Techie-Bytes

Heroes in History and Literature: A Technology and Library Collaboration

2012-01-26T10:21:00.000-06:00

Working collaboratively with my librarian, 10 stations (for 3rd Graders) were created around Heroes in History and Literature. The educational goal was for the students to discover what the person/character did and why they were famous. Below are the heroes the students researched. The final project will result in students creating Taboo cards with their information. State and National Daniel

Need Images? Check Out Photo Pin

2012-01-12T13:16:00.000-06:00

Photo Pin Photo Pin is a newly developed website offering images which may assist students in locating photos for various projects. The site utilizes Flickr, API for Creative Commons search and Fotolia's image library to provide royalty-free images. With Photo Pin, you type your topic in the search box and preview the photo. The site provides two options for you: Pay for Photo ($costs$

Robert Munsch: A Technology and Library Collaboration

2012-01-09T10:49:00.002-06:00

Working collaboratively with my librarian, 5 stations (for 2nd Graders) were created around the author; Robert Munsch. The educational goal was for the students to discover of at least 2 facts about the author. Various idevices were utilized (i.e. iTouches, iPads, and Nanos) as well as online resources. Both students and teachers seem to enjoy the joint efforts of this collaborative project.

What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s happening….

2011-12-15T15:22:00.000-06:00

I wrote this as a guest for another blog. Thought it was worth repeating..... Ok, so it is a line from the 1970’s Rock Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Yep…that dates me! As I was deciding on my topic, the terms: 21st Century Education, 21st Century Schools, 21st Century Learner, etc began to bounce around my head, as these are buzz words which have been circulating in our district. So what

Animal Habitat - QR Codes In the Classroom

2011-11-16T11:56:00.006-06:00

3rd Grade students at Sem Elementary chose an animal and completed clue sentence stems about their animal's habitat. Students then generate a QR Code for the habitat hints they created. They worked collaboratively to solve the mystery animal and habitat utilizing the NeoReader app on an itouch and ipad. Habitat Clue Sentence Stems: The climate in my habitat is..... My habitat

OMG - APPitic - What a FANTASTIC site!

2011-11-07T07:57:00.000-06:00

What a FANTASTIC site! APPitic is a collection of 1,300+ apps for Education. Created by Apple Distinguished Educators, APPitic is a directory of apps to "transform both your teaching and learning". It is divided by catagories: Preschool Themes Multiple Intelligences (How cool is this!) Bloom's Taxonomy Not only have they reviewed the apps.....the site has a blog with helpful tricks and tips.

Technology and Library: A Collaboration

2011-10-20T11:36:00.005-05:00

Working collaboratively with my librarian, 14 stations (for Kindergarten) were created around a pumpkin theme. Various idevices were utilized (i.e. iTouches, iPads, and Nanos) as well as various online resources. Each station was approximately 4 minutes and the focus of the stations revolved around the following Kindergarten TEKS: Technology (2A-C, 5A, 7A) Science (K10.B) Math (K5.A, 6.0. 6.A)

The "TECHing" Hour Staff Development

2011-10-18T13:25:00.006-05:00

During their planning time, classroom teachers, participated in a Halloween theme staff development. It was my hope to make it festive and fun as they experience hands-on activities utilizing itouches, ipads and various Web 2.0 online tools. The teachers were very supportive and I believe it went over very well. Thank you teachers! Please view the following Animoto.

So What Are QR Codes?

2011-09-29T12:36:00.002-05:00

So What Are QR Codes? Click on link to view QR Codes explained by Common Craft . QR Codes or (Quick Response Codes) are appearing everywhere - from magazines, various retail environments for digital marketing purposes, clothes, business card, mailers, I even saw one on my billing statements! NeoReader Grafter To scan/view these QR Codes, you simply download a free app

Fall 2011 - Online Book Study

2011-09-12T09:23:00.000-05:00

GoAnimate.com: Book Study_Oct_2011 by Dovewhisper

Primary Wall - Another Alternative to Wallwisher and Linoit

2011-09-09T15:01:00.006-05:00

So, I received a comment on my blog to check out Primary Wall... My initial reaction....I like it! Primary Wall is a web-based sticky note tool designed for schools which allows students and teachers to work together in real-time. Like Linoit and Wallwisher, Primary Wall allows for gathering ideas, collaborating, sharing and quickly posting pieces of information when working in a group or

It is Time for Our Fall 2011 Technology Staff Development

2011-09-09T13:33:00.001-05:00

GoAnimate.com: Discover the Treasures of Fall Technology PD by Dovewhisper Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Summer 2011 Elementary Staff Development

2011-03-25T11:30:00.001-05:00

GoAnimate.com: Summer 2011 Technology Staff Development by Dovewhisper Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Crazy Talk - A Cool Animation Program to Use with Students

2011-02-24T14:15:00.002-06:00

We recently purchased Crazy Talk - a cool and easy animation facial program. "You can import any photo or image into the fitting wizard and bring it to life with easy auto lip-sync. Add emotion to your actor with emotive one-click mood animations and have full control of custom facial expressions with a few clicks." Check out the examples a few 3rd graders created for their Arctic Animal

It is Finally Here - Voki for Education!

2011-01-30T14:31:00.010-06:00

YAY!!! They finally unveiled Voki for Education. For those of you who do not know what a Voki is......... "A Voki " is a free service that enables teachers and students to express themselves on the Web in their own voice, using a talking character. Anyone can customize their Voki to resemble them or look like many types of characters, such as people, animals, historical figures, and many more.

Answer Garden - An Online Answer Collection Tool

2011-01-07T14:45:00.011-06:00

Answer Garden is a fabulous collaboration and immediate feedback Web 2.0 tool. It is very easy to create with no registration or login required. It may be embedded into any website, social network page or blog - please note: the embedding option will not work on your Frisco Apple Server blog – instead you may supply a direct link to the question. The submitted answers forms a word cloud -

A Few Favorite Math Apps for itouches

2011-01-07T12:34:00.003-06:00

We recently purchase itouches for our school. Why itouches? These 21 Century learning tools are both engaging and assist in creating an interactive learning environment. Most of all - it makes learning fun! There are a treasure trove of excellent educational apps for all subjects. Below are just a few of the FREE Math apps we are using on our itouches! PopMath Math Lite FREE A fun

Think Before You Post

2010-12-16T08:38:00.004-06:00

I saw this graphic on one of the blogs I follow (Thanks Educational Technology Guy). I believe the graphic speaks for itself.

Super Book of Web Tools for Teachers

2010-12-13T10:50:00.001-06:00

This free online ebook, “Super Book of Web Tools for Teachers” is a compilation of Web 2.0 resources by eleven prominent bloggers, teachers, and school administrators. It provided excellent resources to introduce educators in using technology to the K-12 classroom. Check it out!

GoAnimate for Schools

2010-12-08T12:40:00.028-06:00

If you liked the GoAnimates which I create for our technology staff developments…you are going to love this! GoAnimate4Schools now has a kid friendly site. The Free GoAnimate4Schools account includes 1 teacher account, 100 student accounts. As part of the TeacherPlus account, there are no limitation to animations or duration created by the teacher. The teacher may upload music, images,

ABCya's PaintGo - A Great Alternative to MaxPaint!

2010-11-29T13:40:00.004-06:00

ABCYa is a fabulous and FREE website which offers educational computer games and activities for grades Kinder through 5th. For this post, I would like to pay particular attention to ABCYa’s PaintGo online program which is a great alternative to MaxPaint. Perfect to use for the tech projects so many of you do for Open House! With PaintGo, students may create an array of pictures from simple

Telescopic Text

2010-11-12T14:31:00.003-06:00

Telescopic Text: I saw this in a "twitter tweet" (that's a mouthful - say that 4 times...) and thought it was so cool. This would be PERFECT to show students sentence elaboration...check out the video below to get an idea of what this site does. If you refresh your page, it will go back to the orginal simple sentence. Now, how cool is that?

Photovisi: A FREE Online Photo Collage

2010-11-11T11:56:00.004-06:00

Photovisi is a FREE and super easy online tool to create photo collages and as of right now, no sign up is required. Once you enter the site, you can choose from 48 templates - all which are fantastic! Once the template is selected, you upload your photos (the number of photos uploaded depends on the template you use). From there, you may customize by dragging items around, adding text

Want to Simplify Your Life? SignUp Genius

2010-11-10T09:24:00.003-06:00

An Online Sign - Up List I came across this from another blog and wanted to "reblog" it. (Like retweet - ok, so it is a made-up word but hey, it kinda works). Ever have a classroom party and ended up with 10 of one thing and 2 of another? Need to sign up to bring a dish to a staff luncheon? How about getting chaperones for a field trip? Need folks to RSVP for that Holiday party? Well

Need a Break? Got 5 Minutes?

2010-10-12T13:39:00.005-05:00

Please view the GoAnimate info-commercial for our Fall 2010 Technology Staff Developments. GoAnimate.com: Fall 2010 Technology Professional Development by Dovewhisper Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!