The topic I chose for this project is examples of text that are about or take place in the Great Depression. I created my topic for the upper elementary school grades, (grades 3-5). Below is a list of literature, media sources and books that would be useful in this project:
Monday, March 30, 2015
Feyland The Dark Realm (Feyland Trilogy Book 1) Ebook Review
The Ebook I chose for this review is titled, Feyland: The Dark Realm. It is the first book in the Feyland Trilogy by Anthea Sharp. The book is about a computer game called Feyland, which turns out to be a portal to the Faerie Realm. A 15 year old girl named Jennet is the very first person to play the prototype of the games. It's all fun and games until the game comes to life and Jennet finds herself fighting for her life against the Dark Queen...
The story is very fast paced and grabs the reader's attention from beginning to end! The prologue alone paints a picture in the mind that makes you feel as if you are inside the video game. The Dark Queen is a terrifying villain whom I would definitely not want to cross paths with or get angry! She is not your average fairy princess!! I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy to find out what happens next!!
I downloaded the novel on my Kindle Fire HDX tablet that I got for my birthday this year. It is available for free in the Appstore or the Books tab on the Kindle and other tablets. To find it, I searched for Free Kindle Ebooks under the Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy section in the Library of books available. There are hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, and I look forward to downloading more books!
I enjoyed the experience of reading a novel on my Kindle, although I sometimes still prefer to read a regular book. What I do love about Ebooks and tablets is that you can download as many as you want and carry them around with you without worrying about them taking up space in your bag, Tablets also make it easier to read at night because the screens light up. I think this would help students with special needs see the text better.
Tablets and Ebooks are a great way to integrate technology into the classroom when it comes time for reading lessons. As I mentioned before, the screen usually lights up on the device you have which makes it easier to see what you are doing. You can also highlight sections of text, bookmark pages, and change the size and style of the font. These features will help students with special needs, such as learning disabilities and visual processing difficulties, comprehend what they are reading.
The story is very fast paced and grabs the reader's attention from beginning to end! The prologue alone paints a picture in the mind that makes you feel as if you are inside the video game. The Dark Queen is a terrifying villain whom I would definitely not want to cross paths with or get angry! She is not your average fairy princess!! I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy to find out what happens next!!
I downloaded the novel on my Kindle Fire HDX tablet that I got for my birthday this year. It is available for free in the Appstore or the Books tab on the Kindle and other tablets. To find it, I searched for Free Kindle Ebooks under the Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy section in the Library of books available. There are hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, and I look forward to downloading more books!
I enjoyed the experience of reading a novel on my Kindle, although I sometimes still prefer to read a regular book. What I do love about Ebooks and tablets is that you can download as many as you want and carry them around with you without worrying about them taking up space in your bag, Tablets also make it easier to read at night because the screens light up. I think this would help students with special needs see the text better.
Tablets and Ebooks are a great way to integrate technology into the classroom when it comes time for reading lessons. As I mentioned before, the screen usually lights up on the device you have which makes it easier to see what you are doing. You can also highlight sections of text, bookmark pages, and change the size and style of the font. These features will help students with special needs, such as learning disabilities and visual processing difficulties, comprehend what they are reading.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Booktalk
A booktalk commercial I made for my technology class based on the first book of one of my favorite book series! Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Kingdom Keepers Booktalk Commercial on Animoto
I created a short "commercial" for the first Kingdom Keepers book using the Animoto website. The link is pasted below. Please enjoy and let me know what you think!
https://animoto.com/play/mmF06e4zn7dGKKZu3zLv0w
https://animoto.com/play/mmF06e4zn7dGKKZu3zLv0w
Monday, March 2, 2015
Kingdom Keepers Comic Strip
Below is the link to a comic strip I made for the first book in the Kingdom Keepers book series. Enjoy!
http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/?custom=&id=57012
http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/?custom=&id=57012
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Field Trip #2- Literacy Center
For my second field trip in this course, I received permission to visit a local elementary school to observe a 3rd grade ESOL class. ESOL, or ESL/ELL refers to students whose first language is not English. To protect the privacy of the faculty and students at the school, no real names have been used.
Last week, I observed Mrs. G's class at River City Elementary School. Her paraprofessonial, Mrs. M, speaks Spanish, so she is always on hand to help the ESOL students in the class. I was only able to spend about an hour observing the class on Wednesday due to scheduling conflicts, but I have subbed for the teacher before and have been able to get an idea about how things are run in the classroom.
One of the first things I noticed about Mrs. G's class is the variety of materials the students have access to. Items such as the door, the calendar, and the wastebasket are all labeled with pictures and the name of the object printed in English. There are also classroom sets of picture dictionaries/thesauruses, many of which have copies printed in other languages. The classroom library is organized by genre, (i.e. fantasy), non-fiction/fiction books, (i.e. science), and popular children's book series, (i.e. The Boxcar Children). A basket for multi-cultural stories is also available.
The walls of the classroom are covered with posters. Mrs. G teaches reading, writing, and some social studies to her 2 different groups of students, (another teacher teaches them math and science. The students switch rooms before they go to lunch each day, and again in the afternoon before the extra hour and dismissal.) There are very few places around the room where you can actually see the wall. Above the white board at the front of the room, Mrs. G has posters that have examples of different graphic organizers that the students can use. Since I couldn't take any pictures of these without disrupting the lesson, I found a teacher's edition of a workbook that had a couple of examples of graphic organizers.
My favorite posters in the classroom were the Literacy Genre posters that were displayed on the windows in the back of the classroom. There were 2 different posters that displayed this information for the students. One of the posters gave a description of each genre, and another one included both a description and an example of a book from the genre. I have always loved to read, so naturally, this is a display that I would proudly have in my classroom!
Vocabulary is an important concept when it comes to reading. Learning new words helps you to better understand the context of a book or text. Mrs. G's classroom includes several examples of vocabulary. She has 2 Word Walls, (one on the door that connects to another teacher's classroom, and one on the whiteboard beside this door), that have dozens of new words that the students have learned throughout the school year. A small poster on the side of a wardrobe displays "100 Tricky Words", (words that students have difficulty spelling). The whiteboard behind the computers has a piece of chart paper that includes vocabulary words about spiders. I love this poster because it has a picture for each word, (a great strategy for teaching ELLs how to read in English). Each group table has several copies of student dictionaries so the students can learn the meanings of each new word.
Above the whiteboard Word Wall, there are a few smaller posters that include different test taking strategies. The students will be taking the new Common Core test next month, so these strategies will help them succeed and relax when it comes time for them to take the new assessment. These posters include strategies such as "Jail the Detail" and "Slash the Trash" (for multiple choice tests).
The lesson itself on the day I visited was nothing unusual. Mrs. G was reviewing the answers to a worksheet the students had completed that was based on the novel they are reading, (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo). She called on students from each group to give their answers and promote class discussion. The worksheet with the correct answers was displayed on the projector so everyone could see it. The students will be taking a unit test when they have finished reading the novel. New vocabulary words from each chapter of the novel are posted on the board along with the definitions for the benefit of the students.
Last week, I observed Mrs. G's class at River City Elementary School. Her paraprofessonial, Mrs. M, speaks Spanish, so she is always on hand to help the ESOL students in the class. I was only able to spend about an hour observing the class on Wednesday due to scheduling conflicts, but I have subbed for the teacher before and have been able to get an idea about how things are run in the classroom.
One of the first things I noticed about Mrs. G's class is the variety of materials the students have access to. Items such as the door, the calendar, and the wastebasket are all labeled with pictures and the name of the object printed in English. There are also classroom sets of picture dictionaries/thesauruses, many of which have copies printed in other languages. The classroom library is organized by genre, (i.e. fantasy), non-fiction/fiction books, (i.e. science), and popular children's book series, (i.e. The Boxcar Children). A basket for multi-cultural stories is also available.
The walls of the classroom are covered with posters. Mrs. G teaches reading, writing, and some social studies to her 2 different groups of students, (another teacher teaches them math and science. The students switch rooms before they go to lunch each day, and again in the afternoon before the extra hour and dismissal.) There are very few places around the room where you can actually see the wall. Above the white board at the front of the room, Mrs. G has posters that have examples of different graphic organizers that the students can use. Since I couldn't take any pictures of these without disrupting the lesson, I found a teacher's edition of a workbook that had a couple of examples of graphic organizers.
My favorite posters in the classroom were the Literacy Genre posters that were displayed on the windows in the back of the classroom. There were 2 different posters that displayed this information for the students. One of the posters gave a description of each genre, and another one included both a description and an example of a book from the genre. I have always loved to read, so naturally, this is a display that I would proudly have in my classroom!
Vocabulary is an important concept when it comes to reading. Learning new words helps you to better understand the context of a book or text. Mrs. G's classroom includes several examples of vocabulary. She has 2 Word Walls, (one on the door that connects to another teacher's classroom, and one on the whiteboard beside this door), that have dozens of new words that the students have learned throughout the school year. A small poster on the side of a wardrobe displays "100 Tricky Words", (words that students have difficulty spelling). The whiteboard behind the computers has a piece of chart paper that includes vocabulary words about spiders. I love this poster because it has a picture for each word, (a great strategy for teaching ELLs how to read in English). Each group table has several copies of student dictionaries so the students can learn the meanings of each new word.
Above the whiteboard Word Wall, there are a few smaller posters that include different test taking strategies. The students will be taking the new Common Core test next month, so these strategies will help them succeed and relax when it comes time for them to take the new assessment. These posters include strategies such as "Jail the Detail" and "Slash the Trash" (for multiple choice tests).
The lesson itself on the day I visited was nothing unusual. Mrs. G was reviewing the answers to a worksheet the students had completed that was based on the novel they are reading, (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo). She called on students from each group to give their answers and promote class discussion. The worksheet with the correct answers was displayed on the projector so everyone could see it. The students will be taking a unit test when they have finished reading the novel. New vocabulary words from each chapter of the novel are posted on the board along with the definitions for the benefit of the students.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Technology Literature Circle
I had never participated in a real life technology literature circle until I began this class. I found it to be both an enlightening and challenging experience. The literature circle was enlightening because I never knew that it composed of so many different elements. It was interesting to learn about Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, (I chose to do my literature circle on Artemis Fowl). I have read the Artemis Fowl series, but it has been awhile since I read the first book in the series. When I completed the Discussion sheet, (page 1 of the role sheets), it was like I was looking at the series with a fresh pair of eyes. I had to read through the chapter several times in order to create the questions needed for the group discussion.
One thing that made the literature circle challenging is that I was my own group. Since this class is online, I was responsible for each individual piece of information. There were 8 sheets total, and some of them took longer than others to complete. Although the entire assignment took several hours to finish, I enjoyed the overall experience.
One thing that made the literature circle challenging is that I was my own group. Since this class is online, I was responsible for each individual piece of information. There were 8 sheets total, and some of them took longer than others to complete. Although the entire assignment took several hours to finish, I enjoyed the overall experience.
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