Location	Activity	Google Earth Content
1.Mt Mckinley	Students will read about Mt. Mckinley and learn about mountainous regions	Geographic Web, Panoramio, Weather
2.Redwood Forest	Students will read about Redwood forest and learn characteristics about forest regions, They will watch a short video http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/planet-earth-forests-redwood-forest.html They will make observations of plant and animal found in forest regions	Geographic Web, weather, Panoramio
3.Death Valley	Students will read about Death Valley and learn about desert regions. They will have the weather layer on compare the temperature here compared to other regions. They will also watch a short clip http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countries-places/united-states/us_deathvalley.html	geographic web, weather, pananomio http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/upload/Weather.pdf
4. Everglades	Students will learn about the Florida everglades and the plant and animal life found there. http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=everglades&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv# and http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/man-vs-wild-everglades-camp-platform.html	Geographic web, panoramio
Details of image overlay / path / polygon:	There will be a path connecting all places interest. There will also be a polygon to give borders of the desert, forest, and everglades regions

Content
Through Google Earth I will be teaching my students about the major ecosystems found in the United States. This lesson comes from 3rd Grade Social Studies Standard 1 Objective 2: Describe the major world ecosystems (i.e. desert, plain, tropic, tundra, grassland, mountain, forest, wetland).
Pedagody:
The lesson will begin with a discussion with the glass about the different ecosystems in the world. I will then have the students engaged in hands on activity as the explore the different ecosysems on Google Earth with the virtual tour I have created. The students will have a fact sheet they fill out that will visually organize and compare the similarities and differences between each region. Students will be allowed to work at the their own pace and explore as deeply as they would like as long as time allows.
Technology:
I will be using Google earth for this activity focusing on hte terrain, and weather layers as we explore land formations. I will also use pictures that have already been posted. I will also use a path to connect the images

Captain Hook!

This is a digital story of Shel Silverstein's poem Captain Hook. I hope you enjoy!

TPACK Storyboard Captain Hook

Content:
In my lesson I am having my students pick a poem from a list of poems I have already approved. Then the students will be able to create a digital story in any form of media they choose including illustration, photo, claymation or torn paper.Students will narrate their own story using appropriate volume, pitch, and tempo. I will be focusing on the following standard from
3rd grade Language Arts;

Standard 1:Oral Language-Students develop language for the purpose of effectively communicating through listening, speaking, viewing, and presenting
Objective 1 Develop language through listening and speaking.

1. Speak clearly and audibly with expression in communicating ideas (i.e., effective rate, volume, pitch, tone, phrasing, tempo).

Objective 2
Develop language through viewing media and presenting.

1. identify specific purpose(s) for viewing media (i.e., to identify main idea and details, to gain information, distinguish between fiction/nonfiction, distinguish between fact/opinion, form an opinion).
2. Use a variety of formats (e.g., drama, sharing of books, personal writings, choral readings, informational reports) in presenting with various forms of media (e.g., pictures, posters, charts, ads, newspapers).
   

Pedagogy
I will use a variety of a pedagogy in this lesson plan. First I will use poetry to help students express themselves. As they read the poem, they interpret their thoughts, emotions and ideas of the emotions through visual representation. Because they are able to choose their poem, they will be interested in making their own interpretations.ry I will also use modeling to show how to read aloud with expression using correct vocal tone, pitch and voice inflection. Students will then be able to practice reading their poems in partners before they narrate.

Technology:
I will be using Photostory to help the students create their photostory. This program is easy to learn and simple to follow along. This is a great technology to use with young students because it is easy for them to be successful. This program is also very interactive. After the projects are complete, we will have a movie party and show the student's final projects to the rest of the class.

TPACK Questions

What is the content you are focusing on in your science lesson?
In my lesson I focused on teaching the Kindergarten Content Standard 3 Objective 1: Investigate changes in seasons. I wanted the children to be able to explore the different defining characteristics of seasons, identify seasons, and use pictures to compare different seasons one to another and visually represent their knowledge.

What is the pedagogy you are using and why is it a good fit with the content?
In this lesson I used active involvement by encouraging oral and visual investigation. I also required the students to use a higher level of thinking to apply what they had learned in creating a concept map. Rather than rattling off a list of facts about season, I used pictures to direct a dicussion about the different characteristics of each season. By analyzing each photo and applying what knowledge they already had, students were able to learn more about seasons than they ever would by just listening to the teacher. By creating a concept map, students were able to further apply all they had learned as they compared the different characteristics of each season in a visual representation.

What is the technology you’ll be using and why is it a good fit with the content and pedagogy?
Google Earth and Kidspiration were a perfect fit with this lesson because it allowed the students to be active investigators as well as allowed them to apply their learning. These programs encouraged the students to be curious about the world around them, ask questions, make educated guessed and apply their learning.The Google Earth program allowe the students to explore different areas of the earth and use their knowledge of seasons to guess what season each region was experiening. The Kidspiration program allowed the students to apply all of their learning in creating a last visual represention. By actively involving the student in the learning process and have the students apply their knowledge, the learning experience is so much more meaningful and memorable.

Tech Savvy Teacher

In a world of increasing resources it is now easier than ever to use technology in the classroom. As a kindergarten teacher, I have long been afraid of attempting to use technology with my young students. As I have experimented with new tools and educational software I have realized that there is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, I would be doing my students a disservice if I didn't allow them to be able to learn and explore from these great resources. The following is an lesson I did in my kindergarten classroom using Google Earth and Kidspiration.

In this lesson I focused on Kindergarten Content Standard 3 Objective 1: Investigate changes in seasons. By using the programs Google Earth and Kidspiration, I taught children how to identify seasons, describe the weather of seasons, and represent their knowledge of seasons through key picture characteristics.

First I began by showing children a variety of my pictures taken in different seasons. I had the students guess what season the different pictures were taken in. As the students identified the season in the picture, we had a discussion of the different characteristics of each season as shown in the picture including temperature, plant life, weather patterns etc.


After viewing the pictures and discussing the characteristics of each season, I did a Google Earth presentation and showed them spots around the world. By looking at the temperature and the place on the map, I had the students guess what they thought the season might be in each location. Below are a few examples:

France

Brazil

Australia

After completing the Google Earth activity, I closed the lesson by completing a concept map activity as a class. With the software Kidspiration, I had my students create a map using pictures and words to represent the four different seasons.

These maps included pictures of weather, recreational activities, wildlife, and holidays that were typical of each season. These maps helped to synthesize all the knowledge the students had gained about seasons and created a visual representation of all they learned. By creating an activity using the interactive programs such as Google Earth and Kidspiration, the students had a very valuable and memorable learning experience. The students were able to have a more powerful science learning experience because they were actively involved in each step of the process.

This is just one of many simple and easy ways technology can be integrated into classroom lessons. These simple tools are easy to navigate and can be integrated to nearly every area of curriculum content. I hope my success with technology will empower all teachers with the desire to share these fantastic resources with their students.