Webquest Standards and Objectives

The state core standard for my webquest is:
Utah State Core 2nd grade Standard 1: Students will develop a sense of self: Describe and adopt behaviors for health and safety: Explain the importance of a balanced diet.

Learning Objectives:
The students will explore and learn the basic food groups, what nutrients our body gains from eating those foods, and why they are part of a balanced diet.
The students will be able to explain the benefits from eating healthy and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Task:
Student's will use what they learn about healthy foods and nutrients to create their own food pyramid and a meal plan for one day with their favorite foods and maintaining a balanced diet.

WebQuest Ideas

I really like the idea of Webquests and using them in the classroom. I think they are a great way to teach children about technology and how to use it is a productive and appropriate way. Also they are a great way to motivate and stimulate learning that is centered on the child's needs and interests. When children can question and discover for themselves, learning is more meaningful to them.
The grade I want to do is Second Grade
Some ideas I have to create a webquest are:
Weather--the children can discover the different forms of weather in different places of the world. Also maybe how weather effects us and the way we live.
Animals--the children can explore and discover the characteristics and life patterns of the local wildlife and plants and how they change and grow. The children can conduct an online scavenger hunt of the different plants and animals and learn more about the world around them.
Safety--the children will explore different safety habits and the importance of being safe. They can learn and explore different precautions to take in certain situations and possibly how to prevent bad things from happening.

I don't really know if these will work, but they are just some ideas that I came up with?

Web Evaluations

For this assignment, I evaluated several different websites. One of the websites I evaluated was the school web site for Edith Bowen Lab School. As I looked at the website, I tried to take into consideration if I had a child attending the school and what information I would want on the site. I found the site very professional and user friendly. The site wasn't too complicated and all the information was credible and useful. There were links to tell parents about PTA activities, a calendar of events, and many other things that I would find useful as a parent. I rated this website as a credible and good source.
Another web site I evaluated was a website to find lesson plans. This site was Discovery Education; Classroom Resources. I thought this was going to be a pretty good site because discovery is a international company with a good reputation. The information on the site was useful and pretty fun to look at. For the lesson they provided several alternative resources to add to the lesson. They provided links to videos and other fun things to enhance the lesson. Also at the end of each lesson they have a section called Academic Standards where they provide links for the research and standards of education. The site was easy to navigate and it provided a printer-friendly version for teachers to print out the lessons and use them. I found this site extremely helpful and one that I will probably use.
One of the site we had to look up was an informational website that contained elementary content. One of the first things I thought of that I learned in elementary was Utah history so I looked up an informational website on Utah history. The site that I found was actually published by the Utah Department of Community and Culture and also supported by Utah State Government. It was a pretty great site and it had this link to Utah History for Kids where children could go on and learn about facts, play games, and discover Utah. All of the facts were correct and interesting to learn. I actually had a good time playing the games and learning more about Utah. The site didn't take long to load and didn't have any necessary fluff anywhere. I really liked this site.
The final site that I evaluated was a student interactive site that they can use to enhance learning. I choose a site that I was already familiar with and totally love! It is the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. It is a really great website that supports what children learn in math. This was actually created by Utah State University in 1999 and is continually updated about once a year. This is a great source that makes learning fun and enjoyable for students. I am most definitely going to use this site in my teaching.

Spreadsheets

To be totally honest, I would have to say that me and spreadsheets had quite the love-hate relationship. I never liked using spreadsheets and yet I always seemed to have to use them in one way or another. Well, now I realize that my loathing for spreadsheets was only because I didn't really know how to use them so to me they were confusing and frustrating. Now I proudly can say that I have been taught and converted to the world of spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are actually pretty fun and not that difficult to use. I can use them in several places in my own teaching. I most definitely can and will use them for grading and record keeping. Using the tables and graphs I can observe each child's progress and the progress of the whole class. I can used the information to possibly see the areas that the children are not understanding and improve myself as a teacher. Spreadsheets are good for collecting and analyzing data so not only can I use it for my own purposes, I can teach my students to use it as well. Like in class we did several experiments and recorded the data on a spreadsheet. We were able to see all of the data and use the information to make prediction and conjectures about the experiment. It was a great teaching tool and a way to give more responsibility back to the student. I can use this method in my own class particularly in the areas of math and science. If I can show my students how to use spreadsheets and how beneficial they really are then I can give them a better experience then I had.
Also we used Google Docs to give each other surveys. We had a lot of fun in class doing these and I could definitely use this in my classroom. The students could use this on different projects to survey other classmates and see the results. Also we could use this in math to work on percentages, graphing, and analyzing results. These two tools can be very helpful in the classroom and can help the children learn skills on the computer.

Word Processing

I actually want to teach many different grades, but my first choice would be Kindergarten. Some ways that I could use word processing in the classroom is for one, using as my own preparation and use. I can use it to prepare for my lessons and also collaborate with other teachers to help me in my own teaching.
Also I can start to introduce my students to writing on the computer and get them motivated to write at an early age. I wouldn't start this until way later in the year because they are just beginning to understand works and reading and wouldn't know how to write anything.
Also I plan on teaching some older classes as well and this would be a good resource to use in class to help get the students writing and expose them to skills that will help them later in their educational career. They can learn to type and to write and then also help each other and learn about what makes good writing reading each other's work and editing them. I think this could be a wonderful tool to use in a classroom to help motivate and encourage students to write and also to help each other and learn skills like sentence fluency.

Lesson Plan #1

Playing with Patterns

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=22824

YETC Resources

I had absolutely no idea all of the wonderful resources that were available to me in the YETC lab. There are so many wonderful things that I can use as a student preparing to teach. One of the cool resources is that they have the k-12 curriculum library where I can check things out. This will be helpful soon when I begin to plan lessons and create activities for the classroom. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I can just go to the lab and use what resources they have there and add a little of my own ideas. Sometimes it is hard to just come up with ideas for lesson plans so this will be a great resource to use and get ideas.
Also another thing that was amazing was all of the programs Nathan showed us online. I am not very good with computers, but the things he showed us where fun and easy ways to add a technology element to the classroom and get information for lessons. The internet is really a magnificent tool when understood how to use effectively. I really loved the one program that he showed us that can convert videos and pictures and things to different format so they can be used in different ways. Also I thought the TeacherTube was a cool site and one that I could definitely use in my classroom. I was looking on there and it has a lot of things I could use to help enhance my students learning.
I also think that the electronic portfolio is an excellent idea and one that i am most definitely going to use! I think the idea is very professional and it can show my skills and talents with using the computer. Computer skills are almost vital to any job now so it is important for me to learn as much as I can.
Also I could a lot of those resources in the media/video room. There are a lot of really good education videos that could be helpful in a classroom. One of the things that is important about teaching a concept is that you teach it in a variety of ways so every students can understand it becuase not every student learns the same so teaching with different elements is great!
Also I really liked that newsletter that he sends out. I could always use more training in how to use different technologies and it would be good to keep up with my students.
The YETC offers many great resources to me as a future teacher and I could be really dumb if I didn't take advantage of them while I am here as USU.