Kim's Kindergarten Kaleidoscope

itunes in the Kindergarten Classroom

2006-12-25T17:21:00.000-06:00

One of the best uses of technology in my Kindergarten classroom this year has been using itunes. Let me give you a little background first. My teaching partner and I have had many discussions about reteaching verses preteaching. Since I am in charge of planning the majority of our math lessons my focus became the amount of reteaching the district was expecting us to do with our new math curriculum. We went to meetings once a month all last year listening to other teacher's frustration with the amount of reteaching needed and the lack of time to do it. So we decided instead of always trying to play "catch up" what if we did a better job introducing skills and focused on preteaching skills/concepts in a way that the students would get some exposure to them before the actual lesson was taught. Which brings me to my itunes plan.

This summer I spent time loading all our CD's that we use for math. Mostly titles by Jack Hartmann or Dr. Jean. I looked at each chapter in the math curriculum and listed the songs that would teach the skills or concepts that the chapter covered. I then looked at what skills/concepts the students were struggling with or needed review on and chose a song to match that. Finally, and most importantly I looked at the skill or concept coming up in the next chapter and chose a song to match that skill/concept. Since our chapters usually go about 3 weeks I have an itunes math folder for each month. As we begin our math lesson time I play a "transition" song that is usually the review/reteaching song. Throughout the lesson, songs are used to teach the current skill/concept of the chapter. Last I play another "transition" song(s) to gather the children for the closure of the lesson. This song is the preteching song for the upcoming skill/concept.

Using my itunes in this way has increased my ability to pace and plan in a more organized manner. I have a better grasp on where students are earlier in the unit. I have much smaller reteaching groups. New lessons go smoothly, as all students have had opportunity to hear about the new material. Students are engaged and eager to participate in the lessons.

This system has really worked for me and feels like a good match for organizing itunes to compliment our math program. My colleague, Lynn has a completely different way of organizing her itunes that she uses for reading. And we both keep other folders which organize our "teaching" songs into different catergories. I would love to hear how others use itunes in the classroom!

New Year....New blog thoughts?

2006-12-25T17:09:00.000-06:00

Wow, it has been forever since I thought about blogging. Unfortunately our technology group was required to make a commitment to other professional learning communities this fall so we have not been meeting as regularly as we were last year. We have tried to get together a couple of times this fall to share new ideas, problem solve our new printing technology problems, and to encourage each other to use technology in the classroom in new ways to enhance our teaching methods and hopefully make a difference in the learning process. I think most of the group continues to try to use technology and some are probably doing some "cool" things this year...so fellow Everett bloggers, I hope by getting back on my blog I will inspire you to do the same. Hope to hear from you.

Atomic Learning Assessment Part 2

2006-04-20T21:11:00.000-05:00

I took the survey again and was pleasantly surprised at what I had improved in. This time I scored a 76 (my first score was a 62). The survey was easier to take this time and faster. As I read the categories I didn't really need to think long about them, I was able to instantly come up with how I was able to demonstrate a certain skill or recall how I had used a specific application in that area of the survey.
I am still weak in the numbers/charts/graph area. Which is not a surprise as it is not something we have needed to produce much of this year. Maybe as I set new formative goals and look at areas of assessment I will look for new ways to use technology and become more fluent in this area. I also continue to be weaker in the area of photos/video. More specifically the video stuff. Using comic life and being able to share my powerpoint knowledge helped me grow in the photo area and being able to teach others (tech team...thanks for letting me share) As for the video stuff, I will keep plugging along. I am working on my simple imovie with the comic life slides. Next I will tackle actual video clips for an imovie to demonstrate some area of math skills that we have struggled with this year. Hoping my six and ten year olds will help me with this summer project.
The atomic assessment has been a helpful, reflective tool. I am so thankful to be part of the tech-group and will continue to push myself to learn and grow in areas of technology.

Sharing Linkin Log Site with Parents

2006-04-09T19:01:00.000-05:00

As part of my formative goal this year I wanted to share website knowledge with my parents. Although I believe I only have a small amount of parents using the internet, I hope a few might find some sites they can use. The following is the letter I will be sending to parents to encourage them to check out my "Linkin Log" collection. Next year I hope to send this at the beginning of the year and then possibly a monthly update on new sites. I also hope to complete my website so that these will all be linked through that as well.

Each year teachers are asked to set professional goals. This year one of my goals was to improve my knowledge of technology and how it can be used in the classroom. One of my projects was to set up my "linkin log" site. This is an online storage site which helps organize all my favorite websites. I would like you to visit my site and check out the parent and kid sections. Hopefully you will find some new sites for you and your child to enjoy. Please let me if this is something that was useful to you.

How to find my linkin log site
Go to the LPS website (www.lps.org)

Type "links" in the search box in the upper-left corner.

Select a category by scrolling down and choosing my site (Kim Zetterman: Mrs. Z's Links for Learning)

Technology Breakfast-April 17-Room 122...Bagels and Technology Reflections!

2006-04-08T19:54:00.000-05:00

Hey Tech group, I have heard from some of you so lets go with a light breakfast on the planday. About 8-9:00ish usually works good. As I stated earlier I want to work on my imovie. Lynn said she would give a basic overview and share her movies she has developed for use in the classroom. And hopefully she can help any of us trouble-shoot if we spend some time working on them.

Since my tech survey showed that I am weak in the area of teaching others.......I probably need to step up and try to demonstrate my ability to help others become more comfortable with some area of technology. So if you are ready to take the leap to try something new, I can try to help. If you haven't done any comic life or powerpoints I am fairly competent in those areas and would love to help you get started. Also since Lynn set me up with instant messaging, I could attempt to walk you through that too.

I really am interested to see what everyone else is doing to use technology in the classroom or even if you are doing something new personally with technology I hope you will share. Personally for me, I just purchased a flash drive. It was kind of confusing to decide what kind to buy and how to get the most for my money. If you are looking into this, I would be glad to share what I did. For the classroom, I just used my home visit money to buy a digital camera and a video connector (the little dongle thing that makes your computer show on your T.V.). I would be happy to show you the sites I ordered them from and how I will utilize them in my classroom teaching.

See you on the 17th!

Do you YAHOO?

2006-04-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

I feel so "techy" cool. Lynn taught me how to instant message with Yahoo messenger. It is lots of fun! Maybe an interest for the plan day?

Next Tech Challenge??

2006-04-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

I have been pondering what to work on tech-wise on the April 17th Plan Day? Is anyone up for a breakfast gathering? I would love to hear and see what everyone has been doing with technology in their classroom these past six weeks. I need to change some of my powerpoint slides into comic life so that I can export them out as a quicktime movie in order to easily get them into an imovie.(Lynn taught me this) Then I need to get better at putting audio onto my imovie. If anyone else is interested in this? Also I want to think about what classes to take this summer (I haven't checked if the summer staff development is available) What else are we interested in exploring yet this year, I am up for one last challenge???!!!! Let me know your thoughts!

Current Event Homework

2006-03-06T15:57:00.000-06:00

I have been tearing my hair out over the past couple of weeks trying to find appropriate and interesting articles in the newspaper with my fourth grader to use for his current event homework assignment.This quarter they can use online articles so I began searching for appropriate sites. The first one I found was a winner, so I thought I would pass it along. It can also be found in my linkin'log under kidsites. The site is Kid's News Room. It is set up to easily navigate with short, "kid friendly" news articles in a variety of categories. It also has a fun game section for when the homework is done!

Organizing my itunes!?!

2006-02-06T16:10:00.000-06:00

I have decided if I commit to this on my blog that hopefully I will make myself accountable to completing the task. I seriously need to get my itunes organized. Lynn has done a good job of loading all the music we use in the classroom into her itunes and then making folders for different times of the day. For instance active songs, alphabet songs, rhyming songs, ect. I have made a very lame attempt at getting something done with mine. I still need to load some CD's and then decide how I want to organize them. I did make a playlist for math this past month. It contained all our calendar songs and counting songs that we use during math time. I have to admit that it goes so much smoother when they are all in one place instead of shuffling a bunch of CD's. I know a lot of people have an extensive collection on their itunes, but so far I really only use mine a little bit for personal listening, mostly while working on lesson plans. I want to be able to show how I utilze this technology with kids in the classroom.

So I guess that brings me to the breakfast on the 20th/plan day. If anyone else is interested in setting up their itune playlists, I would be glad to share my limited knowledge with you. I would love to brainstorm the best way to organize playlists and hear how you are using itunes in your classroom!

Check Out These New Sites In My Linkinlog Collection

2006-02-01T20:47:00.000-06:00

Just browsing around tonight and added a couple new sites to my linkinlog collection. If you're interested, check out these sites for Dental Health, Dr. Suess's Birthday and a math game site. Also added the US Mint one Jules had recommended. It really is a fun site with lots to do! By the way, all the Everett Linkinlog collections are awesome compared to some I was searching through tonight! Everyone should be really proud of the time and effort you have put into setting up your collections.

Atomic Learning Assessment

2006-01-31T20:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, I took the atomic learning assessment and honestly scored about where I thought I would be. I was thinking somewhere around 50 and I scored 62. I definitely do not feel comfortable teaching anything to anyone, which is just silly, because I know I probably can in some areas. I think the things I felt the most confident in were the things I have been forced to do on my own. Thank goodness for Lynn pushing me to apply for the laptop, which in turn made me take some classes. Also wanting to hold up my end of the planning in our classroom and integrating technology has made me improve in certain areas. I am probably weakest in the numbers area, just because Lynn is so good at setting up our graphs and charts to record data, that I just depend on her to do it! Areas I need to work on are the ones that just take time to practice doing. Don't we all wish we had more time! Well, I guess I will push on to the next technology challenge....glad I have friends joining me on this journey!

More With Comic Life

2006-01-22T21:18:00.000-06:00

Enhancing learning by using technology to make visual connections has been a goal of ours in Kindergarten this year. I have been trying to use powerpoints to make visual connections to songs we use to learn skills or concepts. I was exploring one of our new Jack Hartmann CD's when I came across the song Benny the Blending Baboon. It just jumped out as one to be made into a fun powerpoint. After googling some great baboon photos I just needed a way to display them. The templates in Comic Life were perfect. I picked one with three frames on top and one on the bottom. Each frame on top contained the baboon with a dialog bubble containing a letter and the bottom frame contained the baboon with a dialog bubble containing the whole word. The kids just loved reading/singing along with the slides!

(I tried to insert an example here, but after trying to upload the photo three times and getting an error from blogger three times, I gave up for today!)

To extend the lesson I will take individual photos of the kids and put them in the same template in the Comic Life program. Print them and then the students can choose a word from our word family lists they would like to show how to blend. They can write in the letters and words on their paper. We can put them together into a great "blending" book to use as one of our Home and Back books to share with parents.

Checking Out Comic Life

2006-01-22T20:28:00.000-06:00

Comic Life is a program used in our district that I am just beginning to explore. My teaching colleague Lynn was able to take the intro course this fall and has got me started with the basics. I began trying to set up some templates with my own family photos around the holidays. I took all the fun candid shots of my kids opening gifts from the various relatives and dropped them into one of the "brick" layouts. Then I helped my boys type in their "thank-you" comments to make awesome looking thank you's to send to our family members. It was super easy, no complaining about writing thank you's and everyone got great photos. The relatives that had sent gifts by mail especially thought it was neat.

Now to apply the concept to the kindergarten classroom. We have kindergarten registration coming up for next year. I am thinking I will take photos of the kids doing different activities, have them help me select the photos and then have them dictate language to me for the photos about what they are doing. I think this will be a neat way to have them evaluate and think about their actions/learning in a purposeful way. It will allow them to see it as a way to communicate to others. For the incoming parents and students it will be a real look into our classroom and a way to take part of school home with them to share with their whole family!

Technology Breakfast a Huge Success!

2006-01-18T18:54:00.000-06:00

Our technology group was invited to come for a breakfast/sharing session on our teacher work day. Honestly, I wasn't sure if very many of the group would accept the open invitation on a busy work day. I was hopeful for a good turnout, since our leader Lynn has worked so hard to get us all moving towards implementing new technology into our classrooms. Needless to say I was thrilled when most of the group stopped by the breakfast. It was a great time of sharing, trouble shooting problems we had encountered with software and a chance to try some new programs! Several people got their linkin-log sites set up. Many of us took a look at the program Comic Life and brainstormed ideas for its use. It was fun to share some of the powerpoints I am using with kids and get positive feedback from my colleagues. I am very pleased with the effort our group is putting forth. We have all stepped out of our technology comfort zone in some way. And regardless of how big the step may be, it is huge in the sense that we are all learning and growing in an area of education that will benefit our students now and in the future! I am proud to work with such motivated and caring educators!

Technology Group Assignment-Digital Camera Thoughts...

2006-01-11T16:12:00.000-06:00

In my last post I talked a little about my digital camera usage. I have been trying to incorporate photos of students into our "visual learning" power points to reinforce some of our math skills. Our cameras in the building are not very "updated" and are not always available. (We have over 30 classrooms trying to share several cameras.) Anyway, I thought I might expand more on some of these powerpoint ideas, when another situation came up in my classroom that just screamed..."I need a digital camera in the room all the time"!

Here's what happened, I had planned a somewhat complicated art center. No problem, because I had a para available to work with the kids and take them through the project step by step. Well, due to some schedule changes the para became unavailable at art center time. I could attempt to write out the steps on chart paper and make lame drawings of each and hope the kids get it! But if I had a digital camera I could take a "real" photo of each step, print them in "real' color and post them at the art center. I am sure even my most challenged learners would be able to follow the photo directions.

This of course inspires me to think about all the other places "real" photos would come in handy. We already label a few supply areas with photos and of course use student photos on cubbies, coat hooks, folders and journals. But a lot of the center areas could benefit from photo directions or photos that would be a double check to see if all materials were put away correctly. Allowing for much more independence for students and frees up teacher time too!

Photo labels and/or photo directions is not really a new concept, but one that we have all gotten away from using because it is just too time consuming to take the photo, develop the photo, mount it and then do it all over again the next week. With digital photos, once you have them you can use them over and over again. They are stored right at your finger tips and ready for printing immediately.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a "money" opportunity to come our way to help purchase cameras for each of us, and in my wildest dream it would come with plenty of photo paper and colored ink for our printer too! Think of the fun we could have!

Technology Group Assignment

2006-01-08T15:37:00.001-06:00

I believe our assignment was to pick an area of technology that we wanted to "study", "research" or "incorporate" into our classroom teaching practices. I have to say I really haven't selected anything specific because I have so many areas to learn about. Recently however, I have been working to incorporate powerpoints into my teaching. My teaching partner, Lynn began doing this last year with some power points used to reinforce reading skills that she would show using the LCD projector. This year she has created awesome powerpoints that incorporate all the "concepts of print" skills into a fun way to introduce our daily helpers. She shows them on the T.V. using that nifty little connecting cord that allows you to connect your laptop to the T.V. ( I know it has a special "tech-name", but you get the idea). So all of this inspired me to give it a go!

Lynn and I knew how powerful songs/music could be to help kids learn skills. It seems like in Kindergarten you can always find a song to go with about any skill. But just singing the song lacked the visual connection to the concept kids were learning. I decided to take a couple of our new math songs (Thanks, Jack Hartmann!) and make powerpoints to create a visual image to match what the song was teaching. I took clipart or photo images from google searches and real photos of the kids to illustrate the concepts. Needless to say the kids love them, "Again! Again!" is the resounding cheer when I introduce a new one! They really don't take much time and certianly do not have to be very elaborate. So far I have created ones to go along with our math objectives of counting by 10's and money identification/value. In the works are ones for counting by 5's and the months of the year. I am hoping to add a little more animation to those.

Probably the biggest obstacle I have faced is not always having access to a decent digital camera to get the photos done when I need them. Otherwise it has been a fun project to challenge myself with. If you are interested in seeing one, stop by sometime. I would be glad to show them to you!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T17:33:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year To All!
Time to make those new year resolutions! My new year's resolution needs to be that I work on keeping better track of websites I use in and out of the classroom! Since our computers are being reimaged at school, this gave me the incentive to get moving on this process. Thanks to my good friend Lynn who happens to be very "tech-savy" I am set up to get going on this project. I have my linkin log account set up through the district site so I am ready to go! It really has turned out to be a fairly pain-free process. I have set up quite a few of my favorite sites and tried to put them into categories that will make sense to others who check them out. Now if I can just figure out how to get it all linked from my blog and my website (which needs to be my second resolution....get my website in better shape) I will be in business!

Hope the new year holds many new adventures for you!

Click on the link below to check out all my favorite bookmarks:
http://misc.lps.org/misc/linkinlogs/userfront.cfm?userName=kzetter

October: Halloween Fun On The Web

2005-10-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

I wanted to find some appropriate sites for my own kids (ages 5 and 9) to look at for some fun and safe Halloween "surfing". Here is what I came up with so far that meets with my kid's approval! Or should we say "Kid tested and mom approved"!!

www.KidSites.com
A great site that has been screened safe for kids. Fun activities, games, costume ideas and pumpkin carving tips. My five year old's favorite is the "Ben and Jerry's" (yes, like the icecream) link that gets you to fun FREE interactive online games!

www.yahooligans.yahoo.com
I like this site in general and I was not disappointed to see what was up on it for Halloween. Scroll down the left side to the calendar and click on Halloween. Next, click on Spooky Stuff and you will have choices of games, a mini-movie, printables and lots of other kid friendly links.

www.justkidsrecipes.com
Since my son's birthday falls close to Halloween we are always looking for fun recipes for parties! When you check out this site, click on the Halloween category and you will have your choice of recipes from Bat Brew to Edible Monster Goop and many more!!!!

www.pumpkinnook.com
Just a very basic site with teacher/parent ideas for fun Halloween Activities. However, my nine year old loved the Jokes and Riddle section, check it out for a good laugh!

Back To School Thoughts

2005-10-04T19:29:00.000-05:00

The first quarter is flying by and I am falling into the fast food rut! No time to think about what's for dinner, just hit the drive-thru. In the past, several teachers and my self have found a way to do a better job of putting home-cooked meals on the table. We would spend a weekend making meals that could be frozen and then easily prepared in the oven or crockpot. Doing this saved us all time and money! Plus my family was impressed with some of the great meals waiting for them when they arrived home. With the fall season upon us, it's time to dig out some of my favorite recipes and get cooking! Here are a couple of sites I love to use!

www.reynoldskitchen.com
I love to do the packet recipes. They freeze very well and are quickly cooked in the oven or on the grill. (Make up the individual packets and freeze 4 to 6 in a gallon ziplock for easy storage)

www.recipegoldmine.com
I love this website! The crockpot recipes are perfect for the cold winter months. You can cook just about anything in the crockpot...breakfast, dinners and even dessert!

Summer Sites

2005-08-07T19:24:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of useful sites I have needed to visit this summer! From the popular rubber wristbands to hermit crabs to keeping my kids entertained these have all been useful to us!

www.SayItBands.com
My son's baseball team ordered customized wristbands from this site! Easy to order, quick turn around and the lowest price on the web! It would make for a great school spirit item for a fun and easy fundraiser!

www.hermit-crabs.com
My 9 year old is the proud new owner of a small hermit crab named "Hermie". He saved his money he earned by watering the neighbor's yard to make this purchase. This site was very helpful in telling him just what he needed and gave him simple steps to follow for "Hermie's" care! Awesome photos of crabs to look at too!

www.nabisco.com
Wow! What an awesome site for kids on a rainy day! Tons for free online games, activities, snack ideas and more! My 5 year old loves it!