A Second Grade Teacher’s Blog

The students love their turns as blogs reporters! They check the board first thing each morning to see if it is their turn. When they see their name – they come right to me to get the BLOG BOOK (a spiral notebook that they write the blog entry in before the type it into the computer) and pen (a cool pen or marker that just makes writing more fun.)

They first meet as a trio to decide what to write. We are still perfecting the best time of day to do this. We began with end of the day, but that got very busy. We are trying right after lunch. We’ll see if that works better. Some groups did need a little more guidance in the “what to write” part. They all wanted to interview the class with the same question (same question 3 days in a row!) I encouraged the writing about class and school events. This helped them get started especially as it was a special week with a skating party and carnival to look forward to. This week we will spend some time brainstorming ideas for blog entries. This will be a great exercise and we can post these ideas in the room (or inside the cover of the BLOG BOOK.)

They liked to personalize the blog entry with something about themselves or mentioning children in the class. They were great at sitting down at the computer and typing it in, commenting on spelling! I sat with them and helped edit the post before they published it. We took the picture and they gathered around the computer to learn how the picture was uploaded to the page.

The last group of the week lost interest half way into typing the entry (exciting day – the carnival) so I finished it up for them. Another student, a blog reporter from earlier in the week was shocked to see me doing the typing. She could not believe it! Had I not been about finished I could have had her step in and do it. (I will keep this in mind for the future. If a group is not able to get the entry posted, allow another student to help, not do it myself.)

Check out the student posts at www.harju.edublogs.org.

Other things we are working on:
Visiting and commenting on other classrooms blogs. Right now we are doing this together, but would like to follow the example of Mrs. Shulman and her blog World of Wonder and let the students post their comments themselves. Mrs. Shulman has her students write their own blogs and I am exploring this as well. Right now I have assigned this as a homework option. The writing part of the homework can be something that they would like to post on the blog. As they come in, we will determine how to best share them – on their wiki page, individual blogs, group blogs, or on the class blog.

The best thing about teaching is there is always something new. This is especially true when technology is involved! Technology must be involved if we are to teach this digital generation. This week, I attended a conference on 21st Century Learning at Summit Academy, with keynote speaker Sheryl Nussbaum Beach. I came back energized, exhausted, and rewriting my lesson plans with these two goals in mind

1.) Have my students do MORE of the tech in the classroom and
2.) To share it with the world.

It is amazing how challenges come at a time when you are open to them. The day before the conference I was uploading student work to our classroom wiki, and thought – “The kids should really be doing this!” I should have stopped. But of course it is always faster and easier to do it myself, and I was in a hurry to get it done. I thought about sharing with the world, but not as globally or in such a student centered way as Sheryl suggests. When I proudly told her about my classroom blog, she asked, “Who does the posting?” Again I had to admit it was me (sometimes with student input, sometimes without.) I took a look at our classroom tech and looked at how much is student and how much is teacher. I’d like to say it was mostly student, but I can’t.

I started making changes with the classroom blog. I assigned three students as the reporters of the day. I guided them to write about our classroom events (they wanted to write about sports – which I realized later would have been fine as well. I missed a teachable moment!) They decided to interview their classmates, ask questions and use this as their blog post. I showed them how to type their text into the blog and post it. (I did edit it with them, they are in second grade and this is a published piece.) They were very proud of their entry. A picture was taken of them, and I showed them how to upload it add it to the post. A second trio was assigned to do the blog post the next day.

This was a start on the first goal –more student, less teacher, but what about the second – share it with the world? I took the opportunity to have the students look at the comments that our blog has received. We read and discussed them. I then showed them another classroom blog from a 4th grade class in another state. We read their post, watched their video and as a class wrote a comment. This class commented back the same day and I was able to share this with the students. We have since had another comment from a class in Australia, and I can’t wait to share this with the class. This is just the beginning and I am excited to see where this goes. So many possibilities!

I have already received great ideas from my Twitter friends. (Thanks to MaryKK and digitallearnin!)
I am also looking into student blogs. I may let those boys have their sports blog after all.

This blog entry is cross posted on my MACULspace blog.

I am not going to make New Year’s Resolutions as I know what I will do with those. (I can usually keep one for about a week.) What I will do is set some teaching with technology goals for 2009. Here they are in no particular order;

1. Google Earth -Utilize and Integrate Google Earth into my lessons plans. I have attended two conference sessions, played with it and explored Google Lit Trips, downloaded lesson plans and now I need start using it. This is such an amazing tool and has so many possibilities. I also know I have a great resource, Ben Rimes, who is only a click away.

2. Podcasts – I have recorded the children reading, singing, and praying. They love to listen themselves over and over (an added benefit.) I would like the children to do some of the recording. Right now I am doing most of the work. Audacity is an easy tool and I would like to see my second graders using it.

3. Smilebox, Voicethread, Animoto – I would like to find more ways to use these three free tools. I have used Voicethread and Animoto a little, but Smilebox is a new one for me. Again I would like to find ways to have the students use these tools to complete projects.

4. Skype – This is another great free tool that I have not utilized. I have contact with classroom teachers all over the state and country (through MACULspace, Twitter and Plurk) and Skype could be used for some shared learning.

5. Wiki - I have a classroom wiki and I want to find more ways to use it to encourage writing with my second graders. I also want to explore true collaboration opportunities with 2nd graders and the wiki.

Wow! I am already overwhelmed………. One goal at a time………. I think I will start at the top with
Google Earth. I will try to complete one goal every month. We’ll see what happens.

What are your Teaching with Technology Goals for 2009? Please share!

Kelly Hines tagged me in this meme.

Here are my 7 things in no particular order.
1. I am not a cat or a dog or any kind of animal person. I have allergies, however I live with a dog and 2 cats (husband, son and daughters convinced me they needed them to be happy.) I dream of the day when all the pets are gone and I can live in a pet free home. My children do not like to hear me say this.
2. I love Gilmore Girls. I own all seven seasons and have watched each episode many, many times. I watch it when it airs daily at 5pm and if I am home at 11am. I can recite the lines and often do. I want to visit and live in the fictional “Stars Hollow” and eat at Luke’s Diner. My oldest daughter is also a Gilmore Girl fan and we pretend we have the same perfect Mother-Daughter relationship.
3. I love to be alone. I do not often get this opportunity as a teacher by day and wife and mother the rest of the time, but when it does happen (like the 4 days I was alone over the 4th of July last year) I treasure it. I do love my family, however everyone needs some time when things are quiet and no one needs them. It is bliss.
4. I am not a good housekeeper (anyone who has visited my home does know this.) There are a million other things I would rather do and I often do them instead. I need the threat of family or friends dropping by to buckle down and get things cleaned. I did clean the best when I was pregnant with my second child – major nesting instinct kicked in, however that has never happened again. I am looking for ways that my laptop can clean my house, maybe my PLN at Twitter can solve this for me?
5. I collect Nativity sets. I only have a few, but I love each of them. Some of them I keep out all year. They are too beautiful to put away in a box for 10 months a year.
6. I do not eat peanut butter, nuts or fish. The lack of peanut butter and nuts in my diet goes back to childhood. My older sister is allergic, so I was never offered peanut butter or nuts and do not have a taste for them. I also do not like fish of any kind and do not care for the smell when it is cooked in my presence. I do not cook it for my family either. I feel these two things are important to add to the list as people who have known me all of my life still do not know this about me and will offer me fish or ruin a good brownie or cookie with peanut butter or nuts.
7. My favorite ways to spend time are reading, playing scrabble online, watching a movie (or Gilmore Girls), working in the garden (I love to be one with the earth every spring,) thinking about exercising, but not actually doing it and exploring web tips from my Twitter Friends. I even enjoy working on my lesson plans. I do them on my computer and add clip art, color and font changes. They are very fancy.

I am now tagging friends from my Twitter PLN…enjoy!
njtechteacher
TeachaKidd
teryl_magee
ehaygood
billgx

Lee Kolbert at A GeekyMomma’s blog started a meme.
Her blog post was titled, “Can I Have a Wordle with you?” She made a Wordle out of her blog’s RSS feed. I was tagged by NJtechteacher (Ann Oro) to do the same. I decided to cut and paste the content of my blog posts into Wordle to concentrate on the entries that are education related. Here is what I can up with.

I love that children, classroom, and reading are prominent. Here is what I got when I simply used the RSS Feed and included all of my blog posts and titles.

Classroom and reading are again prominent as well as video. This is due to the fact that we created many class videos this fall. We have taken a break from videos (mostly because another teacher borrowed my video camera and hasn’t given it back.)

I am now tagging others in this meme.
Kelly Hines you are tagged.

This is cross posted on my classroom blog… www.harju.edublogs.org

The second graders are reading letters that they have written to our newly elected President. There are 5-6 children in each video. Below is one. To see the rest follow this link to our classroom wiki.
http://wikiharju.wikispaces.com/Letters+to+President-Elect+Obama

My 2nd graders took a picture they created in art class and used it as inspiration to write a spooky story. After editing, the children read their story in front of green screen (they were also wrapped in another green screen to create the floating head effect.) I put the videos together and added a beginning and ending sound effect. The videos are available for viewing on our class wiki. http://wikiharju.wikispaces.com/Spooky+Stories

I am sharing one of the videos below, but be sure to check out the wiki to see the rest.

The spooky stories were also used in computer class for word processing practice. Each child typed their story and inserted their picture (These had already been scanned in.) The pictures and typed stories will be displayed in the hall to share with parents at conferences. (With a sign noting the integration of art, writing and technology!)

When I first put the videos together, I created 3 videos with 9 students per video. However, even though these were short, 5 min videos, they were too big to upload to my photobucket or google video account. I shortened the videos and ended up with 9 movies, highlighting 3 students each. I used google video, the private setting, to upload the movies and get the code to embed them in our wiki page.(I like google video as it has a setting to view the video as full screen.)

My 2nd graders and I have worked hard to create a video showing how we use technology in the classroom. We have entered it in the Interwrite and eInstrction Classroom Makeover contest. You can view our video by following this link
http://eimakeover.shycast.com/contestant/275/

Right now you may leave a comment and rate the video. (5 stars please!)
After October 24, all videos will be judged and the top 5 chosen. Those 5 videos will be open for public voting at that time.
The winning class in each grade level will receive a classroom makeover (that means more tech!) and a party for the entire school including the cake big enough for all!

I just finished reading this book and I can’t stop thinking about it! It touched me and affected me more than any book I can remember. I’m not sure why I picked it up, I was browsing the bestsellers at a local bookstore, and it caught my eye. I had looked at it before, but this time I felt more drawn to it. I bought it and started reading it that night. I couldn’t put it down!
I am going to paste the Synopsis from the back cover here. It is a much better teaser than I could ever write!

Mackenzie Allen Philips’s youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.

What he found there I know changed my life as well! I plan to start reading it again! I do not want to give anything away or tell too much of the story. Just pick up a copy, crawl into your favorite chair and enjoy the ride.

I highly recommend this book. I will be giving copies of it to friends and family this Christmas. Even my aunt, who ONLY reads non-fiction will get a copy and I know she will love it. Happy reading!

I have been using a blog in my classroom since March of 2007. I have found the blog to be a wonderful communication tool and resource for parents and students. My classroom blog can be found at www.harju.edublogs.org. I wanted to share some of the ways that I have used the blog with my second grade class.

1. Student Reporters of the Day. Near the end of the day a group of children (3-4) would write in our blog book (a spiral notebook with cool marker.) They would write about the events of the day, and then after school I would quickly type in into the blog. I would try to add a picture of the group of reporters to accompany the blog post. We did this daily for a couple weeks, until all students had a couple opportunities to be in a group. The photos were taken by our classroom photographer (student.) After the initial period, we would have the students report less frequently.

2. Teacher written posts. I would write about a field trip, upcoming event or comment on the class. Often I would get student input for these posts.

3. Caught being Wonderful. A new favorite is writing about students that I catch in the act….of being wonderful. The children and parents love to see it in print. It is amazing to see how well they behave when I tell the children I am hoping to catch someone today. My goal is to “catch” the children once a week.

4. Class Videos. The blog is a wonderful place to embedd those videos of the class. Some of our videos are more polished efforts (see 2nd Grade is Awesome – The Movie below), some are simple slideshows using Animoto, or a video of a puppet show, a Voicethread, reflection video or other classroom event.

5. Additional Pages. The additional pages are used to showcase a particular event, to provide links or other resources for parents and students. Right now the blog has math resources, a Links page and a copy of our school Accelerated Reader Test list.

I know that I will come up with or discover (by visiting other blogs) more ways to use a blog in my classroom. I have found that parents respond positively to the blog and they do read it. I remind them to subscribe to the blog so that they will get an email every time we update the blog. I also remind them in my weekly newsletter (which is emailed directly to parents each Monday) to check out a new post. This year I have had many parents comment on the blog as well. I was even lucky enough to have a twitter friend mention my blog in a tweet and had many wonderful comments on our latest video. The children were as thrilled as I was to read those responses. It was a wonderful experience.