BP# 17 2009124 My Final Project, posted 25 minutes from deadline!

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Ripples/videos/184/

   


My final project is about music education long ago past, the past, and I skipped today and went to the future, including virtual reality and a virtual reality holodeck.  My brother in law was one of the project managers of the holodeck at the University of West Florida's engineering department.  He is NOT the professor who set it up, but he helped find a company that is just a couple of hours from here who worked on it for way less money than the place in TX the professor wanted.  Just think, physically, it's not real far from me.  Wouldn't that be neat to actually take the kids to a holodeck one day and meet Beethoven!  I am more excited about a holodeck than a virtual reality google, because I want to be with the children as they experience these things at K-2 ages.  Just imagining!  


So, this is the screen shot, and the link to viddler.  It is now 10:45, so I need to upload that I have done this project.  I just didn't do it in wetspot.  I did do the discussions. Gosh, I hope they are in the right place.  I never could get back in touch with you tonight.  I understand it's a holiday.  Merry Christmas and sorry I am so technology challenged.  I really did learn alot, though.  

BP#16_2009123_1 Minute Commercial for PhotoXpress.com

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0FBEZJH3nM


(goes to Youtube.com



Plays on the blog, does not leave the blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0FBEZJH3nM


The music is by Carl Orff,  entitled Street Music. It is performed by the children of his classes with the famous Angel Recordings.  Can be found on Itunes.  It is on the level of Jr. High School students or higher to play this on Orff Instruments.  It is also the credits song for the movie with Sean Connery, playing a writer who never leaves his home.  He inspires a very smart young man from the public housing area. I believe it is called, Finding Forrester.  It is a wonderful piece to play, to move to and to just enjoy! (The Movie is quite good, too)

BP#15_2009123response to Chuks web 2.0 tool

 

Dear Chuks, This looks like a really good tool. I think I would like to try it in my classroom. I have children in the early morning time, before school who are always playing, telling stories, etc. If we just write them down and work that way, what a better way to take up time before the school bell rings. We can play and learn at the same time. I believe I will try it out tomorrow morning as the children come in the music/multipurpose room for the hour before school. Thanks for sharing about this. I found some good ones, too. If you can get the link to work, come and see.

December 13, 2009 8:42 PM

BP#14_2009123_Web_2.0_tool_Kidyos.com

http://www.kidyos.com/

Kidyos.com is really cute and geared for little ones.  The children in my school and our 4 year old annex would really enjoy this.  I will make sure the reading specialist shares this web site with the teachers.  I played Caillou for a few minutes and the games were geared for very young children ages 1- 6.  They were engaging for small children.  If the child became distracted, the characters nicely reminded them of ways to play.  Of course, the playing was all involved in learning, but in such a fun way.
    There were several ways to go when you begin.  When you choose the various games, you go to that area.  I went to some singing horses, which were really quite silly, but I could even use it in music class as they were singing in 4 parts, and you could click them to either sing or not.  It was interesting to hear them with or without certain parts.
      You could build a dollhouse, put tracks together on a train track so the train could go.  You could travel in the kitchen for activities there.  It is a great site for little ones.  It would also be good for children with learning disabilities and may be in a repeated grade.  Also, children who speak another language would find it good for learning words in English.  If you know young children, this would be a great!
   This would be good not only in the classroom computers, but on each computer in homes with young children.  I know we got a computer when our oldest child was turning 2 and he took to that Apple IIe really quick.  Children are smart enough to learn to use the computer to play games.  It is amazing how young they can be.  These are wonderful and should be used by all wee lads and lassies. (That is how you speak when you are in Scotland, which is where I was this past summer, working with kids for the 4^th summer in 9 years.)

BP#13_2009123_Web_2.0_tool_typingweb

http://www.typingweb.com


Typing Web


This is a really good site.  This could be used by any person, just about any age.  It is well designed.  First, you register and then you put what you are wanting to learn.  You can be very specific.  I put that I was already very good, but needed to just work on my skills with numbers and symbols.


It comes up with a few sentences, or paragraph and you type over the words.  If you make a mistake, it shows up in red and you can correct it, but I wouldn't as it is also checking out your speed.  When it is checking your speed, it takes the amount of time it took you to type, minus the mistakes to give you the words per minute that you typed.


When you have a bad moment, it gives very specific feedback, as it told me I needed to work on the $, % and *.  It was noticeable that I had to look at the keys for those characters, which slowed me down a bit.  Every single time you finish a page, which may really just be a few sentences, it gives you the feedback of how many words were right, how many were mistakes, the speed you typed, the number of errors.   Every time I just had letters to type, I was typing up to 60 wpm with only 0-1 mistake.  When I was typing numbers and symbols alot, my wpm dropped to about 45.


Many people who hunt and peck could work on skills with this non-threatening class to learn to type, or improve skills.


It is made for elementary students, too.  They need to move slower, so they can get it and not get discouraged.  It even had many games at the end of the site.  Some are very easy, some are more difficult.  I played one and it was fun.  It began easy and as I got better, it got faster.  I ended up only getting about 45% correct, but it was only once and it was FUN!  It was sending random letters up in the sky and those letters were up in the sky in a bar.  You had to type that letter just as it reached the bar, or it didn't count.  The letters were far apart, and each letter would change after the letter hit it, so they were constantly changing.  the letters began moving faster.  It really helped as you typed combinations like:  n  b   b   s  q  r  i  l.  Sometimes you were typing using both hands, other times, you were using one hand, then the other.  Alot of thought was put into the typing and the game I played.
   I would recommend it to anyone who needs to improve typing skills, technique, speed, and/or knowledge.

BP#12_2009123_Web_2.0_tool_BookRix

http://www.bookrix.com/

BookRix.com

You not only can read all of those books online, you, your students, your class, a small group, etc. can write a story and publish it online.

I looked through the site and there are some really good things about it.  The books have a title and artwork on the cover.  When you open the book, on the right side is an arrow, which allows you to turn the page.  The pages are just like a book.  when you turn the page, it opens up and has two pages facing you.

There is one slight problem.  The books can be of all types, from children's books, to X rated stories.
Although an underage person cannot open the book that is X rated, all a person must do is sign up, so a student could lie when they register.  Also, this site might be blocked by a school system, even with the safe guard of watching for a person's age before opening X rated stories.

Besides writing stories, there are many children's books on line, although the ones I saw were older elementary children, not younger ones.

Snwokedi_ETC Blogs: 4 BP4_2009121_Tool#1(Kidyos and Games Classroom)

Snwokedi_ETC Blogs: 4 BP4_2009121_Tool#1(Kidyos and Games Classroom)