Kaynes' Kinkajous are Digital Authors

Stephanie Kaynes is a third grade teacher.  Her students are also using laptops, along with weekly computer lab time to become stronger writers.  According to Ms. Kaynes, "In my class we are focusing on using technology in our Writers Workshop.  I’m a member of a group of teachers in the Central Texas area who are consultants for the National Writing Project which is the only federally funded writing program in the United States. This group, called Digital Is, focuses on using technology as much as possible in our Writers Worskhop. Right now my class is adding writing pieces to a class Wiki in which each student has a page. In the near future my class will start to respond to each other’s writing on the discussion tab of their Wiki page. My goal is that through response and reflection of their own writing, as well as their peers, they in turn will become stronger writers."

Bartholomew's Bats are Blogging!

Mrs. Bartholomew reports they are using laptops in their classroom to blog.  She says "We are doing a class blog which is part of our webpage (my blog).  The children have been sharing their favorite and most effective multiplication strategies on our blog and responding to each other ( a little).  My goal is for them to communicate with each other through the blog as well as posting their own thoughts.  We will be having a new question or topic posted on our blog every couple weeks.  Parents and others are welcome to post a comment as well."

I am so impressed with all the web 2.0 tools are students are using!

Sanders' Bugs are Buzzing about Technology!

Mrs. Sanders' kindergarten students are using technology every day in their classroom.  She received one of the new document cameras at the beginning of the year.  She is learning how to use the new document camera so she can teach the rest of the kindergarten teachers how to use it once they receive theirs.  So far, they have used it to zoom in up close on a variety of leaves and discussed the similarities and differences they saw and they have used it to share student work, such as solving problems with cubes during math. 

Mrs. Sanders also uses educational videos related to the curriculum, asking questions before, during and after the video.  She is proud to report that her students have used interactive writing to write posts on her class blog.

Jezisek's Yellow Jackets are movie makers!

Last year, PTA purchased flip cams for every grade level.  Teachers will receive training on integrating this technology into their classroom this fall.  Mrs. Jezisek's students have gotten a head start on making movies already though.  Each student creates a Fall Conference PowerPoint that details areas of strength as well as things the students would like to learn this year. The students picked one of their writing assignments they had published in class and Mrs. Jezisek taped them as they read it.  The students then learned how to insert the video into their PowerPoint. What a fabulous use of technology!