Charts and Graphs with Excel

I am working with second grade teachers from Morgan this week. We are using Excel to learn about Pie Charts and Bar Graphs. The students are learning a lot and having fun! We use a laptop and projector in the classroom so all the students can see the screen. We work together to come up with a topic for a graph and gather information to create a data table. Students take turns coming up to the laptop to enter information. From there, I create the graph and we give it a title and a legend. Once the graph is created we talk about how the data and graph pieces are related.

For Example:
What will happen to the bars if we change a number in the table?
What will happen to the scale if we make a number bigger then the top number in the scale?
Or, for pie charts:
What will happen to the other pieces when we change one number? Will they get smaller, bigger or stay the same?

Since Excel charts are linked to the data tables the chart will automatically update as you change anything in the table. The students get really excited when they see this and start asking to change more numbers! They start making predictions about what will happen to the graphs as we change each piece of data. By the end of the lesson they really understand what the graphs are representing! It is great to see all the 'light bulbs' turning on and the information sinking in!

I worked with the 2nd grade students last year with the same lesson and it went really well! I am always impressed at how well the students respond both academically and behaviorally to this lesson. We have another great group of second grade students and teachers this year!

SOITA Conference

I was fortunate enough to attend the SOITA conference this week in Dayton, OH. It was a great opportunity to learn about some new resources and network with tech people from other districts. I learned more about wikis, set up this blog and picked up a few more free resources to share with teachers!

My two favorites are social bookmarking and Gimp software. I have to admit that up until yesterday (when I was at SOITA) I was familiar with social bookmarking but didn't have a clear understanding of what it is or how it could be used in an educational setting. I get it now! Check out my 'Software Integration' page on the wiki link on the left (www.triciakluener.wikispaces.com) and jump to 'Social Bookmarking' to find out more!

I also learned about Gimp software. I didn't know it existed until yesterday and feel that I have been missing out! It is photo editing software that goes way beyond your typical edit/crop/print/red eye reduction functions and is completely free! Check it out at:
http://www.gimp.org/
If you are in the Ross district and need handouts please contact me! You can download the full manual off the site but chances are you will not need quite that much information. The handouts I received at the conference seem to pull out some of the most often used functions and walk you through getting started for personal use or with students.

Using iMove with Student Writings

I am working with teachers at Elda Elementary using iMovie. We are using the built in cameras in our Media Center iMacs to make student videos. Students write stories during Language Arts and draw illustrations to go with them. From there, we head to the computer lab/Media Center to record each student. Each student takes a turn using iMovie to record themselves reading their stories and showing the pictures. They will do this about 4 times throughout the year and read about 2 stories each time. At the end of the year, the classroom teacher will create a CD for each student to take home. They will have a digital record to show off to family and friends! Hopefully, they will be able to see how much improvement they have made from the begining through the end of their 3rd grade year!

We have student teachers and parent volunteers helping to get each student a turn to record. So far the projects are going smoothly! I feel like we have a lot more to learn about iMovie but I am confident that will come with time, practice and a little research! All students are recording on the same computer. We have set up a separate event for each child. For round two, we will add the new recordings to the previous events. The plan is to have one event for each student containing all of the video clips. Hopefully this will make it easier on the teachers at then end of the year when they burn each CD.