"Facebook is for OLD people!" - Dad

I am a connected educator.  I am on Facebook. I get messages from parents. I make comments and "like" people's pictures. I even have teachers on my "friends" list. I am connected...

Right?

My dad called me a few weeks ago to talk about all things Facebook. You know... recipes, who was playing the candy game, pictures of so and so's baby, dog, and selfie in the bathroom mirror. Then he tells me that he heard on the news that Facebook was for old people. After I composed myself from listening to Dad's "report", we finished gossiping talking, and I started to think...

What channel was he watching? (I have to be careful asking that because I do have a memory of coming home from school and Dad was watching a Snoop Dog concert on MTV Spring Break - I still haven't figured that one out!) I also wanted to know what is considered old? Dad? The man who gets upset if his morning ritual of coffee and computer gets disturbed. The man who gets his cup of coffee, not from the Keurig we bought him, but from the percolator that he has had for years.

Maybe it was not Dad who was being "old"? Maybe it was me? After all, Dad was the one who was using Facebook to talk to friends and family in other places. He was the one sharing things and probably mostly salivating over a few recipes.  I was the one using the same "old" ways of communicating with parents, students, and other educators.
I decided that my "connectedness" was no better than the traditional paper and pencil log home to parents and that I was just "liking" my teacher friends' pictures. Don't get me wrong, Facebook is a valuable social network. It is a great way to stay in touch with parents of students, colleagues, AND friends. I stalk it use it on a daily basis.  For myself, I wanted to look for a better way to truly extend my professional learning community. I needed a way to not just think outside the box, but actually GET outside the box.
There was only one answer... Twitter!

Stay tuned, or should I say, stay connected.

I could do this everyday!

I had the opportunity to be part of the Digital Integration Team for Horry County Schools this past week.

I got together with other educators, K-12, and collaborated with them to design and construct iTunes U courses. It was one of the most enriching professional development experiences I have ever been a part of. I hate to even call it a professional development. When I think of professional development I think of the meetings and sessions that you attend only because you have to or it seems like the least boring one on the list. This week I was really able to extend my PLN. What's so hard to believe is that these new found friends have been hiding here, in my district, the entire time. Not only did I gather with a group of people that were interested in everything I am, but it took place during a time when I could really enjoy myself and focus on just this project.

iTunes U Course

This has me thinking... If they have been in my district all this time, why haven't I connected with them before?...  Are there more out there?... Its like I am hunting Big Foot!
I have recently begun the infamous "tweeting" (that's it's own post!), but how do you hook up with local educators in your district?

Thank you for sending me a sign, Webster

All teachers get busy at the end of the school year, it's inevitable! I promised myself that I was not going to let my blog suffer. Not only did my poor little blog suffer, but it died a slow and miserable death. But I have been resurrected, once again!

I recently started some summer work with our school district and I decided to share all the wonderful things that happened in such a short time with blogging in my Kindergarten classroom. My partner in crime, Bess, and I create an iTunes U course about blogging in the elementary classroom. As we were laying out an outline for what we thought would be covered, I thought we should describe what a blog was. Well, that's where old Webster comes into play. Webster dictionary. You see that bright yellow portion jumping off the page? Yeah, that's it. This was Webster hitting my over the head saying, "If you do not get it together and post on a regular basis, you are not a blog!" So... Here I am... I'm back! Again.

blog  

/blôg/

Noun A Web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis.

Verb Add new material to or regularly update a blog.

The Adventures of the Digital Storytellers

This year my teaching partner in crime, Bess, and I decided that we were each going to take a team of students to the 2013 Horry County Schools Technology Fair. This event has been going on for a few years and we decided it was time to get our feet wet!

Our team's project was not a far reach from what we had been working on in class. The children had been mapping stories they read, and creating their own written pieces concentratng on characters, setting, action, and emotion. I approached some of the students and asked them if they would be interested in creating a digital story. They looked at me funny at first, but when I explained to them that we could use different apps to "publish" our stories, the Digital Storytellers were born!


The Digital Storytellers
Janasia G., Hudson S., Zane G.

The three students met with me after school one day a week for several weeks. We started by drafting a story on paper using the elements we used in class. The students created characters like a gorilla, a "fancy" princess, and a hunter, that morphed into a poacher, and then into a veterinarian, and finally a zoologist! Great imaginations :) The students worked together to create the setting and emotion, but my favorite part was the discussion about action in the story. The students collaborated to decide on the problem and the solution. That was interesting... I could see clearly who may have been in trouble before and who may have been able to get out of it :) Don't worry guys, I won't tell!

After the story was drafted, it was time to publish. We used an app called Toontastic. If you do not have this yet, you HAVE to check it out. It really does an awesome job walking children through a story arc that develops a complete story. Love it! I just had to make my own story. It was so I could show the students. Model, model, model. Right? *wink *wink This app is really easy to use and the kids loved it!
Check us out :)

We also documented our entire journey with the Book Creator app. We added pictures and videos of our project along the way and published it as an iBook. We used this as part of our documentation for our display for the fair.


Our project shined in a sea of hundreds :)

The day of the fair was full of excitement, for students AND me. Our group was the very first group to go to the fair from our school. This really worked to our advantage. There were hundreds of entries at the fair. The children had their heart set on bringing home a trophy. The parents and I were sweating, thinking we may have to run out to the store to get our own trophies. We kept telling the children that we were the first student to EVER come to the tech fair and that alone was prize enough. As you can guess, they didn't buy it! Luckily...

WE PLACED 2ND!

They were not a bit nervous during judging.

We won! (We did not need the trophies and medals to tell us that... but they were nice)

Wowza! What a Week!

This week has been so busy!
Monday we had a magician come from the electric company and talk about playing it safe around electricity. Do they still have commercials with the singing bee?

It was hard enough to find this pic on Google images, so I'm guessing he's not around. RIP Louie.
 Anyway... The kids had a blast and I have to admit, it was pretty fun.

Wednesday, we had the Coastal Carolina University Athletes come and visit our Kindergartens at NMBP, all 14 classes! Every year CCU partners with the United Way for the Caring for Kindergarteners Program. This year our class got to meet Mr. Jhamie, he is a defender on the CCU soccer team. He read “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. After Mr. Jhamie read the story, the class asked him a few questions. They found out he was studying business at CCU and that he is from Jamaica. I think the boys and girls would have liked for him to stay all day. After the interrogation :) Mr. Jhamie passed out paper for the children to make cards for the elderly in assisted living centers. They seemed really excited and made some beautiful cards.
            



The excitement continued on Thursday with the planting of our marigolds! Our reading unit right now is "Ready, Set, Grow!" and the children are totally into it. They have become quite the planting experts.

We have started a plant journal, so you will have to check back to see things are growing, the students AND the marigolds :)

So, as you can see, the students have had plenty to blog about this week. Read about all the happenings through the students' eyes at our blog. You will also find that they have a bunch to say about what is happening at home too. This has been a great way for me to stay connected and hear about what is going on at home. Morning meetings can run long if EVERYBODY has something to tell you. Also, often times they don't remember. It is just like when they go home and mom and dad say, "What did you do at school?" The students say, "Nothing," or "Recess." With the blog, I have to moderate every comment and post, so it just takes a few seconds to see what was written and use that to start up a conversation. I have also found that students are making connections to eachother too. Right now we have two students getting new pets. Wow, did they have great lunch and recess conversation!
In addition to social learning, I am seeing instructional benefits abound. In my sleep, I say, "Make sure you are using your finger spaces!" How much money or time have you spent on those cute little spacemen? blogacoupletimesandtheywillseehowimportanttheyare. The students are physically pushing the space bar each and everytime to create the fingerspace and it has transferred back to their paper and pencil writing. Score!

I have so much more to rave about with this blogging thing...I hope to spread the word. My partner in Kindergarten crime, Bess, and I hope to get some more people in on the blogging at our school. We are thinking of having a mini staff development one day after school. I also have to give a shout out to my tech buddy, Sean. He shared our blog on his twitter and forwarded me a link to Comments4Kids Blog. It's a community that brings blogging classrooms together. Thanks.

Please stop by and check us out. Leave a comment :)

3 ,2, 1... Blast off!

We have lift off... My class is off and running with their blogs. We started Friday and everybody was excited. It worked out perfect to have the pesky leprechaun come and terrorize our room the same day we began blogging.

The previous day we talked about what a blog was and why we would a blog. The children came up with an extensive list, but their #1 reason to blog was to share class news. You can only imagine the excitement when they walked in and it wasn't long before one shouted, "Hey, let's put this on our blog!" I had the mini laptop lab ready to go. You would have thought I was passing out candy!
They did a great job logging in with little instruction and assistance. They were clicking and typing and discussing what to write. Some of the children responded to my post, while others decided to create their own. The conversations that were going on were impressive. They worked together to help each other find the correct place to write. It was amazing. It was one of those teaching moments that give you goosebumps... my favorite kind. In fact, the reason I do this job :)

The students were so engaged and their learning was so meaningul. Some of the children were typing their stories as they thought of it, and others decided to publish their journal writings. So far, everybody has been able to either post or comment on something. Not everything has made it to the Internet because we are waiting on a few more permission slips OR they were on a roll and didn't finish their piece. Please check out our work and comment.
http://kidblog.org/MrsBodkinsClass/
Check back regularly to see what is going on.
I have also spent some time this weekend trying to connect with other classes around the world that are blogging too. If you would like to join us in this project, please contact me.
Happy blogging :)

I'm Back...

Not that anybody had noticed, I think I have had 2 page views, but I took a vacation from my short lived blogging experience. I would like to blame it on my pinterest addiction, but I am not sure what it was???? Anyway...
I am "on fire" for blogging again. In fact, the fire has spread to my students, or at least I am providing the accelerant.

Buckle Up!

I am so excited about this journey our class is about to begin!! I am waiting on the permission slips come in before we begin this ride :)

My need to prepare has led me to the "all-knowing internet", Bonjour! (I love that commercial)... There is not a whole bunch of information about kindergarten blogging out there, so the children and I really feel like explorers, internet explorers! (I couldn't resist) I was fortunate enough to attend a Kindergarten conference last week where I saw a YouTube video that gave a great explanation of a blog.
Blogs in Plain English

That cool video led me to The Kindergarten Blog in Plain English


Our class will be using our blogs as a website or an on-line space where children can access, display and share learning/information with an authentic audience. 

We can use our Blog to:

·       Create an online community for our students and their parents and family members
·       Share resources and notices
·       Share students work and learning (providing a real authentic audience world-wide)
·       Provide up to date information on what is happening at our school.
·       Integrate multimedia of all descriptions (videos, photo stories, podcasts)
·       Receive feedback (we love receiving your comments and suggestions)
·       Provide opportunities for students to read (posts), write (posts and comments),

As you can see the blog is an amazing tool that has huge potential to enhance children's learning (a blog is not a chat room). We will use our blog to share information about what is happening in our class.

Check us out at kidblog.org/MrsBodkinsClass 

Stay tuned...