Another WOW moment.

by on 03. May, 2012 in Social Media

I am constantly amazed by the power of twitter. I can’t talk about it enough…I have so many inspiring educators that I can now call my friends because of twitter.

Not only do we have weekly chats about different 1st grade topics through #1stchat…but tonight we had a book talk about The Book Whisperer by the incredible Donalyn Miller @donalynbooks.  Book chats are always different and you never know who is going to come.  Tonight, the conversation was so easy, like it was a group of friends getting together to talk about a good book. Such a warm and fuzzy feeling. I am inspired everyday by my #1stchat PLN. Learning, sharing and collaborating with them has been a powerful experience.

Tonight, I had a colleague join in on our book chat. I have been talking about twitter for over a year now at school…trying to get some of my grade levels friends on board. Tonight, one of my dearest friends, Vickie Miller joined in.  Vickie was so nervous about participating. She did an amazing job and kept up with the conversation – I remember how overwhelmed I was listening in on my first #edchat! It was so hard to keep up!  Vickie and I have always been on the same page when it comes to teaching.  It was so exciting for me to have her join in on something that I hold so close. What an amazing friend. I am very lucky.

I will continue to share how twitter has changed me as an educator. Some don’t get it, some say they don’t have time, but for me it is something so special and so meaningful to my teaching career. Thanks to my incredible PLN! You are all such passionate educators that inspire me each and every day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Recycled portraits

by on 24. Apr, 2012 in Holiday

My 1st graders had so much fun creating their recycled portraits this year for Earth Day!  Thanks to Kathy Sather @teach1quilt2 for finding this great idea via pinterest.

I modeled how to draw a simple self portrait.  Then the kids used recycled magazines and newspapers to fill them in.  They loved this and they came out really well! I am going to hang these out in the hallway for parents during our Young Learner’s Night. The kids want their parents to guess which one is them! Great idea. Enjoy!

The title of our bulletin board is going to read, “Room 28 is Going Green!”


 

 

 

 

 

 

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A New Beginning

by on 23. Apr, 2012 in Professional

Change is so healthy. I think of myself as someone who always needs something new, something exciting and different. I am always up for a challenge. The same routine going day in and day out bores me. While I have only taught 1st grade for 6 years…I was feeling that my routine was wearing on me. While I am always looking for new ways to present lessons, new activities and games, I was still feeling like I was in a funk.

When our “teaching intent forms” came out in January, I panicked. It was finally time to make my decision. Do I stay in 1st? Or is it time to go?  After a lot of careful thought, I knew it was time for something different. I met with the other principals and told them that I was interested in switching grade levels. I was very lucky when I was offered a 4th grade position a few weeks later.

I am so excited and so extremely nervous about 4th grade. 1st —-> 4th. Now that’s a huge jump. I’m going from a group of student’s who still need help tying their shoes/zipping their jackets to a group of students that are much more independent. I am beyond excited. What excites me the most is what I will be able to do with technology in 4th grade. My head has been spinning since I found out.

4th grade will be a wonderful, new beginning for me. I am staying in the same district and will be working with an amazing team of veteran teachers. I feel very lucky for the opportunity to try something new. Looking forward to jumping into #4thchat and this summer all I have planned is to read as many books as a I can. (1st grade picture books are much easier to catch up on!)

I am very sad to pass on my #1stchat – but I know it’s time to leave. It has been an amazing year learning from my #1stchat PLN. Such an incredible and inspiring group of teachers. I can’t wait to share my new adventure with all of you!

 

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The easiest way to archive!

by on 07. Mar, 2012 in Tech Tools

So many twitter friends have been asking me lately how to archive a chat.  If you would have asked me 6 months ago, I would have said, “I have no clue!” But…thanks to my amazing MacBook Air, I have found the best, and more importantly easiest way to archive! Sorry to those that have a PC!

1. Use TweetChat to follow twitter chats! When you sign in using your twitter info, all you need to do is enter your hashtag and all the tweets will show up. The best part about TweetChat is that when following a chat, you do not have to write the #hashtag everytime , it does it for you! So easy!

2. At the end of your chat, go to File: Print.

3. From the print screen, you should see a button on the bottom left corner that says, PDF.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Simply click, Save as PDF and now you have a copy to share, put on a website, etc! So easy, right?

If you have any questions, just shoot me an email!

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Kid Blogs: How to’s and What has worked

by on 01. Mar, 2012 in Ideas, Tech Tools, Writing

I have learned so much from my #1stchat friends over the past few months. It’s so excited to talk with 1st grade teachers from around the globe. Blogging has been a main topic of conversation recently.

I starting blogging with my students last year. We had a classroom blog. I did all the typing. The kids would tell me about the day and we’d organize our thoughts into a post. I found this to be exhausted and frustrating! We always did this at the end of the day and I found that I was yelling at them more than actually getting them to help me out.

This year, I scrapped the classroom blog and started using Kid Blogs. Many teachers told me that it took awhile to get students used to the format, especially the little ones. I didn’t listen and jumped in head first. I was so excited that I couldn’t wait for my kids to try it out. I showed them a few examples of Kid Blogs on our Smart Board and we were ready to go. It only took a few moments to set up my account with student names, passwords and format for the blog.

The best part about Kid Blogs is how easy it is to log in. Once the teacher sets up the account, the kids simply find their name and type in their password.  We made our passwords very simple…I know that other teachers often let their students pick their own passwords because if they pick it themselves, they are more likely to remember. Others have sent home passwords, put them on index cards or put them on a binder ring so kids could find them easily. Whatever works for you!

After I showed the kids how blogging works, they were anxious to get started. Day 1 – I modeled and they blogged. Many kids had ideas that they were ready to blog about. Other students were stumped. So on Day 2 – we created a large list on what to blog about. This helped other students to get started right away. I do not tell the students what to blog about.  They always have free choice – I strongly believe that students should not be writing to prompts!

I sent the links out to parents and my twitter PLN along with the hashtag #comments4kids and the comments started coming.  The students are so excited when they know that there are actual people out there reading their blogs! They have a real audience! How powerful! Yesterday, I had a student get a Happy Birthday message from a classroom in Ireland – I think he had a grin on his face all day long.  :) Another student got a comment that even made me tear up! Miss Komos (@Komos72) wrote that she used my student’s blog post as a model for what good readers look like! YAY! Love it!

Just recently, my class was given a few iPod touches and an iPad to try out in the classroom. I immediately set up our classroom blog as a bookmark, and now the students love to blog on them.  They love finding small corners of the room to hide out in and write.  Their posts keep getting better and better. While I still have a few students who struggle with writing, I do not alter their blogs in any way. Whatever they write is theirs (even if you can’t read it very well). How cool will it be at the end of 1st grade to look back on the blogs and see how much we’ve improved! I can’t wait!

 

 

 

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Dublin Lit 2012

by on 25. Feb, 2012 in Ideas, Reading, Writing

Check out all of the great ideas shared during the Dublin Literacy Conference in Dublin, Ohio!

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How are you a leader?

by on 02. Dec, 2011 in Ideas

How are you a leader in your school district? I would love to hear feedback on what you are doing within your district. I find that often times I put myself out there and it’s not well accepted from administrators.  As a teacher, are there opportunities for you to “move up” like in the business community?  As a teacher, I feel like there is no moving up in the world if you don’t want to be an administrator.  Sometimes I feel as though I’m the only teacher that wants more responsibilities.  I want more roles outside of the actual classroom community. Let me run an inservice training. Let me be on a planning committee.  Let me tell you about my ideas on technology in the classroom. I ask on multiple occasions only for my ideas to be lead by someone else.

The starting a movement video always comes to mind when thinking of leadership.  This is how I started the day at edcamp Harrisburg.  We as tech educators need to be leaders in our district and teach others what is going on.  I love Tom Whitby’s (@tomwhitby) idea during a recent #edchat.  Let’s start a movement.  Teach a Teacher Twitter!  Twitter is such an amazing tool and has truly turned into my #1 form of PD.

This year I have had many struggles with technology due to the amount of crazy classroom changes, as you can read in earlier posts.  I am still on my computer each night. I still spend time on twitter…time reading blogs and searching for new ideas to try with my kiddos.  I will still reach out to administrators, try to teach others new things and go above and beyond. I love using tech in my classroom and I have such a true passion for it. I consider myself a leader. I need to figure out where I fit in.

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Thanksgiving Favorites

by on 18. Nov, 2011 in Holiday

I love this time of year in the classroom! Here are some of my Thanksgiving favorites!

**We LOVE to sing in Room 28! Over the River and Through the Woods is a holiday favorite.  My students love listening to the song and making up silly motions to act it out.


**Scholastic always has amazing resources for all times of the year! Here you can check out great videos, audio and printables for Thanksgiving.

**While talking about the Pilgrims…learn how to talk like them too! Children love the challenge of trying out new words and phrases.

**It’s always fun to make some quick crafts to decorate the classroom.  My all time favorite (and it’s a classic) is the hand-print and foot-print turkey!

**Everyone always does, “I am thankful for…” Last year I was inspired by a student to switch it up a bit.  In his writing, he wrote that he is thankful for everything BUT poison ivy! So as a class we each came up with something that we were not thankful for and why.  It turned out to be a great writing prompt and I turned it into a voicethread!


**BrainPOPjr is always another great resource! Make sure to check out the Thanksgiving movie!

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edcamp Harrisburg

by on 07. Nov, 2011 in Ideas

I’m so excited that edcamp Harrisburg is only a few days away! After months of planning – we are ready to go!  We have over 130 educators signed up from PA, NJ, MD, NY and WV!

Edcamps are unique professional development opportunities that are spreading across the nation! Check out some of our edcamp videos! There is still time to sign up for our event at edcamp Harrisburg.

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Read for fun!

by on 21. Oct, 2011 in Reading

This has been a tough year for me so far. Change in classroom, routine and comfort level has really had me reflecting on my teaching. Especially without the use of my technology, the way I am teaching now is so different.  I have a new found excitement for reading and writing. I have gone back to basics and I have found that my kids are just excited as I am.  A student came up to me today and told me he was upset because we didn’t do ‘Read to Self.’ He said, “I know I can read a whole 20 minutes in a row!” This came from a student who started the year showing no excitement for anything! Amazing!

This time of year is always fun in the classroom….teaching about Fall, Halloween, pumpkins, etc. I have been reading some spooky stories with my class.  They love reading books with the lights off.  Today we read, “There’s A Witch Under the Stairs” by Maggie Smith.  I only got past the first line of the story when a student called out, “I have a text to text connection!!!”  I was thrilled to hear him using that type of reference!  He made the connection to the story, “There’s a Monster Under My Bed,” by James Howe.  They both start with similar sentences.  Then another student called out, “This is like Junie B. Jones when she thinks there is a monster under her bed too!” WOW! First graders making connections between books – I couldn’t stop smiling! I’m doing something right!

I’m so excited to see my first graders so enthusiastic about reading!  Here is one of our favorite poems :) At the beginning of the year, the students would only read the word ‘READ.” Now we can read this together! (It’s fun to rap this one)

READ in the classroom.

READ at home.

READ a story.

READ a poem.

READ while it’s raining,

READ in the sun.

READ to get your homework done!

READ for a reason.

READ for none,

but most of all —- READ FOR FUN!

 

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