Final Blog

 Virtual Field Trips are great tools for the Elementary classroom. They allow for the students to explore places in the world they may never have the opportunity to visit or explore subjects that are not particularly exciting in a fun, engaging way. The way the trips are created force the students to be actively involved in their learning, clicking through the slides to travel to the next destination or waiting for the animation to phase out and for the next slide to appear. The Virtual Field Trips can be intricate and detailed, but they are easily created through the use of the tool Power Point.

Virtual Field Trip completely changed my outlook on the use of Power Point. I now have a newfound love for the tool and swear to myself to never create another slide show with facts bulleted on a fancy repetitive background again, ever. Power Point, surprisingly offers many features that allow for interactive presentations, many of which my teachers had never taken advantage of in their classrooms. Some of the features I had used to enhance the traveling experience in my Virtual Field Trip included:

            Custom backgrounds

            Use of cartoon characters

            Photo editing tools, ex- removing the background of an image
            Animations- rippling pages, making chat bubbles appear and disappear making it
                        seem like the characters are speaking with each other.

With a combination of those four features, I was able to create custom slides, by taking bits and pieces from larger images to create the scene I desired. As mentioned above the animations allow characters to seem as though they are speaking with the students and traveling with them through the trip.

The photo to the right is a slide from the virtual field trip I created. The virtual field trip allows the students to travel through the depths of the ocean with the characters from SpongeBob Squarepants. The students explore a marine ecosystem along with briefly visiting the two other ecosystems, freshwater and terrestrial. Sandy Cheeks is the character on the rights, with animations she appears and disappears and then reappears on top of the mountain, making the students feel as though they are traveling into the photo of the terrestrial ecosystem because the next slide is the photo enlarged with Sandy still on top of the mountain. The student is able to "travel" and "explore" while learning.


The "experiential" learning attached with the virtual field trips is a great asset to the classroom, an asset that will definitely be apart of my future lessons. The slides force the students to take ownership of their learning while exploring the subject of the virtual field trip. The differentiated presentation of the information allows multiple different students to access the information and understand the content. The students take directions from the characters to their next destination. Also it allows the students to access the information at any time, eliminating the age old excuse of "forgetting" or "losing" the paper with all of the information. The virtual field trips are also a great use as hooks for major projects during the semester to get the students excited for the project, rather than dreading the work that is presented on a spare piece of black and white paper.

The video will help further understand the importance of the virtual field trips. It describes the trips the students take, how they are able to expand their learning beyond their own small world and create global leaders. The students will be able to explore worlds they may never be able to explore in real life. The video also explains software used to create the virtual field trips.

iPad in the Elementary Classroom

The iPad is a great tool for teachers in an elementary classroom. Often times the mornings can become hectic with children piling into the classroom from buses and drop offs, with the iPad teachers are able to take attendance, eliminating the hassle of having to reenter the attendance after handwriting it.  Also as the students work in class, the teacher can walk and easily assess the students’ work as they are doing it and Asses their class work skills. Again this eliminates transferring the data from hardcopy to online.

The iPad has many applications available for teachers in the elementary classroom. Below are highly rated applications for multiple subjects in the elementary classroom. For each of these applications, teachers are able to connect the iPad to a projector so each student can see the application in use.

Science: Solar System for iPad

This application is great when discovering the solar system. It provides the students an opportunity to feel as if they are roaming the galaxy while they are sitting at their desk. It is also very interactive.

Mathematics: MathBoard

            MathBoard is a great study tool for students. Teachers are able to post study math questions to the application, make practice quizzes and Asses the students progress as they complete study problems and quizzes. Students can access the questions and quizzes from their own iPad through iTunes file sharing, giving them the opportunity to practice the problems at home. It is also compatible with the iPod touch and phone, if the student does not have the iPad available.

Social Studies: American Presidents for iPad

 American Presidents for the iPad is a interactive way to learn all the the Presidents of the United States. Each President is in their respective cartoon form along with a brief history. There is also a timeline of the Presidents of when they were in office.



Spelling: SpellBoard

The same company as MathBoard application created spells Board. It too allows the teacher to post the spelling words of the week. Students are able to write the spelling board on the white board using their finger. With this feature they get used to seeing the words and writing the word. Practice quizzes are available and the teacher can track the student’s progress. Students can access the questions and quizzes from their own iPad through iTunes file sharing, giving them the opportunity to practice the problems at home. It is also compatible with the iPod touch and iPhone, if the student does not have the iPad available

Writing: Toontastic and Puppet Pals

Toontastic allows the students to put their writing into an illustration. The can create a play with their characters and draw the scenery.

 

Puppet Pals is very similar to Toontastic but Puppet pals allow the students to take their own pictures and make them characters in their story.

            

Reading: iBooks and Acceleread

   iBooks is a free application giving teachers and students a wide variety of free books at their fingertips. For students they are able to explore different genres and practice their reading skills.

         
Acceleread is an application to improve reading speed. This targets the slower reader in the classroom and also helps the fast reader. This overall could help improve literacy for underprivileged students.




Below is a video of other uses for the iPad to improve literacy in the elementary classroom.

Using the iPad in the classroom enhance the child's learning experience. A more holistic education is created, using technology allowing the students access to more learning techniques. It also helps to target the troubled learner by presenting the material in a different way.