Movie Maker You Tube Video

I created a summer fun movie for my second graders and their families to view. My second graders will be able to see special pictures of my family and friends and what my family did in the summer. I can also play this during Open House or even at conference time when parents are waiting to see me for a conference. This program will allow me to take pictures and videos of my students doing various projects or classwork and making a video for their parents to see on my blog or at Open House or conferences.

Movie Maker is a very easier program to use. I walks you through the movie making process step by step. It is so much easier than power point. I will definitely use this program again to make videos of my students as well as my own children. I love how it has everything power point has and music. I learned how to import pictures, make pictures stay on the screen longer, how to add titles and subtitles and music. This is by far one of the best projects of this class. Even though I encounter several problems after sving the project because my computer kept freezing up. However, I did finally get the movie complete and it turned out awesome!!!!I know my family will enjoy this movie and so will my new second graders.

Mrs. Conlan's Wiki

Click here to see Mrs. Conlan's Wiki


I love the idea of the Wiki because it can be my link to my blog, websites for the students to use at school and at home, weekly activity bulletins for parents and/or guardians and story recording of the reading stories. For my Wiki I am not going to make it possible for others to change anything on it. I am the only one that is going to be able to add and/or delete things.

It was very time consuming and I am still not finished with my class Wiki, but I will continue to improve it over the course of this year.

Virtual Tour of Continents and Animals

Click here for the Virtual Tour


I created this virtual tour of the continents and animals to review the 7 continents with my second graders and to learn about one animal that is native to that continent. My second graders will take the virtual tour with partners or in groups and answer the question at each continent that they stop at. The students will share other information that they found out about the animals and discuss in groups what they thought about the animals.

Google Earth is so easy to use and making a virtual tutor is so easy and fun. I can see myself using this in my classroom as an introduction to a unit or as a cumulative lesson to see what the students have learned. One thing that people need to know is that they have to have Goggle Earth installed on their computer to view this virtual tour. When viewing my virtual tour make sure to check mark the box on the folder for my tour on thel eft hand side of the screen so the pins and websites appear during the tour.

I am going to make up more virtual tours for other topics in science and social studies to incorporate technology into my classroom.

Fall Senses Poems Podcast

I created a podcast for recording my second graders fall senses poems that they write in the fall for a poetry and writing lesson.

The podcast was so simple to create and a lot of fun. One idea I could do is to have my students type their fall poems on the computer, draw a picture to go with the poem and then read the poem on the computer. This would allow the parents or visitors to listen, read and see their actual poems. I could also use this idea to show other students in my building, parents at conferences or at Back to School Night, or to incoming students so they can see the fun things we are going to do in 2nd grade.

Screencast on teaching even and odd numbers

Click here to view the screencast


I created a screencast for my 2nd grade students teaching the concept of even or odd numbers. My student will be able to go back and view this screencast as much as they need to to help them with this concept.

This screencast was very simple to create and fun. I really enjoyed making it and I could see older students being able to make their own. As for my second graders we could make one together or I could have a student come up and model a math story problem and I could help them create their own screencast for students to view later on our classroom blog. I enjoyed learning and making this screencast.

U.S. Landmarks WebQuest

Click here to view the WebQuest


I created a WebQuest for my 2nd grade students for U. S. Landmarks in Washington D.C.. The students can work in pairs or small groups to complete this WebQuest. I will try to pair up stronger readers with weaker readers because some of the reading is challenging. In addition, I may have a parent volunteer help the students with some of the reading in this WebQuest. Students can also work with older students or parents at home. After the children complete the WebQuest they will sign up to give a brief presentation. Each student will choose one of the landmarks they read about and tell the class two facts they learned and why it is their favorite landmark in Washington D.C.. Students will be graded on their presentation using a rubric which is found in the WebQuest. The teacher will go over the rubric before the students begin the WebQuest. A copy of the rubric will also be given to the students and their parents before their presentations and a final rubric will be given out as their final grade. This will be a speaking and listening grade as well as a social students grade.

I have a new appreciation for webquests. This project took a lot of time and energy. I also ran into difficultly when the readability level of the websites was much higher than my students. The next time I make a Webquest I would work on the process/tasks part first and then work backwards.

Slide show of Summer fun

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Slide show of summer fun. I would have my students take pictures of their summer and create a slide show to show how much fun they had over the summer. animoto.com is very student and teacher friendly and very easy to use. I could see using it to show off students projects or field trip we have taken during the school year. I am definitely going to sign up for a teacher account so I can make longer video slide shows.