Inspiration kidspiration

This week we looked at a lot of different types of software that could be used in the classroom. One of them that we looked at in particular was called Kidspiration. Kidspiration is very useful for making mind maps, activities involving writing, or a variety of other things. What makes kidspiration great for classroom use is the fact that it will talk you through everything and explain what each icon means or what each picture is. It engages more senses and helps children associate different words with pictures and the spelling of the particular word. This website has a short tutorial and some of the different ways that kidspiration can be used http://www.vickiblackwell.com/kidspiration.html. We used kidspiration this week to make a web of our family and friends, we then went into the writing mode and wrote a short note or prayer for this person. While this activity was fairly simple it made you get accustomed to the software and it made you take a moment to remember why you were thankful for certain people. It was a good way to make you remember those most important to you while still at the same time exploring a software that could one day be used in your classroom.