Notes from Millie D

While I’m waiting for parents to come to the second night of parent teacher conferences I thought I would get some blogging done. Today I thought I would give a challenge to some of my intermediate students while they gave something back to others. I sent them to freerice.

For those who are not aware of freerice it is a program that donates grains of rice to the United Nations based on the number of vocabulary words people get the correct definition to the word. A unique feature of the service is that as you get words correct or incorrect the level of difficulty adjusts. This feature was well received with my students today. I set the classes up with the idea that children are not as fortunate in other parts of the world and that by answering these questions we’re able to help others out. My students went to task and my fourth graders (16 of them) donated 20710 grains in less than 25 minutes! My third graders (15 of them) donated 17300 in about the same time. I’m charting the results and the kids are motivated. Some of my students asked if they can do this at home and scurried for paper and pencil so they could jot down the address. I’m hoping that my other students this week are just as motivated.

Another great thing that I had a little time to check out this morning was the newly announced video feature within Voicethread! This is awesomely sweet. Your webcam can be your source in leaving narration or comment. The interface is easy to use and you have the added feature of doodles to accentuate the presentation. The video narration/comment portion adds a brand new dimension to the presentation. I just wish they could have an offline version available, maybe someday.

Here is an example of a Voicethread with the video portion…

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