THIS IS JUST A TEST TEST TO SEE IF I CAN TEST ONLINE

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Where the Wild Things Are opens today. What a great opportunity to expose your student to some classic literature that they are sure to love. You can read reviews of the movie at Rotten Tomatoes to ensure it meets your criteria for appropriateness.

NOW ON FACEBOOK

I now has a page on Facebook. You can search for my Facebook page (Mr. Wilson's Technology Lab @ Mathews Elementary) and become a fan. How cool is that? The posts I put there also show up on my Twitter site. Now you can really keep in touch.

UPDATE: I just added a Facebook widget to my sidebar. Now you can click on it and become a fan of Mr. Wilson's Technology Lab @ Mathews Elementary.

WEBQUESTS AND WHATNOT

It is an exciting week in the Technology Lab. WebQuests, publishing (anonymous blogging), science, and math will be the words of the day in grades 1-4. Kindergarten will use technology to focus on phonics, letter recognition, and sight word recognition.

I just came back from a technology seminar and I am ready to implement some changes immediately and other changes very soon. Your students should have a lot of fun this week. Be sure to ask them about it.

Each grade level has it's own blog. They are listed in the sidebar. Check them out.

WELCOME TO THE TECH LAB!

Hey younglings,

It is great to see you again. Welcome to the Technology Lab blog. Can't wait to get started.

Boo Yah!

iBABY: TECHNOLOGY IN THE CRADLE

As technology grows exponentially so does our technology use at home, work and in the classroom. Children are growing up with technology – not as an addition or secondary part of their lives as many of us have grown up with – but as a fully integrated and expected entity in their young lives. The world is, to them, naturally technological, a fact that scares many educators and parents.

This story in the Springfield News-Leader details how parents of babies and toddlers are using iPhone applications to soothe the savage beast, if you will pardon the expression used to describe our treasured cherubs. You can read the article yourself (although it is only available for free for the next seven days), but allow me to highlight how downloadable smartphone applications are being used:

1. White Noise – The white noise app is used by Jeff Hilimire to quiet his restless infant.
2. Trivia Questions – Tracie Stier-Johnson lets her children play trivia while waiting for the doctor.
3. Numbers & Letters – Children play educational games using letters and numbers.
4. Spelling – There is a hangman app to improve spelling.
5. Movies – Children can watch movies.
6. iTunes – Kids can watch videos of their favorite singers.
7. Photos – Young ones can thumb through family photos.
8. Email – Kids can send emails to family and friends.
9. Texting – Kids can send text messages to family and friends.
10. Medical – One parent used Cardio Calc (iPhone app) to keep up with their daughter's changes during a hospital stay.
11. Rattle – There is even a free baby rattle application for the iPhone.

My own 8-year-old daughter uses my texting phone all the time. It is not a smartphone, although I am shivering and salivating at the idea of having an iPhone. It is a slider phone with a full qwerty keyboard and texting capabilities, but it does not get on the Internet. She is constantly taking pictures with it and sending her teenaged cousins text messages. It is her way of communicating with family.

She is asking for a cell phone, and I have refused so far. Mostly due to the cost. However, I think she would make good use of it. If she did not go to school in the building where I teach, I would be much more likely to let her have one (to be kept off and in her backpack during school hours.) She could save all her friends cell and landline numbers and text them, call them and chat. Considering that we live outside our district, that could help her maintain friendships with friends outside the community we live in.

Unfortunately for her, I don't have the money to do it. So not now, but I am willing to share my cell and allow for some of that.

WELCOME

This is the new site for the Mathews Elementary Technology Lab. You will discover all kinds of new technological tools in the coming months.