Wiki Wiki

The two wikis I found were created for elementary school.  Wiki one was designed for a fourth grade class and wiki two was created for a Kindergarten classroom. 

Wiki 1
 The first wiki I evaluated was created by  Mrs. Eve Trandem for her fourth grade classroom.   After clicking on the link to the site and it opened you have a very clear and labeled format to look at.  Since I am a visual person it was very appealing to the eye.  It promoted the school colors and had a picture of the teacher, school address, and other contact information needed to stay connected to her classroom and school.  There are many different options for the students and parents to click on.  The teacher even has a blog she uses with the students and there is a link to the blog on the wiki homepage. There is a spot labeled student links where there are over 20 different links for the students to use.  Another section in the wiki was Treasures Reading.  This is their whole reading program online each book they read in class they click on the book title link and then are taken to a new link with all their assignments relating to spelling, vocabulary, word study, writing, comprehension, story related and technology literacy.  Each category has a few things that go along with it for the students to complete before moving on to a different story. There are other things which were excellently done on this wiki which I have not seen in some.  She posted the spelling list directly to the wiki, curriculum and common core standards are present for all to see and even posted a tool box for parents and students. The pure purpose of any wiki would be to inform students and parents on collaboration in the classroom with the students being able to participate from anywhere.  

Below is the link to Mrs. Eve's Wiki. 
Mrs. Eves Wiki Page

Wiki 2
This wiki was crated with the younger kiddos in mind.  Mrs. Margo created her wiki with her kindergarten class in mind.  Her wiki is highly effective and supports literacy at all levels in her classroom.  I like when you are taken to her page she greets you with a Voki to introduce what .  I absolutely like how her page is very colorful to the eye and her menu items are located on the right hand side of the wiki.  Her site incorporates literacy for the younger learner multiple areas by clicking on the early literacy tabs in her wiki tab.  Then once you click you are taken to a new page to show what the kids can do and have done with their class assignments involving literacy.  She promotes her students work on the wiki site and also uses Kidblog.com with her class.  I did not even know a blog existed for younger kids to use in their classrooms.  She posted different Math and Reading websites for her students and parents to use at home and in the classroom.  It looks like a lot of self directed activities go on inside her classroom.  In order to be an active member in this wiki you need to be requested or ask permission.  I think this is an excellent idea and safe for the kids using the wiki in the classroom and at home.  This wiki was also created with the purpose of literacy in the classroom and teaching the students learning to read and write can be fun and done through the Internet. 

Below is a link to Mrs. Margo's Wiki.
Mrs. Margos Wiki Page


 Each of the wiki's  above display different aspects of incorporating literacy with technology at their prospective grade levels.  There are other areas of each classes wiki that touch on literacy, in other areas of school curriculum.  Based off our Week 2 lecture and notes from Vicki Davis I began to evaluate the Wiki sites and not to mention I added her to follow her blog.  She has a lot of excellent ideas she shares on a daily basis. As I was looking around the Internet I located a teacher wiki which indicates all the different k3classroomtech has all the wiki sites for younger kids in one page.

Resources:

Sanger, Margo.  (2008).  Sanger Class Wiki.  Retrieved August 28, 2013, 

from http://margsang.pbworks.com           - Cited in text: Mrs. Margo's Wiki

Trandem, Eve.  (2013, January 13).  Mrstrandem.  Retrieved August 28, 2013, 

from http://mrstrandem.wikispaces.com      - Cited in text: Mrs. Eve's Wiki

Web2.0 in the Classroom

Wordle

  This first Wiki I would like to share with you all is call Wordle.  I absolutely love this Wiki and would like to Wordle everything and anything.  In my multiage classroom I can use Wordle for pretty much anything literacy related.  You can have the kids' type in their spelling words and create a Wordle that way.  This program is extremely easy to use with students of all ages.  The tab bar at the top is easy to read and just by clicking on the create tab allows you to begin creating your Wordle.   There is a gallery to also look at other Wordle's that were created by other people using the application.  The effectiveness of this application will allow the students to incorporate crating into their learning.  You can create a whole essay and Wordle it, change the font and colors.  Anything you can imagine creating with this tool you can, and I am sure you will love using this with your students as much as I do.  I even used it for open house and put all the students' names and my name and the grade level on it.  It really does make for a creative way of incorporating literacy into the classroom without the students realizing they are learning.  The purpose of using this application tool is to encourage the students and maybe other teachers to not just use pen and paper to write spelling words, or essay papers and weekly sentences.  This tool can be used to merely anything.  Learning is endless crate a Wordle.  Plus no one Wordle will ever look alike.  

Here is a video I found on how to crate a Wordle from YouTube.

Resources for Wordle

Kicode2, April 5, 2009. Wordle tutorial. Retrieved on August 29, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhL5D9nz5aI

Johnathan Feinberg 2013, Wordle. Retrieved August 29, 2013 

^^ Picture taken from Wordle page

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Little Bird Tales

   

The next Wiki Tool I found was Little Bird Tales.  This is an incredible application to use with all ages. This tool can be used in the classroom to involve the students in the reading and writing process.  They are the creators and they are the editors.  You can have the kids work in large groups or as an individual assignment.  The students are able to record their own voice to retell their stories they create. This tool is very easy for younger students to use and is age appropriate and does not have adds to where the kids can click on to be taken to another web page.  LBT helps reinforce reading and writing skills and in the younger students it helps improve or even begin to help in the process of developing their skills.  With this all being said I truly believe LBT is one of the best kid and teacher approved site I have come across for little kids to use and be able to use alone with minimal help from a teacher.  For younger students it is difficult to find a program where they are able to go freely and work, and with LBT they can. This application can be used in all areas of school, the students can create any kind of book they want. Other classmates are able to go in and help edit, add more information to the story and the best of all the teacher is able to upload to the assignment to the sites for the kids to check what needs to be done.  The site is for ages three to fourteen, which covers a plethora of grade levels. 

Please take the time to review Little Bird Tales to see if this application would be something you can use in your classroom.  Remember the teacher account allows you to do more creating then the free account.  

Below you will find a short YouTube video on how it all works.  

Resources for LBT

2mccombs, February 15, 2012. Little Bird Tales Tutorial Video. Retrieved on August 29, 2013 from www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEnhabCzrvo.

Don't Blink Designes 2013, Little Bird Tales. Retrieved August 29, 2013

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Compare and Contrast...

The tools i discussed above are very different because they are supposed to be used in different ways.  Wordle is to create funky words and works of art by typing in your text to the word box and then it crates a colleague of words with the words you chose.  This can be done as a whole class with each student typing in their own section.  Little Bird Takes is a tool where you can come up with your own stories as a class or individually.  Overall it is difficult to compare the two and contrast them because they are so very different and used for different learning strategies.