All About Us!

This year I wanted to "freshen up" our All About Me projects. This is also the first year that I will be blogging with my class from the BEGINNING of the year. (Last year, we didn't get started until about March.) I went to EdCampSC in the beginning of September and heard about an app called PixNTell that allows you to take pictures and record voice over them. I immediately thought of our All About Me projects and our class blog. BINGO! 

During the All About Me projects students are given a blank person poster. They take it home and decorate it as they want and return it to school. I choose a different student each day and they are given an opportunity to tell all about themselves. The other students are then given a chance to ask questions and interview them. When the speaking presentation is finished, the children then create and publish a book all about the presenter. 

Poster Presentation

All About Me Poster

                   Student Writing for the Class Book

Front Cover

I also decided to map our connections across the globe through our class blog, visitors, Google Hangouts, etc. I put up a map of the world and purchased colored pins. A few teachers down the hall thought that they would get a local map and use it to map where all the students lived, and... I totally stole this idea! (Thank you, Ms. Shirley and Ms. Greene!) I thought it was a great idea to map where we live on a local map before we started make global connections. My hope was to make location and mapping a little more concrete for my students. Fingers crossed.

Our Local Map

I wanted to capture this All About Me project process and this is where PixNTell came into play. At the conclusion of the presentation, I took each presenter to the side and made a short video using the PixNTell app. SUPER QUICK AND EASY! I then uploaded the video to the blog and Voila! - great way to preserve the projects for the blog. If a teacher was going to use a class blog for a digital portfolio, this is a great way to include student products AND reflection. I will be using this FREE app for other projects as well! 

Here are a few examples and don't forget to check out this year's class blog!