Here's my webquest! Check it out!

www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=54348

Webquest Comments

a) What works best about this program (your webquest)? I think that my links are good and the video is perfect and fun for learning the names of the continents.

b) What do you wish you had time, energy, and money to make this project even better? If I had more time and energy I would have created another site of my own that had a game to help learn the continents. My dad makes websites and I would have asked for his assistance.

c) What value did the planning sheet and peer evaluation have for your project? Honestly, I was not fond of the planning sheet. I felt that it took time from doing my actual webquest. The peer evaluation, however, was very helpful. Sometimes others can see what you still need better then you can yourself.

d) What have you learned about the instructional planning process based on the completion
of this project? I have learned that it takes forever to plan activities that involve technology. I think that in a lot of cases, it is definitely worth it. But it is not something you can just put off until the last second.

Here are our Geometrical shapes! Below we have one row of SQUARES (4 equal sides), one row of CYLINDERS (a circular tube), and one row of RECTANGULAR PRISMS (3D rectangle).

On the right we have 2 TRAPEZOIDS (2 parallel sides and 2 non parallel sides) , and 3 PENTAGONS (5 sided polygon)!!!!!

I really liked the program Comic Life. I am familiar with Iphoto and PhotoShop so it was fun to learn something new.

Interactive websites

So it took a little while to find some sites because I am doing first grade, but I found some good ones. The first one that I really enjoyed was the NASA website. On the site, you can click on "for students" and then "k-4." They are many games including ones that involve buzz lightyear. Another thing that I thought would be fun for any of these students is they have a place where you can enter your name, and then the rover that launches next year will carry it on a microchip. It would be exciting for a student to know that his name is on the planet Mars.

Another site I used was Instructional Architect. I found a interactive game on epa.gov through IA. It showed the water cycle. The reason I liked this site was because there was not a lot of reading that the child needed to do. Most of it was spoken and the instructions were clear. Also, on Instructional Architect I found a counting game that would be PERFECT for first grade. The link is http://home.earthlink.net/~cmalumphy/countinggame.html if you want to try it!

Webquest!

We are putting together our own webquests. I think this is a fun way to introduce younger students to the computer because they do not have to use a search engine. The websites are provided for them. I think it is still hard to do first grade and under because the students are still learning to read, but enough pictures would make it work. I am planning on teaching continent locations to first grade. I have found several fun websites that my students could use and I am excited to learn how to put the whole thing together.

Website evaluation

Today in our educational technology class we evaluated websites. I evaluated nickjr.com because my 4 year old cousin plays on it all the time. I first used the Kathy Schrock evaluation. I found that the site has a lot of pictures, which helps young children navigate the website. From what I saw, nothing was misspelled. At the bottom of the page, it listed who made the website and had a link titled contact where you could email the authors. There was information in columns to make the site look interesting and there was a way to go back to the homepage after you entered the game. This really helps children to navigate the website. On a slower connection, it may take some time to load the games, but the games are educational and fun.

I then used the Wave site that tells how many accessibility errors there are on the site. This particular site has 8.

Then I used the Cornell guide. I found that the site was updated quite frequently. (usually weekly)

and that the links on the site really complemented it. It had links that would send you to good sites for both parents and children.

All in all I really enjoyed this site and I think it would be a good site for children to use.

Spreadsheets

We learned about spreadsheets today. I think it would be really beneficial to use the googledocs spreadsheet to create a survey that parents could fill out. This could help the parents of my students feel that they are more involved and have a say in what goes on in the classroom. I am really excited about the survey function! Also, excel makes graphing and finding totals simple once you know how to use it. I really enjoy using excel!