Skyping with Mrs. MacInnes' Third Grade in Maine

Today we met Mrs. MacInnes' 3rd grade class from Brewer, Maine. We read our readers theater excerpt from  Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and they sang a song about Martin Luther King. Can you say "authentic learning"?

Top 10 Award!

Wow! I just got nominated for a Teaching Blog Addict Top 10 Award by Claire over at First Grade Smarties! Thanks Claire!


This award was created to help encourage bloggers to keep doing what they are doing: Sharing the joys of teaching!  My first year "blogiversary" is coming up in April and this nomination is validation that what what I am doing is worth the time and effort it takes. I am truly honored to receive this award from one of my peers and gladly pay it forward by nominating 10 of my favorite blogs:
 

A Faithful Attempt (an art teacher's blog)

Innovative Connections

Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings

Sub Hub

Two Apples a Day

Global Grade 3

Loving Learning Lots

Delightful Daily 5

A Mostly Rosy Outlook

Bonnie's Blog Spot

Please visit the top 10 Award instructions 

and get your award button!

Blogging: How to Write an Amazing Comment

My second graders are doing such a great job with their blog posts this year. I never dreamed at the beginning of the year that blogging with 7-8 year olds would go so smoothly and that they would enjoy it so much.  Recently, I came across a blog called Global Grade 3 and discovered these simple guidelines for writing amazing comments. This post made me realize that my class is now ready to move to the next level of blogging: Writing amazing comments!

Original source: http://globalgrade3.cbegloballearning.ca/blogging-resources/

Guest Blogger Kendal: Skype!

The following is a blog post one of my 2nd grade students put on our class blog about Skype:

In class we are doing skype.Skype is when you go on the computer and you talk to people aound the wold.It is so fun.Yesdirday we skyped with Mr.S he is a math teacher.I will tall you one of the math qustin he did to us:Ok,the sone and the father whent on a hunting trip.They found a bear the sone got skrached and the father died.The sone went to the hspital.The docter said I can"t operat on this boy he is my sone.Who is the docter?The anserw is the mom was the docter. Kendal - 2nd grade

Inspired by Eric Carle *UPDATE*

*UPDATE* The finished product....

We have been "voraciously" reading Eric Carle books this week. It all started with The Tiny Seed and then it just "blossomed" after that!

We have also read:  The Grouchy Lady Bug, A House for Hermit Crab, and The Very Lonely Firefly.
I was very pleased to see several students checking out Eric Carle books during our weekly library visit.

We were very inspired by the artistic style of Eric Carle so we decided to give it a try!

First, we colored 6 x 9 sheets of paper with crayons. We mixed the colors and the direction of our coloring to give the paper more depth and texture.

Next, we cut out the shapes and laid them out to create a picture.

Finally, we glued everything in place and signed it with our "artist" signatures.  Next week we will be creating poems to go along with our pictures.

Patterns, Patterns, Patterns!

I love using manipulatives for hands-on learning! We are currently using patterns to gain and understanding of skip counting and multiplication. Students are using manipulatives to model and describe repeating and additive patterns. I placed stations around the rooms for pairs to explore and create patterns. Manipulatives included: 2 sided discs, foam stars, foam leaves, 1" colored tiles, connecting chains, geometric shapes, and firefighter action figures.

Pros and Cons of Social Media in Education

I thought this was a very interesting infographic outlining the pros and cons of social media in schools. Although it mostly focuses on the college level, some of the information is useful for primary and secondary education.


Via: Online Universities Blog