Best 3rd grade VC programs

So you’re a third grade teacher and trying to pick the best VC program for this year? Here are what I consider to be your best choices.

Social Studies: Regions
If you’re studying regions, here are some great options.

  1. Musical Geography of America, Cleveland Institute of Music. Also advertised for 5th grade, but we had a 3rd grade class do this last year and it was excellent. Highly recommended.
  2. Geography from the Intrepid.Sea.Air.Space Museum is also excellent for 3rd grade region studies. We had a class do this last year who loved it!
  3. Geography: Baseball Coast to Coast from the Baseball Hall of Fame would work well too. It’s advertised for 4th & up, but I’m sure they could tailor it as needed.
  4. I just found this one from NY. Regions of the U.S. from McClure Productions. Haven’t seen it yet but it sounds excellent!
  5. For my local teachers: If you want to connect to a class in a specific region to discuss their area, let me know and I can find a class for you! Another project idea would be to hook up a couple local 3rd grade classes and give clues about a region and try to guess which was presented…. These options would all be free.

Language Arts

  1. Of course, don’t forget the possibility of participating in Read Across America in March 2006. That would be free.
  2. For my local teachers: We have some good ASK programs coming up that you’ll want to consider. Remember we send you the books.
    ****Stellaluna by Janell Cannon; Grade Level: 2-3, Topic: Bats.
    Date: November 3, 2005: 9:30-10:30; 10:45-11:45; and 1:00-2:00 p.m.
    You’ll interview an expert.
    ****Ice Bear and Little Fox by Jonathan London, Grades 2-3. Topic: Polar Bears
    Date: March 16, 9:30-10:15 and 10:30-11:15 a.m. (3 slots each time).
    You’ll interview an expert.
    ****The Hard Times Jar by Ethel Footman Smothers, Grade Level: 3
    Topic: Poverty, value of education, economics
    Date: Still working on scheduling, 2nd semester. This one will also be available to Michigan classes through TWICE but hasn’t been announced officially yet.
    You’ll interview the author.
    ****Searching the Noonday Trail by Johnny Tuitel. Grade Level: 3-4. Topic: Cerebral Palsy. Date: Still working on scheduling, 2nd semester. This one will also be available to Michigan classes through TWICE but hasn’t been announced officially yet.
    You’ll interview the author.

Science
Of all the possibilities we’ve correlated to the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations for 3rd grade, I’d say choose one of these providers:

  1. COSI Toledo, one of our absolute favorite providers because of the hands-on experiments you do during the program.
  2. Lake County Waste Management District for their environment programs. The presenter is an incredible storyteller and connects very well with the students. Plus they are free!
  3. If you are studying adaptations, try the Animal Adaptations program from the Columbus Zoo or the Cincinnati Zoo, my two favorite zoos.

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Finding Demos with Content Providers

A few people have asked me this in the last couple days, so I thought I’d share it here too. If you’re looking for a demo with a content provider, the best place to look is the TWICE Professional Development page. It has a customized search to the BCISD VC Programs database to find all the programs targeted to teachers. You can also do the search yourself and type “teacher” in the standards field and even adjust the cost to find free demos if you wish. Good luck planning your PD sessions!

Neighboring District VC Project

Last year, two of my local elementary buildings took on a wonderful project to study the local history between their two cities. With a Rotary Grant, they bought Polycoms for the two buildings, and used the distance learning technology to bridge across the river that is often said to divide their two communities. I encourage you to read more about the Voices of the Twin Cities Past project and do a similar project with a partner class this year!

Middle School Geography Videoconferences

There are a number of excellent opportunities for middle school geography classes. This list is for Michigan 6th grade classes studying Western Hemisphere and 7th grade classes studying Eastern Hemisphere. However, the ideas apply to other grade levels if your school studies geography in a different grade level.

  1. MysteryQuest: World Geography. We run this project every year with sessions for Western Hemisphere, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It has been in the fall, but due to state testing moving to October, we’ll be running this in late January, early February. My teachers pick the dates & times, then we open up registration for all the rest of you! There’s no way we could run enough for everyone interested, so you’ll find information on running your own there as well if you want to do that. MysteryQuest is free for my teachers and the rest of you too!
  2. For my local teachers, you could connect with a class in another country! I’ve been collecting contacts and could set you up with a class in Alberta or Ontario, Canada, or in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, Pakistan, or Taiwan. We could possibly find other partner classes too. These are free!
  3. I would really like to do an Around the World project like I’ve seen online a few places. I don’t really want to stay up all night, but we could do a morning to evening time frame. Also we could focus on just one hemisphere as well. This idea would be free and we could have lots of local classes participate. Here are links of websites who have done this: Around the World in a Day, Boston, 2002; NJEdgeNet 2003, 2004 and a press release.
  4. There are a few good content provider programs on Canada: Inuit: Survival in the Canadian Arctic, and Kigluait Adventures has some programs that mention Canada.
  5. Another good one would be the Cleveland Institute of Music’s new Musical Geography of the World. I really want to see this one, so to my teachers: write a mini-grant for this one!!
  6. For Central and South America, tying in with science and doing something on the rainforest might be good.
  7. For Eastern Hemisphere, try programs on Africa or Asia.
  8. Searching geography in the standards field also will bring up a good list. You’ll have to sort through the U.S. geography ones, though.

This should give any middle school geography teacher a good start at the possibilities!

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Funding for Programming

So where do you find funding for programming when doing videoconferences? The most creative list I’ve seen yet is from Karen Mosier, Allendale Michigan, media specialist supporting her teachers.

  1. Ink Cartridge Recycling Program Funds
  2. Local business contributions and civic organizations
  3. Presentations made at Chamber of Commerce meetings
  4. Funds received from Target and Meijer rebate programs–held in school activity funds
  5. PTO fundraiser donations
  6. Application for grants

Karen shared this list in a final project for the class Planning Interactive Curriculum Connections and I’m sharing it here with her permission. I always learn so much from participants in that class! We all learn together! Feel free to join us for the next session starting October 3!

First Videoconference of the School Year!

Today we’re off to visit the Columbus Zoo in the first videoconference of this year. Thirteen third graders from Marie Wolford Elementary in Galien are learning about Animal Classification. As usual the Columbus Zoo is great at getting the kids to talk and interact during the program. The first animal students learned about was the legless lizard (see the picture). The Columbus Zoo always has wonderful hands-on activities for kids to do during the program. Today’s activities included writing out your home address to compare with the process of classification, and working in groups to classify pictures of animals. Some other pretty cool creatures were shown too!

The Columbus Zoo’s programs are excellent and they are booked pretty much solid for the fall already! So if you want to go to the Columbus Zoo, schedule soon!!

Best Kindergarten VC Programs

So you’re a Kindergarten teacher and you want to do a videoconference this year? What are the best interactive programs for kindergarten level?

  1. One of my absolute favorite programs is Let’s Go to the Show from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Highly interactive. Students sing and dance during the program. It’s excellent! You have to be able to clear the floor in your distance learning room to do this one, so hopefully you don’t have fancy furniture bolted down.
  2. See the K2K Connection 2005 post on Joan Roehre’s blog. A year long partnership between two classes. I quote: Kindergarten (YES- Kindergarten!) teachers Lynette Powers (Southport) and Kim Frost (Somers) are once again connecting their students throughout the year using videoconference technology. Starting in September with “All ABout Me” students will present and share interests to their buddy at the partner school. Projects following are “Monster”, “Nursery Rhyme”, “What Should You Do?”, “Catch a Leprechaun”, “Activity Riddles” and lastly, a face-to-face picnic in May!
    Sounds like a great year long project. I’m sure the kids love it!
  3. Read Across America! Getting matched up with another K-2 class for an exchange is a great way to start off with videoconferencing. Techs should register in November, teachers in December.
  4. The Center for Puppetry Arts has great hands-on programs. Check out the K-2 programs. Learn a little, glue a little, learn a little more! End up with a finished puppet! Perfect for short attention spans!
  5. The Cleveland Museum of Art is another great provider. They have two K-1 programs. I haven’t seen them yet, but they look excellent! We love the CMA programs, especially their green screen technology!
  6. Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum (new provider) has a program for winter on Critters in the Cold.
  7. Space Center Houston has two K-2 programs. They are new this year too – just got a flyer in the mail a couple weeks ago. Worth checking out it seems.
  8. Camden Children’s Garden has several K-2 programs. Haven’t seen these either but they sound really good.
  9. The Cleveland Zoo has K-2 programs, but they schedule them and you have to sign up quickly because they are free & fill up fast! Their schedule for this fall isn’t out yet.
  10. If you search our database for PreK, you get several programs that are good for young students.
  11. Michigan teachers, be sure to also check out our Grade Level Content Expectations & Videoconferences project.

Not a comprehensive list, but a list of favorites!

To my local teachers, email me or visit www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl to schedule any of these videoconferences.

Register for the Keystone Conference!

If you’re participating in the Keystone Conference this year, register quick before the early bird registration ends on September 1! You can participate onsite in Indianapolis, via videoconference from your school, or via web streaming!

Don’t miss it! Looks like a great lineup of sessions again this year. This is THE premier videoconference conference in the world!

Exciting New Class!

I’m just today filling out the paperwork for an exciting new class we’ll be offering starting November 1. Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections or K2K VC. 2 graduate credits. 5 months (November to March) with one week of readings/discussion and one K2K videoconference with a partner class each month. Stay tuned for more details. Registration will open sometime after Labor Day.

Here’s the description to tantalize you….

 

Videoconference (VC) connections between classes open up a whole new world of collaborative learning for students! Immerse yourself in videoconference connections with partner classes. Do one kid-to-kid (K2K) videoconference each month during this class. Learn about structures/templates for projects with other classes and implement them with your students and a partner classroom. During the class you’ll reflect on exemplary student-to-student projects, receive support during your own project connections, and apply your learning in your classroom. This class is best for teachers with easy access to videoconference technology. Interested distance learning coordinators or media specialists are strongly encouraged to sign up with a local teacher. 

Videoconference or Video conference?

I was just exploring Alberta’s VCAlberta.ca website, and ran across a nice collection of Frequently Asked Questions. They are more creative and useful than the usual run of the mill FAQs out there, including the one on my site!

I quote Question #3:

Question: Do I spell it: videoconferencing or video conferencing or video-conferencing?

Answer: All three are commonly used and the use tends to follow what a localized community has decided is the right way. Videoconference as one word is the most common usage in Alberta and in fact the proper spelling. The oxford dictionary, among many other dictionaries, refers to videoconferencing as one word: Oxford Dictionary

Now you know!