Knowledge is Power

I love Twitter! It took me awhile to start using it, but it is an exponential wealth of information via links to education articles, discussions, and Web 2.0 tools. I started following LiveBinders recently.

If you haven't explored LiveBinders before, it is a website that allows you to create an online binder that is similar to a physical binder. You can name your binder, add tabs and subtabs, and organize your resources into it. Resources can include webpages, videos, pdfs, and images. You can share your binder and/or look at binders that others have shared. I had originally set up an account with LiveBinders in my last graduate class hoping I would start using LiveBinders to store my units online as well as having my physical unit. But, if it is usable at school, it would be an AWESOME tool for students to create their own LiveBinder of learning for student-led conferences in the fall and spring!

LiveBinders posted a link to this binder about Web 2.0 that heyjudeonline created. It's a great place to start if you are unsure about how to teach students to search online. Another great binder for teachers is Web 2.0 Tools created by Mrs.B which tells about everything Web 2.0. If you just thought, "I'm not really sure what web 2.0 is OR I don't know what web 2.0 is," then you should definitely look into this binder!

I would also suggest going to CommonCraft if you are unsure about the latest in technology. This site contains short, 3 minute educational/informational videos created by Lee and Sachi LeFever using simple paper cut-outs and a "fun and light-hearted style". (You can also search "in Plain English" on YouTube to find the same videos.)

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Fond Memories & On to Summer!

As always, I'm very far behind on posting, but I've finally combed through all of the photos and put them into Layout to share with you. Created a "Reading Helps Your Mind Bloom" book display, to leave up as state testing started. I pulled lots of gardening, bees, and butterfly books. Plus, lots of potential parents came through at the end of the year for tours, so it was good to have this out to keep it from being too sterile as all the library books started coming back. I did a "Hop Into a Great Book" display here to put an emphasis on some seldom-circulated books as well as to highlight nonfiction, though I also put out some fiction books too! Kept on teaching kindergarten and first graders about different authors. I did create some very fun centers for Mo Willems. As one paraprofessional said to me, "You're brave to do Play-Doh on carpet." However, we didn't really have any issues when I gave the kids clear expec...

Summer Already

Wow. I cannot believe that this year went by so quickly! I also can't believe, though I shouldn't be surprised, that I haven't posted ANYTHING since October 2016! Here's a quick, catch-up of relevant events with captions. :) Third grade's CultureGrams projects turned out really well. They worked feverishly, even when we were displaced into the multi-purpose room. They loved learning about a different country and its similarities and differences with their own. Second grade finished learning about the different periods of the Dewey Decimal system, and shared some of their work for our library bulletin board. Fun bulletin board idea from Pinterest for the start of second semester Kindergarten through fourth graders then listened to me read aloud 20 different Georgia Picture Book Award Nominees, over many weeks, so that they would be able to vote for their one favorite book. I worked in "28 Days: Moments in Blac...

Smile

Look at that shelf. Such disarray. That's kind of how I felt around mid-August. Pulled in too many directions. On overload. In need of a bookend to hold me up and set me straight. (or, in need of more time in my day) One week, I tried staying no later than 4 PM, and leaving undone what I couldn't accomplish, but that was stressful, too! I currently spend around 30 minutes everyday, either during classes, during planning, or after, afternoon car duty, to keep all of the books shelved. I'm doing a better job of preventing the shelves from looking like the one pictured above. (We've had 3 different moms come a collective six times to volunteer to help with shelving. Yay for Mrs. Stratton, who has come back multiple times!) I implemented a new change this year, to allow 4th and 5th graders to re-shelve their own fiction or everybody/picture books. That has helped! I also started a 5th grade program called "Castle Apprent...

Blessed to Teach and Read

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