Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging!  This session serves to answer the following burning questions for those on the brink of blogging:

• How do I start?
• Why should I bother?
• How involved is this going to be?
• What should I blog about?
• Is this going to cost me anything???????

The basic layout for our sessions is some show and tell followed up by some time in the trenches developing your own blog!  For those of you who are extremely schedule oriented  here’s the agenda:

1. 15 minutes- Introductions and short background as to our blogging beginnings    
2. 15 minutes-  Connect Create Communicate Prezi                                                                    
3. 30 minutes-  Time to create your first blog with support from us 🙂    

The link below will take you to the Connect Create Communicate website that we created to go along with this presentation.  It will be posted on the sharepoint portal as well as linked to our blogs.  It is a Wix site so I apologize to our Apple friends, you will not be able to view on your Apple device as it needs Flash to work properly. 

Back in November, I wrote a grant for my class to receive 5 iPad Minis.  It was approved and we were ridiculously happy when they were delivered!  We love technology in our classroom, but I am a stickler for ensuring that it is used as an educational toy and not an expensive hi-tech busy work option.  That being said, when our iPads were delivered I carefully selected some apps to get us started.  Many were apps we were already familiar with from the days when I would gather my own personal tablets from our home and bring them in to share with my class.  A few were new and required some learning and getting used to before we could successfully navigate them. 

By far my favorite new app is Splash Math, specifically Grade 4 Splash Math.  While this app is pricey for the iPad at $9.99 it is well worth it for all it delivers.  There is also an iPhone version slightly less expensive at $4.99.  Splash Math allows students to create an avatar, save, track, and email work results to parents/teachers, and work on skills that need remediation based on parent or teacher recommendations. 

 Set up is easy.  Once the student selected their avatar, I input my email address to have weekly progress reports sent to me.  After that was done students are given the option to practice or play games.  Here is the kicker though- they have to practice before they can get to a game level. 

Parents and teachers can assign homework assignments through this app that require the student to work on specific skills before allowing them to work on other areas.  In addition to this all of the skills are also linked to the Common Core State Standards.

This app provides a large amount of data and meaningful practice for students both at home and during school hours.  I use it during math centers to either remediate skills that we have moved on from but still need work or for my advanced students as a way to challenge them with current or new material.  At any time by pressing on the Control Center button, you can get a graph to show the areas the student has been working on, recommendations for areas needing work, and number of problems answered correctly vs. number attempted.  In addition to this information, you can also get an idea as to what grade level the student is currently working at by switching to the grade level screen at the top. 

Overall, I’d have to give this app an overwhelming A++++ for ease of use, student engagement, academic content, and data generated.  Way to go StudyPad!

Another app we use on a daily basis is the Barnes and Noble Nook app.  This app is free to install.  Once installed you can purchase books through the Barnes and Noble website and have them downloaded to the iPads or iPhones.  While time spent reading alone is a great benefit for this app, the real treasure lies in the ability to embed questions into the text.  For any given text, teachers can highlight a keyword and then add a note, questions, prompt, etc for the student to respond to.  This is a wonderful way to model and encourage active reading skills.  Often I will post a note that is just an insight I picked up on while reading that section and encourage students to journal about insights they have had.  Other times, I may highlight a vocabulary word or pose an open ended question I would like answered for that section of the novel. 

Finally, the last app for this spotlight is actually a collection of apps created by Harper Collins Publishers entitled C.Collins Big Cat Story Creators.  These apps provide a model text that students can either read themselves or listen to along with an opportunity to create their own versions of the story using rich graphics and text options.  Once done, they can record themselves reading their new book they’ve written and play it back for others to hear.  This hits so many standards it’s unreal!  In addition to hitting standards, students love listening to and then creating their own stories using this modeled text.

Did I really just type March 1st?  Where is the time going?!  This week is going to be filled with experimentation and learning.  We will be having an explosive time with our volcanic vocabulary words, discovering what makes our planet so “magnetsficant”, and using our new learning tools (iPad minis!) to ensure that we are excited and busy all week through.  On a sad note, I will be out one day this week due to a death in the family.  I’m not quite sure which day that will be.  Please review proper substitute behavior and remind your child that we have all agreed to our substitute behavior contract and don’t want to miss out on end of the year activities.

Here are our goals for this week:

Reading:   This week we will be reading about our 2nd inventor, Ben Franklin.  Our focus skills will include summarizing, multiple meaning words, and graphic organizers.  We will also be using our new iPad mini’s to read the novel, Who Was Ben Franklin? and answering embedded questions. 

Vocabulary: Our words this week are about volcanoes.  We will be learning about how they erupt throughout the week.  As a culminating activity on Thursday we will create and eruption!

Grammar:  On Monday we will be taking our unit 3 test on confusing words.  After that we will be starting Unit 4 focusing on subject and object pronouns.

Subject Pronouns: Used as the subject of the sentence- I, you , he, she, it, we, they

Object Pronouns: Pronouns that follow action verbs or prepositions (to, at, for, of, with)- me, you, him, , her, it, us, them

Writing:  We will be conferencing to begin the editing process on our latest portfolios piece about a hobby or activity that we enjoy.

Math: After our Topic 10 test on Monday, we will begin our work with fractions.  Our first step in that process will be to identify multiples and factors of numbers.  This will be our focus for this week. 

Factors- numbers that can be divided evenly into a number.  Example:  The factors of 18 are 1,2,3,6,9,18.  1×18=18 , 2×9=18, 3×6=18

Multiples- numbers that are answers when you multiple the given number.  Example:  The first 5 multiples  of 3 are- 3,6,9,12, and 15

Science: We will be wrapping up our unit on magnets this week.  Our culminating experiment is to discover the largest magnet- Earth!

Our current read aloud novel is a biography of the amazing Helen Keller.  She has inspired so many by overcoming odds stacked steeply against her to not only live life but live life well.  Helen Keller was born “normal.”  She was born a child with perfect vision and hearing.  Very early in life she became ill and a fever caused brain swelling that took away her sense of sight and hearing.  For a long time she was trapped in a dark, scary, tricky world.  Her parents were able to secure a teacher for her, Annie Sullivan, who unlocked the door to Helen’s world and the rest as they say is history.  Her story has so inspired a few of my students that they wrote the rest of my blog entry for me!  Meet our guest bloggers!

Julianna  is very intrigued by Helen Keller’s story and infact has begun reading her own Helen Keller book at home.

I like the book about Helen Keller because I like learning how she learned how to speak.  I like to see how Annie came up with ways to teach Helen.  I have read about 5 books about Helen Keller.  I have always loved learning about how she learned to do everything she could do.

Tykia shares Julianna’s admiration for Helen Keller and composed the following blog entry:

I like Helen Keller because she’s amazing!  She was deaf and blind.  I feel so bad for her.  Then she learned to speak.  Helen Keller is an awesome girl.  She was blind and deaf and couldn’t talk, but then she learned how to talk.  She is amazing!

Angelita agrees with the other ladies that Helen is simply amazing!

I like Helen Keller because she is interesting to me.  Helen amazes me how she learned to speak.  When she speaks it is not clear, but you can understand her.  She uses her hand to feel what the other person is talking about.  She smiles and makes feelings with her face.  Helen is a great and famous person to learn about. 

We watched the following clip today when we reached the part in her biography where she has learned to speak:

We have had many discussions in class about acceptance of others.  One of my cousins posted a link to an amazing video about the power our words have.  Please take a minute to watch it and speak to your kids about acceptance, bullying, and thoughtful words. 

Wow!  What a game!  I’m sorry I did not post these objectives last night, but I was loving watching the football game and commercials with my family!  We will be talking about and working with the commercials throughout this week.  Our goal is to take a look at how the advertisers used their power of persuasion to make the ads both entertaining and sell their products at the same time. 

We will also be invaded by some little people on Thursday!  Our preschool names each classroom after an animal.  When I went to the board meeting to accept my Math and Science Mini Grant, the principal of the preschool asked if the hedgehog class could come meet Sophie our new class pet.  We are so looking forward to their visit!  We will be having special hedgehog snacks, working on a hedgehog craft, and of course playing with Sophie!

Reading:This week we are focusing on using information from the text to support our answers to questions.  This skill is difficult and requires a lot of practice.  Each night as your child reads the next chapter in their novel, they will need to answer an open ended question about that chapter.  Please encourage them to give details from the book to support their answers.  I am expecting 3-5 sentence answers for each questions.  The answer should restate the question and answer it, provide details supporting their answer, and relate it to themselves somehow.

Here is an example of a good answer for the question, make a prediction about the next chapter:

I predict that in the next chapter Molly will find her brother.  I think this will happen because in this chapter she learned 3 new clues about where he is hiding.  When she found the last clue, the author said that she heard giggling.  I think the giggling was her brother because when I play hide and seek with my sister, she giggles when I get close to finding her.

Vocabulary:   All of our words this week revolve around the root word care.  We will be looking at how adding prefixes and suffixes change the meaning of the word care.  Our definitions will all be pretty close this week, which means we will need to really study them to find the differences.

Grammar: This week we will be working with the confusing words good/well and doesn’t/don’t.  These words are very often used incorrectly.

Good is an adjective and describes nouns:  That was a good book.  (good describes the book)

Well is an adverb and describes verbs:  I am feeling well, thank you. (well describes how I feel)

Doesn’t is the contraction for does + not.  It is used with singular nouns:  The dog doesn’t know where its home is. (1 dog- use doesn’t)

Don’t is the contraction for do + not.  It is used for plural nouns.   The dogs don’t know how to get home.  (more than one dog- use don’t)

Writing: We will be working on writing figurative language and poetry this week.

Math: This week we will be wrapping up division with remainders.  We will have a test on Thursday.  Please review basic facts (multiplication and division) with your child each night.  There are plenty of free apps that can help with this or you can make your own flashcards!

Science: This week will be wrapping up research on hurricanes and working on our final projects.  We will be making power points, prezis, videos and websites in class based on our research.  We will be sharing our work with the Mr. Krakower’s class in North Jersey.

Social Studies:  We will be taking the week off of Social Studies to focus on our Hurricane project.

Today was one of those days that makes me believe I’m doing the right thing with my life and BOY DID I NEED IT!  We are entering the winter doldrums coupled with subfreezing temperatures which can lead to some dicey days in the classroom.  We actually had decent attendance (a minor miracle considering our schools have been hit hard with the flu and nasty norovirus).  Not only did we attend but we came to work! We began our day with listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.  I can listen to this every year and never get bored.  He had such a way with words.  When we were done, we composed our own “I Have Dreams Too” paragraph for what we would like to see the world look like for our children and grandchildren.  My class came up with some truly powerful stuff!  Take a peek at our video below:

 That, my friends was not the end of our day!  Due to inclement weather (read freezing and Mrs. Sinone was in no way going to shiver through the rest of the day) we had recess in the classroom and practiced one of our class favorites- yoga!  What a nice way to get healthy and center ourselves before our next activity!

We wrapped up our day getting poetic with similes.  We decided it was time to take down the holiday chains and put our hears on the ceiling- literally!  We created heart mobiles and composed simile valentines for all to see.  In the spirit of figurative language I leave you with a simile that described my feelings for my students at the end of this productive day.  I’m as proud as a peacock of my Room 11 kiddos!

I hope everyone enjoyed their day off on Monday!  We spent our day working on school projects, grading papers, watching the Inauguration activities on TV, and relaxing.  Next year I hope to put together a Day of Service Activity for my class to participate in to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s work and legacy.  This week we will be review his speech and composing our own dreams for how we would like to see our world develop for our children.  Take a peek below to see what else we will be learning this week.

Reading: This week we will be continuing to read our novels and have book discussions in our literature circles.  Each night in addition to their book role sheet they will also be answering an open ended question related to the chapter they are reading.  I am asking that they question be answered using the RASE format.  R= restate the question, A=answer the question, S= support your answer with facts from the chapter, and E=extend your answer to tell how it relates to you, another book you read, or a movie you have seen.  A good answer should be at least 4 sentences long.  This will help to prepare your child for the open ended questions on the NJASK.

Vocabulary: We will be working with words with common roots this week.  The roots we are working with are astra-astro (having to do with space), stel/stell (have a to do with stars), mar/mari (having to do with the sea), and mig/migr (have to do with moving).

Grammar:  This week we will be working with homonyms (words that sound the same but have different meanings).  Specifically we are working with your/you’re and there/their/they’re.

Math: Our exploration into division begins this week.  We will be focusing on reviewing the divisibility rules and the meaning of division.

Writing:   We will continue typing our final drafts to publish our second portfolio pieces.

Social Studies: We will be working with the information sent in from the family interviews to begin our culture projects.  Please don’t worry if you were not able to get very specific information.  As we research our country of origin, we will learn about the customs and compare and contrast them to what we do in our homes.

Science:    This week, we will be taking a break from science to complete our lofty goals in other areas.  Sophie of course will be in and we will continue to care for her and observe her daily.

This week is going to be a very exciting one in room 11.  Monday begins our adventure in hedgehog care!  Sophie was picked up this weekend and is all ready to come in and visit Monday morning.  We are going on our field trip to Drumthwacket, the governor’s residence, next Wednesday.  Please remember to turn in permission slips ASAP!  Below are our learning goals for this week:

Reading: This week we will be focusing on comparing and contrasting different view points as well as topics.  Comparing is telling how 2 things are similar.  Contrasting is telling how they are different.  We will be using a variety of different materials for these lessons including texts and physical objects.

Also during reading centers, I will be finishing up our Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking.  We do this 3 times a year to check your child’s reading level.  It consists of students reading aloud to me (so I can hear where they are making errors), reading quietly to themselves, and then discussing the information or story they read (so I can check for comprehension.  Once everyone is done, I will be sending home a detailed graph of your child’s progress for this year (or the last 2 years for my friends that looped with me) as well as an explanation of what their level means and how you can help me help them at home.

Grammar: We will be picking up where we left off before break this week and reviewing adjectives and adverbs this week as well as working with prepositions that tell where.  There will be an edmodo quiz on Friday.

Vocabulary: This week our words all begin with the prefixes dis-, fore-, sub-, and under-.  We will be working to both understand what these prefixes mean as well as how they change the definition of the root word.  Check out our Powerful Vocabulary page for a list of the words as well as their definitions.  Our test on Friday focuses on using the words in context, not spelling.

Writing: We will be working on editing and publishing our second portfolio piece this week.  Last week we worked on writing a rough draft of a story about a wish a genie granted us that had to benefit someone other than ourselves.  This week we will peer edit, discuss rough draft score with me, and begin the revising/typing process.

Math: We are working with 2 by 2 multiplication this week.  We will begin using tables and charts to help us organize our work, but by the end of the week the work your child will be doing will look very familiar!

Social Studies: Students will be learning about the history of Drumthwacket this week leading up to our trip next week.  We will be creating time-lines, dissecting the state seal, creating calling cards, and learning about what our governor does each day.

Science: This week we will be working on tweaking our hedgehog habitat as needed and monitoring her health and behavior.  Each day a different students will be reporting in our our blog page about Sophie and what she has been up to that day.  Check out our Hedgie Home Page Link!

Cooperative grouping is a wonderful way to provide meaningful learning experiences for all students. It allows stronger students the opportunity to apply their knowledge by helping others, it provides support for weaker students, and organizes and provides roles so everyone is involved at all times.

In our class we work in small groups daily. Sometimes they are just that. Small groups of students working independently on their own assignments using common materials. For example when we go to our computer center to work on the sum dog website we are all working alone but on the same site in the same area.

At other times we work in small groups that are more collaborative in nature. These groups consist of students working as a team to complete a common task. Each student is assigned a role such as time keeper, recorder, reporter, facilitator, or material handler. All of the roles need to work in tandem to achieve success. This skill is hard to grasp in the beginning if the year therefore it is not often used in our room until the second marking period when classroom rules and expectations are firmly in place.

Each type of grouping has its place in the classroom and provides valuable learning experiences.

If you asked me how I thought today would turn out at 8:30 this morning, I probably would have told you not too well. It started off as one of those days that less than an hour in you wish you had stayed in bed. Let me give you a picture. I woke up late (ever notice that all bad day stories start with waking up late?). I began making my coffee, loaded the keurig machine, hit start, then realized (as hot coffee hit my toes) that I neglected to put a cup under it to catch my brew! This led to an impromptu kitchen cleaning session. My morning routine (and I am a person whole needs routines in the morning since I am a zombie until at least my third cup of coffee) was shot. We missed my daughters bus and I was 5 minutes late to work. I truly felt like I was going to be in for a pretty crummy day.
And then the greatness began! Upon a check of my mail box I found the normal paperwork along with an inner office envelope. The envelope contained a copy of a mini grant I had applied for with no real hopes if getting. Surprise! I got it! Woo hoo! Our class will be focusing or science habitat study on our new hedgehog! Each year teachers on our district can apply for $300 math and science mini grants. The only real requirement is it has to tie into the math of science curriculum. I proposed purchasing a hoglet and setting up and maintaining its habitat for our class. I really felt we’d be laughed out and told nice try, but they believed in our project. In the very near future you will be meeting our newest classmate.
The day was improving. But it still wasn’t great yet. We started our lessons buzzing with inquiry about hedgehogs and blogging about name choices. Then I got the call. I had applied for a second grant offered by our district to implement technology into the classroom. My proposal was to purchase 5 iPad minis to use as ereaders and for classroom blogging. Once again I never really thought we’d get them. We did! So in our class has gained a class pet and new technology!
If you know me and my luck (or lack there of) today was extraordinary. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!