December Technology Links

For Parents:

http://imaginationsoup.net/2012/12/favorite-learning-games-gift-recommendations-for-kids/

If you’re still looking for some fun educational gifts this site has some suggestions for you.

For Parents and Children:

http://www.janbrett.com/index.html

Jan Brett has an amazing web site with resources for children, parents, and teachers.

http://www.noradsanta.org/

If Santa will be visiting your house this year be sure to tune into this site on Christmas Eve to track Santa’s progress.

For Children:

http://www.wegivebooks.org- This site has many popular books for children, ages 0-10, to read. The books can be sorted by age, genre, or author.  Without an account you can read the Editor’s Pics. But by registering for a free account for your child you have access to many more books and new books are added monthly. There are even seasonal books. The books can read on the computer or any internet enabled device. 

Fun Holiday Sites

http://sprintsweets.com/ -Decorate a gingerbread cookie

Design a Christmas tree

http://www.abcya.com/christmas_tree.htm -

http://www.castlearcana.com/christmas/tree/index.html

November Technology Links

For Parents and Children:

http://www.teachingkidsbooks.com/ A quote from the website: “My goal is to create a resource for teachers, home schoolers and anyone interested in quality books for children.” I just discovered this site and I’ve already used it to find some picture books to teach skills in the classroom. As a parent I was always looking for good quality books for my own children and to give to other children as gifts. If you enjoy learning about new children’s book be sure to check this out.

For Children:

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/ I mentioned Scholastic last month. This is a link to their Thanksgiving resources for children. They’ll be posting a Mayflower virtual field trip soon and you can even sign up to receive historical letters from a Pilgrim girl and Wampanoag boy.

APPS

Parents

Dropbox-Free

Dropbox is great even if you don’t have a device that uses apps. Dropbox allows you to save documents and open them on any computer. I LOVE Dropbox and use it constantly for school work. No more thumb drives to keep track of for me. The Dropbox app is a way for you to get pictures from your device to your computer or visa versa. The same thing with PDF documents. You need to sign up for the free account at www.dropbox.com

Grades PreK-3

Grasshopperapps.com

There are many choices of apps from this company-puzzles, phonics, I like books-a whole series of books about things kids like, and more. The thing I love about these apps is that they are so customizable. The apps use bright colorful photographs but you can add your own, you can record your own voice or in the case of the books the children can record themselves reading the books and under the settings button there are more ways to customize the app.

Jan Brett

Jan Brett has been a favorite children's author of mine for a very long time. My kindergarten, first and second grade students were always treated to her books when I was teaching in the classroom and of course my own children grew up listening to her books. I never tire of reading her books and can always find something new in her exquisite details. Not only does she write wonderful books she has an amazing website for children and teachers full of resources.
On Saturday I had the wonderful experience of finally meeting Jan Brett. The first grade teachers and myself went to Wegman's in Dewitt, NY to meet her and have her sign a book. We reserved our tickets and picked them up at the door. What we didn't realize was she was doing a 20 minute presentation before she began the book signing. She showed how she drew Mossy. So, unfortunately we missed that. But it was lovely getting to meet her and chat with her as she signed our books.

Here's a few more pictures of our trip.

 

 

Hedgie

   

 

 

Mossy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her Amazing Bus

October Technology Links

For Parents and Children:

Scholastic

The Scholastic site has a wealth of information for parents on a wide variety of topics including, book lists of all ages, reading help, homework help, activities, and child development. There is also a great section for children. One part is for children 8-12 and it includes interviews of authors, book suggestions, videos and games. The other section has fun activities for children aged 3-7 with Clifford and the Magic School Bus just to mention a few.

For Children:

ABCYA

ABCya is a fun site for your child to practice math, spelling, reading and keyboarding. It is geared for K-5. There are a variety of activities for each grade level and some activities are just for fun. ABCya also has apps for Apple products. There are some ads on the site but they are appropriate for children. In other words, you aren’t going to see ads for such things as dating sites.

Marcelino’s Letters is a good beginning keyboarding site for kindergarten and first grade students. The site does contain ads.

Halloween Fun:

Pumpkin Carving

APPS

Grades K-5

Photo Card Make a postcard using preprogrammed photos or your own. Children write their message and then decorate it with a stamp and stickers. An address can be added and the message can even be recorded. Then email the postcard to someone or print it out to mail it to someone. A fun way to practice letter writing skills.

September Tech Links

This year I volunteered to do a tech article for our school's monthly newsletter. It will be a list of suggested webpages and apps for parents and elementary students.
Here's my September suggestions: -->

For Parents:

Reading Rockets

This is a great resource for parents and teachers. For parents, there is information on reading together, connecting with your child’s teacher, helping a struggling reader, early literacy, children’s books and authors, top 10 phonics apps and much much more.

For Parents and Children:

NetSmartz

It’s never too early to begin talking to your child about internet safety. This site has information to help you no matter your child’s age. It explains different topics, how to protect your child, and how to start a discussion with your child. From this site there is a link to http://www.netsmartzkids.org/ which has videos and activities for young children to learn about safety. It would be great to watch the videos and do the activities with your child.

APPS

Grades K-5

Sock Puppets

Children select puppets, props and a background. Then they record their own story using the different characters. The characters and some props are moveable while they are recording. The app changes the child’s voice to match the character. I have not used it with students yet but it looks like fun. Students can work on storytelling-beginning, middle end, retelling a story and creativity! Puppet shows can be saved and you could even share their show via Facebook or YouTube. The app is free and comes with quite a few choices. There is a store where you can purchase more content.

Grades 3-5

Discovery ChannelExtreme World

This app uses text, videos and photographs to learn about animals, volcanoes, submarines and much more.

PreK-1

Curious George at theZoo

Children learn what animals like to eat, watch a video of an animal in its habitat and play games that develop memory, sorting and reasoning skills. The app is free and comes with 5 animals to explore. More habitats/animals are available for purchase.

Beanie Babies Wanted!

This year I'm going to be using Beanie Babies to teach decoding and comprehension skills. I found the idea on Pinterest here. I only need certain beanies and I have found at least one of each in the 2 big tubs of beanies that I have kept from my own children. I would like to have one beanie for each student to use as we practice the skills which means I'm looking for about 6 of each animal. When I put a call out on Facebook asking for beanies from my local friends, my friend, KimberlyW from Texas suggested that I collect one from each state. Hmmm, good idea! If each beanie came with some information about a state and school I can incorporate reading and geography. I'll make a tag with the information for each animal. Thanks, Kim!

So, here are the beanies that I'm interested in collecting:
Snake
Spider
Monkey
Kangaroo
Raccoon
Fish
Lion
Parrot
Eagle
Frog
Owl
Dog
Bear
Iguana

If you have one that you would like to donate to my class, including the shipping cost, please fill out the Google Form and then I will send you my mailing address.

New Responsibilities!

I found out a few weeks ago that my job is changing again this year. I've gone from K-2, to K-3 and now I'm 1-5 with a possibility of K later in the year if we can fit it in the schedule.  I'm not thrilled with the change and it upsets me because I'm used to seeing my K-2 students every day. I haven't worked out my schedule yet but with the numbers I'm afraid it will be every other day instead. Seeing kids every other day plus throw in testing and all the other factors that prevent kids from getting to class every day and I'm having a hard time understanding how I'll be effective. I haven't taught 4th or 5th other than in the lab for a few years so that has me pretty nervous as well.
There are so many changes going on in our school this year, many of them thanks to the NYSED,  that it's going to be a crazy year filled with more testing for the kids and new evaluation procedures for teachers. I'll admit I've been in a funk this past week dreading the changes and the new schedule. But today I gave myself a pep talk. First of all, I'm one of the oldest teachers in the building and I don't want to become that grumpy old teacher everyone is waiting for to retire. Secondly, I'm thankful I have a job and I'm glad I'm not in the regular classroom. Those teachers have a lot more on their plates. Finally, I need to be at the top of my game for the kids. They need a teacher that is positive, caring, willing to work and help them grow as readers. So, let the new year begin. My Plurk buddies assure me that I'm going to love the 4th and 5th graders the most. I'll let you know in a couple of months!