Weeks 1-2 Using Technology

We officially have two 4 day weeks in. It was such a blast for me. After I got through all the get to know you and routine preaching, I was able to really focus on my goal for the year: Use Technology to Strengthen Learning.
Earlier this week, we got to use our newly acquired I-Pod Touch (thanks PTO). I loaded up a great video from a podcast favorite of mine: BestofYouTube (screen all videos before showing). We watched: The Happiest DJ in the World. The kids took notes during the video of the funny things the DJ did. Once the video was done (we watched it twice), we worked on a Hamburger Paragraph about the DJ. The kids absolutely loved it. Even my reluctant writers didn't realize they were having so much fun writing a 5 sentences paragraph.
Today we got to make use of the Nintendo Wii. It is one of my learning centers for the next week. The group of students played the highly addictive, WordJong and tried to solve the daily puzzle. When they were done, they woite down their word list and handed it in. They used word building skills, teamwork, beginning and ending sounds, just to name a few. I let them use their QuickWords dictionary too, which helped build their dictionary skills. The game tracks their score and if they completed the daily puzzle. This was also really fun, and every kid was figuring out how many days until they were at that center.
I also had my computer center accessing our class website all week at: http://webapps.linemountain.com/blogs/dalgrade2/

Stay tuned for more.