tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27778842918351340892011-09-06T12:51:35.788-04:00Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-76333235762678416542010-04-30T15:54:00.002-04:002010-04-30T15:58:39.390-04:00

This past year I have taken a new job as an Instructional Technology Specialist. Since my job has changed and I am no longer teaching technology in the classroom, I have started a new blog to share educational technology resources. Please visit my new blog: InTec InSights. Thanks for following!

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-91416504745503185612009-03-30T15:00:00.005-04:002009-03-30T15:08:34.934-04:00

COMPARE AND CONTRAST! 4th grade students use venn diagrams to compare and contrast topics throughout the curriculum. In computer class, students have the opportunity to find out more about one of their classmates in this venn diagram lesson. First, students us a planning sheet to answer some basic questions like "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" or "How many sisters do you have?". Then,

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-34925467072759070152009-03-06T13:56:00.004-05:002009-03-06T14:49:09.575-05:00

A MAGICAL TALE LIKE NO OTHER! My 3rd grade students are writing Shamrock Stories. They use Microsoft Word and the website to copy and paste shamrock words in place of typed words when they are available. Students practice copy/paste and engage in creative writing. The stories that my students have written usually are about shamrocks, magic, leprechauns, and gold, but students can write stories

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-36856080452010476932009-03-06T13:01:00.003-05:002009-03-06T13:11:37.267-05:00

I'VE NEVER SEEN A SNOWMAN LIKE THAT! My 2nd grade students created a wacky snowman using Build A Snowman. This interactive site lets the user change hats, heads, clothing, feet, and even backgrounds, and objects. After lots of giggling, students made a snowman that I copied (print screen) and pasted into a word processing program. Students wrote about their snowman using as many descriptive words

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-23630779638788081392009-03-06T11:32:00.004-05:002009-03-06T11:41:49.774-05:00

WHO AM I? See if you can guess the who the famous person is as you view our PowerPoint flash videos on our school website. The 5th grade students researched a famous person using Bio4Kids, Presidential Biographies, American History Biographies, Fact Monster Biographies, or Spectrum Biographies. Then they created a guessing game using PowerPoint. The project has a title page, four pages of

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-54799809596374741672009-03-06T11:16:00.004-05:002009-03-06T11:23:16.277-05:00

YOU FORGOT TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH! MOVE BACK 3 SPACES! My 3rd grade students made game boards to reinforce healthy life skills. If you land on a healthy event, like exercising daily, you will move forward. But beware, landing on unhealthy events like eating too many fatty and sugary snacks could send you back to the beginning.Our game boards were created in Kidspiration, using a teacher created

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-15297648897343105352009-03-06T10:47:00.005-05:002009-03-06T11:12:56.661-05:00

THIS IS WHERE I LIVE! My 4th grade students are learning geography skills, so we are using Google Earth in the computer lab. First, I taught them how to use Google Earth and how to find locations. The new 5.0 beta version has some great new features like the ability to look back at satellite images in history, to look at the stars and Mars, and to look underwater.Next, we used Google earth to

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-91539421968676978082009-02-02T17:12:00.002-05:002009-02-02T17:16:26.695-05:00

I LOVE WRITING! That is what my students say when we publish in a fun way. For Valentine's Day my 4th grade students used Microsoft Word to write about the things in their life that they love. Then they copied and pasted their text to the Party Printer online to create the heart shape. The web site does all the formatting for you!

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-46775005728855949262009-02-02T16:55:00.007-05:002009-02-02T17:07:47.404-05:00

My 1st grade students have been learning to make pages in StoryBook Weaver. The students each created a page showing their favorite thing. I copied the pages into PowerPoint and recorded each student reading their page. Then I recorded the Flash video presentation using Jing. Now we have some great books that the students can show their families at home! Click here to see a video!

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-47154006955482121862009-02-02T16:41:00.003-05:002009-02-02T16:53:19.371-05:00

This month I have started podcasting with my students. I am working in cooperation with the classroom teachers. Teachers that are interested write a script with their students based on something that they are learning in class. The students practice their lines and then they come to the lab to record. I use Audacity to record the students and then I add music and sound effects. Some of my

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-69086579185287299252009-01-12T14:11:00.004-05:002009-01-12T14:18:07.067-05:00

WE ARE WILD THINGS! 2nd grade students got creative in making their "wild" images using the Build Your Wild Self web site from the NY Zoos and Aquariums. Then each student wrote about three things that they could do with their new animal parts. Danny wrote that he can hear well with bat ears and he is correct. The writing part of this project makes student think creatively and makes them

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-70316088433932788252009-01-08T14:59:00.006-05:002009-01-09T14:52:46.568-05:00

WHY WRITE A REPORT WHEN YOU CAN MAKE A GLOG? My 3rd grade students made some great glogs (online posters) using Glogster. First they researched an animal with the What's It Like Where You Live? web site. Then we learned how to make a glog. We changed the background (wall), added text boxes for each fact, and uploaded images and a citation. The students loved using Glogster and they were so

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-17336671821129941012009-01-08T13:14:00.005-05:002009-01-09T14:53:39.240-05:00

FUN AND GAMES! During the holiday season that is about all that is on the minds of my students. So, my 4th grade students made a timeline showing when our top 10 favorite classic toys were invented.First we used the Ideafinder: History of Toys and Games Web Site to research. Then we added the names of the toys and dates they were invented to our Timeliner program. Finally, we copied and pasted

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-70599955592788633232008-12-28T21:01:00.008-05:002009-01-07T11:42:18.375-05:00

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

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-68031210708438528632008-12-22T14:21:00.006-05:002009-01-08T14:13:51.626-05:00

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

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-18931794568495528172008-12-22T13:14:00.004-05:002008-12-22T14:12:00.871-05:00

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

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-77951135737534531222008-12-08T12:53:00.002-05:002008-12-08T13:08:59.698-05:00

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

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-47059557519071026182008-11-24T11:30:00.004-05:002008-12-08T13:10:21.781-05:00

My 5th grade students are studying the US Government and Presidents so we are making Wordles to learn some facts about the Presidents. First we copy and paste some biographical information about each president from the USA for Kids web site in the Wordle creator. The students change fonts, colors, layout, and can even remove words from the image. The images are pulled into a word-processing

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-64522906756144034012008-11-24T10:33:00.005-05:002008-12-08T13:10:58.249-05:00

THIS IS MY 15 MINUTES OF FAME! The art teacher (Mille Watson) and I are teaching an enrichment class for 5th grade. Our topic is Andy Warhol and we have so many fun art and technology activities for the students to use. We are beginning the presentation with a great PowerPoint slideshow created by Mrs. Rouse of Rock Ledge Elementary in Wisconsin. Next the students take digital pictures of

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2777884291835134089.post-58635850853884394462008-11-19T14:42:00.011-05:002008-12-22T14:11:30.410-05:00

LET IT SNOW! It's time to celebrate some wintery weather and my 2nd grade students are having fun designing their own snowflakes by using Make A Flake. It is fun just to play with or you can use the snowflakes in projects.The students made a snowflake online and then saved it as an image file. We pulled the images into a word processing software, and then typed and formatted a snowflake poem. We

Karen Ogenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055257340514140905noreply@blogger.com0