Looking for collaborators on a "First Day of School" project

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Permalink Reply by Fran Riley on August 22, 2009 at 5:59pm

Hi Sam,

I am a first grade teacher in Pennsville, NJ. My students are 6 and 7 years old. I am new to all of this, but I love the idea of using a wiki to collaborate. The first day of school is a great idea. I've been following the conversation. I'd like to join your wiki so I can look at what you are doing and learn from it. I have limited experience. I'm not sure how much help I'd be. Will your students contribute to the wiki or will you be entering their responses? Did you have to get permission to use their photos or work on the wiki?

Fran

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Permalink Reply by Samuel Fye on August 23, 2009 at 5:58pm

This is all new to me (and to many teachers, I gather). If I am ahead of you in knowledge at all, it is only by a day or two! I mostly wanted to gain some experience and get a colleague list--I am glad that so many people seem to enjoy the project! Just go to the wiki and request to join (if you have not already). Looking forward to working with you!

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Permalink Reply by Fran Riley on August 23, 2009 at 8:29pm

Thanks, Sam!
I look forward to watching this project develop in the next couple of weeks. Our students start school on Sept. 9th.
When you set up the wiki, did you do it as a k-12 educator? Someone said that your wiki can be ad-free if you are a k-12 educator and the wiki is for educational purposes.
I am going to try to do a wiki that will involve parents/grandparents-Schools-Past and Present. The students and I will do what school is like today and we'll ask parents/grandparents to contribute to the schools in the past. It is an idea that K. Cassidy , a first grade teacher in Canada, did. It goes along with a social studies unit we do in first grade. I shared my plan with our Technology Facilitator. I'm just waiting for permission. Cross your fingers.
Fran :-)

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on August 24, 2009 at 6:27am

Fran, always get permission to publish student photo or work. Potentially big trouble if you don't. N

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Permalink Reply by Annemarie Stoeckel on August 23, 2009 at 2:57pm

If you like to get some ideas from former projects, here's a couple that I participated in last year:

http://onlineautumn2008.wikispaces.com/

http://winterwonderland.wikispaces.com/

There are examples of Voicethread, Voki, TeacherTube, and many other free Web 2.0 tools that work well on both Macs and PCs. Also, you can go into your settings and request that the ads be removed from the wiki since we are using it for k-12. That always makes it look nicer:)

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Permalink Reply by Fran Riley on August 23, 2009 at 3:36pm

Hi Annemarie,

I just checked out the two links for the wikis you participated in last year. Wow-there were so many wonderful ideas. I am new to Web 2.0 tools so it helps to see how other teachers are using them. I was excited because I found a project similar to one that another teacher and I did last year. The teacher on the wiki extended it by doing a Voice Thread. Now I am rethinking how I do several other projects in my classroom. It is reassuring to know that I don't have to reinvent the wheel in order to use the Web 2.0 tools. How did you find those projects to participate in? Thank you for sharing!
Fran :-)

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Permalink Reply by Annemarie Stoeckel on August 24, 2009 at 12:34pm

Hi Fran,

I was able to find out about those projects through Twitter and another Ning I belong to called Elementary Tech Teachers. We had so much fun and learned so much. I'm looking foward to becoming more involved with projects this year.

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Permalink Reply by Samuel Fye on August 24, 2009 at 5:54pm

Checked out your sites (plus a couple others of yours I found on your profile) and they looked great! I noticed the VoiceThread on Goodwin2in (Winterwonderland) and see that it is neatly embedded into the blog. I can't figure out how to do that--looks so much nicer. Also, Voki is blocked at our school, and they do not let teachers around the firewall (boneheads--don't get me started!). Thanks for the advice.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on August 24, 2009 at 6:25am

Sam, did you know you can get wikispaces for kids without ads? http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
You might want to get in touch with the wiki guys and have them remove the ads. I find them distracting and so do kids! Plus you sometimes get ads inappropriate for kids. N

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Permalink Reply by Trudy Parker on August 22, 2009 at 6:31pm

Sam: What a great idea. Since your age group will be under 13, have you thought about hosting your project on Thinkquest.com It is a safe site & kids under 13 can use it. I also think museum box would be a great way to showcase your first day research project.

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Permalink Reply by Samuel Fye on August 23, 2009 at 5:49pm

I hadn't heard of these sites, but I will check them out. At the moment, I have 11 tabs open on my browser of all the things I am trying to learn about, so I am getting a little overloaded--but I am enjoying all the things I am learning. Thanks for the site info!

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Permalink Reply by Mary Freeman on August 23, 2009 at 9:45am

Hi Sam,
I teach 5th grade in NC and would like to participate in the "First Day of School" project. Betsye Sargent sent me your link. I am a member of web 2.0, Audacity (for voicethreads), Animots, Skype, and wikipages. Our 1st day is Tuesday 8-25. I will take lots of pics. Please let me know if there is room for my class on this project.
Thanks,
Mary Freeman
mfreeman@rcsnc.org

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