Monday, January 30, 2012

Spin, Roll, and Slide!


Using Doodletop markers helps us see the pattern of movement for spinning.

Dipping marbles in paint and rolling them helps us see the pattern of movement for rolling!
Pushing and pulling chalk across black paper helps us see the pattern of movement for sliding!
The finished product!
Awesome!











Sunday, January 1, 2012

Top 3 posts for 2011 Linky


Happy 2012! When I started this blog in May 2011, my intent was to focus mostly on couponing and saving money, but over the summer it evolved into a platform for me to share all of the new things I discovered about teaching through Twitter, blog-hopping, and Pinterest.

Fern Smith is hosting a really fun linky party where we can share our top 3 blog posts for 2011. Fern does a really good job on her blog by not only sharing all of her awesome teacher wisdom, but also all of the great deals she comes across through couponing.

Here are my top 3 posts for 2011 - check it out and join in on the fun. You may discover a few new blogs you want to follow this year. Teachers love to share what they do, and by doing so, we all become better teachers and mentors to the most important people in the world...our students.


Top 3 Posts for 2011

#1 The Life Cycle of a Snowman 
September 19, 2011 - 5,805 pageviews
In 2nd grade we are learning about the states of matter: solid, liquid, gas.  What better way to learn about this than to have a snowman visit our school and melt away throughout the day? The students really enjoyed watching him change but were a little sad when we "cooked" him into gas ;-)

Fill balloons with water  - small, medium, and large - and place in  bowls with the tied  side down so  it will create a  flat surface.  Lay something on top of the  balloons to create a flat surface on top. Once frozen, remove balloon and stack balls using salt to help them adhe - re to each other. Cut out decorations with felt and stick to ice.


July 23, 2011 - 1,521 pageviews
Have you heard of Pinterest yet?  If not, you should go check it out.  It's a great way to display items that interest you AND keep track of all the cool stuff you come across and then forget about.  My boards include teacher stuff, techie stuff, pretty stuff and more!  Michelle's Math in the Middle is hosting a linky party so you can  follow people that interest you.
  
This is a quick and easy link-up.  All you need is:
  1. A teacher blog, where you will write a quick little post telling your readers about this Linky Party ~ Then go link it HERE
  2. A Pinterest account
  3. The Follow Me on Pinterest Button displayed on your blog
August 24, 2011 765 pagevews
My husband sent me a link to a blog post I wrote exactly 4 years ago on August 24, 2007.  At the time, my friends and I all had blogs where we would share family photos and write about our lives.  With the advent of Facebook, we eventually abandoned our blogs and joined the millions in Facebookland.  For a while there was a trend where we had to write 100 things about ourselves then tag someone else to do the same thing.  I remember taking a lot of time to come up with the 100 things about myself and I am please to say that after 4 years there have been very few changes.  Below is the original post with the changes and comments in red.  I hope this helps know the Frugal Teacher a little better: Read more...


I am including a #4 because it is another post about Pinterest. Once I got on Pinterest and started sharing items from my blog on my boards, my blog traffic increased significantly: 

November 6, 2011 - 725 pageviews
A funny thing happened today. I was looking around my "stats" page just to see where most of my blog traffic is coming from.  I was NOT surprised to see that the majority of my traffic is coming from Pinterest! Over the past few months a lot of teachers have jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. It's a great place to share and keep a visual record of all the great ideas out there!  One of the sources listed on the stats page was a blog I have never visited: In No Simple Language. There was a post about Pinterest and all of the cool things this blogger has discovered there. One of the "cool" things was this:

Thank you Fern and the other 60+ teachers who have participated in this Linky. I hope that we can all continue to help and inspire each other in 2012!