My students loved the idea of ThingLink.  I showed my first ThingLink presentation about pit bull terriers.  The students enjoyed the pictures, videos and simplicity  of visiting various sites.  We didn't watch all of the videos, but we did read some of the information pertaining to responsible ownership of pets.  We talked about prejudices and misconceptions derived from media, gossip, and irresponsible individuals. The presentation was a great springboard for class discussion.

As a class, we also decided that ThingLink could be utilized as a digital concept map.  Often times, students will use the classic paper and coloring utensils to create concepts maps.  This enables them to digitally demonstrate their understanding of subject matter.  Sadly, they cannot use ThingLink due to restrictions by the school district.  Since they can operate a search engine within the site, they have the ability to access inappropriate material.  I explained that they could access this site at home, but we would not, as class, use the ThingLink at school.  I mentioned that future book reports could be created and the URL emailed to my district email.

Though ThingLink is a great way of combining material into a user-friendly environment, it doesn't truly display what a student knows, or what they learned.  It allows them to display the knowledge of others, but it isn't a demonstration of what they actually know.

Kids love games.  Mix it with a bit of learning, and you will have their attention.  I created a game that merges surfing with subjects and predicates.  Reading Street is such a drab approach to various subjects, that the game brings a fresh mix to the day.   Along with tantalizing pictures of massive waves and surfers (either riding a wave or crashing pending studnets' responses), I incorporated the students' names in each sentence.  This captivated their attention and peaked their interest in each slide.  I shared this with the other teachers in my grade and their classes loved it!  
I am in the process of changing a few things.  I need to distinguish between complete subjects/predicates and simple subjects and predicates.  I am also looking into changing the font and style of the text linked with a hypertext.  Each hypertext became underlined, blue, and would change to a fuchsia if selected.  I also had to finagle how each word was selected so the underline would not break and hint to the answer.  The last item i am currently revising are the pictures for each slide.  I need more of a variety on the correct answer slides.  PowerPoint does not make this easy.  Each time I set a picture for the background, I have to go through the labyrinth of files to find the location.  For some reason, it doesn't remember the previous pathway.  This makes setting the pictures tedious. Regardless, the students really enjoyed it, and they finished the lesson with a better understanding of subjects and predicates.

The students loved Edmodo.  I created a 13 question quiz to determine the students familiarity and prior knowledge of their upcoming spelling words.  The spelling words came from Unit 1 Week 2 in the 5th grade Reading Street program.  After completing the quiz, I created 2 polls for the students to complete.  The first poll pertained to the quiz, the latter asked about their favorite color.  This was fun practice for them, and valuable experience for me.  They enjoyed taking the polls and many students liked the ability to comment/post on the news feed.

I planned ahead for their excitement over posting and responding to posts.  With the help of Quail Hollow's Ed Tech, Danae Reff, we tackled the tough topic of Cyber-Bullying.  We laid ground rules and procedures for operating online.  We talked about consequences and possible issues that could arise if students were irresponsible with online forums.  The discussion was incredibly insightful, and relayed information that is critical in this modern day of technology.  Even if I never use Edmodo again, the insight and conversation spawned from this exercise was invaluable to their development in the digital world.