Hundreds,Tens and Ones...a Place Value Song!

Our new math unit is all about place value. During our district collaborative meeting today a colleague shared this video from YouTube. I can't wait to share it with my class!

 

Friendship Through the Eyes of a Child: A Digital Storytelling Project

Kelly and I decided to create a digital story about friendship. Kelly asked her preschool students to draw pictures about ways they could be a good friend. I also asked my first graders to draw pictures showing what it means to be a good friend. After they completed their drawings I had my students write about their pictures. I told my students we were going to be working with another class on this project and they were excited to see the drawings from Kelly's class.
I showed the video to my class and they absolutely loved it!  They enjoyed seeing their pictures and hearing the words they had written. My class enjoyed seeing the pictures Kelly's class made and they liked their suggestions for ways to be a good friend. I asked my students how we could use this video to help other children. One student suggested showing the video at the beginning of the school year to help students make new friends. Another student wanted to know if we could translate the video in different languages so students from around the world could learn from it. My all time favorite response..."I should show this video to my little brother so he won't be in the time out chair so much!"
I really enjoyed collaborating with Kelly's class and I know my students will remember this project for a long time!  Take a look and let me know what you think!
                       

My Diigo Library

Well I certainly have been giving my mouse a workout!  There are so many amazing resources available for teachers...I could spend hours every day searching!  Here is my Diigo library which includes a variety of different resources including lesson plans, activities, articles, games and much more. I can't wait to add more links to my library and I am looking forward to sharing it with my first grade colleagues.

A Cat Named Olive

My students are continuing to use Animoto at home.  Another student made a video about his new cat, Olive.  For now the students are just working on adding pictures to their videos and I have been encouraging them to add text.  Hopefully I will be able to have the students start to create videos in the classroom.  Our social studies unit on Africa is about to begin after the break and I have a lot of ideas for videos the students could create.  For now take a look at Olive the Cat.  

Read All About It!

I use a variety of early childhood literacies and digital storytelling resources in my classroom.  Our district has subscriptions to One More Story and Tumblebooks. Both of these sites have an extensive collection of pictures books and I can always find a great story to play for the students during snack time.  My personal favorite is Storyline Online, the students love listening to the different actors/actresses reading the stories.  Sean Astin reading A Bad Case of Stripes is one of my all time favorites!  If you haven't used this site before please take a look and share Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, a great story for Valentine's Day!

    

Digital Storytelling Project

I am doing my digital storytelling project with Kelly.  We decided to focus on friendship and have our students draw pictures of what it means to be a good friend.  Since Kelly teaches preschool and I teach first grade, we thought it would be interesting to compare the students' responses.  I had my students complete the activity today and they did a great job.  They were very excited when I showed them some examples of digital stories created by young children.  My students were also very excited to be working on this project with another class from a different school.  I can't wait to show them the finished product.     

Digital Storytelling: Extending the Potential for Struggling Writers

As I was searching for examples of digital stories I came across this article from Reading Rockets. The article was published in 2009 but it is still very relevant.  The authors of the article discuss how many young students struggle with the traditional literacies and how using new technologies like digital storytelling can boost motivation and increase learning opportunities.  Within the article there are many links not only to examples of digital stories but also some resources for creating videos.  Take a look and let me know what you think