Back-to-School Tech Ideas for K-5

I'm headed back to school next week, and my three kids start back the following week. Let's just say that getting to school by 7:30 a.m. is going to be a challenge for us for a couple of weeks. When my husband and I asked our kids at the dinner table tonight, "Who's excited about returning to school" only one of our three kids replied, "I am." The other two complained that school's "too boring." Our kids (11, 12, & 15) are typical digital kids who have many of the latest gizmos and gadgets but return to school to "sit and get," do busywork, and prepare for THE TEST (TAKS). In my opinion, a must see video for all teachers before the school year starts is http://homepage.mac.com/dvchelo/page1/page3/files/page3-1003-pop.html.

We're all aware that we're in a time of rapid change and that we are still losing too many kids and wasting too much talent. With that in mind, I'd like to suggest and gather ideas from others on back-to-school integration ideas for teachers that will hopefully start the year off right by stimulating and actively engaging their elementary students the first month of school.

• Capture digital photos and video of your students on the first week and create a presentation using Photo Story 3, Animoto, Voice Thread, Movie Maker, or iMovie for your first open house night. Or create slideshows of your students with BubbleShare, SlideShare, Slideroll, or Picasa.
• Create a class blog. If your new to using blogs in the classroom check out Blog Basics for the Classroom. If you use Blogger, remove the Navbar and view this example of a class blog.
• Have students brainstorm what they'd like to learn about in your class and type into Wordle.
• Use Excel, Create a Graph, Bar Grapher, or Circle Grapher to create class graphs or pictographs (tutorial) on various topics such as How We Get to School, Favorite Type of Ice Cream, Pets, Eye or Hair Color, Number of Letters in Our First Names, etc.
• Create I'm T-rrific projects (from Tammy Worcester's 50 Quick and Easy Computer Activities) where students brainstorm positive comments about themselves.
  

Another idea from Tammy Worcester's book is created acrostic poems with their names using Word Art and text boxes.

Have students create a newspaper clipping that summarizes their first week of school to share with parents.

Have students get in pairs or trios and create a two or three circle Venn comparing and contrasting each other. Have students do a gallery walk to share completed graphic organizers.

Let K-1 kids create self-portraits in TuxPaint (requires a free download) or Kerpoof's Super Doodle

• Use http://www.bubbl.us/ or Kidspiration for brainstorming.
• Use digital camera to take full-face and profile photos (mug shots) of each student. Students then create Wanted Posters using a blank PowerPoint slide (portrait view) that includes the student's name, description, interests, dislikes, reward, etc. This idea comes from the book PowerPoint Magic by Pamela Lewis.
• Students could interview each other and create podcasts.
• Use Google Earth or Google maps to find the distance from their home to school.
• Have students create speaking avatars with Voki and embed in your class blog.
• Create a student interest survey in SurveyMonkey for kids to complete online.
• Many K-2 literacy resources can be found at Carl's Corner.

I'd love to hear other back-to-school tech integration ideas.

Frank McCourt

On April 10th, I attended an academic lecture at Lamar University presented by Pulitzer Prize winner, Frank McCourt. I have to admit, the only reason I attended this lecture was because it was an assignment in the technology course I'm currently taking. I'm more of a kinesthetic type learner, and was really dreading this lecture; however, I was surprised at how the speaker held my attention with his poignant and colorful stories. I've already ordered his books, and highly recommend attending his lectures if you have the opportunity.

Frank McCourt shared with the audience that he was born in New Yorkto Irish immigrant parents. Unable to find work, his family returned to Ireland, where they sunk deeper into poverty. Three of the seven children died of diseases. McCourt himself nearly died of typhoid fever when he was ten. Despite the horrors of McCourt's childhood, he lectured with humor. After quitting school at 13, McCourt alternated between odd jobs and petty crime in an effort to feed himself, his mother, and four surviving brothers and sisters. At 19, he returned to the United States and worked at odd jobs until he was drafted. After receiving a college degree, he taught high school English in New York City. At first he had trouble teaching; he shared colorful stories about his "unruly" students in a tough high school. Eventually, he says he stopped being a dictator and developed a sense of humor. To help keep his students' attention, he told them stories of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Frank McCourt became a very experienced teacher at a prestigious high school and ended his teaching career after 30 years.