Hi! My name is Barb Carl. I teach third grade at Lynch-Bustin Elementary in the Athens School District. I am married to Jim (28 years!) and have two children, Jaimie and Tim. I have been teaching full- time for the past 10 years. I was a stay-at-home mom for many years before this. I love teaching, but am sometimes overwhelmed by all of the new technology and expectations out there. However, I am very willing to learn.

 

 

 

Links to various websites;

 

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/index.htm

http://www.factmonster.com/

www.enchantedlearning.com

www.teacherstouch.com/Catalog

www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits.posters

www.readinglady.com/six_trait_writing/index

www.webenglishteacher.com/6traits

www.geocities.com/jacoby_2000/6traits

www.writingfix.com/picturebookprompts

www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/sixtraits/menu

www.writingfix.com/Traits

www.nwrel.org/lessonplans

www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/langarts/sixtrt

http://themathworksheetsite.com/

 

 

 

Links to various assignments;

 

Podcasts;

 Our group used a microphone  to record our audio podcast.   We sang "The Water Cycle Song" at the end of our collaborative powerpoint presentation. 

 

Supporting websites:

http://www.proteacher.org/a/12048_Water_Cycle_Song.html

http://www.k12.hi.us/~shasincl/poems_prop_cycle_weather.html

http://www.natick.k12.ma.us/schools/johnson/watercycle/water.html

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html

http://www.kidzone.ws/water/

http://www_k12.atmos.washington.edu/k12/pilot/water_cycle/grabber2.html

http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/watercycle/index.html

 

 

WebQuests:

 

Link to WebQuest Template

http://techtrainer.pbwiki.com/WebQuest%20Template

 

Example of WebQuest: (This is a book that I am reading with one of my groups at this time. I plan to use some of the activities from the following webquest that I found already prepared on the internet.)

 

THE INTRODUCTION PAGE TO

 

ANANSI THE SPIDER

 

In the country villages of Jamaica, when the sun goes down, the children gather

 

 

 around and listen

 

as a storyteller tells tales about Anansi. Who was Anansi? He was a spider who

 

sometimes

walked as a man. He was known for his cunning and tricks and always getting the best

 

 of his foe (even when he was as big as an elephant!).

Anansi'shome was in the villages and forests of West Africa. When many people left for the

islands of the Caribbean, the Africans took with them the stories they loved. Stories about Anansi.

Now you can share in these stories and image what it was like to spend a night around the camp-

fire hearing the exotic tales about a clever spider and his friends.

Anansistories are folktales that blend magic and mischief. This Webquest will present you with

a chance to learn about Anansi, Folktales , Geography and write you own Anansistory!!

Click on the "Task" bar to continue-----LET'S GO !!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Powerpoint Presentations;

I was in a group of five, including:Claudia Chacona, Kristy Fisher, Judy Snyder, Lauren Schwenke, and myself.  We collaborated on a powerpoint that featured the water cycle.  Each slide included one of the parts of the water cycle:  evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and accumulation.  We found great pictures that really highlighted each part and stressed the point that it is a continuous cycle.  Our presentation ended with a cute song to reinforce our objective and help the children remember each of the four stages.  We included an audio podcast of us singing our "Water Cycle Song" to really get the children's attention.  I will definitely use this in my classroom each year because the water cycle is an important part of the third grade curriculum.  Also, I think the kids will think it is cool that their teachers are actually the ones doing the singing! 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WSuZbl9Zqs

 

Lesson Plans;

 

1. Podcasting is a new "animal" for me. I had never seen one until our first class when we saw your "Ninja". I think that my children have seen these. Maybe they have even made one. Who knows? I'm not sure how much I would use these in my classroom. I think they may be more valuable in the higher grades. I have heard recently that theses are available from our I.U. I would like to check these out and access some, especially for Social Studies and Science. Our group used a microphone to create an audio podcast.  We used this to record the "Water Cycle" song that ended our powerpoint presentation.  The podcast that we created will be very helpful in my classroom study of Water, since this is a required unit of study for third grade.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WSuZbl9Zqs

 

2. Online Collaboration Tools can be very useful for teachers. WIKIs are great forums for sharing and collaborationg with teachers all over the world. With our stress-filled lives, WIKIs are even terrific for sharing with the teachers in our own school! We often go days without seeing some of our co-workers because of our busy schedules.  We could keep in touch this way.  I would like to use powerpoint with my class at some point this year. I has planned this from a class that I took this summer on technology. I think that it would be very doable with a few extra adult hands in the computer lab.  Also, I plan to use many of the links that are in my wiki.  I have become much better at navigating to it quickly.

 

3. Virtual Technologies and Tools: I will use virtual sites with my unit on mapping in social studies, in any number of my reading stories (there is a big push on nonfiction), and in my science unit on butterflies and moths. Before this class, I was not aware of the number and type of virtual field trips available.  With the high price of gas and limited school budgets, these can be a great learning resource.  Here are a few on the ones that I came upon and liked.

 

www.educationworld.com

www.unitedstreaming.com

www.nationalgeographic.com

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listvirtualgr.html This site is awesome. It leads you to a trillion virtual field trips. (Well, maybe I am exaggerating, but there are lots!)

www.funsocialstudies.learninghaven.com My daughter, who is an education major, referred me to this virtual tour site!

 

 

4. Semantic Networks are great organizing tools. Inspiration was an amazing tool. It would be worth the cost to help students with their writing. Kidspiration might be more useful for the elementary classroom. What a tool for brainstorming in our writing! Kids often don't like to brainstorm or don't really understand how to do this.  The novelty of these might even make them more interesting to students.

 

5. Digital Cameras and Mobile Technologies

We are required by our district to have a website. A digital camera would be a huge asset to this tool. I can take pictures of my students and add them to this site. Parents would love to see their "angels" on our class site. I will take pictures of my students in various activities and add them to our classroom webpage. We can also photograph students giving presentations.  I would love to add these to my website and know they would be a big hit.  Our district has several digital cameras.  The down part is that technology changes so quickly that some of these have become obsolete.

 

6.  Microsoft Word

Claudia Chacona and I made a brochure on the 6+1 Traits of Writing for our school district.  I am very proud of our final product (with some help from our "friends").  This brochure was given to every parent within our elementary school, and it explained  this new writing tool that is being used consistently within the Athens Area Schools beginning this year.   More important than that, I am beginning to use this with my students.  We are going to make brochures and use them as bookmarks.  The first "face" of the brochure will include the book title, author, and student's name.  There will be room to draw a picture of something that reflects their idea of the book.  We started this with the book Molly's Pilgrim, which we will read just before Thanksgiving.  Eventually, I want the students to be able to insert a photograph or clip art from the internet on this first face.  The other faces will have various faces, depending upon the book being read and skills being taught at the time.  For example, one face might be used for unknown words that students come across as they read.  We would address these as we meet in small groups.  On another face, students may be writing down compound words as they come across them during their reading.  They could also be looking for adjectives, homophones, contractions, main idea and details, etc, etc.  The uses are endless!  Our first time doing this wasn't too bad.  However, there is much room for improvement!  I am very excited about this project.