Meriwether Lewis Elementary School Pilot

This week the yolink education team worked with fourth and fifth grade classes at Meriwether Lewis Elementary school in Portland, Oregon.

The fourth grade classes have been studying the Oregon Trail. Each of the students had different topics relating to the Oregon Trail they were researching and also preparing to share their research with the class. The fifth grade classes were studying the Mount St. Helens eruption as it was the 30th anniversary. They also were interested in finding information on Harry Truman, a man that had lived very close to the volcano at the time of the eruption.

Yolink was able to help them search the links on a web page about the Oregon Trail, as well as scan Google links. They quickly understood how yolink works and appeared to like it!

Here is what one student said, “Before this I’ve had to search through five Google pages to find what I was looking for.” – Fourth Grade Student

We will keep in touch with the fourth and fifth grade classes to see the other ways they have been able to use yolink.
share on: facebook

yolink featured on Classroom 2.0 Live

On Saturday, May 15th, yolink was featured on Classroom 2.0 Live. We would like to thank our wonderful moderators at Classroom 2.0 Live for their support. We had a large audience and hope to continue spreading the good word about yolink.

If you would like to access the archived presentation, please click on the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/2g2ajad
share on: facebook

Classroom 2.0 Live on Saturday, May 15th

Tune in this Saturday morning at 9AM PST for a special Classroom 2.0 Live session featuring yolink. Learn about yolink's unique functionality and social integrations, and how yolink can be useful in teaching fundamental 21st Century Skills. Talk with other educators and learn more about how yolink is being utilized in the classroom. Best of all, it is FREE! Hope to see you there!
http://live.classroom20.com/
share on: facebook

ED TECH social media campaign May 12th!

Join the Campaign! Tweet and Blog for Ed Tech May 12!

Funding for classroom technology is in jeopardy!

We're calling on educators across the US to tweet and blog for education technology funding on Wednesday, May 12.

President Obama's budget for FY11 provides no direct funding for education technology programs. Instead, it zeros out the Enhancing Education Through Technology program, the only source of direct support for ed tech in many states and districts.

Congress doesn't have to agree to the President's budget recommendations.

Help your senator and representative understand what's at stake!
On May 12 tweet, retweet, and blog your support for $500 million in FY11 ed tech funding. Mark the date on your social media calendar!

Watch the ISTE Connects blog and Twitter stream for more information on how educators can work with innovative tools to make our voices heard.

For more information, contact Hilary Goldmann (hgoldmann@iste.org), ISTE’s director of government affairs.

Our thanks to AzTEA for sharing this information.
share on: facebook

Kevin Honeycutt at WOW 2010

Kevin Honeycutt was the keynote speaker at WOW 2010 in Glendale, AZ last weekend. The local yolink team was there to hear this inspirational speaker and educator talk about the importance of education. He has found amazing ways to teach using art and technology, and to reach out and connect with students. Loved the musical demonstrations using Macs, iPods, and iPads. Visit his art snacks website or view some of his YouTube videos, they are really inspiring.


share on: facebook

Pleasant Ridge Elementary School Pilot

Last week yolink was in the Windy City at Pleasant Ridge Elementary School working with a class of 4th grade students studying Biomes. Mrs. Riskin and Mrs. Juozaitis were great hosts and shared their class with us.

The students had been doing research for their Writer’s Workshop project & presentation on Biomes for a week or so already, and had hit a few road blocks. Yolink was a great new addition to their search toolkits, and many students discovered they could find what they had been struggling to find before. Here are a few things students were saying:

“I just found something during one class that I was looking for all last week!” – 4th Grade Student

“I didn’t even know that Bougainvilleas were a part of my biome before I had yolink.” – 4th Grade Student

Mrs. Riskin also had a great analogy for yolink. She said yolink for the web is like the Table of Contents or the Index for a book, in that you can use it to find the specific location of information you are looking for. It saves you from reading or skimming the whole book or website yourself, and takes you right to your desired information. We thought that made a lot of sense!

The students and teachers particularly loved the EasyBib integration as well. They were just learning about citing their sources and had to include a bibliography for their Writer’s Workshop Biome Project.

We are always learning new uses and applications for yolink and our users are our best teachers. We love seeing yolink in action and will definitely be keeping in touch with Mrs. Juozaitis, Mrs. Riskin and the 4th Grade Class!
share on: facebook