Learn & Share With Valley View Elementary School

21st Century Education. How do we get there from here?

2010-07-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Many of our current teachers are not prepared to teach skills that meet the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS). Even if there was sufficient time for professional development, without site-based technical and educational support for integrated educational technology, many teachers I know cannot find the time. Everyone who knows me, knows I am a firm supporter of Education Specialists and Assistants holding positions as ed tech coordinators. With all the recent lay-offs of teachers and assistants, the integration of technology with the regular curriculum will diminish from a very haphazard and inconsistent implementation to no implementation. In addition, some major strides have been made recently by way of supportive technology plans to teach Information Technology literacy, Digital Citizenship, and Internet safety to students in grades K-12. However, two significant roadblocks exist that keep these important skills out of the classroom. The first is teacher and assistant layoffs, as many of these teachers are younger and better trained in 21st Century learning and media rich classrooms. The second roadblock is content filtering of the Internet. Many Internet sites that enable learning of key concepts such as copyright, Internet safety, communication and collaboration skills, etc. are being blocked and labeled as "Social Networking" or "File Sharing" or "Blog." Parents are either uninformed of the educational technology curriculum (or lack there-of)at their schools and districts or are unaware of the power of their voice. If you would like to weigh in on this topic please take a few moments to post your views on my wall at wallwisher.com. Here is the link: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/vvtechleader

2009-12-21T07:42:00.001-08:00

Education.com activities

Kids' Activities and Games

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November Character Education Theme: Citizenship

2009-10-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

"Melting Pot" Illustration by Claire Shin, 6th Grade, Valley View Elementary
Link to a great Web site focusing on character education resources for elementary school.

Start of School Delayed by the Station Fire in the Foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains!

2009-09-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

Photo by Laura Laing
Well it's not a "snow day," exactly. Students at Valley View Elementary School received three extra days of summer vacation this week because of the Station Fire in the mountains and foothills above our school. Despite the cheering from some of you that the start of school would be delayed, many Valley View students were evacuated from their homes as fire and smoke threatened to take over our little crescent-shaped valley. I'm sure that was scary. I know now that all of you are safe and the fires, at least in our area, are under control.

Did you know that fires in our foothills are a normal and necessary occurrence? Many of the plants and trees that grow in our chaparral environment need fire to release new seeds into the soil. The fire also provides nutrients to the soil that help these types of plants to grow. Back in the early 20th Century, fires in the foothills were so common that they rarely made the front page news; of course, there were few people living so high in the foothills back then.

We all need to think about the environment we live in and how we interact with nature. We live in a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains and blue sky; the topography forms a crescent shape that cradles and shelters us from many outside influences. Our geography helps make us feel more like a close family in our community. We, in turn, have an impact on our environment. Moving closer and closer into the wild, chaparral habitat can have consequences. We have disrupted wildlife, including mountain lions, deer and coyotes; and these animals continue to threaten our pets. The chaparral plants need to burn periodically to be healthy and regrow. The floods we fear used to carry rocks, pebbles and sand away from our foothills all the way to the ocean, keeping white, sandy beaches at the shoreline. Environmental scientists have studied the interface of human populations and our foothills for many years. They ask, "how can we best live here, without danger to humans or harm to the environment?" They have come up with many interesting answers, but none completely solve the problem of fires and erosion. Think about this for a while. What possible solutions could you come up with to make living in the San Gabriel foothills better for humans and the environment? This is our community, and we love it. The ruggedness of the mountains mirrors our own ruggedness and our ability to survive in a beautiful, but tough, environment.

Even though it's still very smokey, school will start tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing all my students in the computer lab and hearing your stories about the Station Fire and what you did with your extra days of summer vacation. My friend Bill and I stood on our balcony watching the fires all week, and Bill took some really interesting pictures. Here is a slide show of all the pictures he and I took from Tujunga to JPL in La Canada. Most of them are taken from our balcony on Honolulu Ave. If you look closely, you will see some pictures from the front of Valley View.

No Future Left Behind by Peggy Sheehy

2009-08-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

"We know how to memorize, teach us to think."
Indeed.

Ask students about the future and how their classroom education relates to their life and you may get an earful too...To see more about this video and other ISTE Digital Stories click here. Tell your story and enter the ISTE Digital Stories Contest and you might win a trip to the NECC 2010 Conference in Denver Colorado. Check it out by clicking here.

Welcome to Masters of MultiMedia!

2009-06-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

San Gabriel Valley CUE Tech Fair Presentation

2009-06-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

My students and I just love Kidspiration idea mapping software. Beyond the obvious application of creating graphic organizers, we use Kidspiration for many other creative assignments, from storyboarding, to comic strips, to math practice, and beyond. Here is my presentation from the SGVCUE Tech Fair in May, 2009. Feel free to download the file and create your own Kidspiration templates. Click here to link to the Inspired Learning Community for more resources.

California Missions by my 4th Grade Class

2009-05-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

This is a delightful slide show featuring digital artwork by 4th graders from Valley View Elementary School. The students used Kid Pix painting tools to complete their mission painting which was then exported to MS Word, printed and used as their mission report cover.

The California Visual and Performing Arts Standards are integrated with computer lab technology curriculum:

My Bookmarks For Educators and Students

2009-04-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Make a word cloud of all your tags at Wordle.net.

Look what else you can do with Wordle!

CaliforniaStreaming Digital Photgraphy Contest

2009-03-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my talented Valley View students! Grant won first place in the CaliforniaStreaming Digital Photography contest with his photo, Lady Bug Life.
Ada won honorable mention for Bee Perching on Lavender.

Central Intelligence Agency?

2009-01-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

I have a gadget on my homepage that feeds news from the directory: Federal Resources for Educational Excellence. An interesting website from this feed caught my eye this morning as I reviewed what's new in my edusphere (read: my absolutely indispensable iGoogle homepage and Google Reader). There is a kid's page for the Central Intelligence Agency designed, ostensibly, to teach elementary age students about this "independent U.S. government agency." There are games, teacher lessons, and "top secret things you wont find anywhere else" built into the interactive, Flash Player driven, production. I played the Aeriel Analysis Challenge and Break the Code games. Personally, I felt some degree of cynicism and paranoia playing these games, but then I'm an adult, with a good memory and a penchant for conspiracy theories...I'll let you decide for yourselves. CIA, The work of a Nation, The Center of Intelligence.

Discovery Educator Network Western Regional Conference

2008-09-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don't fence me in.

You've got to love Cole Porter's lyrical sensibilities. I just came home from a great weekend at the DEN western regional conference at Mulholland Middle School in Van Nuys. Appropriately, our theme this year was "Wagons Ho" complete with cowboy hats (10 gallon), ranch hands (Discovery Stars), gold mines (of information),cow patties (leave them on the prairie please), Chuck Wagons (we were well fed) and, of course, cowbells (more cowbells please). The Discovery Educator Network ALWAYS puts on a good program.

Don't fence me in. Don't fence my students in... Thoughtful, purposeful, integration of technology in the learning environment liberates teachers and students from the stock pen. Today's students want to create as well as learn; technology offers endless opportunities for creating and infinite possibilities for teaching. Our conference this weekend gave educators the opportunity to share ideas, learn new applications for use in the classroom, network with colleagues, and refill our buckets of inspiration and enthusiasm to share with our students. How lucky our students are, and how thankful I am to have to have such a great network of friends. Even when you think you know it all already ("yes, I already use that application, web site, practice," etc), you can't know all the creative ways others have used in their classrooms with success. I learned several valuable new things I plan to bring to my students this year. Watch this blog for examples of the great things I'm now planning to teach this year. Thank you Discovery Education Network and Discovery Streaming!

Through the Looking Glass - The Jabberwocky

2008-07-17T11:59:00.001-07:00

The voice part of the voicethread seems to be slow loading. If it doesn't load properly please go directly to Voicethread Link.

Welcome to Masters of Multimedia Summer Enrichment Class!

2008-07-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Get a Voki now!

California State Symbols - 4th Grade Graphic Art Project

2008-06-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

CaliforniaStreaming Digital Photo Contest

2008-02-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

Today my 5th and 6th grade students submitted original digital photos to the California Streaming Photo Contest. The photos may now be used without copyright by other students around the world. The contest theme was natural landscapes and each student, in addition to taking the photo, had to write a brief essay explaining how their picture fit the theme. I am happy to share their work here.

Quotable Quotes Writing Project

2007-07-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Toufee.com is an extraordinary, free resource for teachers and students! You do not need to be a computer programmer to create flash movies at Toufee; even if you do get confused, their excellent support staff will answer your questions right away. Making flash movies has tremendous potential for students grades 6-12. Students practice their writing strategies, learn visual and media literacy, and can publish their work to a large, diverse audience. Below are several student-created flash movies; each student has a unique voice and vision. Enjoy!

Aaron's Quotes

2007-07-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Quotable Quotes by Jenna

2007-07-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

Summer School Student Comics I Like: "Vanity" and "1 vs 10"

2007-07-03T16:50:00.000-07:00