Time Flying By....

With the long weekend I have from teaching, I have been able to finally think.  To think about things other than lesson plans, homework, and what I need to reteach.  I have finally realized that it is the end of November and it just was Thanksgiving.  My family is putting up Christmas decorations all weekend.  All I want to know is where has the time gone, seriously.  I can't believe that it is December in 4 days, I really want to know where the time has gone.  I feel like it was yesterday that I was in my orientation for teaching this semester and meeting my UF.   

Did you know that we graduate, meaning walk across that glorious stage and have an announcer say our name, in 179 days.  I can finally see the light at the end of this incredibly long journey that for some reason is going by fast.  As much as I want this to end so I can finally begin my journey as a teacher, I will miss the friends I have made along the way.   Even though I see some of you one day a week that one day I have grown to love, even though it is long, I love this day because I can talk to you all.  I can get your advice and input on any questions that I have from my classroom.  I also enjoy discussing all of our new addictions to books.  I know I enjoyed books before all my teaching classes, but now I am addicted.  I can't stop.  Just as Anna said in her blog, $1 books... why not buy 20! I have turned into that person, I am getting ready for my classroom and I am stocking up.  

wiki's in the classroom

When I was first thinking about wiki's in the classroom I wasn't totally about them.  I was uncertain about how true they were.  Having been in class I have now learned and come to understand that wiki's are actually reliable.  My thoughts about them are now changing and my mind is spinning with ideas on how I could use them with my 4th graders.  I know they would love to do an activity/assignment with a wiki.  They enjoy anything they can use a computer on.  My class is currently working on their space science unit and I think a great activity with a wiki would be great group project.  If I could assign groups a certain topic and then they could work together and share information on the wiki would be a great way for the students to share information.

I have included a picture of the solar system the students could find on wikipedia.  It wouldn't show scale model, but it is a model of what they planets look like and the order they are in.  

Pen Pals In the 21st Century :-)

Before reading the article "Using Blogs to Enhance Literacy" by Diane Penrod I was a little concerned about having students blogging.  I know I said before that I thought it was a great idea, but once I really got to think about it I wasn't sure any more.  As the teacher I wouldn't be able to control the ads that pop up or the people who could comment on their pages.  The students would be able to set up their own pages, which meant their own controls.  

After reading the article my mind has been changed.  I am interning in a fourth grade classroom.  I am in the inclusion special education classroom.  I have students to who range from ED to LD to Autistic.  I enjoyed the part in the article about having the students blog to share their feelings about their days.  The article says, "Blogging can be used to help overcome the loneliness and seclusion these students often feel in classroom settings." I hope my students don't feel this way in the classroom, because we include them in everything we do.  I do know my student who has ED would greatly improve if she was able to blog about her day.  Having her put pencil to paper is like pulling teeth, she hates her hand writing because it looks like a first graders.  She tries everything she can to get out of writing, but I know she can do it.  She has wonderful things to say about everything she does during the day. 

I have found a classroom blogging website and a blogging program for schools.  The program costs 30 dollars a year and you can have as many students activated as you want.  It creates a safe environment for students to blog with fellow students in the classroom.  The blogging program also always you to share blogs with another class.  This would be great for the new day pen pals! Students from different classes in different locations would be able to blog together and share there thoughts about topics.  This would be great for the students to see how other students in different areas view things.  The blogging program is called Class Press.  

I would love to have this in my classroom when I begin teaching next fall.  

First blog post ever!

This is my very first blog post and I am very excited to learn more about blogging.  I am looking forward to finding out how I can use this in a classroom with students.  I would like to see how I can relate the blog to a writing activity for the students to complete at home or even in school.  I would also like to find a teacher in a different country to create a pen pal situation with the classrooms this way the students can learn about the different cultures.