Google Earth: How can it be used in the classroom?

After researching about Google Earth, there are many ways in which it can be effectively used in the classroom. Google Earth is a tool that can help your students of any grade level understand topics such as the progress of human civilization, the growth of cities, the impact of civilization on the environment, and the impact of natural disasters. Using Google Earth can help your students understand geography other than just on a 2D map or 3D globe, but you could use Google Earth layers to study transportation, demographics, and in specific local texts.

This week, I want to specifically look at how Google Earth can be used in an elementary setting. I am going to use Google Earth to have students explore Chicago and how it has drastically changed even from 1999. In this type of lesson, we would be focusing on urbanization and what happens when cities become more populous. This would be a really great activity for students to explore on their own by using Google Earth. I can see this being a very useful for a third or fourth grade classroom.

I think this could be a very interesting tool to be used in the classroom. However, I felt like it was hard to navigate. It was hard to find something that I think third or fourth graders could understand. This was one simple way I felt like they could use this technology on their own.

A site that I used to get some information from:
http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/classroom-resources

My First Presentation with Audio!

Here is my completed lecture on "Making Bar Graphs" with audio! I had a lot of fun making this. I can't wait to use this technology in my classroom. I think it will be both fun for me to use and once I become more comfortable with this, it may be easier for my students to understand using this technology on different topic areas.
http://voicethread.com/share/1452734/

Enjoy!

Making Bar Graphs

Here is my first presentation without audio! The audio will be added later, but for now, here are my slides. Unfortunately, the slides did not come out in the same layout that I had saved them under. Here is the link where you can find the slides:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B1LUvp0y6p3CMmMxYmUxNTEtZTVmNy00OGUwLWI0ZjAtYTZiMjExZGFjY2Iz&hl=en

My First Lesson Plan Integrated with Technology

I completed my first lesson plan about three hours ago! It took SO much work! I am very excited about it though. I was having a very fun time putting everything together: integrating the GLCEs with certain websites and in my case, paint, to make an effective lesson plan for the lunar cycle using technology. After three-four hours of work, I think i finally have a pretty good idea of how to make a lesson plan and all the work that goes into making one. Especially when integrating technology into it, teachers need to be very prepared with all the bombarding questions and often times goofing around that comes with a class of fourth graders in the computer lab. Here's a link to my website so you can check out my lesson plan! www.lcatalano89.weebly.com

Halloween Costume Ideas for Teachers

While searching for fun Halloween ideas to incorporate into the classroom, I came across a website about teacher Halloween costumes. Often times there are Halloween parties in elementary classrooms, which means that teachers should dress up. I thought the idea of teachers dressing up as children's literature characters was really creative. Dressing up as a character your students will know is not only cost-effective, but can be fun and integrative as well. Here's the website to check out all of their costume ideas: http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/holidays/a/Childrens-Halloween-Costumes-Based-On-Childrens-Books.htm

Enjoy!

Misconceptions of Astronomy

The content goals I would like to integrate technology are the different aspects of astronomy. With astronomy, there are many different content areas that can be taught: seasons, moon, stars, planets, angle and intensity of the sun, revolution of the moon and earth, etc. I think using Photo Peach would be a great way for students to understand the many sequences of astronomy. After learning about all of the sequences in any of the content areas listed above, I feel like it would be very beneficial for the students to take what they have learned in these different content areas and make a digital story out of the sequences of an area.

There are many different misconceptions about astronomy. At the elementary level, many children may not know why see see different phases of the moon, why we have seasons, the direction and axis of the earth, etc. Creating digital stories can help students at the elementary level understand the many sequences and cause-effect patterns of astronomy.

Digital Storytelling

The Lunar Cycle: What we see from Earth on PhotoPeach



This is my first digital story! This digital story in particular could be very useful for my classroom when teaching about the phases of the moon. This could show the students the phases of the moon in order, which may help them understand this better. It could be very useful to use this type of story telling specifically in science because there are many sequences. Digital storytelling will help my students tell stories specifically on the sequences of science, or for this case in particular, astronomy.

I absolutely loved using Photo Peach to create this piece. Not only was it very easy to use, but I could see my students using this too! There were no parts of this tool that I did not like. Everything was very user-friendly.

Enjoy!