Where on Earth are we?

Google Earth is one of my favorite programs to use in my classroom. At the beginning of the year, we start off social studies by learning about maps. We read Me On The Map by Joan Sweeney. This book is a great way to introduce using maps and to help students understand the difference between continent, country, state, and city.

I hove found over the years, that my students ALWAYS have trouble differentiating between their continent, country, state, and city. It is such a difficult concept for them to grasp because it is so abstract to them. A few years ago, I decided that I would try to use Google Earth to help them understand this concept. So, after we read the book, I show them “Us On The Map” using Google Earth. I pull up the program on the Promethean Board and we “fly” to each place, starting with our continent. We fly to North America and discuss the shape and size, then we fly to the United States, then to South Carolina, then to Greenville. After we look at and discuss each place, I also take them to my house, just like in the book. After going from biggest to smallest land area, we fly back out to each place to see it all in reverse. Over the course of the week we do this everyday to review each term. This year, I am going to have my students make a “______ on the Map” book of their own where they will label each map we see on Google Earth, and then draw their own map of their bedroom.

I also use Google Earth to discuss different types of maps (physical and political). We travel to many places to view landforms and borders. One of my favorite ways to use this program is during a unit on landforms. We travel to all different landforms that are found on Earth to learn their characteristics. We visit mountains, lakes, rivers, canyons, etc.  They LOVE this! So much better than staring at a picture in a book.

The picture above is a screenshot of the Grand Canyon. You can take your students to different parts of the canyon, and they can also view pictures that other people have taken while visiting there. You just click on the little picture icons all over the canyon and it will show that part of the canyon in a photograph. Also, make sure to check all of the boxes on the left that you would like to apply to your map for your students to see. If you travel to the Statue of Liberty, you can actually see it in 3D! There are many other cities and landmarks that offer this feature as well. So fun!
Google Earth is definitely a staple program to use In the classroom for all ages. The program can be downloaded here for free. Using the program to teach students about maps just skims the surface. As I use it throughout this coming school year, I will be sure to share. Please share any ideas you might have for using Google Earth too!

Classroom Retail Therapy

I am linking up with Ladybug's Teacher Files for a Classroom Shopping Linky Party. This is my first time partying with all you teacher bloggers out there and I am so excited! I have been collecting things over the past week, so I am a bit late to be linking up. I had to wait until our fiscal year started so I could get reimbursed for my purchases (up to $275). I am glad we are actually getting our supply money this year.

First off, I would like to say, that I like to shop on the cheap. I just don't think there is any other way. I have been building my classroom library for a few years now, and I have found that a great place to do that is a thrift store (Goodwill, Salvation Army, Miracle Hill, etc.). I ventured into the thrifting world last summer break when I started decorating my house. I started a blog about that too! Head over to Creative Carolina Charm to check it out if you love a good thrifty transformation. Anyway, off topic...focus, focus! So, I love rambling through the bookshelves at my local thrift stores to find books for my kiddos. I might look a tad bit like a crazy lady sitting on the floor going through all the books, but hey, it's all about a good find.

Here are my latest finds so far this summer:

I now have every book written by Beverly Cleary, almost two whole sets of Magic Tree House, a set of Junie B. Jones, and almost a complete set of Judy Moody. I always look for picture books I see my kids pick from the library often, award winning books,and old favorites. I have duplicate copies of a lot of books because they get "loved" in the classroom, and I always have one to replace a torn copy. All of the books above only cost me about $35 all said and done. I also found some organizing baskets and a fun little "SUCCESS" note holder for $8. 

After thrifting it up, I headed over to Target! I try to visit my local store at least once a week during the summer to raid the dollar bins. I don't play around with the raiding! I may have accidentally scared a lady beside me today when I yelled, "YES", because I found a grade book for a dollar. Oops! She probably thought I was a little crazy, but I know all you teachers understand.

Here is what I have scored at Target so far:

I was especially excited about the pocket charts and the four packs of sentence strip white boards. I heart you Target!

Then, I headed to Dollar Tree to scope out the place. I was a bit disappointed because they didn't have as much good teacher stuff as they usually do. I will keep checking in the coming weeks.

Here is what I ended up with:

Now, I just need to get it all to school and get to work!

Link up and share what you have found so far.

Tagxedo! You're It!

One of my favorite, free web tools to use with my kiddos is Tagxedo. This website allows you or your students to create word collages for FREE!!! You simply go to www.Tagxedo.com and click Start Now. Then, you click Load and start typing words. You can choose from a variety of fonts, color themes, orientations, and shapes. You can even load one of your favorite fonts that you have saved on your computer. That can be done by clicking on the Font tab and then clicking Add font at the bottom of the screen.

Here is one I created using my students' names to display as our classroom roster on the wall outside our room:

My students created collages using vocabulary words they learned during a geometry unit. They were assigned a term that they had to describe using "math words". Here is a finished product for the term quadrilateral.

They also created collages during a Civil War unit to review key information learned during the unit.

There are so many ways this site can be used throughout the school year, and it is so, so easy. My third graders had absolutely no problem working with the site on their own. 

Here are some other ideas for using the site:

*Students can type in a piece of their writing to check for repeated words. This could help during the revising step of the writing process. 

*Make a synonym collage.

*Make a collage of verbs, adjectives, and nouns.

*List names of students in reading groups, conference groups, desk groups, etc.

*Create a collage of words related to a character trait.

*Unit vocabulary

This possibilities are endless! I will definitely be sharing how I use this tool throughout this coming school year for projects in my classroom. Have you ever used Tagxedo? What ideas do you have for using it in your classroom?

Do NOT Be Afraid

Being the inhouse "Geek Squad" at my school, I often find that teachers are afraid of new technology. I am here to tell everyone...there is NO need for that! Technology should not be feared, but instead it should be embraced. I understand that it can be intimidating at first, but so is Calculus! Almost everything I have learned about technology has been self taught. You just have to get in there and explore. I absolutely promise that you will NOT blow the computer up. Well, in most cases!

That being said, I have created this blog to help make technology less intimidating for educators. I really hope to share ideas that EVERYONE will be able to implement into their classrooms with no hesitation. Sometimes it may be scary, but so are math problems to some of our students.

I leave you with this:

Another Nerdy Teacher

Hello teachers out there in blogland! I have designed this blog to share ways to incorporate technology easily into teaching. I have a sincere passion for using technology daily in my classroom, and I hope to inspire some fellow teachers out there to embrace using technology on a daily basis. After all, technology is NOT going to slow down anytime soon!

Throughout the coming school year I will be posting how I use technology to enhance learning and keep my students engaged. Hopefully, along the way, I will help some teachers out there become more comfortable with the "technology" word!

For this first post, I thought I would share one of my favorite "plug-in" tools to use in the classroom. Last year, I purchased a HUE HD webcam after seeing it in action at the annual Upstate Technology Conference that is put on by my school district each summer. The HUE HD is a typical webcam, but what makes is so appealing? It has a movable stand that can be manipulated to act as a document cam. I had wanted an Elmo forever, but I just couldn't afford one of those on my own and budget cuts would not allow for me to have one either. In light of all of that, sometimes we teachers have to get creative.

The presenter giving the session pulled this wonderful little gadget right out of her purse and started talking about how great it was for classroom use. Yes, that's right, she pulled it out of her purse. I love Mrs.Mauney. She also carries a flip cam in her purse, which I will definitely share the benefits of in another post. During the presentation the gears in my head started to turn uncontrollably. Not only could I use this fun little cam for a document cam, but I could also video my students, Skype with other classes, take pictures, and so much more. After leaving, I immediately sought out the HUE HD and found one on Amazon for $19.99. YES!!!

I hooked it up in my classroom in about 2.3 seconds, and I got to work. Here are some of the ways I used it in my classroom this past year:

Document Cam
1. read alouds
2. workbook pages (NO COPIES needed)
3. pictures
4. magazine articles

Videoconferencing
1. Skype with principal to share what we were doing in our classroom on a regular basis.
2. Skype with other classes.

Camcorder
1. Video students working.
2. Video student projects.
3. Video students during dramatic learning exercises (newscast, act out vocab. words, etc.)

I am just as excited to use it this year as I was last year. I hope to video conference with other classrooms to have my students interact with other students on a more regular basis. I will keep you posted on how I use it this coming year.