Classroom Blogs

Today in the computer lab Mrs. Foster's Class, from Coastal Ridge Elementary School, will be learning about blogs and starting their very own student blogs. The blogs will be used to publish student writing and poetry, but could also be used as a way to communicate and reflect on other students' work. To practice we will start here.

What will you include in your very own blog? Click on the comment button below my blog entry. You can sign in as anonymous, but don't forget to include your first name or initials in your comment so I know who wrote it. Remember, it's never a good idea to use your full name. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Going Green

The shift in technology integration has proven to be very valuable to learning, but it has also been valuable to the Earth. I have observed many computer lab lessons in the past in which the students worked very hard on a product such as a picture, document, slide show, etc. Just before the class ended the teacher said, "Okay, time is just about up. Everyone stop what you are doing and click save and print." How much paper did we waste with these lessons? I can only imagine. Well, the number was ridiculous when we looked at our spending on color prints in one year in York. It was such a high price, that we have stopped color printing all together for the rest of the school year. This took place shortly after the winter holiday break. Of course, there were some arguments and frustrations, but this initiative has really inspired teachers to look towards new forms of multimedia products. It has forced many teachers to publish web sites, develop project based learning with multimedia and enter the world of Web 2.0.

Projects created in the lab are now appearing on web sites across the globe. Early elementary students are creating single slides for class slide shows using programs like Clicker Paint, Kidpix and Hyperstudio 5. They are blogging about their writing and books they have read in class. Second graders are creating biographies using Comic Life, Time Liner XE and Keynote. Third and fourth graders are using GPS in the classroom to learn about places on the Earth and even entering the world of geocaching to create virtual Flat Stanley travel bugs that are currently traveling all over the globe.

Of course our communication has changed too! The office no longer sends home folders full of packets and announcements. Instead every flyer, announcement or brochure is published to the school web site and email reminders are sent to parents across the district. Podcasts, online radio shows, and live broadcast news programs are recorded right here in our elementary school buildings, and published on our web sites for the entire local and global communities.

Our fourth graders have even researching renewable energies and created public service announcements using digital video cameras and iMovie. Last year students entered the Maine Recycles Commercial Contest, and submitted short PSAs to persuade community members to recycle. All of these videos can be seen on our "Going Green" web page.

This shift hasn't just happened in our computer labs, however. Recent field trips have been video taped or recorded as a podcast with student interviews and reflections too. The students also observed that we were throwing away too much trash in the lunch room as well. This observation, along with a great deal of research, promoted the soil production project at Coastal Ridge Elementary School. Each pod, or group of 4 classrooms, now have worm bins outside their doors. There are also a couple worm bins in the lunch room. These worm bins are used to break down biodegradable trash with the help of some hungry worms, and produces very fertile soil. Our hope is to build a greenhouse outside of the school this summer and plant vegetables to help make our school lunch program more sustainable.

Something as simple as cutting down on printing out projects has truly inspired a revolution here in York. The students have found new enthusiasm and a real world connection with many of these projects. There is also a great sense of pride not only in the finished products, but also in knowing they are helping their community. What types of "green" projects have you been working on in your schools?

Social Networking

Should social networking be allowed in our public schools? Can they be used in meaningful ways in education? If a teacher has a Facebook page, should they "friend" their own students? What if the page was only setup for educational purposes?

Summer Activities

This summer I am taking a master's course from Lesley University on designing curriculum with state and national technology standards integrated into them. I am also hoping to be working for a company that travels to different summer rec. camps around the area to teach children about solving real world problems using technology. At the end of August, I will be helping to organize a summer technology camp for the teachers in York. We will start off with a giant treasure hunt all around York using GPS units. What do you plan to do this summer?

Comic Life Biographies

Second grade at Village Elementary School have been busy researching famous people from the United States to complete a biography report. As a wrap-up project this year two classes, Mrs. Moody's class and Mrs. Audet's class decided to create a comic of their famous character. Using Plasq's Comic Life, the students pulled pictures from their research into a project and made the characters come to life with speech and thought bubbles describing their most famous events. A slideshow of the students' work is available online at www.yorkschools.org/~elawson. Check out the great work these students did on this project.

Testing, Testing, Testing

The students at both Village Elementary School and Coastal Ridge Elementary School have been busy in the labs and in our mobile lab (laptops set up in a portable classroom) taking standardized testing on the computers. Students Kindergarten through second grade are busy taking the CPAA tests to test their reading and math skills, while the students in third and fourth grade are busy taking the second edition of the NWEA tests to test their reading, language usage and math skills. Scores from the fall will be compared to the new scores this spring to evaluate student improvement over the school year.

School Web Sites

The new school web sites are up and running. I didn't love the template that I had to work with, but the information is clear and I believe it is easy to navigate through the entire site as well. I am getting excited to see more and more teachers taking the opportunity to update their own web pages and create new online interactive content with their students. I have always been a firm believer in creating quality content first and publishing second rather than the opposite way around. You can view the Village Elementary School web page at www.yorkschools.org/ves and the Coastal Ridge Elementary School web site at www.yorkschools.org/cres