Thing #12

Rollyo is awesome! I added Teacher Helpers - sites I like to use in my classroom like Busy Teacher Cafe and others - to my Rollyo. This is a neat way to keep the sites I use regularly in one easy to find place.

Now, it was a little difficult to figure out where to start this process, but after clicking here and there, I figured it out. I'm gaining confidence in my abilities with all of this new computer information and look, I'm over 1/2 way done. I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the second half of this experience!

Thing #11

Library Thing is an excellent way to catalog your book collection. I find myself wondering if I have a certain book when I'm at a book fair or the book store. This is an easy and excellent way of keeping track of books in my collection.

I started with books from my classroom library. Since it is Spring Break, I was working off the top of my head. When I get back to school, I'll have to go and add all the books that I own. I would love to set-up another account so that I can keep track of my daughters' books. Our students could even track their book collections at their homes or track books they have read.

I'm still looking into the groups, but it was neat to see the number of members that owned a particular book.

I also enjoyed watching the You Tube skit! I've added books from my school collection on my blog. See if we own any of the same books.

Thing #10

Okay, this is the funniest "thing" yet. I could spend all day creating! I loved using Comic Strip Generator and Custom Sign Generator. The hardest part was trying to decide which item to create (especially in the Custom Sign Generator) and what to say. I need to work on my creative (for sayings). I have added two of my creations to this post. In the classroom, teachers could use these items to create motivational posters for the students. Students, too, could use the sites; however, several of the images were not appropriate for student use. Maybe the teacher could select the image to use and then the students could add their sayings.

Thing #9

I must say, this was not my favorite "thing" to complete. I found most of the tools confusing and hard to maneuver. However, out of them all, I liked Google Blog Search the best. I was given lots of possible feeds to add, but not many were to my liking. I hope that with more practice, this "thing" will be easier in the future and I will find more pertinent feeds that I like.

Thing #8

RSS feeds and readers are awesome! I love how information you are interested in comes to you and you can read it at your leisure. With a very busy life, I don't have a lot of "free time" to surf the net looking for items of interest to me. I found this easy to set up using Google Reader and began with a bundled feed about food. I love to cook and I'm always looking for a new dish to try. I also added "A Library by Any Other Name" so I can keep up with library happenings.

RSS feeds would be beneficial to both the library and the classroom. I could see a librarian subscribing to a feed to keep up with changes in "library land." Teachers and students would benefit from up-to-the-minute information provided by RSS feeds, especially on topics like science and technology that rapidly change.

Thing #7

Google is amazing! I've only used it as a search engine and was surprised by everything it has to offer. I enjoyed using Google Earth. I think classroom uses are endless. Students would love seeing where they live in relation to other places in the world. I also enjoyed using Picasa Web Albums. I created an album using photos from our family farm in Hallestville, Texas. We have about 100 acres, 2 horses, 1 donkey, and lots of cattle. I hope you enjoy my photos.

A link to my album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jobabeskla/OurFarm?authkey=UeAsjFN09_U

Thing #6 - Trading Card

I finally have time to post a trading card (posted on the side of my blog). I used a photo from this past Christmas to practice. This would be so cool to use when I teach my students about types of clouds, landforms, or animal habitats. The students could create "cards" to show what they had learned.