT to improve their teaching practice and make content relevant and meaningful.	Lead and support colleagues within the school to select and use ICT with effective teaching strategies to expand learning opportunities and content knowledge for all students.

 

Standard 3 – Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
3.4 Select and use resources	Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning.	Select and/or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning	Assist colleagues to create, select and use a wide range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning.	Model exemplary skills and lead colleagues in selecting, creating and evaluating resources, including ICT, for application by teachers within or beyond the school

 

Standard 4 – Create and maintain supportive learning environments
4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically	Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues and the strategies available to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching.	Incorporate strategies to promote the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching.	Model, and support colleagues to develop, strategies to promote the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching.	Review or implement new policies and strategies to ensure the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching.

As technology progresses in society it is important to ensure our classrooms reflect this.  The  Australian Curriculum has a strong focus on integrating technology across all learning areas.

In the Australian Curriculum, the general capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that, together with curriculum content in each learning area and the cross-curriculum priorities, will assist students to live and work successfully in the

twenty-first century.

There are seven general capabilities within the new curriculum that are designed to be integrated across all learning areas. ICT is one of these capabilities.

As can be seen from both the Australian Curriculum and the National Professional Standards for Teachers, ICT is considerd an essential aspect of teaching and learning.

We are now educating students for their future and not our past therefore it is important to keep up to date with new technologies and ways of facilitating learning. 
 
 Below are some websites you may find useful to help you meet the National Professional Standards for Teachers.

 

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

A proficient teacher will use effective teaching strategies to integrate ICT into learning and teaching programs to make selected content relevant and meaningful.



Pinterest A great place to store all those great ideas you find on the internet.  It is like an online pinup board. If you follow other people with similar interests you can see what they have been pinning. Be warned, it is very addictive!

 

Twitter Follow what other teachers are up to in their classrooms.

 

Teacher Blogs   Many teachers now blog about their classroom experiences.  There is a huge community of teachers online willing to share ideas.



 

Select and Use Resources
A proficient teacher will select and/or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning.
 
 Youtube You tube is a fantastic way to engage your students with a topic. You can find videos to illustrate almost any concept.
Some examples include:
Water Cycle- Science
Spelling rules- English
Time- Mathematics

Brainpop is a great site with lots of short video clips explaining science concepts.

BBC.co.uk is an awesome site with interactive games based around science concepts.

Blogging is a great way to showcase student work and encourage them to produce a better standard of work. There are many different blogging sites you can use. Kidblog is a great site if you want your children to have their own blog.

A sample class blog

Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
A proficient teacher will incorporate strategies to promote the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching.

Woogi World
Cyber Safety




 

trying out photosnack

http://snack.to/pun8w3jc?UA_PHPSESSID=88dee98235353c57a34b676ec8136bd7

More

It is very easy to use but I don't seem to be able to add captions to photos.

I am seeing where the second photo goes. I am guessing it will go with the other one below the writing.

Could be useful for kids to post examples of work though.

Blogger app

Testing out ease of use of the blogger app.

testing

sock puppets

Testing yet again, I hope nobody actually follows this blog!  I like the sock puppets app but it isn't uploading to youtube properly.  So I have uploaded it to facebook and am now seeing how easy it is to share.

Sock puppets test

the water cycle

I am testing out ways to display things done on the ipad.  This should be a link to some work done by one of my students using the educreations app. Here hoping it works.

The Water Cycle by Brody