The Best is Yet to Come

We've passed our second Mid-Quarter mark. Since I'm headed right for the holiday rush I'd like to take a step back and look at what we have accomplished in 2014. This year the second graders have collaborated in Google Docs to build background knowledge before reading a story. They created an online KWL chart too. They made an ebook for Language Arts. The class has learned how to navigate audiobooks on the Kindle and Evernote to record themselves reading. During calendar time they have picked up the skills of rotating and resizing an image. They can use qr codes to hear directions and play games. But the best skill they have honed is determination. They've waited with me when Notebook crashes or the building's internet goes down. They've toughed it out and they know the Smartboard isn't as smart as they are. Technology is an awesome tool but it is just that, a tool. It is not a substitute for pedagogy and planning.

I Like to Move It, Move It...

Have you heard that Halloween is on Friday? I think I was asked some form of this question about twelve times this last week. The kids were antsy. SO antsy! It was time for some movement. I taped a life size e on the floor and we practiced walking the steps. "Hit the ball, run around the bases," I said as I slipped on my sparkly gold handwriting shoes. It was a big hit.
How were these kids who just swooned over masking tape on a floor going to manage to learn anything from sitting at a computer for an hour. YouTube. I googled my favorite school singer, Shari Sloane and checked out some Jean Feldman tunes too. Ah yes, practicing letter sounds while doing karate moves is a great way to review with interleaving. Each of my modules has one of those brain breaks incorporated. Moving and learning are, to me, the perfect partners.