Grocery Store WebQuest Update!

Very soon we’ll be completing a WebQuest that will teach us more about adding and subtracting using decimals. We’re going to go shopping at the grocery store. We will use our computers to complete the WebQuest, think of it as a virtual field trip. First you will learn about prices. You will learn that everything we buy, in any store, has a price. You will learn that the price tells us how much something costs.  Sometimes that price is a decimal. You’ll see links (that will take you to other websites) and other tools on the web that help us learn how to add and subtract using decimals. You will  draw, write, and create in this WebQuest to help you become masters of adding and subtracting decimals. 

Towards the end of this WebQuest, I will give you some money and you will shop on your own. You will create a grocery list and find the items that you need at the grocery store. You will look for the prices and think about how much everything costs so that you can find the total. You will draw out or cut out the items that you buy, and then put them on your poster. When you have done this, you will show your total. You must not go over the amount that I have given you. On the poster, you will show me how much you spent, and how much money you have left (if you have any left). You will also tell me how many items you bought. You cannot use a calculator for this assignment. I am excited for us to begin this WebQuest and hope you enjoy it!

Educational Value of Animoto

Animoto is awesome!! Not only are you able to create a photo collage that goes with a topic, but you can also use music to enhance the video! I think this application would be great for students because it gives them another way to show what they know. Using this application teachers could give students a topic and work out how to use Animoto with them to create a video that showcases understanding. I would have students working in groups to create an Animoto video, where they have to work together to compile pictures for that topic and music that enhances the video. Here is my video about the WebQuest that I am currently in the process of creating. This WebQuest involves the grocery store setting. I will help students learn through experience by using the grocery store as a means to teach students adding, subtracting, reading, and writing skills through experience with a setting that should be familiar to them. I hope you enjoy!! Also, please tell me what you think :)

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

For the next two weeks I am off work for our first intercession (I teach in a Head Start program- every few months we have breaks for the sanity of the teachers and students, more so the teachers :) ) of the year. I miss my two year-olds so much!! But, I know pretty soon they'll have me running around and keeping me on my toes. During this period, I can't help but think about how much they already know. I also can't help but think about how much they are learning every day from the world around them. Although they are only two, they are just as influenced by technology as we are. Although many of my students are growing up without computers in the home, they are however gaining an understanding of technology from television, cellular phones, etc... Deep in thought, I was wondering how young is too young to integrate our students in technology.  In my classroom, I have not introduced computers or tablets such as the iPad. I feel that this may overwhelm them. Is there or should there be an age limit on when students should be allowed to practice using a computer or operating an iPad? Would it be too much too soon? Like when you ride a roller-coaster there is a height requirement. This requirement protects those who are too short and could get hurt when riding that type of ride. Inquiring minds would love to know, should technology have an age limit?