Tool #5 Bookmarking and Tags

I love that I can now organize and access all of my favorite sites.  I no longer will feel frustrated that I can't remember what sites would be a great resource for a particular lesson or unit.  This will help me so much with organization.  I also like that I can look at other people's favorite sites.  Once again, it opens up new avenues for innovative ideas!

Two sites I have bookmarked on delicious are:

Teacher Tube (ideas for lessons):  http://www.teachertube.com/
National Geographic for Kids (games and resources for developing cultural awareness): http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/?source=NavKidsHome

Tool #4 Cool Google Docs

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1k4zEtX-7aXQqHHgLnPmZt5IT47XO5zc88Sk9BNb6NvQ
I created the google doc above with a simple template for planning a unit.  There are too many times we have conflicting schedules with various meetings during our planning times so collaboration becomes difficult and rushed.  With google docs, our team of teachers can contribute ideas at their convenience. 

Tool #3

The trading cards from the Big Huge Lab site could be used in a lot of different ways.  In Language Arts, one way may be for the students to write about a character from a book, describing traits, actions, quotes.  In Social Studies, the students could write about a famous historical figure.  Also, I am thinking this would be a great beginning of the year activity for the kids to make a trading card about themselves.

I think the WordItOut site would be a good vocab building tool.  One idea may be to give the kids a word and they brainstorm other words that are associated.  Another may be for the students to put synonyms in their word out. 

Tool #2 Online Learning Communities

I think sometimes as teachers, we can feel like we are in our own world when we are in our classrooms.  Online learning communites gives us an avenue for connecting with others.  It broadens our team immensely.  It's also a great way to get fresh perspectives from others who may be teaching many miles away. 

I the comment suggestion of being kind and respectful when commenting on someone's blog.  Depending on what the blog is about, opinions can run rather high.  I think we need to make sure that we teach our kids to be respectful when getting on blogs, wiks, or any social networking site. 

I commented (respectfully :) on the following blogs:
*Mrs. Stephens-topic:  online learning communities
*Mrs. L-topic:  video resources
*Shaun-topic:  digital citizenship
*Seda Dawson-topic:  wikis
*Amy H-topic:  sharing through Jing and Skype

Tool #1

I am paying for being a bit of a procrastinator. :)  I hope I get quicker at this as I proceed. 
I could use blogs for kids to post book reviews, or even have a blog book club would be fun. 
For social studies, the kids could post responses to a "hot topic" current events question.