NCLB in the comics

I love Web 2.0 tools and thought I would use ToonDoo, one of the student favorites, to create this cartoon about a funny story from our family. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. It is lots of fun. Our students have created ToonDoo's of vocabulary words, events in American History, New Year's Resolutions, math problems, and more. The commenting feature allows for collaboration and the kids love the chance to be creative and get real feedback. Enjoy! Note, I've posted the comic twice so you can see the two embedding options they offer. One has a scroll bar and one is interactively scrolled.

by camruns | Create your own Cartoon at www.toondoo.com

Message to the President from 1st Graders

Here is a great example of giving kids a voice. Here are the Corgill Kids-1st graders, sending a message to President Obama and the Secretary of Education.

Go to You Tube and Share your comments with the class.

Easy Live Streaming from your phone

A friend introduced me to QIK. It is an easy way to share live streaming with anyone anywhere. I was able to share my son's symphony concert with my family who couldn't make it just by turning on my phone and starting QIK. The live broadcast was available online and participants could participate in chat while watching. It also records it for future viewing. You can download and embed recorded videos as well. This is a great service. Remember that anyone can stream so you should not really let students head to the main site because you never know what will be live at the time. However, you have your own site that carries your streams so you could direct link to your own QIK site. See example below.

Connecting with Friends and learning new things

Because of the vast array of technology tools out there, we were able to easily connect my daughter's 1st grade class in Alabama with a 1st grade class in Canada! Ms. Cassidy's class in Canada had a Yack Pack on their site which we used to call in and see if they were available. They were, and 5 minutes later we were Skyping and learning about each other. We visited the students' blogs and learned about Pictaps where you can create drawings that will dance. We are studying the human body so it will be fun to try drawing our self portraits and watching them move. Thanks to our friends in Canada for teaching us lots of new things. My daughter made her first Pictap below. You will soon be able to see the Corgill kids' Pictaps and new blogs since we have been inspired by our Canadian friends.

Fun Web 2.0 Tools in Elementary

There are so many wonderful teachers out there incorporating web 2.0 tools in the classroom to engage students. I have just been looking at Kathy Cassidy's page. She has a Ustream live broadcast of butterflies emerging, a Yackpack where you can connect with her class, and great 1st grader blogs. I learned how to animate a tomato from a student named Brendan. You can see the results below. Visit Kathy's page and learn!

Live Streaming of Butterflies emerging

Broadcast powered by Ustream.TV

Interesting Thoughts from Steve Hargadon

The Proactive Learner

Message from the Students