2010 Noel School Talent Show

Please Vote for Makenzie's Doodle 4 Google

Makenzie Melton, a 9 year old student from El Dorado Springs, Missouri is a finalist in the Doodle 4 Google contest. She wrote:

I chose this doodle because the rainforest is in danger
and it is not fair to the plants and animals. I love
everything except spiders and snakes, but
I would still save them.

Please go to the Doodle 4 Google Regional Finalist page and vote for REGION 6.

A Visit With Sean Hunt

My digital media class had a visit from a local former student, Sean Hunt. Sean just graduated from Webster University with a degree in film production. Here is a link to his website.

Sean deconstructed a few scenes from his last feature length film Platinum and answered questions from the students. He also met up with my former and future student Parker (above left) who makes movies to put on Youtube.

Before he met with my class I grilled him for an hour about making movies and he politely answered all my questions. I truly find the process of movie making fascinating and I understand that I would in no way be able to make them. We talked about telling stories, what his future plans are, and which directors inspire him (Spielberg and Lucas).

Sean is working on a new movie called Swing Set. He plans on having it ready for a Christmas vacation viewing. It was a real pleasure talking to Sean.

My Top Ten Blogs

The class blog has been given this blogging award by three different teachers. The first is Mr. Webb from http://melvilleroom8.blogspot.com/ As any reader of my blog knows I have the utmost respect for Mr. Webb and his use of blogging in the classroom. His emphasis on student created video is inspiring and he is a valuable member of my personal learning network.

The second class blog that gave us the award is Super 7 Scoopers @ St. Clair. Ms. Bee's has become part of my extended personal learning network. Although she has had ties to several class blogs that I follow in New Zealand, I know her best from my class leaving Comments4Kids. The Scoopers blog is another amazing blog from New Zealand.

The third class blog that gave us the award is Bailey Road Team 17. Mr. Wood has become a real Comments4Kids warrior. When I see a link to comment on more often than not Mr. Wood has already left a great comment on it. To top it all off, he also has an amazing class blog! If you are not familiar with NZ's schools quality of blogging, I suggest you visit these three great examples.

For those receiving the award, here are a few rules to follow:

1. Copy and display the picture of the award.
2. Link back to the blog that nominated you.
3. Nominate 10 new blogs.
4. Inform the people who's blog you nominated so they can continue to spread the word about the other great blogs out there.

As usual I am going to do things a little differently. The blogs I choose are important to me for a variety of reasons. They may not be the 10 best blogs of all time, but they all have qualities that I appreciate. Please enjoy!

Daraja Academy-Official Blog I admit that I am not brave enough to quit my job and move to Africa to build a school. That is why this blog is so important to me. While I complain about computers not working, the staff at Daraja is finding solutions to their school's lack of drinking water.

At the Fireplace Mrs. Tarasevich's blog really interests me. She teaches in Russia and fills her blog with great information about her school. I really enjoy learning about education in other countries and her blog is a joy to read!

East Dragon Den Mr. Moore and Ms. Vander Velde have created a wonderful learning environment on this blog. Their use of back channeling for their students is cutting edge. While I experimented with the bacK channel last year, these two perfected it


Fairview Physical Education Mr. Beringer probably doesn't even know who I am, but I am a big fan of his blog. I rarely find physical education blogs but if I were to give only one blog as an example it would be this one. Mr. Beringer fills it with explanations of what his students are doing and great pictures of them doing it. A real find!

Flattening the World Mrs. Pohanka's blog focuses on geography, but she accomplishes so much more with her students. Not satisfied with teaching facts about the countries her students study, she gets them to think about the problems and issues those countries face. This is how technology can truly transform a curriculum.

Little Voices, Little Scholars Mrs. She works with young children's literacy. She uses audio, video, and web tools to help her students learn how to read and write. If you teach very young children you can learn a lot about literacy from Mrs. She and her class.

Mr. Lamshed's Class Mr. Lamshed personifies making a class a family. He teaches an all boys class and has created an amazing atmosphere. Through Mr. Lamshed's hard work his students get opportunities that otherwise they would never experience. If I was making an all star teaching squad, Mr. Lamshed would definitely be on the team.

Mr. McClung's World Mr. McClung is a former colleague of mine. Two years ago he showed up for his first year of teaching and promptly jumped into class blogging. His progress has astounded me. He makes me feel like a Sith Lord uneasily waiting to be challenged by his brilliant apprentice. Mr. McClung does two things with his blog that are amazing. First he posts almost daily (which can be unbelievabley hard) excellent posts on what his students are learning. Second he reflects weekly about what he has learned. This is a wonderful example which I plan to emulate next year with my students.

My last two blogs are not class blogs. (I told you I do things differently!) These two blogs are by young ladies that attend the Shanghai American School in China. Tiffany and Rachel are probably the ones most responsible for my drive for commenting on blogs. They noticed my blog a few years ago when I was not getting any comments (especially from oversees.) Not only did we trade comments, but we often communicated through Google chat (even during school when they were supposed to be working :). The interactions I had with them showed me that connections can be made through blogging. Unfortunately because Blogger is blocked by China they no longer can leave comments on my blog. This too is a bitter lesson I have had to learn.

Tiffany
Life Long Learner Rachel's blog.

Comments4Kids: The Kidblog.org Editions

More and more classrooms are using Kidblog.org. Not only has it been adopted quickly, but because it aggregates students posts into one page it makes it very easy to see the posts and comment on them. Today we are going to comment on four different class blogs.

Rules for Comments4Kids

1) Relevant
2) Positive
3) Comment only when you have something to say.

BRS Room 17 Mr. Wood has been a great supporter of Comments4Kids and I often see him leaving comments on many class and student blogs. It is time to repay the favor.

CLG Enrichment is a blog created by Mrs. Guest. Her students have written about the movie Avatar. Read her post here and then leave a comment on a student blog using the guidelines from Mrs. Guest's post.

Grade 6 Computers is a class blog from Japan. The class teacher is Ms. President. This is a first since I haven't found a class blog in Japan before!

Mrs. Kolbert's Class is a blog we have visited before. You may want to revisit a particular student's post or you may want to choose a new student to write a comment on.

Mrs. Dyke's Class is a blog we visited last week. The students are writing first person narratives about World War II. This is the first time I have done back to back weeks with one class blog. Make your comments good!

Live Streaming Today: District Spelling Bee

Live streaming video by Ustream

It\'s What I Do!

Comments4Kids Thursday: It's What We Do

Today we are going to comment on Mrs. Dykes' Class blog. Her students are writing journal entries pretending to be living during World War II. I hope you remember studying that war. I want you to pick three posts to leave comments on. Make sure you follow the rules:

1) Relevant
2) Positive
3) Comment only when you have something to say.

If you need a quick "refresher" on the war here are two links you can look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
http://www.worldwar-2.net/

Comments4Kids Friday: Because Any Day is a Good Day to Comment!

#Comments4Kids is a marathon, not a sprint!

First we will stop at Mr. Wood's class blog. Mr. Wood teaches in Auckland, New Zealand. His students wrote about their holiday (vacation). Pick two posts to comment on.
BRS Room 17

Next we will go to Miss Dunsiger's class blog. Miss Dunsiger teaches first grade students. They have some posts about Earth Day, Flat Stanley, and a party. Leave them two good comments too.
Miss Dunsiger's Class Blog

I now have a special treat for you. A former teacher of yours has fulfilled a commitment to this years class. I don't think you need any guidance for this comment.
Mr. McClung's World

Creating a Visual Sequence of Events

We are going to work on creating a visual sequence of events from a book we will read in class. Your responsibility is to identify one event in each chapter of the book we are reading to capture in some visual format. Here are some ideas that you may want to use:

1. Use Paint to draw your visuals.
2. Draw you pictures on paper. Use bold colors so when we digitize the picture we can see the work.
3. Use cut paper. As you know, I am a huge fan of cut construction paper art.
4. Use charcoal or pastels.
5. Create 3D models using objects or clay.

Mrs. Smith has agreed to let us use her art supplies for those of you that need them. Make sure to thank her when you get them.

As I read the story to you, take notes about a specific scene you would like to capture from each chapter. There are fifteen chapters so you will have to create fifteen visuals.

After you have created visuals from all fifteen chapters we will create a Voicethread where you will explain what is happening in each picture. On the first frame of the Voicethread you will need to reflect on what you have created. Include what you did well and what needed improvement.

The book I have chosen to read to you is The River Between Us by Richard Peck. I chose this book because of the excellent writing and the subject matter. The story takes place not to far from here and tells a story about an important battle in the American Civil War that you probably never heard of.

The purpose of this assignment is for you to create a visual sequence of events. I will use these as models for next years 4-8 grade classes. Let's make these excellent models for next year's students!

Directions:

1. Listen and take notes as story is read.

2. Create visual representations for each chapter.

3. Take picture of the representations if necessary.

4. Create Voicethread and describe each image.

5. Reflect on what you have learned on the first image of the Voicethread.

Secret Builders

 Secret Builders brings something new, the opportunity to converse with other people outside of the classroom. Use common sense and the online safety practices we have talked about in class. I am no saying you cannot have a conversation, just remember that you are looking at an avatar and not the person. You really don't know anything about them, so don't let them know anything about you!

Comments4Kids Thursday: We Are Back!

Rules for Comments4kids

1) Be positive
2) Be relevant
3) Don't comment if you don't have anything to say.

3rd and 4th Hours

These are students from a 5th/6th grade class in Dundas Ontario, Canada. Pick a post they have written and leave a comment on it.
Liki's Awesome Blog
Cara's Blog
The Blog of Awesomeness
Myang's Blog
Awesomista Stuff
My Blog
Stuff and Stuff

5th and 6th Hours

This post is from the Room 3 in NZ blog we have on our blog roll. Read Brian's story and leave a comment.
The Worst Storm Ever

This blog is actually from a town close to here, Sparta Missouri. Mr. Bennett just started a class blog for his students. Leave them some nice comments.
Mr. Bennett's Beach Brains

Justin wrote a blog post on coin collecting at the Elementary Learning Blog
Coin Collecting

Julia in Mrs. Kolbert's class wants to know "what you think is the most important place for humans to change our actions in simple ways". She wants two or three sentences.
A Cool Competition

Zoey has written several interesting posts. Pick one to leave a comment on.
Zoeyc1's blog

Veronica has a couple interesting posts about making her own dress. If you are interested leave a comment.
Veronica's Blog

Liam has written an interesting post on human rights titled "Rights are Given, Not Inherited". Since you have studied government this year, read the post and leave an insightful comment.
Liam's Place Blog

End Slavery Now: The WebQuest

Your assignment is to complete the webquest: End Slavery Now. You will need to divide up into groups of three and follow the directions. The webquest gives you all the information you need to complete the task.

BBC History Games

BBC has an excellent education site. Let's look at the BBC History Games page today. Play a couple of the games. Reflect on how these games might help someone learn more about history.

Pixton.com an On-Line Comic Book Creator

Pixton is a site that allows you to create comics by dragging and dropping images. Create a comic over something you have covered in science or social studies this year.

A Week Long Class Preview of the iPad

My class recently had the opportunity to spend a week using the pre-released iPad in our classroom. You may ask how a small school in the Midwest was allowed such a wonderful opportunity, it was because of my close relationship with a very vocal Mac advocate.

I am only allowed to give a very concise review of the use of the iPad, Apple wants to save all the good quotes for a white paper, but here is my generic impressions:

     1) iBook is not a killer app for schools. It doesn't come with any books!
     2) There is no built in keyboard. Get real! I teach keyboarding, completely useless.
     3) The screen is beautiful, but without Flash I couldn't watch Hulu.com while I was supposed to be
     working.
     4) The app store was great! My students spend most of the week downloading free demo games 
     involving shooting zombies or racing pretend cars. You can bet that was a great use of class time!
     5) The long battery life was truly amazing!

 Here is a link to the original proposal I sent to Apple: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dskqh8g_73d9fksxfn

Aviary: Another Photo Editing Site

Here is another editing software site to check out. It is called Aviary.  What is different about this than other programs we used?

Edible Color Wheel Art Project

Junior High students created edible color wheels in art class.

DoInk: Another Animation Program

Today we will be exploring DoInk. Sign up and see what the program can do. We will be writing a review next week so do a good job exploring the program.

MAP Pre-celebration: Ron Cole

Making Smart Choices:Jeff Neal Speaks to Noel Elementary

This is the speech given to the 6-8 grade students:



This is the speech given to the 3-5 grade students: