Prezi

This is one that many people are familiar with but I think it is a good one to post here because the children enjoy it so much.  Prezi.com is a site that you can create sleek presentations on and is very user friendly.  It is like an updated PowerPoint, but with no slides.  Everything is created on a blank canvas.  This week I had students create a Prezi about the prefix "re".  They would write sentences and one of the words must use the prefix "re". Example: I had to redo my homework.

From there students selected pictures (built into prezi) that matched their sentences and created an entire presentation on this concept.  The students really enjoy this site.  I found that over the weekend I had students continue working on their presentation (not a requirement).  Give this website a look if you haven't done so in the past.

Live Scribe

I have been experimenting with a pen called Live Scribe.  It is an electronic pen in which you press buttons on the paper with the pen (record, stop, pause, etc...) and you write with the pen (that has ink) on the paper while talking.  It records your voice while recording your writing into the pen.  I am then able to upload the writing and voice on the computer in an audio pdf file and put these on my website.
The first one I did a mini lesson on rounding and using the "Rounding Rollercoaster" so parents knew the lingo I was using for this concept.
More recently I have had students write and record reviews of lessons that we have had in class and uploaded those to my website.  Parents are able to hear the lesson from their own children in their own words to get a better understanding of seeing what the children learn during school.  It has been fun and students are excited to write with it.
This item was donated to my class by a parent.

Kerpoof.com

Have you ever been to Kerpoof.com?  It is a great website that has many free offerings for teachers and students.  This last week we (the class) worked on a section called "spell a picture".  It is fairly fun but mostly recommended for K-3 (3rd grade is even cutting it close).  The students get the alphabet in front of them and a scene that they chose.  Then they can spell site words and the image will come up on the screen for them to put onto their scene.  For example-if they spelled rabbit correctly, a rabbit would appear and they can put that in their scene.  They can also add actions as well (if you type snow, it will begin to snow).  A fun activity for the kids to work on.

Next time we go to this site we will begin create a movie section where students can actually create scenes with dialogue and moving characters.  More on this next time we go to this site.  Hope you enjoy.

Weebly (the next step after kidblog)

http://education.weebly.com/
The blogging in class is just the beginning for my students.  My ultimate goal is to get the students creating a website that can incorporate their blog.  I am planning on using Weebly.  I have used it for another class and I really liked how easy it was for the students to work with it. It was also free (can't beat that).  I could also use Google Sites and I am heavily weighing that option, but I am still leaning towards Weebly because I find it more kid friendly.
If you have ever used another site and have any recommendations I would love to hear them.  If you check out Weebly after this post and have any opinions that would be great as well to hear.  Hopefully you check it out.

Kidblog.org

Wow, www.kidblog.org has been a tremendous site for my 3rd grade students.  It is a free blogging site in which the teacher can control what comments go through for each child's posts. The students have been blogging about activities that they have done in class, their reading, and their favorite parts of school so far.  The students are working hard on learning how to comment to one another.  Actually, the comments to posts has been the most difficult part so far.  Many comments are very short such as "good job" or "hahaha".  We are learning to write more meaningful posts and will need to have a full lesson on that.  I highly recommend this site for teachers trying blogs in their classroom for the first time.

Destiny Quest-a digital library resource

Hello,
The first piece of information I am going to implement with my classroom this year is the use of Destiny Quest.  Destiny Quest is a digital library resource in which students can put books on hold, look up books at our school library, and comment and rate books.  They can also create a friends page in which they can "friend" other students at the school and share book choices with one another.  I like this as a starter to the year because it is a simple way for me to teach netiquette to the classroom and how to create a powerful posts about books.  It is a safe environment and both myself and the librarian see all posts to make sure posts are within the rules.  I believe this is a district wide used website. Here is a link if you are interested in seeing what it looks like:
https://destiny.sccresa.org/quest/servlet/presentquestform.do?site=100&context=peckcs

Introductions

Hello,
My name is Robert Alvarez.  I teach 3rd grade in San Ramon, California.  One of my focuses for this year's class is to implement useful technology into the classroom.  With this blog I will be sharing some of the techniques I will be using in my classroom.  I hope you enjoy what I have to post and receiving feedback would be great.  Thanks for listening!