Visuwords May 27, 2008
Posted by anne marie in ELA, SMART Board.trackback
Visuwords is an online graphical dictionary and thesaurus that I wanted to share. We used this site today, when creating the rough drafts of our poems. My students were not able to use this tool independently, but it was helpful in assisting students to choose a variety of words to incorporate into their poems. Students would say a word, staff would type the word and read the myriad of results, giving students the opportunity to select a word. We would then find graphics/symbols as needed to support student work. I found myself dreaming of a graphical dictionary that supports/incorporates pictures– now that would be awesome! If anyone knows of one PLEASE let me know! I also like the way Visuwords uses color coding to demonstrate the parts of speech. My students loved to watch the organizer in action on the SMARTBoard– I have to admit it did look really cool watching the words ”grow”!
We definitely got into a groove today, writing the draft versions of our poems. There was a wide range of interests, from cars and graduation to video games and football! Tomorrow we will write our final versions and begin the process of adding illustrations. So stay tuned– we hope to have them ready for viewing by the end of the week!
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Anne Marie,
I would love to see the poems when they are finished. It sounds like a great activity for your students. I’d even be happy to come in as a guest reader of their poems. Keep me posted.
Dawn
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That would be GREAT, Dawn. We’d love for you to be a guest reader of our poems. The students are working very hard and it shows- the poems are WONDERFUL! Will be in touch to arrnage a time.
anne marie
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