Happy Holidays!!!

Last week when we all went to the computer lab and I showed them how to use the basic functions of Microsoft Publisher. We made greeting cards for our families for Christmas. They thought it was so much fun. All we did was pick our own background, play with different colors (even though it prints out black and white), worked with word art and then typed in a message. We will be coloring these next week and sending them home to give their parents with a special ornament that we will be making too!

Guest Speaker =)

We had a guest speaker visit our classroom and he was amazing. He was a 78 year old blind man who told several funny jokes and taught my kids a lot about what it is like to be blind. He did all of my students names in Braille and gave them each a copy; they loved it. After he left we went to the computer lab and typed him some friendly letters. I showed them how to use some different parts of Microsoft Word. We then mailed him all of our friendly letters. He loved them and he plans on writing us all back.

Things have been crazy with school and teaching, that I am so thankful I had this Thanksgiving break! I have been working really hard with my kids and with all of the things due for fellows that I have not had much time to do much of anything. I have nothing new to add from the last blog, just hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Well you know how things go and things always change, well I have changed my mind! Instead of typing our personal narratives (we were not ready for that yet in our writing) we started typing our 100 No Excuse Words. The kids love it. I taught them how to make a grid on their paper with multiple rows and columns. I also taught them how to create a header for the top of their paper. We are printing these out and turning them into me at first and then I will give them back so that they can use them. As third graders, they needed a lot of help with some of these words so this not only gives them practice with the words, but also a chance to make them personal and to use some different applications that Microsoft Word has to offer. Some of the kids I found out are a lot faster typist then even myself. It is fun to watch the kids actually engage in spelling on the computer, its sad that we only have 30 minutes in the computer lab though.
In addition, for Halloween yesterday, instead of carving real pumpkins in class we carved virtual pumpkins on the SMART Board. I loved it and so did my students. Here it is..be careful it is addictive.
http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

Wow how does time fly in third grade! We have been working so hard that I must have forgotten about my blog! Recently I began having my students type up their 100 No Excuse words in the computer lab. I have taught them how to put in a Header and how to create a chart with rows and columns. They love this stuff. We have been working for 2 weeks on this project and they are just learning so much more from typing these words instead of just writing them over and over. Next thing I have planned is to type up our final copy of our Personal Narrative. They have been working so hard on this story and I can not wait to see the end result!

Hectic Days

Wow....These past few weeks have been so hectic, there are so many things that I have to do, it is unreal. I have been assessing and reviewing that information and it is amazing how much there really is to do for each assessment. I do enjoy entering all the assessment information on the computer and generating different graphs of the different information. It is nice to see what all of the information does for a teacher. I am also really enjoying my SMART Board, as days go by, I am learning more and more about all that it can do. My kids have started using it too and they love it. I have them using it to take attendance in the morning, who knew that taking attendance could be so much fun? Plus I also use the SMART Board to keep all the different AFL statements on and all I have to do is scroll down for each different subject. With time comes more knowledge!

I have been using my SMART Board more and more and it is amazing. I am learning little by little what it is capable of. My students love it. It is a great interactive tool to use when exploring math and science. I have started putting objectives and discussions we have on it, so then we can refer back to it when we get to that subject. We use it for everything. We go to the computer lab once a week and they are still becoming familiar with what they can and cannot do on the computer, but hopefully here soon we can start making PowerPoint presentations, typing up their final personal narrative for writing on the computer, setting up a blackboard account so that we can communicate with other classes. My mentor is going to help me set that up with another class. I think we will be communicating about different books at first. Overall the year is off to a great start, and I am surviving. I now realize that the days are not long enough to be able to teach all that I would like to, but I also realize that it is a fact of life!

Well school has started off amazing! Even though it has been so hot, at least we have gotten a few heat days. My class is awesome, I seriously think I have the best third grade class at our school. They are so smart and they amaze me each day! I absolutely love having a SMART Board in my room and so do the kids. I have just started getting used to using it and have tried doing a few different things with it. The main thing I have used it for is math, just because the students can manipulate objects on it by moving them all around, it makes for a great visual and hands-on activity. I also like it because I can save all of their work and then refer back to it the next day to begin a lesson. My mentor is slowly showing me a few things every other day or so, just so I don't get overwhelmed with all that it is possible of doing. She is fantastic about helping me figure things out. Overall, I am excited to learn more and more about the SMART Board and integrate it into the curriculum throughout the school year!

Starting the Year!!!

I have been working in my classroom for the past month or so trying to set everything up for the beginning of the year. I picked the worst times of day to go in and paint and set up. I go in about noon every day to start working on stuff and that is the hottest part of the day! You see my school does NOT have air conditioning and it is kind of like an oven in all the classrooms at my school. There is not air circulation, due to the windows not allowing, and there are only two outlets to plug fans into, but they blow around hot hot air. It will get up past 90 degrees is most rooms by 2 p.m.!!!
In my room I have set up the theme of "Wild About Learning." My mom made curtains for my windows that are different animal prints, they are so awesome. I also have a bunch of different borders that go on my bulletin boards that are animal prints as well. I have 6 bulletin boards in my classroom, all of which are 50 years old, so I decided to spice things up a bit and paint them all different colors. They are painted bright colors that really brings some life into the room. I just finished hanging and rearranging everything yesterday afternoon. After I completed everything I sat down in my rocking chair and thought that in 19 days I will have 23 kids in there, I am not going to lie...I am a smidge nervous, but at the same time I am SO excited!!! Going along with technology I am going to have a SMART Board and they are so much fun, there are so many things you can use them for! I also have two computers that are easily accessible for the students, one is at a desk and one is at the back of the classroom and will be used for kids that want to stand up and search on it. There are so many things that I want to do with all of my technology resources, I just don't think there is enough time in the day!
Well wish me luck to the start of my first year teaching, it is going to be a wild and exciting ride!!! =)