Blogger - Our Class Blog

So simple! Using the iPad Blogger app has made it easy for the children to write a new post each day on our class blog. I was determined that by the end of Term One they would take responsibility for choosing the learning of the day that they wanted to share and be able to publish the post themselves. 
To achieve this I had to:

• set aside time each day to show 2 children how to take/choose a photo, write a title, write the caption, write their names as the labels
• suggest the photo/learning to share
• suggest an appropriate title, they could usually think of a sentence to write on the topic
• be available to edit their writing before publishing
• make sure that the task was shared around ans that everyone had a turn
• make sure that there were 4 children that were shown 

Smilebox and Christmas

An awesome website for the end of the year and parents love it when they get this cute e-card from their child.
 Its free with a limited range to choose from or relatively cheap if you join for a short period.
Take a Christmas photo of each child in the class - Christmas hat, reindeer ears etc by the Christmas tree, do some group ones as well with friends - upload these to Smilebox too.
Just upload a selection of people photos from throughout the year - include individuals, groups, special days, learning events etc
Students take it in turns to choose a Christmas card template, they add their own words and photos and choose the music - the final product is very cute - then they upload and email it to their parents.

Power Point in 2006 - A Great Learning Tool

Power Point slideshows - Pre blogging:

I suppose the reason I enjoyed making the slideshows so much over the years was because it was a way of showing what was happening in the classroom. It was the time before blogging and the photo/caption slideshows were an excellent way to share learning with an audience.

Power Point has changed since then! The slide shows were simple and basic but served the purpose well. Now it’s so much easier to share what’s happening in your classroom on a class blog. Even links to or embedding photo slideshows is a breeze – instant sharing with an audience!

 

 

An integrated English programme:

We made many slideshows together. Mostly they formed part of my English programme and were an excellent way to view and present. We often used a sequence of photos and captions to practise procedural writing.

 

 Our slideshows covered a range of topics depending on our "Fertile Question" or inquiry research topic which was integrated into all curriculum areas as muchas possible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Inquiry Learning:

This was also the time when our school began inquiry learning and experimented with different thinking tools. Some of the slideshows reflect the way I tried to integrate inquiry learning into my classroom programmes.
Examples of our slideshows using various graphic organisers.



The Early Days - The Digital Camera

Getting started:

Using technology in the classroom started earnestly in 2006 thanks to the Jacqui Sharp courses and the purchase of a digital camera.

Using the digital camera I took lots of photos with the children and showed them how to use the camera – we were forever finding opportunities to take photos.

It was a major, time consuming  task down loading them to the computers in those days – especially as I was new to the game of finding my way around a computer – there was really no-one else in the school who could help – a lonely pioneer!

 

Our first slideshow telling the story of the space shuttle - we shared it at a school assembly
Click this link to The Space Shuttle's Journey
 

I found that Power Point was a great way to share the photos and to use them in the classroom. We made all sorts of slide shows. The children loved writing captions and stories about themselves to go with the photos.