Wordle

Hey!

Just wanted to share another tool with all of you! It is called Wordle. Wordle is a visual representation of words.  I never heard of this type of tool until my professor had brought it to my class's attention.  The way it works is that you type in whatever words you may want to represent in a word cloud.  For example, a teacher or a student can use this type of tool for describing themselves, as a welcome sign with student names, to describe a school's mascot or learning vocabulary words.  Other examples include students creating a word cloud of the national symbols in our country or to illustrate a period of time or events on a timeline.

I decided to make a wordle on the national symbols.  Wordle is easy to use for all grade levels and it even helps children to be aware of what their learning about in the classroom. 

Below you will see my sample of a wordle! It did not take long to make, but now the students are able to have a visual of the symbols that will be taught in class.  My dislike would be that I can't arrange where I exactly want the words to go.  One just has to play around with the randomizer until one finds where they want the words to fall.  You are, however, able to change the color of the font and the text font.

My wordle can be used as a game to see how many national symbols they can find.



Glogster

Hey Everyone!

Are you looking for something to keep your students interested in your lessons or keeping your parents informed? Try Glogster! It is an interactive poster site.  Check out my sample for my EDU560 class (My Glogster).  Every month at my daycare center we have to send a newsletter out to the parents to inform them on what is going on in the classroom.  This site was a great way to incorporate what I want them to know.  It has fun colors and lets you add videos and images!  I can put images or videos of a fun project we did, special events that happened at the school, or videos that were shown in class and will help the students. Instead of using a typical Microsoft Word document, I think Glogster lets you show your creative side and spruce up your letter. 

There are lots of other ways one can use Glogster such as presentations (who needs to buy a poster board anymore), learning about a student or a teacher, and teaching a lesson!  There was a sample board that already had the format on making a lesson on the site such as the steps one will need to take to do the lesson and the directions on how to do it.  I am really glad I got introduce to this site.  I will definitely use it in my classroom. I think the students will enjoy it because it is a new way of learning and doing a project.

Although I enjoyed making my sample poster I did find it difficult at first.  Just like anything else that you are first learning to do, it took a couple of trial and errors before I familarize myself with all the buttons and how to work it.  Once I figured it out, it was easy and I couldn't wait to finish it!



This image is a screenshot, please click on  "My Glogster" at the top for direct site!

 

Blabberize

Hello!

As part of an assignment in my EDU560 class I made a blabberize! Blabberize is a website that you can upload an image of choice and make the mouth move and say things you want. You can say a welcome message or even do a biography on a person. I chose to make one because I thought it was a different learning tool and I wanted to get myself familiarized with this website.  I know I will definitely be using it more often!

I found this site to be super easy and so much fun! It can be used for various activities in school. For example, teaching the students their vocabulary or even having them create their own story on a particular person. I made mine for a preschool class as an encouragement for them on their first day back of the week. I know my kids LOVE Caillou so showing this blabber will hopefully make them excited for the day or in some cases, it may even scare them. :0



In case my blabberized image doesn't show up, click this link!