Thing 8

I totally learned something new today. I never knew that everything I write is automatically copyrighted. No one can use "my stuff" without my permission! That's cool. I feel so important! But what if I want to share my ideas with people? What if I don't mind if another teacher uses my "stuff"? Well that's where Creative Commons comes in. If a teacher is visiting my blog or wiki and he/she notices my cc logo, they will know that anything I have they can use to share, reuse, or redesign. That's what this new age technology is all about...COLLABORATION!

Thing 5

My reader is full of great stuff and I have only subscribed to a handful of blogs and wikis. Some people are great about adding to their site and sharing great ideas. Time unfortunately does not always allow for me to read and explore the way I would like. I have made my own wiki space if anyone is interested in looking at it. Remember it is a work in progress and I try to add new things as often as I can. My students and parents have really enjoyed it. I still have not attempted video or voice threads but that is my next big goal. I get a ton of ideas from my reader. Here are a few sites I like. My class is the first one. Take a look!

www.sflood2.wikispaces.com

http://mrspatterson.edublogs.org/

http://mrskilburnkiddos.wordpress.com/

Using My Reader

I have subscribed to 4 other 2nd grade teacher's blog pages and have found some excellent ideas to use in my own classroom. One in particular is http://mrspatterson.edublogs.org/. She is a great blogger and also lets her students blog as well. I am doing an O.R.E.O project (Our Really Exciting Online Project) with my class after reading about her experience. Throughout this project the children use measurement, estimation, prediction, writing, and science skills. And all is documented online. The children will even do voice threads to tell others about their findings. If I feel really adventurous I may let a few of them blog on my page or set up a new page for my classroom! I try and check my reader every day because a couple of my subscriptions blog everyday and I don't want to miss anything. Like I said, I only have 4 so it's not too overwhelming right now.

Feeding My Reader

For the past few days I have been working on adding new subscriptions to my reader. I have searched out other 2nd grade teachers who also have blogs. This has not been the easiest task. There are a lot of blogs out there and a ton that I would not be interested in reading at all. I did however find two that I have subscribed to and have enjoyed reading. Some I have already had to "trash". Oh well, you live and learn. I wish I had more time to explore all the blogs. "Free time" is a term I don't use so often anymore.

Web 2.0: A Challenge Not A Problem

After viewing the video's and reading Mr. Hargadon's blog, I am feeling pretty overwhelmed and to be honest, a little intimidated. It scares me to think that the future is full of new things that my little mind can't even comprehend right now. The future of my students and the future of my own children may be limited by what I teach them or don't teach them. To think that a job my son may have as a career probably does not even exist today is mind blowing. I want to do all I can to be a part of my students future learning and successes. It can start in 2nd grade and I accept the challenge! (go habit 3!) :)

This week I read The Sister's book The Daily Five. The book is a management tool for guided reading, plus a whole lot more. It teaches you how to train your students to be independent learners. They are not just going to a center or station and doing busy work. Instead they are actively engaged in real reading and writing. Yesterday we began by practicing the "Read to Self" component of The Daily Five. After practicing several times throughout the week what Read to Self looks like and what it does not look like, this independent behavior should become a habit for the children. We'll see! I am excited to find out.

Today I completed "Thing 0". I now have Foxfire on my computer and have already set tabs. Wow! I think I am really going to like this. When I click on the Foxfire icon, it automatically brings up my 21century page, my gmail, my delicious account and anything else that I want to add. I added google and edhelper so far. Love that 21st Century technology!

School Has Officially Begun!

Wow! I can't believe summer is over and the new school year is already here. I attended many awesome workshops this summer and am excited about what this year has in store.
My kids are a very diverse group with a lot of energy. Over the next few weeks we will work especially hard on procedures, procedures, procedures . I feel this will make our year more enjoyable as it should save time otherwise spent on discipline problems.

We are also working on developing a safe and family oriented classroom environment. Today each child decorated a large puzzle piece. I put their name and picture on the piece and we put our puzzle together on a bulletin board. The title of the board is "We Are A Perfect Fit".

Because August 3 is Watermelon Day, we participated in fun activities that focused on watermelons. We estimated the weight, predicted if the watermelon would sink or float, read the story The Enormous Watermelon, painted paper plate watermelon slices and of course ate watermelon!

Welcome Back! I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and is ready to get back to work. Open house is August 11th beginning at 6:00. Hope to see you all there! I am looking forward to a great year!!

reflection

today i opened a new gmail account. I learned how to open a reader. Now i have a blog page all of my own!