Wednesday, April 25, 2007

So I used Technology...a little bit

I had this wonderful lesson plan all ready and created to use to integrate technology within my classroom, but as soon as I had it done my class was done learning about that subject. So I switched really quickly into integrated technology into the science circus that I taught with Angel. We created this really fun science circus for the kids, it consisted of 6 different stations and all involved simple machines. The first three activities the kids created a simple machine, 1 - a helicopter that represented a screw, 2- a flag raiser that represented a pulley, and 3- a pinwheel that represented a wheel and axle. The children LOVED these activities, I even had one child tell me that they couldn't wait to go home and show her mom what she made and what they were. In the three other activities the kids were more mentally involved with simple machines. In activity 5- they picked simple machines out of a big pile of stuff and labeled what they were, and then in activity 6- they put together a puzzle that had hidden simple machines in them and after the kids put the puzzle together they found the simple machines and told the activity leader what they were. Now for activity 4 is where we integrated technology. We had the kids do a little webquest on the laptops. The went to the school's website and into their teacher's page http://williamsburg.va.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/links/links.php?sectiondetailid=2860&sc_id=1177517179. On this page we had a link to a great interactive website about simple machines, http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/index.htm. The children had used this website in a previous class and were very proficient at getting to it and starting to find all the things that they could on compound machines (in the previous class they had searched for simple machines). After going through the toolshed activity (what the compound machine activity was called) and answering all the questions on the game the kids then would go through the questions we had for the science circus and answer those too, if they couldn't answer them we would help them go through the computer game again and point out specific things until they knew the answer. The kids always love to use the computers and as I have seen it, the kids actually use the laptops a fair amount. I know that my teacher uses them for different math and science activites and I have seen the laptop cart almost everyday rolling around the 3rd grade hallway. I believe that the kids enjoyed using the laptops in the way that we had them use them, I also think that they are familar with using them that way in an activity sort of way. So everything went fine and I hope to continue, as I get more comforterable and have more time, to use the laptops and find a more creative way to use them.

2 comments:

Anne Davis said...

Little bits can grow into big "bytes!" Keep on persevering - you will get there. I enjoyed reading about all your creative lessons on simple machines.

Have you had a chance to try out the program "Kidspiration" or does your school have it? You can create a lot of interesting activities with that software. On the web I have found some good webquests through the SDSU WebQuest Search page at
http://webquest.org/search/

Best,
Anne Davis

Unknown said...

Sounds like it went well. Congrats.

Keep the other lesson in your bag of tricks though. I promise the opportunity to use it will arise.