Animoto

        I'm trying out Animoto this week. I'm in the process of creating my very first video that I will post on Twitter and Facebook, so that my parents will be able to enjoy seeing their children at school. One of my goals this year is to involve parents a little more in their child's educational experiences. I feel that this is a good place to start. 

Still in production. Will post when finished.

   I would also like to share a nice web 2.0 tool that I just recently learned about. It's called Zondle and it can be used to support your teaching: for whole-class teaching, for formative and summative assessment, and for homework. In addition, you can view student progress and achievements. It seems to work much like ScootPad or Moby Max but it's free!! Check it out.

Week Two

    So at the end of week two in my classroom as well as graduate school I am feeling a bit overwhelmed!! There is so much work to do and I am still getting used to a new group of students. I can say that with everything that needs to be accomplished in school as well as with these graduate courses, I just need a couple of extra hours in my day to get it all done. But, when it is all said and done, I know I will learn a lot.

Project Based Learning

(PBL)

       We had such a positive experience at my school, in June, with our PBL activity, that I can't wait until we get our creative juices flowing once again this year. It was a long, busy, sometimes monotonous process. However, the journey was worth its weight in gold! Once we were finished, and ready to present, our halls had been completely transformed into a rainforest.

Our Waterfall

Science wall showing the layers of the rainforest leading into the cave

 Interactive Food Web

 Bar graphs comparing the tropical rainforest to the temperate rainforest.

     The reason we decided to build a rainforest stemmed from our read aloud series, The Island, by Gordon Korman. The students connected with the characters in the books and they truly embraced the projects that were assigned to them. Of course, there were many challenges along the way and it was definitely time consuming. Yet, in the midst of all of the model curriculum testing, NJ ASK test prepping,  and RTI sweeps, the students and teaching staff persevered. Vines were twisted for the canopy, rainforest creatures were colored, glued, painted, and hung. Rainforest layers and trees were carefully positioned on the walls, and a waterfall was built. When the day arrived, students eagerly rehearsed their jobs, prepared for their tasks, and I can honestly say, they ran the show, with just a little help from the teachers. Overall, our PBL was an amazing experience for all of us. We were all happy to see the nicely written article in The Daily Journal and were pleasantly surprised when the article made it on the National Council for the Social Studies NCSS website. 

The see more pictures of our PBL, just click on the picture below.

Stay tuned....more to come on this year's project!!

First Week

       It was back to school for many this week. My class came in looking very nervous last Thursday. Since then, We have spent some time trying to build a sense of community along with the usual "getting to know you" activities. The students worked together to build a free standing tower with toothpicks and mini marshmallows. In addition, and they giggled their way through a challenge to save their gummy worm friend Fred from drowning in the imaginary lake. It made me smile to see them learn about the scientific method while they were having fun.

        So, in the few days that I've been back in my classroom, I've noticed that some students are excited about being back, while others are not. This leaves me, once again, pondering those questions that I'm sure all educators ask themselves.  How can I motivate these students? What can I do to make school and learning fun yet challenging for them? What am I going to do to get these kids ready for the PARCC assessment? How am I going to use technology to enhance learning in my classroom? Going forward, I am excited to try some new strategies and tools this year! 

Whole Brain Teaching

       

     Whole Brain Teaching is one  instructional strategy that I've decided to try out for the first time.  I've looked at some articles, collaborated with a few colleagues, and have viewed many instructional videos to wrap my brain around the concept. Seems pretty interesting and my students have responded well so far. I like the idea of it for two main reasons. First of all, I like the multi-sensory approach. It also supports student accountability and teamwork. There are many components to Whole Brain Teaching and I know that I have only scratched the surface. If you are a classroom teacher, at any level, your students will have fun with it. Take a minute and check out the Whole Brain Teaching instructional videos below.

More on this later!