X = 'Xplore SlideShare #GETABC

X is for 'Xplore SlideShare

(GTG's #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech*)

X is a hard bargain. So, we're fudging a little bit. But, it's all good.

SlideShare.net is another endless place of goodies to "eXplore." Here, you've got uploaded powerpoints and documents on just about any subject you'd want.

A SlideShare search of "environment" or "green" gets you almost too many to even sort through. But choice is good (not to mention an exercise in getting specific with your search).  Plus, it is an excellent way to NOT have to reinvent the wheel when you are starting out attempting to make some kind of teaching presentation on a topic. I've found presentations, and then I've tweaked them to suit my needs or grade level--which takes a fraction of the time that doing it from scratch would take.  Use SlideShare to upload your own presentations you wish to share, or hunt to your hearts desire on whatever topic tickles your fancy!

 

Here are 3 eco-friendly presentations I've made in the past....perhaps they're just what you're looking for, or perhaps they'll serve as inspiration of what you can do with SlideShare!

See also some of my other uses of SlideShare at E = 8 Ways to Explore Endangered Animals @ ARKive  and Q = QR Codes.

Darkening Our Shade of Green: Juice Pouch Recycling

View more presentations from Vicki Dabrowka

Going Green at the Great Pumpkin Patch

View more presentations from Vicki Dabrowka

Day-Tripping at the Landfill

View more presentations from Vicki Dabrowka

Letter X from http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/4157160699/. SlideShare logo from http://www.slideshare.net/


Note: In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC. To see the inception of #GETABCGTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

W = Wordle #GETABC

W is for Wordle 

(GTG's #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech*)

What in the world is Wordle?   A tool for creating "word clouds," Wordle allows you to showcase your text in a number of ways.  The visual is up to you--tweak the fonts, the layout, the color.  Copy and paste a text into the Wordle generator, and you can see the prominence of the words you used (or overused). 

Here's a very GTG Wordle, using the GTG site's "Word Cloud" of site labels.

Other wonderful Wordle resources to learn more:

Wordle – educational uses

CybraryMan's Word Cloud Page

Wordle on Slideshare



Letter W picture from http://lisatallon.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/start-of-something-beautiful/.  Wordle picture from http://www.wordle.net/show/wr.dl/3821488/Green_Team_Gazette.

Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

V = Voice Thread #GETABC

V is for Voice Thread

(GTG's  #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech*)

VoiceThread is a unique online tool that needs no additional software to install...yet it's a place that conversations can be shared for collaborative sakes.  With it, you can create slideshows of pictures, documents, videos and more in order to allow spectators to leave comments in a multitude of ways:  voice  text, audio file, video/webcam.

The whole interface invites both collaboration & expression.  VoiceThread becomes a multimedia mecca.  There is also an expansive digital library of articles and projects.  Here's a great tutorial about how to use VoiceThread

 One of the best ways  to learn about VoiceThread would be to go into the "browse mode" and search on a subject to see all that you can do.  "Green," by the way, is a pretty nice, eco-friendly key word to use for your search!!

Letter V pic from http://ed.voicethread.com/products/k12/.  VoiceThread image from http://learningmastery.org/2009/07/12/edutopiavoicethread/ 
Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

U = Unveiling the Double-U (W) Duo: Wiglington and Wenks #GETABC

U is for Unveiling the Double-U (W) Duo:  Wiglington & Wenks

(GTG's #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech*)

Given that U left me primarily with "Uncertain"...which felt undeniably underachieving...I needed to get creative.  Hence the "Double U" (aka "W")...which brings me to our duo "Wiglington & Wenks."

Wiglington &Wenks is in the same category of Virtual Worlds, like Club Penguin or Webkinz.  Geared for youngsters aged 7--14.  Players get to travel the world 'round, through time and space, meeting famous historians & solving mysteries as they go.  Additionally, kids can learn about history, geography, ecology, famous landmarks, inventions, animals & their habitats, and more.  Storylines, plots, missions, and quests draw in players, and have them pulling in their problem solving and critical thinking skills.  

Environmental issues such as global warming, forest preservation, protecting marine life and endangered animals also lie under the umbrella of Wiglington and Wenks. Here's a sneak preview of a little bit of what you will find at W & W:


From their Features page, you get a good insight into each of the different virtual world.  Three of these detail specific ecological  issues details--check out the W & W quotes below: 

"Amazon Forest, fondly described by most as the “Lungs of our Planet” produces 20% of the Earth's oxygen! One square kilometer of the Amazon can contain about ninety-one thousand tons of living plants—that's approximately 758 fully-grown blue whales! But the current rate of deforestation, usually due to human settlement and farming, threatens to destroy the Amazon Forest in a matter of 40 years."

"Madagascar is often referred to as the “Eighth Continent of the World” as it contains 5% of the world's plant and animal species, most of which are unique to Madagascar. However, extensive deforestation mostly due to mining has destroyed large areas of natural wildlife habitats. Other threats to Madagascar wildlife include illegal trade and poaching of exotic animals, overfishing and climate change."

"The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World, visible even from outer space. It is the largest coral reef ecosystem supporting more than 2800 species. Currently, the Great Barrier Reef faces the massive threat of climate change and water pollution, threatening the survival of many endangered species like the dugong and the green sea turtles."

So check it out, and go have some fun with Wiglington & Wenks!

  

Letter U picture from http://manicule.posterous.com/luxetype-letter-u.  Wigglington & Wenks picture from the home page http://www.wiglingtonandwenks.com/.

Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

T = TeacherCast #GETABC

T is for TeacherCast

(from the GTG #GETABC series = Green, Education, & Technology*)

TeacherCast is the brainchild of Jeff Bradbury. Teacher, music historian, high school orchestra leader, educator.  He "orchestrated" TeacherCast to help bring 21st century tech to the everyday-Mr.Joe-teacher.


TeacherCast uses Screencasts to show off software, websites, and other goodies.  There are Audio Podcasts of interviews w/professional educators.  There are collections of all kinds of goodies:  apps, websites, and other items that will whet the whistle of teachers all around.


So, whether you are hunting a review, a li'l educational podcast or screencast, or a peek at their wall of links of fame, there's plenty to check out.




Letter T in sign language: http://www.easyvectors.com/browse/other/sign-language-t-clip-art; TeacherCast iconry from their website.

T = Thinkport #GETABC

T is for Thinkport

(From the GTG #GETABC Series = #Green, #Education, #Technology*)


Thinkport is another total treasure trove of information for educators--perhaps more than you can ever want. Great stuff galore lives at Thinkport. When you have Maryland Public Television (MPT) and Johns Hopkins University Center for Technology in Education (CTE),working together, how can you have anything less?

Thinkport's mission is to assist teachers, serve as student inspiration, connect home and school--all through technology while supporting the Maryland educational state standards. Professional development opportunities also abound!

Thinkport has 4 main venues or channels in which to enter their portal:
--Think Classroom
--Think Career
--Think Technology
--Think Family & Community

Here are some great places to investigate in a "GET" (Green, Education, Tech) sort of way:

EnivroHealth Connections

"Explore the relationship between the environment & human health"

Think Earth Day
Programming links for the current year, and a slew of internet links both on Thinkport and beyond.

Think Chesapeake Bay
Lesson plans including Bayville Online Field Trip, MPT programming connections, and video clips.

Think Environmental Health
Lesson plans galore, activities, video clips, tech tours, and the EnviroMystery online field trip

Think Ocean & Bay
Online Clips, Bayville Online Field Trip, ITV, & lesson plans

Theme Think Weather
Covering Climate, Severe Weather, Lightning, Hurricanes, & Tornadoes

INTERACTIVE MEDIA: 

--Changing the Balance (Effects of Global Warming)

--Plastic Fork Diaries (Nutrition & Food Choices)

--Bayville & EnviroMystery (mentioned above)

--Baytrippers (Animals & plants of the Chesapeake Bay)

--Plus tons more with Maryland History, math and more...including a great decision making activity on Slavery.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg...there is so much to Thinkport--it truly is a portal worth investigating.


T pic from http://emmi10.wikis.birmingham.k12.mi.us/Trotting+Lions+Capstone+Project+C4
Thinkport pic from their webpage.

Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

S = Sweet Search #GETABC

S is for 
SweetSearch

(GTG's #GETABC Series = Green, Education,  & Tech*)

A super sweet summer find that's as student-friendly as they come is the SweetSearch.  This is a search engine geared solely for students, with every one of the 35,000+ websites listed having been researched by their expert staff.  So it becomes a super safe search engines--I think we have all had that situation where we were Googling or Bing-ing or Yahoo-ing something, and then all of a sudden we find ourself somewhere we definitely never intended!

You have some levels with SweetSearch, depending on what you are wanting your search to find:

--SweetSearch Web Research Tutorial = for a focused place to hone you/your students' research skills.

--SweetSearch4Me = the SS search engine for the younger computer set out there, just beginning to learn how to use a search engine.

--SweetSearch2Day = a place to go to learn something new every day.

--SweetSearch Biographies = for biography searches, with over 1,000 noteable people

--SweetSearch Social Studies = a SS search engine for SS

Letter S pic from http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/LetterMazes/Letter_s_Small.html, "Sweet Search" logo from their website.
Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

R = Reduce, Reuse, Recycle #GETABC

R is for Reduce,

Reuse, Recycle Reources

(GTG's  #GETABC Series = Green, E ducation, & Tech*)

What else would R = but the 3 R's?  A YouTube search of these 3 R's would give you one of a many videos like the above.

When researching the 3R's, another great find is KATE: "Kentucky Academy of Technology Education." KATE works as a storehouse of K-12 technology practices, not only for teachers & students alike in the state of Kentucky, but gloablly as well.

As a lovely accompaniment, there's also TICK: "Technology In Classrooms of Kentucky," which was built and maintained by KATE, to house lesson plans, activities, and other classroom resources.  With over 3,600 listed units, lessons, files, and more, you're no where near a loss.

So the question might be, what does R have to do with KATE & TICK?  Well, again, with 3,600 resources, it's no surprise there are going to be several that are mean and green and revolve around the 3 R's.

One of my my favorite TICK quotes from their website: 

"TICK provides a single-point of access for resources specifically applicable to Kentucky educators. For example, a Google search on a topic such as fractions returns over 11 million hits, while a TICK search will only return a list with applicable instructional resources.

Some great TICK resources on our 3 R's:

--Reduce, Reuse, & Recycling--Smartboard Activity

--Keyword search of Activities for ENVIRONMENT  (58 results listed)

--Keyword Search of activities for REDUCE  (17 results listed)

--Keyword Search of activities for RECYCLE   (16 results listed)

Go Kentucky!  Let's hear it for TICK & KATE!!

Letter R pic from: http://www.carnivoresdilemma.net/weblog/reduce-refine-replace.html; Logos from above-mentioned websites.

Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

Q = QR Codes #GETABC

Q is for QR Codes

(GTG's  #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech

We've all seen them...those box-y, bigger-than-bar-code secret messages.  Your phone, iPad, or whatever-electronic-bar-code-scanner-you-have becomes your secret decoder ring. 

Along with LiveBinders, QR Codes (or "Quick Response" Codes) have been one of my favorite finds of the summer.  With QR Codes, you can turn all sorts of activities into hidden quests by hiding some of these along the way.  All you need is a QR Code Generator such as Kaywa QR Code Generator.  It makes it easy What a way to get kids out in nature, yet also taking advantage of the hands-on element of technology. (I downloaded the free app NeoReader to my device, but there are tons on the market, equally free.)

Perhaps one of my favorite activities I created this fall to be ready for this season's "crop o'3rd graders" is an activity to tie into my River unit in Social Studies.  Using the book River Bed: Sleeping in the World's Rivers, I found short videos via YouTube to embed in a QR code so my students could get a flavor of what each of the 9 rivers mentioned in the book looks like.  I did the same with an atlas maps so students could see where in the world each river is.  I'll attach these in the book on the proper pages, and voila! An interactive activity! Get the QR Codes from the book here:)

Qr Codes for the Book "River Beds" by Gail Langer Karwoski

View more documents from Vicki Dabrowka

Here are more links, insights, and oodles of information on QR Codes Galore:


eTools for Language Learners:  QR Codes

QR Codes In Education

CybraryMan's QR Code Page

Letter Q pic from http://yvettecandraw.blogspot.com/2011_05_08_archive.html.  The QR code on this page was generated at http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ using GTG's website.

Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

P = Pollution #GETABC

P is for Pollution

(GTG's  #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech*)

"Pollution" is a dirty word...there's no doubt about it!

Given that, a one way ticket to PPPST:  Pete's Power Point Station to get the down and dirty on pollution is where you need to go.  There, you'll find info covering air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, and land-based pollution (as it affects Coral Reefs), and links for kids and for teachers.

With 22 links, it's certainly a powerful plethora of information...including links to acid rain, the environment, reuse/recycle, the water cycle, and world problems!

On the PPPST home page, it'll take you into a major portal...so pretty much anything you might be looking for regarding educational powerpoints or interactive activities for kids will be there. Second only, perhaps, to Cybraryman!

Letter P pic from http://rakstagemom.wordpress.com/. Pollution pic from http://science.pppst.com/pollution.html.  "Be the Solution" sticker picture from http://www.zazzle.com/%22be+the+solution%22+gifts.

Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

 

O = Ollie's World #GETABC

O is for Ollie Recycles

(GTG's  #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech*)

"Ollie's World" is a l'il online mecca belonging to a li'l fella named Ollie who is dedicated to sustainability.  There's an "Adult section" and a "Kids section" of Ollie's World. In the Adults' World of Olllie's World, you'll find the educational rational for the activities, information for teachers, and more. In the Kids' World of Ollie's World, you'll find activities to emphasize the 4 R's:  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink...especially how they apply to waste, water, energy, air, and biodiversity.  Ollie's World promotes itself as "Sustainability 'Edutainment' Program"

In Ollie's World, you can find:

Ollie's Island ~ "Looking at where stuff comes from, how we use it, and how this affects our world."

You have to access it at through the "Australia" link as the USA link is still "coming soon." You'll find adventures/episodes to watch, online games to play--all centered around helping the environment.

Ollie Saves the Planet ~ "Join Ollie to REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, and RETHINK what you do with waste, water, energy, air, and biodiversity--under the principle of Sustainability."

Enter the Clubhouse to do games and puzzles, go to ActionTown to see their major backers/supporters and learn more, check out the projects of the month, or read the latest Ollie News.

Ollie Recycles
Check out the UK or Australian sites for recycle-oriented activities.

There's also an Educator's Section with extra information about Ollie's World, as well as the merits of environmental education. 

It's always good for kids to have a little fun while they're learning!  Ollie will help you do that!


O picture from http://www.squidoo.com/alphabet-coloring-pages-and-sheets; Olllie's World from the above listed webpages.


Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.

N = Networking With Ning #GETABC

N is for Networking With Ning

(GTG's #GETABC Series = Green, Education, & Tech*)

Networking via the biggest world-wide network (that's the Internet, to you and me), gets easier all the time.  Of course, as it gets easier to make connections, it's more and more mind-blowing how many choices you actually have.

To get you on the right track, here are a few resources.

The 21st Century Educator

View more presentations from Kim Cofino

"Ning" is a pretty popular networking avenue.  It helps to simplify your networking life, bringing you more and more to the people to whom you want to be connected.  Ning serves as a platform to create or join a social network based on your passions.

A huge Ning community for educators is The Educator's PLN:  A Personal Learning Network for Educators.


A Google search of "Ning.com" and "Environment" gives you a good 6+ million hits.

Plus here's a few more on the eco-theme:
Incredibly Green
Green & Clean Mom
Green Guardians
Pursuit of a Green Planet

And another one for education: 
Transforming Education for the 21st Century
(Note:  The only Ning community I'm a member of is the above mentionioned Educator's PLN, so I cannot speak on any of these other ones.  But, find your passion, align it with Ning, and your networking life will take on a life of its own.)




Letter N picture from http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/pages/43-letterN/.  The Ning photo is the logo for the home Ning site, where you can create your own.

Note:  In an attempt to meld my pursuits of green, education, and technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC.  To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to GTG's True Confessions & Whirling Dervishes.