Target Finds & an Amazing Giveaway

On our way home from Chicago this weekend, I begged my husband to take me to Target my husband dropped me off at Target so I could check out the dollar section. The closest one to me is an hour away so I don't get there often enough. Well, between looking through the baby clothes and home decor, I ended up with only a few minutes to go through the dollar section and didn't really find much other than erasers for my prize box. But I did score two things for my classroom that I have been wanting to find! First, I have seen so many pictures of beverage bins used for clipboards, reading buddies, etc. that I just had to have one. I almost bought one a month ago but since I wasn't really in back to school mode yet I put it back. Not this time and I am so glad I didn't because at the checkout it rang up as $4.50!! Yes, that's right! Now if only there had been 2 of them!! The other great thing I found was a turquoise and white chevron canvas. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet but who can pass up chevron?!?! I could have spent hours in there looking for things I don't need but my husband ended up coming in with our two daughters to see what was taking me so long so I had to move it along! Do your significant others roll their eyes at you at the mere mention of stopping at Target or is it just mine?

Check out Mrs. Wheeler's giveaway! She is celebrating her blog's 3rd birthday by giving her fans lots of chances to win great prizes, including a certificate to TPT!! How awesome is that! Check out her giveaway here!

New Blogger and Technology Talk

So I have been wanting to start my own blog for some time now. I have been a closet “blog stalker” for about 2 years now and I am finally taking the plunge and becoming a blogger!! I took a technology course this summer and let me tell you, it was A-MAZ-ING!!!! This is why I finally created this little ol’ blog. I was amazed to learn about so many different tools available to use in the classroom. I want to highlight a few of those sites because perhaps someone else out there has been sheltered like me and maybe you will learn something too!

symbaloo.com: This is a great way to organize sites you frequent most often and have them available right at the click of your mouse. Set it up as your homepage and you have everything you need right there.

Created with Padlet

padlet.com: This is an awesome site. I was trying to figure out ways to use in my kindergarten classroom and one thing I thought of was for parents to leave a note to their child as they begin their first day of school. I have always had parents write notes on paper on the Meet the Teacher night but if I have my wall up that night, parents can simply go to the computer and add their message. You can add a response to my wall if you double click on it. Let me know when your first day is! So cool!!



glogster.com: This would be perfect for intermediate grades and is a great way for students to use as a presentation tool. It is a digital poster where students can add images, video, audio, etc, of the topic they are covering. I am thinking I could use this with my more advanced students towards the end of the year. I like to do an animal research project with these kiddos and this could be a great tool for them to share their research with the class. I would obviously have to recruit some help for my kiddos but older kids would catch on to this quickly. Once at this site, there is an educational version as well.

ifaketext.com: You can create screenshots of fake text messaging conversations to use in your classroom. Great tool that could be used as a reader’s response or dialogue between two characters in a story. The kids would love this!

You MUST check out a few of these sites. You won’t be sorry!!!

The 21st Century Classroom

Here is my ideal classroom. All students and teachers should have equal access to technology.

Learning Styles and Technology

We all know that our students come to us with varying learning styles and needs that need to be met.  We cannot expect every student to gather and receive information the same way.  Just like us as teachers, we all learn differently and therefore, need to be taught differently.  Technology is a great teaching tool that allows us to reach more students because we are now meeting their learning styles.  I have found in my own classroom that when I incorporate movement, music, and pictures in my lessons, my students become more involved in the learning and thus, more learning is taking place.  Technology is already a very integral part of our students' lives so it only makes sense for our classrooms to embrace it as well.

Are we preparing our students for their future?

In reflecting on the article, Safe Schools in a Web 2.0 World, I began thinking about whether or not the district I work in is moving towards a Web 2.0 world. I think my district still has a long way to go.  I think we are failing our students when we do not utilize the tools available to us with our students.  In this day and age, ALL students should have access to computers in the school.  Whether or not they have access at home is another story and nothing we can control.  But we can control their electronic usage at school.  We talk about the need to prepare our students for the next level, beyond k-12 education, but when we don’t expose them to technology that is available, we are not preparing them.  At some point, the “higher ups” need to look at the budget and find a way to get these students access to a variety of electronic media.  I work in a fairly large district, what can be considered large in NW IL.  I always find myself wondering how a district this large can be so far behind other districts, which are much smaller.  I hear of other districts where each student has a laptop or iPad.  These 1:1 classrooms can be a powerful learning environment for our students so why are we not looking into this?   

Teachers are the key to driving the technology in the classroom.  We are the catalyst for change. Education is constantly evolving and it is up to us as teachers to jump on board.  After all, isn't education about the students, not us?  It isn't about our fears and anxieties about technology. It isn't about our trepidation and lack of knowledge regarding apps and gadgets available to us. The students are not afraid of using more and more technology, we are.  The students are not afraid of not knowing how to operate something, we are.  The students just jump right in and navigate all on their own.  Isn’t that what we want?  Don’t we want them to take charge of their learning and become accountable?  

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Six Pillars of an Effective Web 2.0 classroom

I agree with the section on the Engaged Teacher.   I think the initial step to transforming our classrooms into Web 2.0 classrooms is that the teacher needs to fully commit.  For many teachers, change is difficult and when you have taught in a traditional classroom for many years, it is hard to make the change.  We need to stay up to date on current practices and learn ways to effectively incorporate the vast amount of tools available.  It is amazing what it can do but teachers have to first unlock the door so to speak and allow their students to enter through into a new world of education.

Sir Ken Robinson Video

Ken Robinson's video on education is fabulous and very thought-provoking.  I especially like the analogy he made with Death Valley.   All children have the potential to learn and succeed but it is up to us as teachers to make sure the conditions are right in the classroom to make that happen.

Teaching kindergarten, most of my students are pretty excited about school and are motivated to learn because they are full of curiosity and wonder.  I often wonder where the line is drawn for those kiddos who are so full of excitement about learning and those who hate school and want no part in it.  My belief is that we as teachers are responsible for that change.  I am not pointing a finger at anyone but I think that when we bring enthusiasm and excitement every day to our classroom, our students will exhibit it.  When we make personal connections with our students and strive to meet their varying needs, be it academically, socially, emotionally, our students become a part of the learning community and will begin to take ownership.  I think that too often, we get caught up in testing and collecting data (which obviously has its place) that we forget that one of the most crucial things we need to be working on in the classroom is building relationships with our students.  When we have those relationships in place, I feel that learning and growing is inevitable.  Each student comes to us with a background.  Everyone always comments to me that "teaching Kindergarten is easy because they are blank slates".  I have never met one student who has come to me as a blank slate.  Each has a past that will impact the way he/she learns in my classroom.  My job is to enhance each of their slates and try to lead them in the right direction.  At the end of every year, I obviously want my students to have been successful but sometimes more importantly, I want for each of them to leave my classroom knowing that they MATTER to someone.

Hello Blogging World!!

This is my very first attempt at starting my own blog!  Here goes nothing!