Who Am I? Silhouette and Acrostic Poem

DIGITAL CAMERA FUN! At the beginning of the school year my 3rd grade students create silhouettes of themselves using the digital camera. They then add a "Who Am I?" acrostic poem to their picture. The finished projects are displayed so that all of our students and staff can guess who each student is based on their picture and description. Those who figure out that the poem is an acrostic, figure out the identities quickly.

The details: 1. Take a digital photo of the student's profile with a plain white background. 2. Teacher edits out any background as necessary. 3. Students pull picture into PrintShop or similar program. 4. Students edit picture, removing brightness and increasing contrast until just a silhouette remains. 5. Students add an acrostic poem that gives clues about themselves!

The Colors of Winter 2nd Grade Books

WINTER IS HERE! My 2nd grade classes are celebrating the Winter season by writing books. The winter season does not have to be all white and grey, the students see red sleds, purple boots, and green scarves. Each student drew a winter item and a color word using Kidpix. I brought each page into a PowerPoint presentation. As a class, the students recorded our book title. Then individually the students recorded on their own page about the colors they see in the winter. I used SlideBoom to record the PowerPoint presentation and uploaded the books to our school web site for the students to share with their family and friends. See and listen to our books here!

Internet Safety for Elementary Students

This month I am focusing on Internet safety with my 4th and 5th grade students. I found some great resources to use. The Safe Side web site has a great video with John Walsh (America's Crime Fighter) and Julie Clark (founder of Baby Einstein) about being safe on the Internet. The video is funny and quirky and the topics and tips are perfect for elementary students. I bought this video, but I found out that you can rent this video through Netflix. The site also offers free resource guides for families and schools. Another great site to use is CyberSmart- with a whole curriculum for Internet safety, privacy, copyright issues, and cyberbullying for several grade levels. It is so important for all teachers, especially technology teachers to teach safety topics. Many of our students use the Internet daily for information, games, and socializing. Lets help keep them safe!

Other great sites:

Netsmartz Kids

AT&Ts Safety Land Game

Media Awareness Network

Kidspiration Name Pictures

BEGINNING SOUNDS, LETTER RECOGNITION, and TECHNOLOGY! My 1st grade students are using Kidspiration for the first time. They open a file containing the number of letters that they have in their first names. Then then write their names along the top of the page, above each box. Finally, they find pictures that have the same beginning letter as each letter in their name. The students enjoy finding images to add to their project and it's a plus when the image is animated!

Coming soon: Kidspiration files that you can download!