KetchupTime!

Sorry- the good old ketchup joke is a third grade classic. Now that I have a slight break, I have some time to catch up on my blogging.
I'll try and make up for the lack of updates with some quality blogging over the next few days!
So expect quite a few updates.
In the meantime, my class made the finals in the e-Instruction contest! Congratulations to this amazing group of kids! Help them win big by voting for their video:
http://eimakeover09.shycast.com/submission/show/291/
They need all the votes that they can, so please spread the word to your friends.

Glogster 2.0 is here- New and improved!

While it is very hard to pick just one, Glogster Edu is probably my favorite Web 2.0 tool. It is AMAZING! I love the fact that they have an edu section very different than the regular glogster.com. (Make sure students and parents understand this difference) They seek input from teachers and really listen. They have adjusted their galleries slightly to reflect a more school friendly environment. (Though there is still a very benign animated .gif of a boy and girl giving each other a kiss that every single student will find within 45 seconds of being on the site.) They have just upgraded to Glogster 2.0 in which teachers can add or delete students, reset passwords, moderate comments, and now students can only privately message the teacher as opposed to having the ability to message each other.
My parents and students alike love the e-portfolios my students make on glogster. I love to embed our class project glogs on our wiki. They look so impressive, and yet they are so simple to create. I have started turning more and more of the glog making to my third graders. At first, I made all the class project glogs. It's like scrap booking!



Then I started letting them type in the text.


Now I have started letting them make the whole glog. Like this one:



While they aren't quite as aesthetically pleasing, the kids love having ownership over it. It is also fun to see how some students do have a very natural knack for design. Check out this very nicely student designed glog.

Of course I don't totally give up my glog making hobby. Here is my most recent glog for our wiki:


Head on over to http://edu.glogster.com/ and get started!

Long Time- No Blog!

Things have been very busy in third grade! Check out our class wiki to see some of the many projects the students have been working on. Right now I just want direct everyone to the video we entered in the E-instruction Classroom Makeover Contest. The students worked so hard on it, and I know they really deserve to have a classroom with all the tech tools that are offered to the winner of the contest. Check out our video at http://eimakeover09.shycast.com/submission/show/291. Be sure to register and give our video five stars!