Writing Fun

www.writingfun.com

Writing fun was a tremendous way to model different types of writing to students, the website is set out marvelously and gives examples on how to write different types of writing such as information report, recount, persuasive etc etc

The website clearly sets out a series of steps on how to complete the various types of writing and gives examples for students to follow

Below is an example on how to write a narrative

I would recommend this website for any teacher in the workforce

Maths Online Games

www.mathsisfun.com

There are some wonderful online maths websites for children of all ages. Maths is fun has resources for all sections of the curriculum as well as online games.

Website http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/

This is another great website for online maths games

Who wants to be a mathionare is a exciting and challenging game for grades 3 and above, I have used this website many times on my rounds and the students are always throughly engaged

Reasonably Clever & Catchment Detox

http://www.reasonablyclever.com/

On this webiste you can create your own lego character

You would direct students to mini mizers and from there you can create your own character

While this website will be a fun activity for kids, the learning value is debatable

http://www.catchmentdetox.net.au/play-game/

This is an excellent online game for focussing on the environment and water health. The object is to build a town and keep it environmentally friendly, students need to make money via chopping down trees and raising cattle but they have to be careful to replenish and replant the trees or you will be in for an environmental diaster.

Different types of animals can be raised such as organic and luxury things can be built such as resort hotels to attract visitors.

I would suggest grade 3 up play this online game becuase it can be quite in depth

Build your wild self & Sketch Swap

More online games and animations

http://www.buildyourwildself.com/


Build your wild self is a fun quick animated activity, where students can create a cartoon type person. Students can make them human or half human and half animal

This is a webiste you can use to continue to give children ideas on how animations are completed and to flood them with ideas they can use in their own time, instead of just jumping on playstation games




http://www.sketchswap.com/

Sketch swap is a cool website where you are able to freely sketch whatever you like and after you submit your sketch someone elses bounces back. There are some small regulations such as it must be an animation and writing must be in english for moderation purposes

There is a small issue with this webiste as you dont know what sketch is going to bounce back, Im still undecided whether or not I would use it in the classroom

This webiste would be fantastic for developing kids hand eye co ordination

Xtranormal - Movie Maker

http://www.xtranormal.com/



Design Your Scene

Xtranormal offers a variety of artistic sets and actors to fill your stage.


Custom Camera Angles

Unleash your inner Spielberg, and leave the camera work to them. You can frame your action by selecting a pre-defined camera shot, making and saving your own setup, or rely on their Magicam option for automatic camera switching.


Drag-and-drop Animations

Quickly bring your characters to life with our patented drag-and-drop animation system available on the web.



This by far the most sophistcated animation program i have come across, with lip snching basically done to a tee.



This would be a website you can use once the students have a feel for producing short animations



Students are required to type dialogue and what happens, therefore not only does it incorporate ICT but has a literacy focus as well

Dvolver - Movie Maker

The above video was created at www.dfilm.com

It is not appropriate for primary school students as the website has a sexual connotation to it

Animations on the internet seem very easy to use and can in general be implemented in the classroom.
Students with a creative side will love the animation programs and will love playing around with different backgrounds, characters and dialogue.

Zimmer Twins

Zimmer Twins

ZimmerTwins is an interactive website that enables students to create their own cartoons

On zimmertwins.com you create your own endings to one of our story starters. You may also create your stories from scratch. So put on your director's hat and you might just be our next featured movie maker!

This can be a fun way to finish a literacy lesson or lesson for ICT

http://www.zimmertwins.com

The net is not the enemy

The net is not the enemy

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-net-is-not-the-enemy-20090809-ee6h.html?page=-1)


This article is talking about social networking sites and the progression from the 1990’s when the internet began to today’s world of facebook, myspace and twitter. The Catholic Church has argued that social networking sites and killing off real life friendships and people no longer talk face to face, when infact I believe it’s the opposite.

A lonely kid of the passed may have sat at the computer and participated in online chatroom’s which were a dangerous place of anonymounity and were barely regulated. These days he would have added people from his class and if not confident enough to chat in person can at least chat to his real friends over the internet through facebook and/or myspace.

Research also suggests that the new communication tools available to young people help enrich their offline friendships rather than commoditise them or replace them with superficial relationships. In addition to these social benefits, a study conducted last year by the University of Minnesota suggested that using social networking sites improved technology and communication skills, boosted creativity and exposed students to new and diverse world views.

Social networking activity taught students how to edit content, to think about design and encouraged the production and sharing of poetry, art, photographs and video content. These students also tended to do better in exams.

There are always going to be concerns over privacy and young people letting the world know too much about their likes/dislikes and where they live etc. It is important to teach these young people about the dangers of posting too much information on the internet.

Week 4

http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/

We started the tutorial by watching a video from the above website named "Mermaid Story", this story was about an aboriginal elder who was wondering the land and later finds himself swimming with spirits. There are a number of different short videos on the website and there are some wonderful study guides and literature to go along with the videos.

Our task is to watch another short film and take screen shots that we believe represents the film

We see a story of good magic fighting bad magic, and triumphing.

This story is told mostly to children to keep them close to the camp at night. Namorrodor is a night creature, who should be feared. It also tells of the power of medicine and the knowledge of the elders in the camp

The main message is about being aware of and protecting yourself against evil and harm.

Excel Exercise

The next exercise involved m&m's and the graphing of different colours. First we talked about the dangers of allergies and how we as teachers need to be very particular about what sort of food we give kids as they may be allergic. Kids may also be allergic to things such as fruit, band aids etc

The above graphs were a screen shot of my excel inputs, they represent the number of different colours found within a packet of m&ms. Kids should attempt to read the graphs as they are however you can add numbers to the columns to help them interpret the graphs/pie charts. In this tutorial we have colour coated the graph and added a picture to the spreadsheet.

Many people find excel hard to use and do not like using this software, I have always found it easy to use and it is very valuable for many subjects within the school curiculum.

Week 3 -Teaching Design Briefs and Online Games

Week 3 - Design Briefs and Online Games

This week we are looking at design briefs, first we explored the old and new systems of designing:

Before - Investigate, Design, Produce, Evaluate

After - Investigate/Design, Produce, Analyse/Evaluate

In the Ivestigation/Design stage you brainstorm ideas and think about how you can solve the problem

In the Production stage you create your response to the problem and then analyse/evaluate if it worked

An important aspect of the new system is to analyse as you go and if necessary go back to the investigate/design faze and change the design.

Above is an example of a design brief, it involves the new system described above

Online Games - www.quia.com/web

This website enables you to create your own quiz

The quiz I created is on Michael Jackson knowledge and can be viewed on the website below

This was extremely easy to use and can definantly be used in the classroom, it is importanrt however that you keep an eye on the kids to ensure there is no bullying going on during class

http://www.quia.com/quiz/2513802.html

The next activity i worked on was to create a jumbled word quiz, I choose to do AFL teams and at first I thought it would be easy for students to get but after seeing it in action, it is harder than first thought

To access the jumbled word quiz see website below

http://www.quia.com/jw/387044.html

Finally I created another activity, this time based in the Hangman format, to access the quiz see below website

http://www.quia.com/hm/668189.html

Week 2 - Microsoft Publisher

Hi

Today's date is the 4th of August 2010, in this blog I am going to be focusing on Microsoft Publisher.

In a classroom lesson, you may be able to ask the students to create their own brochure.

From the above screen you can choose from many templates that suit your needs.

The above brochure was created using publisher in about 15-20 minutes.

This was the first time I had used publisher, I'm extremely confident that I would be able to run a lesson on publisher and teach the students how to use the software. I believe this software would best suit grades 3 and up. A major benefit of publisher is that there are many templates to choose from, this can help the students decide which template best suits their subject.

Publisher can also create webpages, which I will be using to create an ePorfolio for pespective employees to view.

I created a quick ePortfolio webpage, it is very east to use and asthetically great. Below is a sample of my home webpage.

Week1 - Created the Blogger Blog

This Blog is going to probably be the best blog of the class, I have never completed or even attempted a blog so it will be an interesting experience.

We will be as a class looking at various Internet sites and programs that will help us as teachers and our students learn together through information technology.

Information technology is constantly evolving and it is important that we introduce our kids to as many resources as possible. I can see how this blog can be a tremendous resource as it was extremely easy to set up and kids always enjoy typing and spending times on the computer.

The above two diagrams (Comic Strip and Mind Map) were created using Inspiration 8.0 IE, this piece of software is very interesting and could definitely be used in the school curriculum. I believe this software would best suit grade 4 and upwards.

You can create all kinds of diagrams, pictures, mind maps and in built templates that may suit any subject. The only negative to this software is the costs involved and with today's financial constraints that could prove to be a burden.

Another mind mapping tool called MindMiester can be used, this is a free Internet based software program and is very easy to use. A massive positive of this software is that two people can edit and chat to each other simultaneously while editing your mind map.

Thankyou for reading.....

Until next time

Deano