Blog #3

ELA Standards

Second grade was my favorite. I don't know if was my awesome teacher- Mrs. Klunder, the field trip to the zoo, or the fact that I saved up every penny of my allowance to buy a tamagotchi that year... it may have been a combination of all of those things. Anyway, I digress. If I become a teacher one day, it would be a dream to teach second grade. That's why I chose the second grade ELA technology standards. With my existing knowledge, I feel confident in teaching text-based technological tools. So things like using the dictionary/thesaurus, creating online blogs, reading online textbooks, etc. I would like to learn more about drawing and creating graphics on a computer-based mediums. 

CPALMS Educator Toolkit 

One of the resources in the CPALM educator toolkit is called "Canopy Sloth Enclosures". The interactive activity asks students to help build a new sloth exhibit in the zoo based on specific data. This activity helps kids with both language arts and science. They are asked to compare and contrast, use a venn diagram, and reason through written communication. I would use this activity as a precursor to the field trip to the zoo. It's important for kids to learn, but it's also important for them to have fun! It would be ideal for my second graders to learn about animals and science and writing without even knowing that they're learning. Using this online activity would not only help them learn, but also develop technological skills without even knowing that they're doing it! 

Newsletter


Here's a picture of my newsletter from last week. I really enjoyed doing this project because I learned a lot! Word is pretty straightforward, but there were a lot of tools that I hadn't thought about using before to make my like a little easier. For instance, previously, I would create a border by drawing a square around my text box. I learned that you can create a border of the textbox itself (as you can see in my newsletter). This method was much easier AND allowed for more creativity. I also really liked using the SmartArt for my spelling list. It gives the paper a pop of color, livening up the whole newsletter. I'll be sure to use these tools in the future, not just for teaching but for anything and everything! 

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