Popplet

Here is a simple Popplet that I created about myself. I have talked with my teammate about using Mindmaps with our writing so I am excited to try a few more out. I would love to do one of these together as a class to show the pre-writing process and getting their thoughts organized before writing a story. My only concern would be having it be printer friendly and effective with keeping the kids on track with their writing and not taking up too much time. This would also be a great way to have the kids introduce themselves or a friend to the class.

http://popplet.com/app/#/391140

Tagxedo

This is the Wordle that I created for the book Holes. My students could create these for any of the class books or literature groups that we do. I like this activity because it can be as general or specific as you want to make it. It could be about an entire book or they could be given the task of describing one character or event in the book. They could also create one at the beginning of the year to describe things about themselves. I thought it was very simple to use and offered lots of options for the kids.

Third Time Is A Charm!

Audio Tools

Here is the link to my explanation on Audio Tools!

http://voicethread.com/share/3266631/

Digital Storytelling

I must admit that I thought a challenge for teaching 5th grade language arts would be finding a way to integrate technology. I think my new challenge is going to be narrowing down the tools to use. I have been really surprised and excited about the ways that I will be able to integrate technology in my classroom and language arts lessons. Here are some of things I explored and know I will use in my classroom.

Animoto- A large part of 5th grade is having the kids document their year. We set aside time in our homeroom classes for the kids to create scrap books of the events that happen throughout the year. I am debating as to whether I would have the kids create their own or if we would create one as a class that the children would be able to see. None the less, I think this would be an awesome tool to help document all of the children's activities during their 5th grade year.

Creaza Education- I have already been working with a team teacher on how we will use this. This is a tool allowing the kids to create mind maps as well as cartoons and other writing tools.  Part of our writing curriculum is brain storming topics to write about and other writing prompts. We are going to start off by having the students brainstorm on paper. We will then use Creaza to create a mind map together as class. We hope that after doing a couple of these together that the students will be given the assignment of creating a mind map as part of their pre-writing process. We think the kids will absolutely love using this software to create their mind maps. I am also excited to see how each student can make it their own with all of the options it has. We are hoping it will get the kids really excited about their stories and help get their creative juices flowing.

Flipsnack- I really liked this as a publishing option for the kids once they have completed a writing piece. The kids will start off drafting with paper and pencil while they go through the entire writing process. We want to give them several options of how they can publish their final piece. I think this would be a great tool to do that.

Pic- Lit- This tool will be wonderful to use for many of the topics that we will be covering. I like the idea of using it for our descriptive writing unit. Making sentences to describe the picture and discussing how they can use these kinds of descriptions in their writing. This can also be used when we talk about adding details and "stretching sentences" not to mention just livening up a lesson on parts of speech!