Web 2.0 Tools

Although, many times I get overwhelmed with having a full time job and being in two grad classes, I can say I am LOVING learning all of this new technology. In my last class, Educational Planning, we wrote a research paper and mine was on technology in the classroom because I felt like that was an area where I could improve and was truly not educated on many of the programs available.

Web 2.0 Tools for Weather Unit in First Grade!

Concept Map (Bubble.us)
With that being said, I have completed my concept map and am ready to go start my video! I really enjoy Bubbl.us. Unlike other classmates I have not had the trouble of saving it, cross my fingers I was doing it correctly! My major concern is with not being able to align the bubbles. I feel like I spend too much time trying to get my bubbles in the perfect place. It is a hard program for us Type A people who need it to be perfect. I also would like to change my font. Both of these things you might be able to do, but I have not figured out how! Here is my concept map:

Video (Animoto.com)
I really enjoyed this website. I am very sad I did not know about this until now. Not only do I think it would be cool/interactive to use with students in the classroom, I could utilize it for my own classroom webpage to post pictures. My one concern was the length of the video for the free user. I think I would want the option to have longer videos, I had to delete three of my photos to get to the 30 seconds! Hope you enjoy my video. I chose the music, "Cloud Forest," not too exciting but I thought the title was fitting!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Glogster
Well, not so sure how much I like Glogster. I think the application is really neat and some of the graphics and designs are cool, but I do think it was very hard to use. I would imagine you would use this in a classroom to make a presentation about a certain topic, but I think a lot of support would be needed to do so. I really enjoy the idea of it and if I got better at it I might feel more comfortable to use it in my room. After several hours on this I still do not love mine, but at some point I had to let go! Here it is...

http://morgana3940.glogster.com/weatherunit/

Free Choice (Bighugelabs.com)
I, like many others, really enjoyed this site as well. I could see using all of the fun activities in the classroom to help students express ideas. I have added this site to my favorites and cannot wait to use it at school. Here are the three activities I made!

I think the magazine cover would be fun to make when students have completed a writing piece and need a title page!

I used this project to show the four seasons.

I thought this project was neat, a creative way for students to share information about a topic.

WHEWWWW...I'M DONE!!!!!

I'm Bossy!!!! YouTube Video and Questions

I LOVE this video! It gets stuck in my head and I cannot stop singing it!

Is this appropriate to use with younger children to teach R-controlled vowels?

How would you engage your students in this video?

My First Time....BLOGGING!!!!

My name is Ashley Carter! I lived in Richmond, KY my whole life until college. I knew that I wanted to attend an out of state university and narrowed my search down to three schools; Purdue, Auburn, and Clemson. After one step on Auburn’s campus I knew this was where I needed to be. I enjoyed my time at Auburn and am so thankful for that experience. I graduated in 2009 with a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education and then began my teaching career. I was placed at Cary Woods Elementary School in Auburn for most of my lab experiences and my student teaching.  I was fortunate enough to be hired on as a first grade teacher after graduation. I thought of Cary Woods as a home and I will never forget my time there. 

In May of 2010 my now husband, Drew, proposed at school on the news in front of everyone! He was in Birmingham and I was in Auburn, and we knew something would change the next summer when we got married. To our surprise, Drew got a great opportunity in Saint Louis with Harris Corporation and thus we moved! Drew is a Geospatial Engineer; he makes maps for the government! We got married on June 18 in our hometown of Richmond with all of our best friends and family by our side. 

That brings me to now. We have moved into a quaint neighborhood called Clayton just outside St. Louis. I was so excited to get a job in the school in our neighborhood but it was not a classroom. I am an instructional intern grades 1-5. I am responsible for small group literacy  intervention, making this a great year to get my Master’s. We have one dog, Aspen, and we love to bike and run. I am particularly excited today because we just ran our first half marathon this morning, the St. Louis Rock and Roll! Now that the training is over I am ready to focus on school and learn more ways to use technology in the classroom. This is my third class in the grad program here at UWA, but my first blog!! I LOVE being a learning again and sharing with others. Good luck to everyone!

Ashley