ROC

I am Rolf Chappell and have been in the Seaman district for 29 years. I have spent 23 of those years at Pleasant Hill. Most of those years have been at fifth grade.

Wikis I like:
Cool Tool for School ScienceFreestuff

PLN: 6/20/11
I joined ThinkFinity. I believe it has a lot more to offer than just talking to individuals(although it has that too). ScreenName: rchappell 6/21/11 Responded to a post on the use of SmartBoards in the classroom. That thread was interesting(SmartBoard). Got some good websites.

I don't particularly like PLNs, especially facebook, twitter, etc. I see more use in something like Thinkfinity because you can kill lots of birds with one stone. 6/22/11 I went through several threads, Lounge, ThinkFinity 101, Professional Dev. There is a lot of info in there and good discussion on current topics. Once again TIME is the big problem. With developing lessons, contacting students/parents, and family, there isn't a whole lot of time to go through and find what you need all the time. Summer seems to be the best time to do most of this. I wonder if each teacher would specialize in a certain area of expertise we couldn't cover more material in the classroom. 6/23/11 I'm finding that a lot of summertime posts are retrospective of the previous year. Since I'm not a touchy-feely kind of guy, I find it hard to post on most of these boards. 6/24/11 Read some posts in various discussion groups. Nothing struck my fancy. 6/25/11 I joined a group in ThinkFinity. 6/26/11 Waiting for response to post. Checked out some more groups. Good discussion on the need for a college degree.

GoogleTools:6/27/11
I would use Google maps to have the students plan a trip, calculate distance and price of the whole thing. I would tie Google news with Google earth for discussion on world events. The students could find the place on earth where the event is happening. This would also work for events happening in the sea. Hopefully this would give the students a better grasp of the world.

Web 2.0 Tools
(some major types) 3. climate 4. an example of a food chain 5. relationship between biotic/abiotic factors 6. Their thoughts(would you like to live here why/why not)
 * Glogster:** Teach students how to use it. In reading, have the students(small group) create a book report glog. The glog must have a description of the main character/s, setting, main theme of the book, a brief summary of the plot, and a review by the students. The students will have to explain why they chose to design their poster as they did and their individual contribution to the project.
 * Visuword**: I like this tool. I haven't got any idea of how I'd use it, yet. But, I will.
 * Big Huge Lab**:**Cube**: Teach the students how to use the site. **Science**: Creating Biomes: Have the students choose a Biome. On each side of the cube the student will place a picture and brief description/summary of their picture and how it relates to their Biome. **Sides**: 1. animals(some major types) 2. plants
 * Big Huge Lab:Photo Fortune:Writing:** Pick the photo fortune and picture capture the ones I want. Have the students discuss the meaning of the fortune. Next, have them explain why the pictures were chosen to go with the fortune.(make the connection)

Teacher Webpage
I added a voki to Meet the Teacher.

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