Thing 8: Databases and search tools.

I took a look at the Gale site and created the following widget for the ebooks -- which seems to one of my current interesting things....




This widget searches all the ebooks that are available through Gale resources.  It is nice to have all of the ebooks and topics in one place.

I also had a chance to look through and think about creating a custom seach through Google.  That is nice when you are doing a certain topic such as a biography project or a research project on the American Revolution... to then have only certain websites searchable for the students that you pick and add.  I will try this next year during several of our research blocks.

I was also able to look and test out some searches on several of the search engines listed... instagrok (which I didn't get really good results with), Kidrex would definately be appealing for kids, and sweetsearch and sweetsearch4me.  The last two have a lot of text to scan which might be hard for younger students at first, but I did like the fact that the search term is highlighted in yellow.

Through BOCES I also got the preview two more database sites:

http://www.pkearthandspace.com http://www.pklifescience.com

Both are very nice for the younger students.  Lots good information and the way it is presented.  One thing I thought was lacking in the topics was natural resources.  Many of our teachers talk about them and especially with Earth Day and the going green movement it would be nice to be able to tie those topics all together.

Thing 7 - part 2

Was introduced to the site corkboard.me at a class last week and wanted to explore it further. Very interesting. If the corkboardme with specific URL is brought up on the smart board, and students had the specific URL open on their pcs then they could create a sticky note and add their comment to the mix and evyone would be able to see it instantaneously. Which is a really nice feature. The notes can change color, or be moved around the corkboard plus anyone can type on any of the sticky notes. A couple of ideas flash in my head for this... A get to know you kind of activity if a student starts a sticky then puts their name on it. Classmates could type something about that person or something want to know about them on that sticky.

You could do a reader response question in the center and each student could type their response on a new sticky note. You could have students type one word on a sticky and move them around like magnetic poetry. Lots of ingesting ideas float to mind here. Can't wait to try it out with a class or two.

Thing 7

I have been playing with Pinterest for a few days and really like it. It is supper handy to keep a visual picture of a source or website at your fingertips and create your own folders to share. I love the following others features to see what others are pinning. Not to mention that many website now have a pin it button which makes things really easy to keep track of online.

This is great for personal interests as well as professionally. It would be fun to have a "school" site and each class could add to their folder. Each kid could pick out a picture that represents him or herself and maybe some class activities they want to do or have done. You could make a Pinterest board on the smart board as a template and work that as a class project...

I do like Pinterest as a professional as well since there are so many different things on the Internet that I just don't see, this is a nice way to follow another professional and gain and share ideas. Plus everything is so visually appealing!

Thing 6 -- part 2

Was able to get back and use Dropbox as an app for the new IPad. I like the app right there on the pad. It is really handy. I uploaded a few pictures and could see how useful this might be in school. If I were to use this iPad as a camera or take a video, then I could upload the students work to Dropbox and move it anywhere, share it or post a link for parents to view the students work. A very interesting concept and very user friendly. I could see putting documents there as well to share with colleagues or to bring up things to share with the students. I could see putting student work here say if we created a class PowerPoint and sharing with home making a strong school home connection.