Week Two: Prezi

I started a Prezi for the first day of 5th grade art.  After some frustrations and reading other people's blogs, I finally have it embedded!



I worked on it for a couple hours already, and I can not put any more time into it right now.  I'm sure the process will get faster for me as I learn more about how to use it.  I want to add the information about the logistics of the art room, stuff students need to know on the first day.

This will be better than my old powerpoint for the first lesson of 5th grade art.  I like how easy it is to move things around and the options for grouping ideas and zooming in for more detail and zooming out to see the big picture.  I see lots of potential here.

It looks like my space for using Prezi is extremely limited in the free version.  Does anyone know how to get around this?  Even in the $159/year package, you only get 2MB.  That is not going to cut it.  If I save them to my home folder, are they easy to put back in Prezi.com to present?  Is that how that works?

Week One: Blog Bling

I've been on vacation.  I saw the church that Georgia O'Keefe painted in Taos, New Mexico.  I took lots of pictures and the background is one of them.  I was surprised that it was not out in a rural open area.  It is right in town, and hard to park without getting in someone else's way.  They were adding mud to the adobe exterior when we got there.  A woman said it needs to be done every year.  Then the workmen stopped because there was a funeral about to begin.  We only were able to see the outside and the gift shop, we were fine with that.

The video is called "The Hidden Beauty of Pollination".  I love time lapse photography of growing things and super slowed down video of things like hummingbirds and bats and bees.  The photographer says "We tend to fight to save the things we love"  That is why he does it, to make people fall in love with nature.  He talks briefly about Colony Collapse Syndrome and how this is a big deal in the fight against world hunger.  Pollinators are the "canary in the coal mine".  If they go, most of our food goes.

I am thinking of what to have for a first art lesson of the school year.  I like to try to have it be the same theme for all grade levels, because there is enough other stuff that needs to get done in the first week or so of school, I need to simplify the lesson planning.  Drawing bugs was an idea that was suggested by another Turtle Lake teacher because it will fit with something she is doing.  Connections are good.  Both students who feel secure in their drawing skills and students who do not feel secure in their drawing skills can successfully draw bugs.  The level of detail can easily be ramped up or down.  The first lesson needs to be something easy to understand and quick to finish.  The main goal is for the students to practice the routines of the art room.  Using part of this video could introduce students to the idea of using art to raise public awareness about an important issue.

My first reaction to "How can you use blogging in your classroom?" is "Noooooo! Run Away!!!!!!"  I will try to keep an open mind.  I think it is more  useful as a tool for collaboration between teachers.  Elementary specialists have hundred of families with which to communicate.  A blog is either going to be something that hardly anyone uses (a waste of time to maintain), or something that gets hundreds of comments (impossible to moderate)

I am interested in using Weebly for my website.  Currently, I use teacherweb.com which costs $40/year.  I use my PTA enrichment funds to pay for it.  I have not changed to a free site because it would be a lot of work to set it up again.  Doing the set up as part of this class seems like something I can do.