What a joy!

Last week one of my new students after lining up asked me where we were going. I responded with, "We are going to P.E.". He nodded and we walked down the hall and stood outside of the gym and he politely said, "I thought we were going to pee". Of course I managed to keep a straight face and explained that P.E. stood for Physical Education. You gotta love it!!!

A Trip Back in Time

Yesterday we took our kiddos on a trip to Boston Center where we were met by Mrs. Evelyn Layton. She told us lots of cool things and the kids had lots of great questions about things like transportation, if things were black and white "back then" and about the outhouses. Then, we went to Mountain Grove School where we were met Mr. and Mrs. Harding! They showed us the original library at the school, a really cool old stove and we heard the old school bell ring! They were so patient with all of our questions.

Later we went to what we are calling "the old brick building" downtown and Dot from K-Life met us and let us tour the building and we even ate our lunches in the floor of the old gym. Next we went to the old Primary School which now houses Faith Life Community Health Center. We got a tour of their facilities and we got a close up of some of the old classrooms too! We went in the attached building that houses Church Army and saw where the special classes met when Ms. Pardeck taught there.

We had been collecting items for the Jesus was Homeless project and Amy met us to let us deliver our box full of toothbrushes, shampoo, cookies, and other things! We even played on the old grassy playground! 

Lastly, we visited the old building with the courtyard that is now owned by the City of Branson where we were met by a big group of city employees who patiently walked with us through this uninhabited building. We thought it was cool too! On the way back to school, we stopped at the site of the "Old Branson School" next to Dixie Stampede. It is our understanding that the real site was about 1/4 mile to the east. Anyway we talked about it as being a replica.

All in all, it was a great day! A big thank you to our school for letting us go on this trip, to Mrs. Layton, the Hardings, Dot, Faith Life Community Heatlth, Church Army, and to the City of Branson. SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT!!!!

My New Webcam

Totally worth the wait!  I can't wait to use it!  Check out my new pic!

Purposeful writing-Take 2

I have a set of turkey puppets that I use for a Thanksgiving song/poem and one of the birds had a torn beak.  One of my students was very bothered by this and wrote me the following note:

Translation:  Sew the chicken! Gotta love it!

Needless to say, I did take it home and sew it!

Reflections on my Journey

I have always said that when you think you know it all,  you need to quit, especially if you are a teacher.  Well, as I quickly discovered, I still  have a lot to learn!  I have really enjoyed learning about the vast array of technology tools that can help me learn and grow as a teacher.  I’ve also discovered many tools that my students can use as well. 

I have particularly enjoyed the format, because I could work as I had time.  Some weeks I completed the tasks for the week and other weeks when life was busier, I waited a week and caught up.  If I needed help, it was only an email or post away! 

I feel like I have learned so much in such a short period of time.  My only concern, is will I remember all of these cool things that I learned how to use?  My only consolation is that our fearless instructor is a short walk for me and I know she reads her email!  Plus I could contact her by Skype with my new web cam!  Thanks for your encouragement and patience,  Cindy!

ONLINE TOOLS

Okay, so when we were challenged to look at 4 new tools that we had never seen before, it was easy.  I had not used, seen, or heard of  MOST of them.  So, I began my journey... There were several that I had fun playing with (many more than four), but the ones I thought would be most useful in my current position are Wordle, GoAnimate, Prezi, and e-Learning for Kids.  Last night I spent probably over an hour playing with Prezi and I find it quite motivating.  To describe it in a few words, it's like creating a poster/presentation in a very fun way!  It looks professional and you can embed videos, pictures, text, virtually anything!  I am excited to use it to present information to my students especially when the content requires steps and cycles.  I found a tool that is much like Kidspiration's webs that can help students see cyclical processes.  On all of the "prezis" you can choose the path and the order of how things are presented.  I see great potential for me as the teacher, but even more potential for students to demonstrate their learning on a given topic.  I think it would be really cool for them to create their own presentations at the end of many of our units or even to show the steps to add/subtract numbers with renaming and regrouping.  Not sure, how this could work, but maybe there is something else out there that is similar that they wouldn't have to sign into???? 

Excited about Skype!

I am really excited about the prospect of being able to contact guest speakers and authors in particular via Skype.  I guess the only context I had ever really thought of regarding Skype was when you see those sweet family reunions or kids talking to their Dads at war.  Duh... I never thought about how I could use it in my classroom with my new WEBCAM!  I am really excited when I think of the vast community I have to choose from with this cool tool!