iPad App Review

I was introduced by our wonderful technology integrator to this wonderful new ABC app called Endless ABC.  And guess what!? It's FREE!!!!



Here is a video of one of my kiddos putting this app to use.  I love that the ABCs are interactive and that it relates to them by making it silly and fun.  I also love that the vocabulary isn't ordinary words, but increases their vocabulary database and adds some large, unknown words! It is the most precious and fun app that we have found yet, and I certainly hope they will be coming out with more!

Check it out!

Plant Interactive Writing

Are-Have-Need Chart for Plants

Students came up with what plants are, what they have and what they need to survive. I love mixing science with writing!

 

Spring Syllables

My kids are getting so good at hearing the parts of words while we write them! I catch them counting the word parts when trying to write an unknown word in Writer's Workshop. They are doing a great job!

(This paper is made into a poster from Shari Sloan, www.kidscount1234.com)

Labeling the Flower Parts

Students interactively wrote the parts of the flower and labeled them. They helped me make this giant flower to display in our room and remind us of the important parts of the plant.

This Week's Workstations

Using Starfall to read!

Measuring Flower Length with Unifix Cubes

Working on Beginning Sounds on the iPad

Building Sight Words with Cubes

Building CVC words

Book List

Being pregnant and working full time is a job in itself, but when I have time, I do love to read!  Here is a list of some of the books I'm currently reading, have recently read and a quick review.  Click on the link to purchase the book!

Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy

This was a hilarious take on pregnancy that I have certainly enjoyed while being pregnant.  It did cause some big 'belly laughs' and I could relate on several different levels.

Sparkly Green Earrings by Melanie Shankle

I just started this book over spring break and have loved it! It was recommended to me as a "new mommy" and I have loved the humor and truth that comes from these words! It's a definite must read for moms and new moms!

Giant George : Life with the World's Biggest Dog by Dave Nasser

I couldn't wait to start this book! I have a Great Dane that looks so much like George (except not quite s big)! I really thought Tucker, our Dane, was huge until I began reading about George.  There are sweet moments and moments that made me cry in this story about George's life.  I loved this book!

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

I love a good love story and Nicholas Sparks books are the BEST!  I loved this one and couldn't wait to go compare it to the movie.  The book is always better.  It's a typical Nicholas Sparks story that makes you laugh, cry, and want to take a trip to North/South Carolina!

Pete the Cat by James Dean

My Kindergarteners LOVE this book! They sing the song, they dance the dance and they enjoy Pete the Cat!

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

These are some of my favorites to read to my kiddos.  Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too and Knuffle Bunny Free become instant favorites as soon as I read them! They are precious stories and are great for showing different real life pictures as well as animation in the illustrations in the same book.

Plants :: A Cute Video

We have been talking about plants this week! My students always need a time out from my voice and can use a good educational video from Safari Montage, YouTube or Discovery Education!  Here is our favorite from this week.

Website Reviews

These are my personal thoughts and views on these specific websites.

Website Evaluation 1

1. Name of Website: International Reading Association

2. Website Address: www.reading.org

3. Copyright Information:

© 1996–2012 International Reading Association. All rights reserved. See Fair Use Policy at http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html

4. Author and Organizational Credentials:

International Reading Association; IRA has been a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy. There are more than 60,000 members who promote high levels of literacy. Their mission statement is: “The mission of the International Reading Association is to promote reading by continuously advancing the quality of literacy instruction and research worldwide.” The Strategic Direction Statements include many different areas, which make the organization widely accepted among educators. These statements include: professional development, partnership, research, advocacy, councils and affiliates, technology and international affiliates/members.

5. Website design and ease of navigation:

When going to the website, www.reading.org, I immediately noticed that it looked very professional and clean. As I began to click on links, I knew that it was a great website and had a great layout. Not one of the links that I visited was broken, which rarely happens on a website. This site is updated often with information, new authors and publications. There is a banner at the top that has upcoming events for members of IRA. There is a place for searching which leads you to the link you are looking for information. The column on the left of the page has most visited links that are useful. The sub-headers that are widely recognized are: Login for Members, Trending Topics, General, Resources and Information. This website is simple to navigate and the design is clean and easy on the eyes.

6. Response and Recommendations for intended audience:

I was immediately drawn to this website after I read some of the reviews it had on our message board. I loved the ease of the website and the information that it gave me. The IRA website is great for information on reading material or topics in education that I would like to research. This was not a familiar website to me, but after this class, I am adding it to my bookmarks. It will be great for struggling readers along with emergent readers, which I deal with on a daily basis. It is going to be a great asset to my classroom and my professional development. I think that I will visit the Resources tab often, as it has things that benefit my early childhood classroom.

In addition to the resources, there is a link for many grants and awards that have deadlines approaching. This is a great source for teachers who want to apply for grants and receive more funding for their classrooms.

Website Evaluation 2

6. Name of Website: Texas Education Agency

2. Website Address: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/

3. Copyright Information/Update Information: © Copyright Texas Education Agency (TEA) 2007-2012. Each page was modified on a different day. The most recent modification that I found was on 9/27/12.

4. Author and Organizational Credentials:

Texas Education Agency is the author and organization of this website. There are many different divisions from Accountability Research to Waivers and many in between.

5. Website design and ease of navigation:

The design of this website is very clean and professional. There is so much information, but it is well organized by hyperlinks and divisions. Each division has an enormous amount of information, and it is organized by subtitles and links inside the division. There are links for teachers, administrators, funding, testing, accountability, curriculum, reports, news, events, and links for jobs. Each one of those links on the left side of the home page have subtitles explaining what the link consists of in case you are unsure. It also has a hyperlink for you to click if you just want to go straight to the subtitle link. TEA is the home for all of Texas’ educators and administrators and is used on a daily basis. This is the website for teachers to find curriculum and standards for teaching. Texas Essential for Knowledge and Skills are designed as Texas’ curriculum standards. Each of these TEKS is organized by grade level, subject and content. They are easily accessed for teachers to download as a PDF or print, whichever is more convenient for them. Inside the TEKS, there are links for each grade level and then subject so you don’t have to scroll through the information before finding the subject or TEK that you need. Texas Education Agency’s website is very user friendly and nicely organized for daily use from educators and administrators.

6. Response and Recommendations for intended audience:

The intended audience for the Texas Education Agency website is for all Texas educators and administrators.

Website Evaluation 3

1. Name of Website: Children's and Young Adult Author Cynthia Leitich Smith Official Web Site

2. Website Address: http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/

3. Copyright Information/Update Information: “Children's and Young Adult Author Cynthia Leitich Smith Official Web Site” authored by Cynthia Leitich Smith (cynthia@cynthialeitichsmith.com). This web site and all images are Copyright © 1998-2011 by Cynthia Smith, except where noted. All rights reserved.

4. Author and Organizational Credentials:

Cynthia Leitich Smith is the author of her own website, but was designed and maintained by Lisa Firke. Cynthia Leitich Smith is a New York Times best-selling and award-winning author who writes fiction stories for children and young adults. Some of the children’s books published are: Holler Loudly, Santa Knows, Indian Shoes, Rain is Not My Indian Name, Jingle Dancer among some other short stories. Some of the young adult books published are: Tantalize, Eternal, Blessed, Diabolical and Sanguini’s Store among more and some short stories, too. Cynthia’s husband is also an author and is talked about often on her website.

5. Website design and ease of navigation:

Cynthia’s website is very user friendly and fun to visit. I love the way that she has the links set up so you just click on it to read more. All of the headers are simple and clean, and you know what you’re going to when you click on it. I visited almost all of the hyperlinks and none of them are broken. The navigation of the site is flowing and very easy to use. Some of the links include: About Cyn, Cyn’s Events, Books for Kids, Books for YAs, FAQs for All, Goodies for Writers, and Children’s and YA Resources. There is more than enough information on Cynthia’s website to learn more about her as not only an author, but as a person. I feel like I gained a better knowledge of her personality of writing through just reading about her life. The complete site map is a great link for an overview of the website.

6. Response and Recommendations for intended audience:

I loved this website! Out of all of them, this has been my favorite. I liked that Cynthia seems so down-to-earth and isn’t afraid to put some personal information out there. Her link to her blog is posted under her About Cyn section and is a fun read, also. Although I didn’t know much about Cynthia before visiting the website, I have learned many things about her and would love to work her books into my classroom library. This website, and literature, are for an intended audience of older children than what I am teaching, but I would still like to have a few of her books for my personal nieces and nephews. Cynthia’s writing has earned many awards, and her website should, too! I loved visiting it!

Website Evaluation 4

1. Name of Website: Dr. Jon Allan Reyhner

2. Website Address: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/index.html

3. Copyright Information/Update Information: Copyright © 2012 Northern Arizona University, All rights reserved. There was no information on an updated web page date.

4. Author and Organizational Credentials:

Jon Reyhner is the author of his own website. He has written many articles, book chapters and visits conferences often. Dr. Reyhner has given over 100 workshops, presentations and speeches at various conferences at the regional, national and international level. He is the author of Education and Language Restoration (Chelsea House, 2006) and co-author or American Indian Education: A History (University of Oklahoma Press, 2004). He is also the author of Language and Literacy Teaching for Indigenous Education: A Bilingual Approach (Multilingual Matters, 2002). He has edited many, many articles. Not only is Dr. Reyhner an author and editor, he is a teacher. He taught junior high for four years, before becoming a school administrator for ten years in Arizona, Montana and New Mexico. He then left school administration to become an assistant professor at Montana State University--Billings. In 1995, Reyhner became a professor of bilingual and multicultural education courses at Northern Arizona University, where he currently resides. American Indian / Indigenous Education (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/AIE/index.html) and Teaching Indigenous Languages (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/TIL.html) are two websites developed by Dr. Reyhner.

5. Website design and ease of navigation:

Upon first visit of Dr. Jon Allan Reyhner’s website, I noticed that there was going to be a plethora of information. There are many links and many different subjects to learn about. From American Indian Education to Parent Involvement, these links are for information of visitors to his website. Also, there are many resources such as study habits and writing resources for students. The website is not as professional and clean as some of the others that I have visited, but the information is plenty!

6. Response and Recommendations for intended audience:

To me, as a reader, this website is easy to navigate, but also somewhat overwhelming. If I was coming to this website to look for a few things, it would be easy to find them. If I was coming to learn more information that I did not know about, I wouldn’t know where to begin! If the intended audiences of this website are primarily students and teachers, it is a great website to peruse. If you are looking for information about Dr. Reyhner, it is also a great website. I find it hard to focus on just one piece of information, as there are many aspects over the home page.

My Education Philosophy

Becoming a teacher is a calling.  You can listen to any professional in any field and they will say the same thing.  It takes patience, time (lots of time working in your classroom after hours), dedication and sacrifice.  Molding the minds of children can be challenging, but if it is what you are truly called to do, it will be worth the challenge.

I do believe that teaching young children is a calling for me.  I knew I wanted to "grow up" to be a teacher, and I knew that I would enjoy it!  In following my calling, I know that even on the bad days, I am doing what I am supposed to be doing--teaching!

Teaching is so much more than giving students the ability to learn the curriculum or ace a test.  It is about teaching them how to deal with life lessons, cope with situations and learn from each situation.  It is about showing them the right way to do something and the wrong way.  It is about modeling for them how you strive for them to act and serve.  Most students take what you give them and are successful, and by doing this you know that you have succeeded as a teacher.  You have given them the skills they need for the next week, year, grade level, and life.  It's not about how quickly they can multiply, or how fast they can read and comprehend (although we are proud when they do), but it is about how they take what they've learned and can use it in real life settings.

I know that my one goal for each year is to love my students unconditionally, teach them as much as I can, set high expectations and push when needed and praise always.  Praise in even the smallest circumstances when they finally learned that silly little letter sound or started writing their 3's the right way!  All children need confidence and all children need a little push.  I pray that I always know when to push and when to praise, and can make my students successful in their own way.

Professional Development Library

I have sure been slacking in posting about school these days! What a perfect way to get my blog rolling again....my graduate class assignment is to start a blog! Done and done!

Here is the most recent assignment we turned in--a professional development library.  We were asked to make a list of books and resources we use in our classroom for professional development.  These are all personal favorites of mine, and I hope that you are able to use some of them to be successful in your own classroom!

Click the image to download My Professional Development Library, or read below!

Click the link to purchase the book, if you don't have it already!

Since I am a fairly new teacher, I have relied heavily on my professional development library and resources to pull ideas.  There are ones that I use more than others, so instead of listing them alphabetically like I’d planned on, I am going to list them in the most used or most relevant for my Kindergarten classroom to the ones that I use, but not as frequently.

Interactive Writing:  How Language & Literacy Come Together, K-2

McCarrier, Andrea, Irene C. Fountas, and Gay Su Pinnell. Interactive Writing: How Language and Literacy Come Together, K-2. Heinemann, 1999.

The authors show how teachers can use interactive writing to teach a range of foundational literacy skills by sharing the pen with young writers.  This book focuses on the early/emergent writing stages of K-2.  I use this book as a part of my daily routine for ideas and procedures for interactive writing, which is a fundamental part of the balanced literacy program.  You can implement interactive writing lessons from pretty much anything! I’ve used this to turn our district’s awful worksheets into engaging interactive lessons! Plus, it’s been a great resource to give to teachers who are interested in the way I teach (as opposed to the rote textbook learning that goes on in our halls).

Guided Reading:  Good First Teaching for All Children

Fountas, Irene and Gay Su Pinnell. Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children K-3. Heinemann, 1996.

This book was written for K-3 classroom teachers and reading resource teachers.  It explains how to create a balanced literacy program based on guided reading which is supported by reading aloud, shared reading, and interactive writing.  There is a great list of leveled readers for reference.  I use this book most when working with guided reading groups, checking on leveling my students for guided reading or using the resources for workstations.

The Daily 5:  Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades

Boushey, Gail, & Moser, Joan. The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades. Stenhouse Publishers, 2005.

The Daily 5 is a classroom system created by “the sisters” that helps to foster independent literacy. The components of Daily 5 are: read to self, read to someone, writing, word work, and listening. I teach and model these practices in my Kindergarten classroom and, students have developed habits that have made them more independent. I have just used aspects and components of this book instead of implementing the whole practice.  I have found it works best in my classroom, but if you are lacking any framework, this is a great place to start.

Phonemic Awareness in Young Children

Adams, M., Foorman, B., Lundberg, I. & Beeler, T. Phonemic Awareness in Young Children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Publishing, 1998.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.  This book gives activities and ideas to use phonemic awareness in your daily lessons.  These activities are not ones that take very long and you can implement right away. I use many of these in small groups, but you can adapt them for whole group learning also.

Spaces & Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy

Diller, Debbie. Spaces & Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy. Stenhouse Publishers, 2008.

Spaces & Places is a book designed to help teachers in whole group and small group reading instruction, classroom libraries, and organizing.  There are many real life pictures and text to go with them.  Diller does a great job of including charts, posters, rationale for arranging her room and using her time.  I used this book quite a bit my first year of teaching when I was trying to “build Rome in a day” and arranged my room so many different ways.  I loved this book because it gave me a visual and a reason for why we arrange and teach the way we do.  This book bettered my instruction by getting me organized and ready to teach in a meaningful way.  I also still have many of these charts up in my classroom today.

Already Ready: Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten

Ray, Katie Wood & Glover, Matt.  Already Ready: Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten. Heinemann, 2008.

This book helps teachers increase writing opportunities in their early childhood classrooms.  It provides helpful examples and comparisons and demonstrates how to make sense of writing, see developmental differences, and recognize the thinking that goes into the children’s writing.  This book helps me with Writer’s Workshop mini lessons, ideas and rubrics.  It showed me that even in the emergent stages of writing, the students are still writing and are engaged in their own ideas. I love to save my students’ writing from year to year and compare how different they all are along with the differences in the way I taught Writer’s Workshop.  The stages of developmental writing is very helpful in this book.

Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom

Pinnell, Gay Su & Fountas, Irene C. Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom. Heinemann, 1998.

Word Matters is a great resource and follow-up book to Guided Reading by the same authors.  This book presents information on implementing a systematic literacy program to help students learn letters, letter sounds and words.  The key elements of this book include: word study, writing and reading.  There are tools, reproducibles and many mini lessons.  I have used this book to help with workstations and word study lessons in small groups.  It has been very beneficial in my classroom.

Talking, Drawing, Writing: Lessons for Our Youngest Writers

Horn, Martha & Giacobbe, Mary Ellen.  Talking, Drawing, Writing: Lessons for Our Youngest Writers. Stenhouse Publishers, 2007.

Talking and drawing in Kindergarten provides students with natural born writing.  Students create their own writing and are able to read their own writing through lessons in this book.  The book’s lessons include: oral storytelling, drawing, writing words, assessment, introducing booklets and moving writers forward.  This has been a fabulous tool in my Writer’s Workshop lessons and outlook on where my students are.  There are great lessons and wonderful rubrics for grading writing.  I also use the writing organization to document where writers are and what they are able to produce.  I love this book!

For Reading Out Loud: Planning and Practice

Fisher, Bobbi & Medvic, Emily Fisher.  For Reading Out Loud: Planning and Practice.  Heinemann, 2003.

The authors draw on real life experiences with students from pre-k to 2nd grade in read aloud settings.  The practice of a read aloud is more than just reading a book aloud to students and children.  These authors give strategies and ways to dig deeper into higher level questioning and comprehension.  This book has shaped the way I spend my time reading aloud and the types of questions that I ask my students.  My comprehension scores on the TPRI have increased greatly since I have taken the time to change my read aloud mentality and question my students.  They are able to retell details that sometimes I don’t even remember!

Perspectives on Shared Reading: Planning and Practice

Fisher, Bobbi & Medvic, Emily Fisher.  Perspectives on Shared Reading: Planning and Practice.  Heinemann, 2000.

This is a sister book to the read aloud book by the same authors.  Teachers can find an array of useful resources and strategies for implementing shared reading techniques in pre-K through 2nd grade.  The authors use models from Don Holdaway.  From big books to chanting poems, the book organizes ways to implement participation in shared reading.  I used this book a lot my first couple years of teaching.  Making charts, chants and anchor charts in your classroom helps to increase reading strategies and can be used for shared reading.  I have gained a few ideas from this book, such as using pointers from different places and hanging charts on hangers to better use my space.

Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching

Tomlinson, Carol Ann.  Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching.  Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003.

According to Tomlinson, good teaching comes from knowing your students and knowing their abilities and interests.  This book helps plan and organized differentiation in your classroom.  There are different lesson examples such as the BINGO lesson that lets the students choose their activity from ability and interest.  There are many rubrics for assessment in differentiation.  I used this book my second year to dive into the world of differentiated instruction and would have struggled without this being a resource readily available to me.  I love the Tic-Tac-Toe and BINGO lessons that give my students some choice in what they are doing for an activity.  Differentiating a classroom not only makes it beneficial for the learner, but makes it less stressful for the teacher who is grading based on the one student’s ability and not comparatively to the rest of the class.

Phonics Lessons:  letters, words and how they work: Grade K

Pinnell, Gay Su & Fountas, Irene C.  Phonics Lessons:  letters, words and how they work: Grade K. FirstHand an imprint of Heinemann, 2003.

This is such a fabulous resource! It contains many lessons on phonics, word study lessons, and letters.  I use it in my small group and workstation time mostly, but it can be adapted to teach in many different ways.  There are planning pages and then actual teaching pages that can be used as a tool to teach phonics.

I am so lucky to have these resources in my own library.  My school allows the check out of similar books, but I love that I have been able to pull these in the middle of planning and make sure that I am doing what I should.  I have all of these highlighted and tagged where I turn to them most often.  These are wonderful resources that I can share with my colleagues and tell them about how I actually use them in my classroom.

What are your favorite professional development resources?