Magnifier Tool

MAGNIFIER TOOL:

This magnifer application would be very helpful in the classroom to use for students that have trouble seeing small images on the screen. Even though these images will be posted on the smart board, there are many students who still have trouble seeing it even with their glasses and with sitting in the front so this application would be a great tool to help these students and enhance their learning. Being a future teacher of elementary students and also special needs students, this will be even more important for me to use and know how to use because there is a very high chance that I will be faced with a student with bad sight sometime in my career. I am very glad that these tools are being created and that I am getting the chance to learn all about them because I remember growing up many students were embarrassed to admit that he or she had bad sight so this would prevent this because I as the teacher would already know about this disability and use this tool for him or her and take care of the problem easily. This is great tool and I know for a fact that I will be useing it much in my future career.

MY PLN: NING

I decided to create a Ning account because I think it is a great way for teachers to share ideas and it can be very helpful to learn about new teaching technology, good and helpful lesson plans and just basic important teacher infomation I may not already know. I think it is important for teachers all over to be in contact if any questions come up during a lesson and for teachers to just help each other out. The way I created this Ning was by making a new account on new since I obviousally did not already have one. I decided to add an account under Elementary Education because that is the teacher I plan on becoming in the futre. I added a picture of myself, added my delicious and blogger account hyperlink and have already made a post on my page. Also I chose a themed backround that I think shows a little bit of my personality since it is very bright and cheery. Because I am also majoring in special education (TAL) I plan on joining the special education teachers ning as well sometime in the near future.

I will keep up with this Ning now and of course in the future when I actually do become a teacher. I also plan on creating more PLN's in the future because there are many that are very beneficial and will only help me become more technoloically advanced and to become a better educator. I plan on creating a class homepage for my future classes which will post all of the assignments due, permission slips, important events, etc. This will be for both the students and the parents of the students so that there is no confussion on due dates and important events, and so that everyone is clear on what is going on in class. I also plan on creating a PLN similar to ONCOURSE so that I can have an easy way to get in touch with my students and if they need to get in touch with me, or if the parents need to get in touch with me it will be very simple. Also I will create this for the assignments page for students to post their papers, projects and work there which many times is an easier way then actually handing it in during classtime. I am very excited to be able to use all this technology in my future classroom because I believe that it can only enhance the students learning and the teachers teaching.

HOW TO GRAPH LINES ON A SMART BOARD

One of the great functions that can be used with the smart board is interactive graphing math equations (lines). This is a great feature because many students often struggle with graphing lines and how to do it correctly. It would be very tough and time consuming for the teacher to go around and teach each student individually and teach he or she so therefore this smart board tool that I have become very comfortable with is very effective, efficient and enhancing. 

This tool is also very simple to use. It is simply an application called SMART Notebook Math tools. It includes interactive gra

phing capabilities, it shows the relationship between tables of values and their points plotted on the graph. In addition, it is very effective how the changed values on the graph are automatically are reflected in the table and vice versa. This tool is a great tool and should be used in every classroom that is studying graphing lines and points and creating tables that accompany the graphs. Here are some pictures that show this tool.

 

SCIENCE LESSON PLANS FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

These science lesson plans below are great and fun lesson plans for students and classes grades 1-6. All of these lessons are very effective, efficient and enhancing in many ways. They are also very creative so students will enjoy doing them and not even think of it as learning! Hope you find many that you like! ENJOY!

1.) USING MICROSCOPES

2.) BIRD STUDY

3.) SENSATIONAL SLIME

4.) CATEGORIZING ANIMALS

5.) THE SOLAR SYSTEM

6.) UNDERSTANDING WAVES

7.) SOLIDS, LIQUIDS AND GASSES 

8.) DINOSAURS

9.) OUR ENVIRONMENT

10.) CATERPILLARS TO BUTTERFLIES 

Meebo Communication Tool

This is an easy and free way to connect and communcate with others. You have chat with other people from outside of the country and there is even a chance to use a video to chat and instant message. You are unable to file share so that is a dissadvantage, but you are able to set up a chat room if yo have any questions and there is ahelpful page with frequently asked questions if needed. This can be used in my future classroom by sharing information with my students and getting in touch with my students easily in a reliable way. I could post answers to questions that studnets had in class on meebo too if that was nessecary.

Skype

Skype is a free software that allows people to connect with family members, loved ones, or businesses around the world. It is basically a telephone call with video. There is also an instant messaging provided with Skype. Anyone is able to use Skype all it requires is access to an internet broadband connection. There are many advantages to Skype for many reasons including it being very efficient, effective and enhancing in many ways. There is really only one disadvantage os Skype which is that one using Skype is only able to Skype with one person at a time which not true with Ichat where you can video chat with up to 3 other people at a time. Skype is a great tool for all different types of people and it would be very helpful to use in a classroom especially if the class is learning about different cultures around the world they wold be able to Skype with other students their same age from a different country. Skype is a great tool and is becoming very popular with men and females of all different ages all around the world.

Leap Pad

DESCRIPTION:

Leap Pads are a great tool for younger students to follow along with a story being read to them. If they would like a word to be repeated if they do not understand the word or missed how it is pernouced they are able to just click on the word and hear it being read to them. It teaches reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, parts of speech and emotions. Some, for example "Ratatouille" even teach a language and culture of a different country. It also allows children to play interactive learning games which is a great and fun way for studnets to learn without feeling like they are doing work. Leap Pad is also made to help students with math, writting, science and social studies. Many different stories and games can be bought for Leap Pad which is great because then the children can pick out a topic or story he or she is interested in so that it makes the learning even more fun and not feel so much like learning, just as a game.

Teachers use this tool in classrooms in order to allow their students to fully understand the material they are covering. It is very helpful because the teacher is unable to always help every student with for example every difficult word in a story, so leappad helps each student move ahead and be caught up with what is going on in class since one teacher can not go around and help every student individually at all times. Leap Pad is being used in over 100,000 classrooms across the United States.

EXAMPLE FILE:

TUTORIAL LINK:

http://www.leapfrog.com/en/families/leappad/leappad_learning_system/leappad_readwrite.html

ABC Ya! - Efficient

http://www.abcya.com/
I choose this website because I feel as though it is a very efficient website because it allows students to play games that they find fun and enjoy while still learning and advancing in what they are studying in school. It also has games for all different subject areas which I think is great because it allows the students to play games in the area in which they are struggiling in and can help them catch up in a fun way!

On Course- Effective

https://oncourse.iu.edu/portal

I choose this website because I believe that is a very effective website because it keeps students informed with what is going on in class and what and when it is due. It makes all information being learned very accessable and clear. It is also a great way of communication between the teacher and students and the students to other students.

Discovery Education-Enhancement

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/

I chose this website because I believe that it is an enhancement website. It has a lot of current news and information that is very useful for both students and teachers.

Two Important Resources for "TAL"

Assesment:
http://cse.edc.org/products/assessment/elementary/default.asp
I believe that this is a good assesment website that will be very helpful for teachers to understand what they need to be teaching their students better and more clearly and it will provide them with much information.

Lesson Plan:
http://k6educators.about.com/?r=9F
I think that this website has many lesson plans that can be very helpful in creating lesson plans for teachers and when I become a teacher because there are many lessons that conver various topics and they seem to be very good and well planned out lessons that will really enhance the learning of all different types of students.

Elizabeth Leeser- igoogle Page

Here is my igoogle page. I selected these websites on here because my major is "Teaching All Learners", so therefore I seleted websites that include lesson plans and just helpful information for both elementary education and sepecial education for teachers. I believe that these websites will be very helpful to me now as a student studying to be a teacher as well as in the future when i become a teacher.

USEFUL LINKS FOR ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

LESSON PLANS:
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/

I chose this website because there are many lesson plans here that will be very helpful to base the lesson plans I will eventually have to write off of. Also these lesson plans will help give me good ideas in order to help my students learn in the best way possible.


ASSESSMENT:
http://cse.edc.org/products/assessment/elementary/default.asp

I choose this website because it gives a very clear way to see how the assements can be done and it is very helpful to me to relate to now and in the future as well.