Superheroes in Training

This year our theme is "Superheroes in Training."  And on the first day of school, a group of teachers dressed up as some well known superheroes.  It was a blast.  What a fun way to start the school year with positivity and excitement about learning!  

Here is a video of our first day: SES Superheroes in Training

I told myself I would blog more this year.  I'm trying hard to think about what to blog, to share, to make that global connection with others I want to make.  So even though I am struggling with a purpose right now I thought I would just share with you what I've been doing in library this first week.  I have been teaching my expectations for being in the library as well as how to check out books.  How to use the library card as a "spot saver" on the shelf while shopping for books. The best part of the first week of library is telling the second graders that they get to check out TWO books and they can go all over the library, compared to just one in first grade and being restricted to a certain area.  It is like I'm Oprah at that point, giving away my favorite things...their reactions are comparable to the ladies going crazy.  I'm serious! And I love it.  I also love showing them examples of books that have been chewed on by pets, molded over by food and drinks, and torn apart by little people.  I got a text from a co-worker last night telling me about how her kindergartener came home warning her about things that can go wrong with a library book. So maybe I taught something?

I'm looking forward to planning an Eric Carle author study where I will be taking the kindergarten class to Concordia to view the Eric Carle traveling art exhibit.  That will be a fun connection for those kiddos to make.  More on that later!  

Teacher ReBoot

"Do something that makes you feel uncomfortable." -Lynne Herr

I'm participating in Teacher ReBoot at the ESU6 in Milford.  It is a program that encourages teachers to design their own professional development.  I'm sitting with motivated teachers that want to be just totally kick bootie.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time.  I love surrounding myself with people that inspire me to be my best, and I'm pretty sure I'm well surrounded!  

We have all been asked to make professional goals that will improve our student's learning experience.  One of the things Lynne and Jill asked us to do is to find things that make you feel uncomfortable.  Something that makes me feel uncomfortable is sticking to a schedule.  I get nervous about being stuck or feeling like I can't keep up with the schedule. So, something I am working on is updating my blog on a regular basis with the purpose of sharing and exchanging ideas with other teachers. My goals for my ReBoot project were found from this website.  Here they are (but not limited to):

1.  To re-evaluate value of my lessons

2.  Make a global connection

3.  Teach digital citizenship more effectively

I am looking forward to updating you with my progress.

8th Grade Music Videos

I wanted to try something new with my last rotation of 8th graders this year. Students were limited to one week to work on this project.  They were divided into groups.  Then handed a CD--not knowing what song was on it--but they had to create a music video using that song.  It was a great teamwork building while incorporating technology project. Students were able to use the iPads to film and iMovie to create their movies.  Obviously, if we had more time I think their movies would be even more amazing. For launching this as a guinea pig experiment I think they should be proud of what they created!!

Click here is the rubric and instructions students were given.

Click here to view Jacob A., Arden, Wesley, Broc, Serena, and Jenna's music video to the song Hall of Fame by The Script.

Click here to view Erik, Kenna, Shaylee, Sam, Makena, Kaleb's music video to the song Happy by Pharrell.

Click here to view Daniel, Carissa, Amelia, Kira, Dylan, Isabel's music video to the song Best Days of My Life by American Authors.

Click here to view Megan, Kaisha, Mallory, Kendra, Olivia, and Jacob S.'s music video to the song Invisible by Hunter Hayes.

Who guided you to teach?

Who is responsible for encouraging you to be a teacher?  Who helped you discover that teaching is where you should be? Where you belong?  Jean Lethcoe is the woman responsible for me being in the education field.  When I didn't know what direction to take my life while in college, Jean is the woman that arranged for me to observe a second grade classroom.

I was at a crossroads in my life. Confused. Frustrated. Lost.  Placing me in a second grade classroom was a science experiment that I thought would be all sorts of wrong.  She said, "Just try it. You might like it."  I thought this woman lost her marbles placing ME in an elementary classroom just to see if it would be a good idea. I was thinking I should transfer to a Chicago school for Interior Design.  She saw something in me that I didn't.  After one day in a second grade classroom I fell in love with elementary school and teaching.  My idea for Chicago flew out the window.

Jean helped guide me to the life I lead today.  For that I am eternally grateful. I can not imagine my life any other way.  She was a smart and amazing woman with such ambition. Even after I started my classes towards my undergraduate degree she always had her office door open and was always available to listen.  Perhaps it was the comfy chair in her office that called me in...or the bowl of M&M's she always kept filled...she was an asset to my development as an educator.  You may be wondering why I am writing about this influential woman.  Unfortunately, she passed away last Thursday, April 3, 2014.  If you would like to read more about her you can click right here.

Jean, you hold a special place in my heart...and know that you have touched so many lives.  There are so many people out there in this world that have been influenced by your contributions...thank you! Thank you, Jean, from the bottom of my heart.

Stop Motion Animation

Recently, I had a tweet from a colleague of mine to share some student examples of the Stop Motion Animation videos we have made in my technology class.  The eighth graders create this project with a partner and have to follow a general guideline.  We are very lucky to have access to an iPad cart that we used to create these videos. We used the iStopMotion app.  It is SO much easier and faster to use than taking a million pictures, uploading them, and arranging them into iMovie. This app seriously saved a week of work for my students (I was able to create another project to do in a week because of this app).  I only get to see each 8th grade group for something like thirty days, so every day is valued!

When explaining the project to my students I try not to create a daunting list of things students can and can not do just because I feel it can restrict creativity.  I like to see them get funky, silly, and creative while following a general guideline.

Below are links to the documents I share with my students and two student examples of excellent stop motion videos.  You may be wondering why I don't have the instructions and the rubric on the same document.  This is to prevent my students from altering the rubric.  You'll see that in the instructions document is where students update me on a daily basis to let me know where they are filming in case I need to find them.  Enjoy!

Still Motion Movie Instructions

Still Motion Movie Rubric

Still Motion Movie Student Example by Chris and Elijah

Still Motion Movie Student Example by Amanda and Nora

Dr. Seuss Week!

Cat in the Hat Photo Credit: www.classroomjr.com

Last week was a whirlwind week.  But we had a lot of fun at Seward Elementary celebrating Dr. Seuss!  You would've thought I'd take pictures from each day to create a collage of the week...but I didn't!

Read Around the World with the Omaha Zoo

In December my principal, Mrs. Dominy, got a letter in the mail from the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo's Education Department about an upcoming reading contest to win a free trip to the zoo for the whole school. How fun would that be, right?!  Right away Mrs. Dominy and I were on board!  We asked the students at Seward Elementary to keep track of every book they read and to bring their reading sheet to the library.  The contest started on December 16, 2013 and ended February 28, 2014.  That is a long time to keep track of reading!  And our students did an amazing job!

In the cafeteria we have a huge brick wall that rarely is used for displays.  I took this as an opportunity to display our reading achievements.  Each class chose a country and I printed off the country's flag with the teacher's name on the side, then the student paw prints would line underneath it.  For every twenty books the student read, they got to write their name on a paw print. Just look at all those paw prints!

Every couple weeks we tried to have incentives for the class that had the most sheets turned in or the class that improved the most since the start of the competition.  The incentives included cupcakes made by our amazing library para (and also cupcake baker), an extra recess, participation in a library display, and finally a dance party.

This is what 15 pounds of reading sheets looks like!

Unfortunately, we didn't win the competition.  Congratulations goes to Randolph Elementary in Randolph, Nebraska for winning the free trip. They read an average of 99 books per students.  But, we did rank fourth place out of fifty schools!!  Our school read a total of 27,371 books, that is an average of 55 books per student.  I think that is pretty impressive.  Even though we didn't win, the Omaha Zoo did remind us of some free resources that they offer, that you may find useful, too.  Here is more information about their Distance Learning.

Mrs. Dominy and I couldn't resist the urge to do something to celebrate.  After we exchanged many ideas we decided to end of our crazy Dr. Seuss celebration week with a dance party.  Who doesn't like to move it, move it?  Or...how can you NOT feel HAPPY about reading so many good books!!??