Neglected Blog

Are you tired of all my excuses about my lack of blogging?  Sometimes I wonder if I should just give it up, but when I take the time and read through my blog, I enjoy remembering what I did.

The whole reason I've decided to pay attention to my blog right now is because I'm teaching my ETEP class about blogging.  I haven't used Blogger in so long, I think I almost forgot how!  So in honor of my ETEP students, I'm posting something now.

My third year working as a technology specialist has gotten off to a crazy-busy start.  One of my schools got new iPads to replace the teachers' aging ones, and also 3 new chromebook carts.  I have been drowning in a sea of equipment!  I am slowly and gradually getting all that equipment where it belongs.  My other school will be getting their first chromebook cart this year, so I'm planning a lot of training on how to use Google.

I prefer blogs that have some pictures, so I'm going to throw a few of them in here just so I can say I did.

Lego League 2014

The picture above is of my Lego League team from last year.  It was my first year coaching and I loved it!  Our goals were to have fun and not get a 0 score.  We met both of them.  I'm enjoying my new team this year and we are busy exploring the Trash Trek theme.

The pictures below are the sweet little hands that were given to me last year on my birthday.  One thing I really miss about being an STS is the sweet notes you get from kids.  The teacher that had her students do this for me made my day.  I still have those hands and look them from time to time and just smile.

And finally, just for the fun of it, I'm going to add a youtube video below.  One of my favorite non-teaching things to do is play English Handbells.  One of my favorite songs I've played is the one in the video below.  This is not my bell choir.  I don't have any videos of my bell choir.  Mostly, I just wanted to put a video in to show that it can be done.

And that brings us to the end of this post.  We'll see how long it takes for me to post again.

How did it get to be February?

Fun Technology Tools

Hi all,

So sorry for neglecting my blog so long.  Life just gets busy and this is the ball that seems to always get dropped.

I've been having great fun exploring some new, and not-so-new technology tools.  I thought I'd share a few of my favorites of late.

Tiny Tap

I have posted about Tiny Tap before.  This app continues to improve all the time.  It used to have a very early childhood look to it, but it now looks a little less baby-ish.  Students or teachers can use this app to create their own games or apps.  This can be a creative thing for students to do, or a great way for a teachers to present or review material. Some of the games my first graders made a few years ago, as well as a sample are listed on their website under my name here.

Kahoot

Kahoot is a very fun quiz/video game tool.  The teacher can create or use pre-created quizzes.  The students see the question on a projected screen and answer on whatever device they are using.  It's incredibly engaging and students keep begging for more.  

Students celebrate their correct answers on Kahoot!

Powtoon

Powtoon is a website that allows teachers and students to create great videos using several free templates.  The videos can then be uploaded to Youtube.  There's a few templates built specifically for education including meet the teacher and book reports.  It takes a short time to learn how all the tools work, but I felt it was time well spent because I can now teach it to my students and have them make awesome videos.  Below is a video I created in about 15 minutes.

Plickers

Plickers is a website where teachers and/or students can create quizzes.  The fun part about them is they are like clickers, but low-tech.  All you need is a paper copy of the plickers, available to print for free from their webpage, or to purchase from Amazon and a mobile device with a camera such as a smart phone or tablet.  The teacher controls the quiz using the app by selecting a question and then scanning student plickers as they hold them up according to their answer.  Click here for my quick reference sheet for plickers.

Students hold up their plickers to be scanned.

Who knows when I'll pick up my blogger ball again?!  Hopefully sooner rather than later.  I hope you enjoy some of these great technology tools!  Let me know if you have any questions, or if you've discovered a great tool you'd like me to share with others.

Joell

October!

It has been a crazy start to the year.  We have a new on-line testing system that has had serious issues compounded by a lack of training of anyone (including me) so no one knew how to fix or deal with the issues.

But now it's October.   The first round of testing is over and I'm getting back into the swing of things.  Technology is set up and running in both schools and I've been busy teaching kids and teachers.  Right now the focus has been on Internet safety and keyboard basics.  Not the most exciting topics, but they are foundational skills.

I have spent some time working on my teacher website and reorganizing it.  It's still not where I want it to be, but it's looking better.  I've also built a Lego League website for my team.  So, life has been busy on the webosphere.

I have enjoyed being a teacher trainer in the ETEP program our district has.  It is a new challenge for me.  At first I felt like I was in over my head, but I'm beginning to become more comfortable with it.  I'm learning new things from the students and co-teachers of this cohort.  Today I got to go visit one of the students as they taught.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy watching other teachers teach.  We teachers are just awesome.  If I could have one wish for the teachers I work with, it would be that they could have the time to visit other teachers and see what they do.  It's better than any professional development I've ever had.

First Lego League....oh, where to begin.  If I felt in over my head with ETEP, I'm at the bottom of the pond with Lego League.  I finally got a team picked out and we had our first meeting on Monday.  I think it's going to be so fun!  But I have no idea what I'm doing as a coach.  I'm definitely going to be faking it 'til I make it.  :)  The nice thing is that Lego League is very much a constructivist type of approach to teaching.  I'm more a facilitator or guide than a teacher.  I will learn it all alongside the kids.

One of my schools is getting a new computer lab.  I'm excited to get the new technology, but it's stressful redistributing everything and making sure everything will be up and running with minimal disruption to teachers and students.

So that's all the news from around here.  Now for a few technology tidbits:

Have you seen Plickers?  They are awesome!  There's a class set of paper cards you can print out from their website.  Each card is different and has what looks like a large QR code on it.  The cards have sides labeled A, B, C and D.  Ask students questions and they hold up their card with the corresponding answer facing up.  You scan the cards with a phone or tablet and it tabulates the student scores.  It's a great way to engage your students and have an informal assessment at the same time.

I created a document about how to create a bookmark bar and save items to it in the three major browsers.  It has surprised me how many teachers I know that weren't utilizing this wonderful feature of web browsers.  Here is a link to that document.

That's enough for now.

New Year, New Goals

Where did I go?

That's a good question.  I got very tied up in the new job last year.  Between the newness of everything and spending so much time with technology, I really didn't feel like taking the time to update my blog.  I learned so much about technology and how to teach it last year!  I love working with both the teachers and the kids.  While the fixing stuff part of the job isn't my favorite, there's a certain satisfaction in coming to a teacher's rescue and getting things up and running for them.

Goals for the next year:

Coach a First Lego League Team

This is definitely a first for me and involves working closely with a group of ten students in 4th-6th grade.  I need to come up with an application process and a way to choose which ten get on the team.  This is not going to be easy--I hate that it's so limited in numbers, but I understand the reason for it.   I'm pretty excited and very nervous about the whole thing.  I chose to do this because the one thing I missed most last year about not having my own class of kids was the relationships.  This will give me a core group of kids to focus on.

If you're not familiar with First Lego League, students work as a team to solve a challenge each year.  This year's problem is "World Class".  They will research and create solutions to meeting the educational needs of students of this generation.  They'll build a a robot and other parts out of legos and program the robot to solve problems.  There's also a part about teamwork/sportsmanship and those social skills.

My knowledge of this is still very limited, but I'll be learning a lot and will hopefully update here as we go along.

Teaching Teachers

I was asked to be a teacher trainer this year.  I felt honored to be chosen.  I will be teaching tech to teachers in the evenings twice a month.  One thing I learned last year was how much I enjoy teaching teachers how to use technology.  These teachers are selected because of their interest, so it will be even more enjoyable to teach eager teachers.

Besides the training job, I'll also be teaching the teachers at my schools.  This is an interesting challenge because just like kids, there is a large variety of skill (and anxiety) levels in teachers.  I hope to meet the needs of all skill levels both in training teachers before or after school, and when they bring their classes in for me to teach.  I want to get better at Smart and Mimio so that I can help the teachers master these wonderful teaching tools I always wish I'd had when I was in the classroom.

Teaching Students

Of course, I'm all about the kids, too!  This year I want to have students track their progress with technology.  The lower grades will track their progress on their abilities including:  naming parts of the computer, logging on, logging off, mousing, minimize/maximize, power off/on, internet safety, digital presentation, and writing.  Upper grades will track their progress in:  internet safety, digital citizenship, password safety, keyboarding, digital presentation and writing.  These will use a variety of apps, web tools, and programs.

Social Media

I am going to shoot for a realistic goal of blogging at least once a month.  We'll see how that goes.  I also need to continue working on my teaching website.  I can't decide how I want to organize it, so it's all over the place right now.

Personal

I seriously need to lose weight.  I started a diet in the spring and it went out the window this summer when I went on a 2 week road trip across the country.  I need to get back to it this school year, and not only diet, but also exercise.

I didn't get all the junk around my house sorted through this summer.  I totally admit I was lazy during the time I was actually home.  I really need to finish sorting through all my stuff.

And Finally....

I know this was long and without pictures.  I plan on doing better next time.  I just wanted to get started on blogging again before the inclination went away and don't have the patience to go hunting for pictures.

Thanks for reading.

What a first month!

Hi,

I have now survived almost one calendar month of my new job!  I am really liking it a lot.  I'm learning more stuff than I can remember!  I love working with the teachers at both schools and look forward to working with students more once I can get everything running smoothly and make up a schedule (hopefully soon)!

One of the things I've taught to the teachers at my schools was iPad and Windows 7 Tips and Tricks.

Right now it's very hard for me to want to face much computer time once I get home, so that's why my blog posts have been few and far between.  I'm hoping I'll eventually be able to get back to a semi-regular blogging schedule.

Today we remember September 11, 2001.  I made a resource page for my teachers and some of them found it useful.  That made me feel like all the time I put into it was worth it.  I think it's really important that we teach our younger students (who were born after that date) what happened--they are often confused about it.

And on that note, I'm going to post this and get away from the computer...or at least try to....

The First Day 2013

Things I missed today as school started:  The teachers I taught with last year.  But I get to work with lots of wonderful teachers at new (to me) schools.

Things I did not miss today:
First day jitters
Lack of sleep the night before
Teaching procedures and rules and then more procedures and rules...
Announcements interrupting my teaching
Recess/bus/hall duty
Kids (I enjoyed seeing them in the halls and classrooms I entered)
Paperwork to go home
Figuring out who goes where at the end of the day and getting them there

I think I'm going to do just fine with not having my own class.  :)   I'm really enjoying my new job so far even though I still have lots to learn and it is stressful, it's a different kind of stress and I will learn it and even be good at it.

First Day of School

Lettering from www.letteringdelights.com

Tomorrow is the first day of school here.  It's going to be interesting to see how I handle not having my own class.  So far I'm rather enjoying it.  There's probably an equal amount of stress, but it feels like a different kind of stress.  The complete pressure to work miracles with students is off, and I can tell.  That's been replaced with the stress of trying to support the teachers at my schools as they go through those pressures.

To all of you out there who have already started or are starting soon, I wish you a wonderful new year filled with the joys of learning and childhood.

Teacher Week: Now Teach! Organizing for Instruction

Hello,

Here are some organizational tips for teaching with technology.

1.  If you use mobile devices, change the lock screen or wall paper or both to show a number or name for each device.  On my teacher devices I also add my name, e-mail address and phone number on the lock screen.  Then if I lose it and an honest person finds it, they can still contact me even though the iPad is locked.

2.  On IOS devices, if you want a student to stay in a specific app, turn on restricted access in your setting->general menu.  Make sure to remember the password you set.  Then get the student into the app you want them to stay in.  Click the home button (the button with the square on it) three times and tell it to start restricted access.  The student won't be able to exit the app until you click the home button 3 times and put in the password you set.  This can also be used to restrict students from touching on certain parts of the screen (such as links to the internet).  I'll write a post on that another time.

3.  When planning to use technology for project based learning, it is always a good idea to help your students plan ahead before they use the technology.  For example, last year I taught my first graders to use this wonderful app called Tiny Tap.  I took several steps to help them be successful in creating their own tiny tap apps.  First, I showed them Tiny Tap and we looked at all the options and possibilities.  Then, we built a class version of a Tiny Tap app so they could see how it worked.  Next, we went to the non-tech portion.  I explained the parameters of the assignment:  they were to create their own app that had at least 5 different questions that reviewed something they learned in first grade (it was the end of the year).  After that, I modeled how to write a storyboard.  The students basically had to draw what they planned to put on the screen.  Students had to show me their storyboards with their plans before they got their hands on the devices.  They were very successful in building some great apps.  Many of them chose to add more questions to their apps once they finished the original 5 just because they liked it so much.  Finally, we rotated around the room and each child got to play every other child's game.  This can be done with almost any visual project you use with technology.

4.  Dropbox is the best thing ever.  If you don't have it and you work with mobile devices you should get it and learn to use it as soon as possible.  It's the easiest way I know to get things on and off of my iPad.

I'm sure there's a lot of other tech organizational ideas.  My brain is fried now after two days at my new job, so I'm going to stop there.  I hope this is helpful to at least some of you.

Joell

Teacher Week: Classroom Digs

Today I have no pictures to share.  Why?  Because I really don't have a classroom.  I have 4 computer labs and help out in many different classrooms.  This is a new thing for me, and I have to say, I kind of enjoy not having to prepare my room.  Of course, now I have to prepare two whole schools with their technology, but that's different.

Today was my first official day as a School Technology Specialist.  I'm very excited to learn new things and to help the teachers and students of my schools out.  So far, my biggest challenges have been all the stuff I don't know, and keeping track of everything that needs done.  Oh, and also I've managed to get lost probably 50 times today.

Since my instructional plan isn't quite all the way in place, I think tomorrow I'll just give out some ideas on ways I used to keep myself organized.  Or I might skip posting if I'm too braindead after Day Two of The New Job.

Thanks for visiting!
Joell

Teacher Week: Let's Talk About Me

Hello friends,

I'm going to see if I can manage to post this week despite it being my first week at a new job.  Here goes:

1.  I play English Handbells in my church's bell choir.  I like to play 4 in hand, which actually means holding 2 bells in each hand.  I hope the embedded video below works.  I haven't tried this before.




2. I have a goal to visit all 50 states.  I'm over half way there.  This summer I added Oregon to my list of states visited.  I saw every lighthouse in Oregon while I was there.

Coquille River Lighthouse, Bandon, Oregon

3.  I used to be a big sci fi/fantasy geek, but not so much any more.  My favorites were: Star Trek, Star Wars, Quantum Leap, Highlander, anything written by Anne McCaffrey, Lord of the Rings...and I'll just stop there.

4.  Before I became a teacher I worked as a sign language interpreter.  My signing skills have gone downhill due to disuse.  It's such a beautiful language, I miss it.  Here's a video I found that has some nice signing.

5. I have a cat named Katie who is 16 years old.  Her favorite thing in the world is a pizza box.  Every time I get pizza I have to leave the empty pizza box laying on the floor for her to enjoy.

Katie on her pizza box.

6. Although I've lived in Utah almost my entire life, I have never gone skiing.  When I was young and reckless I was too poor.  Now I'm too scared I'd break something.  Besides that, I don't like being in the cold that long.

7.  I have a teacher website that is in transition as I've changed jobs.  There might be some helpful links, especially for early grade teachers.  Here's the link:  http://my.uen.org/myuen/52987

8.  Though I have no kids of my own, I have several nephews and nieces.  Some are all grown up, but there are a few young ones still around.  The youngest enters first grade this year.  

9.  This one kind of goes with #8.  I am happily single.  I enjoy it most of the time.  The worst is when something breaks and I can't fix it myself.

10.  I finally got to 10!  I can't believe how hard this seemed to be.  Maybe I'm just boring.  LOL  I have met many online friends from around the world in real life.  I think it's safe to say that I'm not an axe murderer and I haven't met any yet.  The people I met that were farthest from me came to Salt Lake from Sweden.  It was great fun taking them around and they especially loved the real cowboys they saw while they were here.

Tomorrow's supposed to be a classroom tour, but I don't have a classroom any more.  If I remember and have time tomorrow, I'll try and get a picture of a computer lab or my office, but even that's not quite ready to go yet, so it won't be anything exciting.  I might just skip it.  We'll see.

Yay!  I actually posted something!

Joell

Overwhelmed in a Good Way

Hi,

I had my first training for my new job.  Boy, I have a lot to learn and I know will learn it all eventually.  I don't know how much time I'll be able to put into my blog as I adjust.  So, I will probably be on hiatus for a while.

Joell

Change Anxiety & Lack of Motivation

Hi,

I have to admit, I have no great excuse for not blogging.  My head is still trying to wrap itself around my transition from 1st grade to technology specialist.  I'm feeling pretty uninspired, mostly because I'm not going to the first grade class I'm used to next year, and I still don't really know exactly what I'm doing next year.  As a result, I've spent the last few weeks not quite sure what to do with all the ideas that keep popping into my head.

After I returned from ISTE in June, I was home for a day and a half before I turned around and left for a lovely road trip up the coast of Oregon.  My friend and I managed to see every lighthouse in Oregon.  I loved the weather and the scenery!

Since returning home I've been very unmotivated.  I haven't watched this much television in....ever....or at least since I was a teenager.  I can't even finish a book.

So, my professional development this summer has been ISTE and goofing around with learning how to use Twitter as part of my PLN (professional learning network).  I signed up for an online math course from Stanford which is really interesting, but still leaves me uninspired since I don't know if/when I'll use it.

My lack of blogging has nothing to do with lack of content, it's more a lack of motivation.  I'll try to get something worthwhile up soon.

Here's a picture from Oregon.

Coquille River Lighthouse near Bandon, Oregon

I can motivate a classroom full of students, but find it very difficult to motivate myself right now.  Anyone have any great advice?

ISTE 2013

Wow!

It has been incredible and I'm only a day and a half into it!  My brain is on overload and my introvert self is shuddering from all the people.  But it's so wonderful to be surrounded by like-minded people who get it!

Just some short impressions here, and I'll add more detail later.

1.  The opening ignite session was very cool.  Ignite talks are 20 slides long and I think 5 minutes--I can't remember the timing, but they're short and quick.  The speakers pack a lot of interesting stuff into it.

2. The keynote speech by Jane McGonagal was very inspirational and made me want to figure out how to gamify everything.

3.  Went to this wonderful session on QR codes and got several ideas on how to use them.

4.  Learned a little bit about edmodo and how to use it with other apps such as educreation and QR codes.

5.  There was another great session called 101 free tools on the web.  Can't wait to try some of them.

6.  I went to a short Intel sponsored panel, where I learned about 3 pretty cool free resources.  I'll post them later as I process everything.

7.  The people.  There are so many people.  All of them friendly, but I feel a little bit of the loner.  I don't really know a lot of these people from the twitter or blog world and being an introvert I find it hard to just insert myself into the situation.  This is entirely my own problem.

8.  San Antonio.  I have managed to boat up and down the riverwalk several times (I purchased a 3 day boat taxi pass).  I've had very good food at all the restaurants I've been to.  I saw the Alamo.  I went up in the Tower of the Americas.  My only complaint so far would be the heat and humidity.  I'm used to heat, but humidity is a rarity in Salt Lake City, so that is a little rough to get used to.

I'm waiting for all my pictures to upload from my phone to dropbox, and it's taking forever, so I'll leave you with one picture for now, and try to get some more up the next time I post.  I'm too tired to sit up and wait and I have a full day planned tomorrow!

Ballroom A, this is where the keynote addresses are.  It fits the theme of Texas Big, that's for sure!  Love the screens spread throughout the audience since the stage is so far away if you're in the back.

I'll get some more pictures and share more of the ideas and details later.  The list above will help jog my memory.  It'll be like a table of contents for helping me remember what to blog about for a while.

Goodnight from San Antonio, Texas!
Joell

Blog Reboot

I've had a little time to digest my upcoming job change.  I'm getting more and more excited!  Since I'm mostly going to be working with technology, I've renamed my blog Teacher Tech Time.

Hopefully, I'll be able to share all kinds of technology tips and tricks.  I'll check in once I'm back from the ISTE conference.

Joell

Changes

Hi,

I decided after much soul searching this year that I need a change.  So, I spent much of this spring interviewing for various jobs in my school district.  I interviewed for a school technology specialist job in May and didn't get the job.  I was bummed, but came to acceptance with staying at my school that I've worked at for 19 years.

Then today I got a call.  Another position opened up for the technology specialist job and they wanted me!  I'm such a bag of mixed emotions right now.  Excited for the new opportunity and to get to use technology.  Sad to leave behind my coworkers and students of my school.  Scared about the change.  Unsure about how I'll feel about not having my own classroom with my own kids.

I don't know many details yet, but I'll be working in 2 elementary schools in my school district and I'll be in charge of all the tech stuff.  I'm hoping to be able to teach students on techie stuff and that will be enough of the teacher stuff to help me get over not having my own classroom--plus, no classroom=no sub plans when I'm sick, no recess duty, no parent-teacher conferences, no report cards...etc etc etc.

I'm not sure what will happen with my blog.  I don't know if I can just rename it, or if I need to just start from scratch.  Or just keep it the same but change the focus more to technology and less on the first grade and teaching stuff.

Have you gone through a change where you left the classroom?  Was it hard to leave the kids behind?  If you have any tips for me as I transition I will gladly take them.

Joell

Summer's here!

Hi,

I'm officially out for the summer!  I know I haven't been so good at posting.  I just get tired and leads to unmotivated.

I have some summer goals and plans.

I will be attending ISTE for my first time ever.  So if you're going and would like to meet an ISTE newbie, let me know in the comments below.  I'm very excited (and a little nervous) about this.

A few days after I get home from ISTE I will be leaving for a trip up the Oregon coast.

When that's all done, I'll work on some goals:

Exercise (wish me luck)
Get the house thoroughly cleaned and organized.
Learn how to create a report using data from excel.
Read, read, read, read, read and then read some more.

I'm sure as I find renewed energy I'll be posting here some more.  Until then, enjoy your summer!

Joell

Helping Moore, Oklahoma!

I am very excited to announce a joint project of many TPT teachers from around the world.  A large amount of teachers have joined forces and resources to raise funds for the teachers of Moore, Oklahoma.  There are 4 bundles which are on sale for a limited amount of time.  There are two K-2 packets and two 3-6 packets.  Each packet is priced at $25 and contains around $100 in product.

Check out these great packets on teacherspayteachers:

K-2 Packet 1
K-2 Packet 2
3-6 and Clipart Packet 1
3-6 and Clipart Packet 2

For a complete listing of what is in each packet, go to the pages above.

Also, there were many tpt sellers who wanted to help, but weren't able to get in on the bundles.  So there is now a linky and sale.  I have joined this linky hosted by Math Coach's Corner and I will be donating 100% of all profits on Monday, May 27th to the Red Cross: Moore, Oklahoma funds.  Everything in my store will be 10% off that day.  You can find the linky list of all the sites involved below my signature.

Go forth and purchase great stuff while helping those in need!
Joell

Here we go again

It seems like we keep getting hit by tragedy after tragedy lately.

As a teacher, one of the biggest fears I have is being in charge of my little first graders in the event of a major catastrophe.  Here in Utah it would most likely be an earthquake.

My thoughts and prayers are with all the people devastated by the tornado in Oklahoma today, but especially with the students, teachers and parents of the schools that were affected.

Be watching this space for information about a fund raiser to specifically help the schools and teachers.

Image from http://tweetwood.com/RepFitzpatrick/tweet/336658548207525888

Pollination Fun

Hello all,

We've had a busy couple of weeks in the classroom.  We did contraction surgery which was a total blast!

We had our end of year Dibels assessment.  My students did awesome!  Every one of them showed improvement and some went from below to on grade level!

We also pollinated our plants.  It's always great to see how much fun the kids have with this, and they really end up understanding the life cycle of a plant so much better because they've taken part in it.

We have 3 weeks left here.  I sure hope we can make it a positive and fun end of the year.

A student pollinates her plant.

Why I Do What I Do

There are days, and yes, sometimes weeks, months and years, that I wonder why I put myself through my job.  I put so much of my heart and soul into what I do, and it often seems like no one really cares.

Last week a note went home informing families about this week being Teacher Appreciation Week.  To me, I thought it felt kind of contrived.  I thought, well, if they have to be told to show appreciation, is it really sincere?

My answer today was a resounding yes.  My students brought me notes, flowers, and in one case bubble gum (hehehe).  The most touching were the notes.  One was a card that the little girl made at home.  I could tell she spent quite some time on it.  Just the fact that she took the time and did her very best on a card for me meant so much.  Here it is:

Front of the card

The picture in the frame says "I love school"  There's a cat that says "meow, meow" and the green thing on the right is the Statue of Liberty.

Then during my reading group time, my early finishers hit the writing materials and I got this wonderful sweet note:

As much as I love this note, my favorite thing is really how great this little boy did with his writing!  He even remembered the apostrophe in won't!  When school started he could only write a few words.  Yes, today was a day that I loved teaching.

Plant Progress

Our Brassica Rapa plants are doing great!  They're 6-8 inches tall and have been flowering.  We pollinated them last Friday and this Monday.  Now, they will get fairly ugly as they grow seed pods, and then finally we let them dry out and die so we can collect the seeds.  All the pictures I took have kids in them, so I don't have a current picture to post here.  

World Cultures

A couple of weeks ago, our school did a multicultural fair.  Each grade level took a continent and did a project on it, and shared.  It was an awesome night especially since it gave us a chance to celebrate the many different cultures in my school.  First grade got the continent of Australia.  Our students did animal reports and made coral reef aquariums.  They turned out really great.  Here are a few pictures.

Our passport station.  Students would get their passports stamped for visiting.

Our activity was matching Australian phrases and words with American English.

This is how some of my students' reports looked.

The first page of one of the reports.

Coral Reef Aquariums.  I made this one big because it's hard to see.  The inside has fish and coral and there's sand, too.

So this long post will hopefully make up for my recent lack of updates.  Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all my teacher friends.  

Joell