Techie Homeschoolers

Just traipsing around the net and found a really neat video educational site.
This is EXCELLENT for educators when needing that extra curriculum boost or resource that will go along with a unit you may be studying in science, history, or skills you might be building in math or language arts.

The videos are all a collection of online clips from places like YouTube, TeacherTube, and a few others.

Here’s what WatchKnow has to say about their site:

Just think: millions of great short videos, and other watchable media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.

Finally, imagine them all deeply and usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught.

WatchKnow—as in, “You watch, you know”—has started building this resource.

WatchKnow is both a resource for users and also a non-profit, online community that encourages everyone to collect, create, and share free, innovative, educational videos.

Check it out for yourself, and see if perhaps you could supplement some of your lessons with these educational videos.  (You can upload your own too).  It’s www.watchknow.org.

Finally we have put together NyGirl’s power point presentation into our VoiceThread account. 

I will add, she did this project completely on her own (after a few lessons from me on how to create the Power Point slides).  She also took off on the remaining voice narrations after showing her initially how to do the first one in Voice Thread.  It was a fun project, and I think we’ll be doing a good bit more of these kinds of online presentations for our upcoming lessons.

Take a look (and don’t forget to press the play button):

Enjoy!

We are still studying the solar system, and NyGirl has been enjoying some fun computer projects to show what she’s been learning.

Here is an image she created using Tux Paint.

In case you haven’t checked out Tux Paint, you might want to consider downloading this free computer art tool for kids.

Here’s a small excerpt from their site about what their software does:

Tux Paint is a free, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12 (for example, preschool and K-6). It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program.

I have had a blast using this with my daughter.  I may have to create a video  showing some of its features and how we’ve used it in our school.

This solar system project is really coming together with all of the online tools we are finding to help solidify her knowledge of each planet.  In my next post, I’ll attempt to show how we create a slideshow in VoiceThread using the Power Point we created on planets.

Until then…

Voicethread is an excellent tool I just found online, as I’ve stated in one of my last posts…I plan to use it for NyGirl’s study on the Solar System to help her present her work.

Here’s a video on the VoiceThread website which shows what it does: http://voicethread.com/#home.b409.i848804

Essentially, you can upload documents or images your student has created (or that you the teacher have created) into a sort of slideshow, and create a voiceover narration for each slide. Then others comment on your slides and documents either by voice or text.

I am so excited that I want to create my first VoiceThread right now, but I am waiting until NyGirl has created most of her slides on the planets in Power Point first. The cool thing about VoiceThread is that it accepts different formats of uploads, or you can find images through the New York Public Library (integrated already in the system).
The possibilities are endless for educators. We can have our students use it for online projects, helping them to develop presentations that get “reviewed” worldwide. We can use them as teacher-to-teacher education, creating content that teaches others how to do things…or we can create materials online for older students to learn as well.

I am definitely looking forward to seeing how we integrate this special tool into our studies.

In one of my earlier posts I talked about finding safe internet browsers for children.

Well…found one!

Check out Zoodles (this is especially created for the young student in mind).
When you sign up, you are given the option to be able to create your own parent dashboard which displays preferences for your child’s age, activities and suggestions geared toward your student. etc. You can also block ads and gain insight into what kinds of games your kids are playing that help with development in certain skills. But there is a fee for the extra service after the free trial.
So if you want, you can just sign up for the free browser and be done…which is what I did.

Basically, you need to sign up for a free account and then click on the download button and you’re set to go.

———
Well, I’ve just downloaded the software, thinking that what I had was an internet browser. But unless I am mistaken, it seems to be nothing more than a set of computer games which I have access to through a separate browser I’ve installed.
I think the games are VERY educational and I will be using them for my kids…BUT…I actually thought I was downloading a safe internet browser for kids, something similar to Firefox or Explorer. Not the case at all.

Regardless, I like the Zoodles web site and will be using it quite often to supplement lessons.

NyGirl has really been interested in planets lately. We have a full unit covering the solar system in her Houghton Mifflin science book…but it is very limited when it comes to techie ideas (though the book offers a supplemental website with additional quizzes and games that accompany the unit).

So I decided to create our own unit.  I thought about lapbooking and then scanning in the images to create a slideshow…until i found VoiceThread.  So instead, I ended up creating our own Solar System unit in which NyGirl will create a complete Power Point presentation to upload and narrate via VoiceThread.  In the process, she is getting some typing practice (we use Sense-Lang.org for typing lessons), and a general overview on how to use presentation software and become familiar with computer icons, commands, and tasks.
So far I have taught her how to select slide templates and styles, add slides, add transitions and effects, change fonts, and add clip art.  The easiest part was typing  the information in for the planet Mercury.

This is going to be a fun project, I can already tell.

The thing is, once younger students are introduced to the concepts of productivity and presentation software, they can run with it and leave us in the dust.  I think it’s hilarious when some educators scoff at the idea of showing children in the lower elementary years how to use these types of software.  It’s perfectly do-able and absolutely equips them with ways to express their ideas and thoughts, making school projects all the more fun for them.

Anyway…I’ll be posting more updates on this project and the completed project at my VoiceThread account once it is finalized.