We Have Made it to Wikispaces!

Students in fourth and fifth grade Technology classes now have their own secure wiki webpage. Wikispaces is a special website where students have a secure place to learn and share. Members only in this cyberspace - only our teachers, students and their parents may enter. Teachers monitor the site daily. We are incorporating safety and etiquette rules that we have learned to create the first pages. Soon each student will have a mystery partner in our school to build our first Technology/Social Studies project on Native Americans. We are working together to prepare for a project with 4th grade students in other states. This collaborative project will also help our students build character education and communication skills in Language Arts in our new world of ever changing technology.

What is a wiki? Watch this brief video on Wikis in Plain English

SALUTE to Dr SEUSS

Ask a group of students, "Who has a favorite Dr Seuss book?" and hear, "MEEEEEE!" Many of my 2nd and 3rd grade Technology classes have joined Technospud's nation-wide web project- Salute to Dr Seuss. Classes are choosing a variety of ways to share they favorite Dr Seuss books with others. Students are taking turns reading pages for a video. Some students prefer to let Queenie, a stuffed animal giraffe, be their on camera stand-in while they provide the narration.
Macinzi, a second grader says that her favorite part of the project is to be on the video! She even helped me write this:)

Be a Friend - Be Nice & Be Safe

Another way to view friends? Much has been said of the way we view the word "friends" now. Our students have "real-life friends" and some now have "internet friends". Some of these friends are both. Can we always tell the difference? Learn all that you can to help guide children in their sometimes murky internet decisions. We want our children to be respectful, mind their manners, have fun and be safe.

Fun ways to learn internet etiquette and safety are here. We want our students to learn good manners and stay safe with their "real-life friends" as well as their "internet friends". For years, our students have loved learning with Disney's SurfSwell Island - and you should see it on the SMARTBoard...cool! There is also a special section for PARENTS.

Older students enjoy earning their license to navigate the internet at PBS kids Get Your Web Licence . Our fourth graders learn more about privacy issues, policies, and passwords. 5th graders renew their license here. All students print out their OFFICIAL PBS KIDS WEB LICENCE to keep. Please ask about these at home and visit the site together to reinforce etiquette and safety.

Internet Safety

In technology classes we are learning how to keep safe on the internet. This is important even if you do not have or use the internet at home. Our district filters help and so does educating us all about keeping CyberSmart. Parents, your students may sometimes come home with a paper from Technology Class. Please go over the information with your family. Learn ways to keep your computer and your family safer.
More information: StaySafeOnline GetNetWise

VoiceThread - a Web 2.0 Tool for projects

VoiceThread is a tool for enhancing pictures by adding audio recordings. We are getting to know more about each other and learn some geography too by using this tool in Technology class. Keeping saftey in mind - our participants have an icon and username. Viewing is public, but you must be member of the class to make comments. Classes will be working on this project soon, so watch it grow. If you would like an invitation to join us, contact JoNelle Gardner at gardnerj@fort-mill.k12.sc.us subject: VoiceThread

http://voicethread.com/view.php?b=5353