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!