Melissa+Martin

=Melissa Martin=

This is my 6th year teaching kindergarten at Pleasant Hill. I have five children ranging in age from 2 to 16. Needless to say, my household keeps me busy when I am not at Pleasant Hill. I am a product of the Seaman district and have attended Rochester, Northern Hills and graduated from Seaman.

Some Wiki's I like:
A story before bed A site that allows you to record books online!

Chet's Creek kindergarten wiki - this wiki is full of kindergarten curriculum!

[|Muppet Wiki - Sand Alphabet] - fabulous wiki that targets letter formation and recognition

[|Everyday Math wiki K-6]- great wiki for use with our math program

I was posting things on all sorts of different discussion areas and am just figuring out that I should pull them together onto my page! Sheesh!

**PLN** Assignment
I have tried out some new networks and tried to use my existing networks in different ways. I joined Thinkfinity (melmartin) and Plurk (melmartin). I have an existing facebook account that I use mainly for keeping up with friends and a twitter account which I use for a news center of sorts. I have never "tweeted" and I have no followers on twitter. I follow 60 different people/groups and enjoy the quick bursts of news and information. What I like about using twitter in this manner is that I don't have to "keep up" with anyone. I get on sporadically and scroll through the information. While I think Facebook can be used many different ways, my account already has some personal information and pictures of my family, etc., so I would hesitate to friend people I didn't know for networking purposes. So, my existing networks failed for this task. I first joined Plurk, but had difficulty navigating. I'm pretty fickle and if I can't get a site to work for me quickly and easily I lose interest. I then joined Thinkfinity and have really enjoyed going through this site. It is full of useful information and posts. It seems to me that it is sort of what my Facebook could have been if I wasn't concerned about the privacy issues.

**Google Tools**
[|MelMartin1] Jun 27, 2011 11:10 am I have been playing around with the google calendar and have really liked what it has to offer. I wish there was a way to transfer all of the data off of my ical onto the google calendar so I wouldn't have to start from scratch, but it might still be worth it to have web access. Update: I did eventually figure out how to integrate my two calendars, although I am not sure how and am not sure I could do it again! I was also able to use the igoogle home page for my computer and I LOVE IT! My home page has been an error page for the past year - so although anything would have been an improvement, I am particularly happy with this customizable page. Picasa is fabulous. I think there was a program like this a couple of years ago that some of my friends were using but it was just for Windows (I think). Since I am not a scrapbooker I have great need for photo help! Love this program. I see that what I have chosen from this section primarily benefits me, the teacher - rather than my students. However, all will assist my organization and that should benefit the class as a whole!

**Web 2.0 Tools**
So many! Amimoto is my favorite from the start. I've used this for personal pictures. My daughter has taught me how to use Picknik - as she uses it to edit her pictures for Facebook! Read Write Think really is the "jackpot" for lesson plans, etc. And Tux Paint is a favorite in the kindergarten class during computer centers! I had a little trouble with Vocaroo - may just be my slow satellite internet, not sure - I was disappointed as I think it has a lot of classroom potential, so I'll give it a try again at school.

Animoto: At the beginning of the school year: Compile pictures of the teachers the students will see throughout the day and load them into Animoto with some good old Dr. Jean or Stephen Fite back to school music as the back drop. As the teachers come up, say their names out loud. Encourage the students to chime in if they remember the name. Pretty soon everyone will be a familiar face - a big deal at the beginning of Kindergarten. Later in the year we could do pictures of students during activity or field trips and have them tally each time they saw themselves etc. The transitions are great, it's easy to load the pics up and I think it could be a useful tool. So far I've only used it for family pics, but I think the school potential is there. I could even put a link on my website.

Tux Paint: Read __The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree__ by Gail Gibbons. Check out the mobile lab and open up Tux Paint on the computers (actually, we could even use the computer lab as it will be open this year) tell the students to create a drawing of what it looks outside in the fall. Ask them questions to guide them such as, "Is the grass still green in the fall? Do the leaves stay on the trees in the fall? Do we need to wear jackets in the fall?" Turn them loose for a while to create their picture with the Tux Paint tools - monitor to make sure they're on the right track. Print off the finished projects and display on a fall bulletin board!

Teacher Web Pages:
I did add links to my Useful links page, but was hoping to add some blinkies and possibly some other fun animations. I have been a little stressed out with this and it has slowed me down! Ironically, it seems to be my slower internet connection speed just as ewoodman warned!! So, I would have been one of those frustrated parents at home trying to get it to work. I teach at and live in the Pleasant Hill district where the far reaches are not covered by Cox cable or ATT high speed, a lot of residents have satellite internet or even- yes, even dial up (Say it isn't so!). Knowing this it may be better for me to shy away from blinging my page up too much and focus on keeping useful content and easy navigation. Mrs. Martin's Kindergarten Web Page