Do you have an app for that???

These days people seem to trade app names like kids used to trade baseball cards.  "Do you have this one?"  "What about this one?"  Those are statements I hear frequently in teachers lounges lately.  The National Center for Learning Disabilities recently published an article on apps for Androids.  It is titled, "Our Community’s Favorites Android Apps".  While I'm more of an Apple person, I don't want to leave out apps for those who use PC based apps.  What are some of your favorite apps?  Right now I'm loving Timer Touch 2 for my iPad.  It is a great visual timer for students. 

The new school year has begun!

Ahhhh....the beginning of school.  Moms and Dads everywhere smile with glee and teachers across the nation start the frantic race to prepare their classrooms for the invasion of students.  Many companies choose this time to start posting information about free materials and resources right about now.  I thought I would pass along some of them so you can check them out.

• Verizon Foundation:  They give grants every year to support literacy, education, technology, and other causes.  Grants can be for up to $10,000.  Take a look at www.verizonfoundation.org/grant/guidelines.shtml.
• Farmers Insurance Education Programs:  K-12 teachers can use free teaching tools about history, democracy, diversity, literacy, the arts, fire safety, and more.  You can get the full curriculum through Farmers Insurance agents or look online at www.GoFarmersEd.com.
• My Storymaker:  This is a free website where kids can click on icons to choose and control the characters, settings, and objects in their stories and the website creates the sentences.  Try it out at http://carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker.
• Parent Workshop Survival Kit:  Teachers, you can enter to win a CD of parent N'vites each week in August and the grand prize winner will receive a parent workshop survival kit valued at $500.  This parent workshop talks with parents about good reading strategies.  The CD includes a slide presentation with a script and parent handouts.  To enter to to www.k5kaplan.com/contest.

Those are just a few of the resources I've found lately.  Come back soon and I will post more!

Education Article :: Top 12 Things Teachers WON’T Miss During Summer

Education Article :: Top 12 Things Teachers WON’T Miss During Summer

Go on over to this funny article about what teachers won't miss during the summer. It made me smile today!

Fun free printable activities with Post-it!

I found a fun site in one of my teaching magazines run by the Post-it company.  It is a great place to find free printables for parents and teachers.  Just head on over to http://www.post-it.com/teachers.  Have some fun!

What to do over the summer????

If your district is like ours, you are winding up for the year about now. The countdown has begun for teachers and students in a happy way and sadly for parents! The question we hear most from parents is "What do we do over the summer to keep my child's skills fresh?". Usually parents are looking for something inexpensive and easy to access. I don't blame them.

Teachers are the kings and queens of finding items and activities on the cheap. Typically I like to recommend our public library as a resource. They usually will have some type of a reading program for the children to encourage reading over the summer. Our public library even offers the children incentives of prizes for a certain number of books read over the summer. Barnes & Nobel has a similar summer reading program available nation-wide.

The next question we hear is "What should my child read?". Luckily our district has what we call Championship Playbooks for each grade level. Within each playbook is a recommended reading list for the summer. I am posting our list for first grade going to second.

Suggested Summer Reading List for First Graders

Moving Up to Second Grade

Level Name of Book

E All By Myself by Mercer Mayer

O Bats by Gail Gibbons

M Berenstain Bears by Jan and Stan Berenstain

I Big Dog, Little Dog by PD Eastman

G Carrot Seed by Robert Kraus

G Curious George by H.A. Rey

J Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

K Franklin and the Tooth Fairy by Paulette Bourgeois

K Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

K Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crock Johnson

G Just Grandpa and Me by Mercer Mayer

L Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

J Little Bear (series) by Elise Minarik

P Magic School Bus (series) by Joanna Cole

M Mitten, The by Jan Brett

O Moon Book, the by Gail Gibbons

J Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel

J Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel

J Mr. Putter and Tabby (series) by Cynthia Rylant

K Nate the Great... (series) by Marjorie Sharmat

J One Fish, Two Fish by Dr. Seuss

G Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel

J Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

J There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer

I There's An Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer

M Three Names by Patricia McLaughlin

M Thunder Cake by Patricia Pollaco

J Very Hungry Catapillar by Eric Carle

H We Are Best Friends by Aliki

M When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

F Who Will Be My Friends? By Syd Hoff

We use the Rigby reading levels to rank books from A-Z (easy to more difficult). This list gives a variety of levels to choose from for your child. You can find our Championship Playbooks at : http://www.cityschools.net/instruction/instruction_news/championship_playbook.php. You can find the first grade list on page 26 of the first grade playbook.

Remember: if you ask the children what they need to do over the summer they will tell you that they need to be swimming in the pool. But children cannot live by chlorinated water alone! They need to stretch those brains and continue reading over the summer. So check out your local library and see what type of summer program they offer.

See you in August!

Responsive Classroom

Murfreesboro City Schools uses Responsive Classroom for many reasons; classroom management, building community within the classroom, and introducing and practicing academic skills.  I was lucky enough to attend a Responsive Classroom 1 training this month led by trainer Edie Palomba.  We spent a very intense week learning how to frame a Morning Message and incorporate academic skills as we built community among the children.  You can find further information at www.responsiveclassroom.org.  I will be posting examples of Morning Messages that we developed during the training.

As you can see in today's training, the letter M was emphasized with a different color.  The linking verb "is" can be seen in a different color also.  This Morning Message is meant for a younger grade level, such as first grade.  It is in a simple format that repeats through the year.  

Scholastic website for teachers

I often search for websites that offer lots of resources and ideas for me to use in the classroom and with other teachers. One site that I have found very helpful is the Scholastic website for Teachers. If you click on the title of this article it should be a direct link to the website. Scholastic offers many articles on several different topics. I found several articles on interventions here. It also provides links that can be passed on to parents. Teachers can also find lesson plans, student activities, planning calendars, recommended books and authors, and many more items. So take a moment and go on over to Scholastic to see the wealth of information they have to share!

Websites to check out

We have gathered together a small list of websites that we have come across that have had useful information.  This group will be adding to this list as time goes on.

www.lessonplanspage.com

www.atozteacherstuff.com

www.funlessonplans.com

www.123child.com

www.successcertificates.com

www.childfun.com

www.literacycenter.net

www.earlychildhoodnews.com

www.si.edu.com (Smithsonian)

www.history.com (History Channel)

www.homeworkhotline.info