I made a huge decision in December that I have kept relatively quiet until today. My supervisor let my department know that I am retiring after 34 wonderful years in education. I considered several things before I made my decision; including the fact that my district has a post-retirement option that will allow me to come right back for 8 weeks to cover for someone on maternity leave starting September 1. I figure it is a lot like being a grand parent; I get to still do what I love, but then give it back after a short time period. I really don’t want to work full time any more. I want to work in the yard in the mornings, run while it is still cool outside, and enjoy some free time.
I will miss all of you more than you know. I am sure I will still read all of your blogs, but mine will only be around for a short time. If you have a document or a post that you really refer to, please please repost on your blog. Thanks to you all!
Apr
15
It is Official
Nov
28
Telescopic Text
Ozge Karoglu’s Blog is always a good read for me. I have her feed in my Google Reader. Yesterday she had a post about the website Telescopictext.org so I created a free account and started working on how I could use this with elementary students. In a nutshell, this site lets you create a very basic sentence, and then add phrases, descriptive words, etc. to make the sentence better. Even though you need the account to save, I believe students could use this tool and use during class time effectively without saving/publishing. (After you publish you can no longer edit.) They could walk around and see samples by other students and have a great discussion as to why the sentence is a really good sentence. Click on words that are highlighted in grey to expand the sentence.
Below is a sample that I made. What a fun way to help students become better writers.
Nov
15
NASA Wavelength
Another great resource for science is the NASA Wavelength site. I love the resources NASA provides to educators, and have some older posts on the NASA digital learning network. The Wavelength site has hundreds of free resources and lessons at all levels (626 at the Elementary level alone!) by providing links to external sights. Two that caught my eye right away were introducing temperature measurement for primary grades and The Mystery of the Missing Hummingbirds. Please try out this fabulous science resource.
Oct
01
Polar Bears
Are you interested in having your students learn more about Polar Bears, and their habitat? Here is a great opportunity to connect with Karen Ogen who will be attending Polar Bear Leadership Camp in Canada in early October. This is a chance for your students to connect, follow, ask questions, and even post projects about Polar Bears on her site. There is a Polar Bear cam on her site as well. Click here to see this wonderful information and follow her journey.
Oct
01
Blogging Ideas
Another great post from What Ed Said (Edna Sackson). Her eloquent description of what Blogs could be for is worth the read. Always examine the purpose for your assignments.
In her words: “I think that a class blog is not (just)…
- A place to post questions, worksheet style, with an expectation that all students will respond.
- A space for teachers to assess and comment publicly on students’ writing.
- A sort of online vacuum, into which students’ writing is sucked, never to be seen by anyone.
- A compulsory homework assignment.
- Something managed entirely by the teacher, who makes all the decisions as to what will be posted and when.
- An occasionally used alternative to writing on paper.”
Sep
10
Collaboration Projects
I brag constantly that my Google Reader (and the blogs that I follow) are my constant source of ideas. Today was no different. While reading Kathy Adkins’ blog, Friday Flash. I felt compelled to share some of the fabulous collaborative resources from her blog. Her post (found here) gives some really great collaborative projects for teachers to sign up for and take part in.
I particularly like Projects by Jen and the Center for Innovation for Engineering and Science Education.
Thanks Kathy for those links!
Sep
06
We used to……
As my teachers continue to work on 21st century skills, I will try to help them but at the same time keep it very simple. I was in an upper elementary class today and the students were working in pairs to give definitions and examples of some review vocabulary. They were collaborating and were clever to say the least. As they were called on to share, it dawned on me that using a collaborative document would have achieved the same results, only in half the time. Think about using your Henrico Google account for a document that all the groups could edit simultaneously. The time savings and the reactions from the students will be well worth it. On the TIP Chart (Teaching Innovation Progression) using a collaborative document would have it land in the developing category:
“Use digital tools to communicate to complete class assignments.”
or even the approaching category
“Use appropriate digital tools to facilitate collaboration”.
These small easy time saving changes would be a good example of when technology enhances the outcome.
Think about pre-unit KWL done in this manner. Keep it simple!
Aug
22
Cute website to generate text
I like to spotlight blogs I read from time to time. Today, I was trying to catch up on my reading, AND I was working on a QR code scavenger hunt at the same time. While reading Michael Zimmer’s blog he introduced me to gzaas.com. Now I am going to use this resource for my scavenger hunt. I will put text clues in from this site (which generates a URL).
Check it out!!
Jun
08
Mystery Skype
I had my first experience with a Mystery Skype today. Thanks to Debra Finger (@teacherdebra) who invited us to participate with her students. The premise is that 2 classes Skype with each other, and using yes/no questions, they have to figure out where the other class is.?I am not sure how Debra had her kids in groups, but my groups were as follows:?Communication Group: On camera talking to other students?Inquirers Group: These were the question writers; who had complete control over prioritizing questions and editing questions to give to kids on camera.
Question Keepers: Using a Google Doc, kept all questions and answers
Mappers: Finding clues by zooming in on states using various resources.
Clue Keepers: These students kept track of which states were NOT possible choices.
Runners: Since students weren’t allowed to run around or shout across the room, we had a group of 4 runners who got plenty of exercise!!
The students had to select their own groups, and formulate which resources they would need. They chose print resources, on-line resources, and even made some of their own resources. I was amazed at the amount of focus for the one hour session- my students were amazing and everybody was doing their job, plus checking the google doc for what had transpired. The other students quickly figured out we were in VA, and in Henrico. We finally figured out their state, but it took us a while to figure out their city. As soon as we found their city we found their school. The other group never did figure out which school we were so we finally told them.
Think communication, collaboration, problem solving, research skills and creative thinking and you have an idea of what this was like.
I am ready, willing and able to do more of these next year. Please email me if you are interested.
Jun
06
National Geographic Young Explorers
I use National Geographic Young Explorers all the time for research for my primary grades. Each month’s article has the read aloud feature that I love for younger students. To facilitate finding what you are looking for, I created this spreadsheet with links to help teachers find information quicker. My colleague Sarah Schmoyer started this list last week, and I decided to expand it slightly. Thanks Sarah!
Jun
01
Little Bird Tales Collaboration
Mrs. Sanborn and Mrs. Luke had their grade 3, and grade 5 classes collaborate on a Fairy Tale project. The students used Little Bird Tales to write and record their stories. With 25 different stories being used, they quickly ran out of space, but decided to download the .mp4 files (.99 each) to several, freeing space to complete all the stories. Here is a sample of one of their stories that we downloaded. Congratulations to these students for their collaboration and creativity on this writing project.
The After Story of Beauty and the Beast from Suzanne Whitlow on Vimeo.
Mar
13
Explorers Thinglink for Grade 3
Students, please read directions below the picture to label 4 different things for each Explorer.
Mar
12
Mar
12
Interactive sites for use with IWB
I love communicating with other educators. The first thing in my Google Reader this morning was a post from this blog: karenogen.blogspot.com/. It is a compilation by content for interactive activities to use on the interactive white board. Here is the site:
I immediately found something to share with a teacher who asked me last week for a specific SOL. I urge you to try this site.
Mar
02
iPad Apps- Label Box
From Jennifer Barnett, ITRT
Other tutorials can be found here.
Labelbox App from Jennifer Barnett on Vimeo.
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