Saturday, November 26, 2011

Run, Run as Fast as You Can!

I know I have not been the best blogger in the world, I am sooo sorry! I had these grand delusions that I would get some good Thanksgiving posts done, and now it's time for Christmas!!!

I just had to post this so I'll have it around for next year... This is all from Kindergarten Hoppenings! This is her adorable unit and ideas for The Gingerbread Man, which is all things Kindergarten!



Books We Love

The Gingerbread Man The Gingerbread Girl The Gingerbread Cowboy Gingerbread Baby The Gingerbread Man (Easy-to-Read Folktales)



The Literacy Goods

Beginning Sounds Match Up



Gingerbread Sight Word Bingo



Gingerbread Man Sight Words



Gingerbread Man Medial Sounds



Gingerbread Man Class Book




Where is the Gingerbread Girl Little Book (Positional Words)



The Math Goods

Sweet Patterns



Gingerbread Tricky Teens Worksheet




Gingerbread Math Worksheet



Gingerbread Man by 10's Worksheet



Buttons for the Gingerbread Man Math Book (Counting Backwards)



Do You Like Gingerbread Graph

Friday, October 21, 2011

Word Clouds

By Meredith via Wordle

When my Kindergarten students first begin using the SHIFT key, they practice typing their name during a Wordle assignment.  Each child is assigned a computer in the lab.  They each open Wordle from our Learning Links (direct link to Create, not the actual home page), then type their name three times so it will appear the largest in the word cloud.  Students begin rotating to each computer, typing their name in Title Case, until they have typed their name in everyone's Wordle page.  After they click Create, they choose their design.  We print these so the children can take home a class list of student names.  The possibilities with Wordle are endless--what about a Wordle highlighting the Tier II vocabulary in a book or action verbs?

*Double names (only in the South) can be tricky.  Some word cloud apps use ~ to connect the two names or quotes.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Common Core Phenomenon

When have all the states been in agreement on anything in education? Well, here is the beginning of a new era. The Common Core Standards are here. Gone are the days where students in Alabama learn completely different material than in Georgia or Arkansas.  Now educators are tied to a common language and common standards across the US.  We are finally uniting on what we want our students to know.  Only six states have not adopted the Common Core Standards.  Surprisingly, Texas is not on board yet; usually they are innovators in educational programs and initiatives.

Borrowed from Common Core
This Monday, teachers from our school system got together to discuss the new standards and deepen our understanding of how they were developed.  We will implement the new standards beginning next year. 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Dot Sub Translation Tool

Dot Sub is an online translation tool that lets users subtitle any movie in any language.  Users can work together to transcribe movie files, and privacy settings can share movies with friends or the world. Although the user must type the captions for different frames, Dot Sub will translate it.  I can use this with my student who speaks a very uncommon language, but I can see this being beneficial for Spanish teachers and other foreign language teachers.