Literacy Resources

Work Tamer -This site is worth checking out. I learned about Word Tamer on Kristen Swanson's blog. It is a cool site for teaching literary elements and writing. Check it out. I think it would appeal to upper elementary students.

Literacy Resources - Many games for Kids from Kent ICT, including Help a Hedghog a phonics game, to practice reading skills.

Holiday Sites and Links

As the holidays are quickly approaching, faster than I'm prepared for, I wanted to share some links and sites for some fun seasonal and yet educational activities.

Your Grade Level Wikis - Each wiki has a page called Monthly Links with a section labeled December with games and links for the kids. Great for centers or indoor recess during the next couple days.

Elf on the Shelf Website - I have noticed that some of you have the Elf on the Shelf in your classroom. The section called North Pole has links to some games and other interactive activities. You can even customize your elf's outfit with different patterns and props, print your elf and use it as a cute writing prompt.

Portable North Pole - For kids young and old! This site allows you to create your own personalized video from Santa himself that is emailed directly to you. Just go through the steps on the website wizard and in a few short minutes you will have a magical video. You will love it.

Storyline Online - Polar Express - The classic story is read to your students by actor Lou Diamond Phillips

Woodlands Jr. Holiday Activities - Interactive Advent Calendars, Games and Stories

Rudolf is Missing - Interactive story and game with comprehension questions.

Okay that's it for now. Enjoy this magical time with your students!!

Shutterfly Offer

Shutterfly Offer

In your school picture envelope there is a full page insert containing a $20.00 credit for Shutterfly.com. A great place to make photos, cards and gifts. Here is a thank you card I made with mine. A great way to make a customizable gift for your friends and family.Thanks Christine Yarzabek for sharing this information.

3x5 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

3x5 Folded Card

Blue Chocolate Thank You Card

Shop thank you notes and photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Welcome November

I can't believe Thanksgiving is just a little more than two weeks away.  My how time does fly. I just wanted to share some good interactive Thanksgiving resources and one for Election Day to support your instruction. I have always loved this time of year as a classroom teacher!!

• Election Day - Video on Brainpop
• Scholastic Teaching Resources - A great assortment on online teaching resources for Thanksgiving from Scholastic
• The History Channel has quite a few online videos, stories, and other resources on The History of Thanksgiving. Have your students find 15 facts they may not know about Thanksgiving. http://www.history.com/content/thanksgiving The History Channel also has a great video and image gallery on Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower
• Plimoth Plantation's Site - An Interactive Site where you can be the historian and learn about both the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag and find out what Really Happened at the First Thanksgiving!
• Talk Like a Pilgrim - Plymouth.org
• Brainpop 
• Brainpop Jr Thanksgiving Video
• Brainpop Clip on Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving Ideas for Children -
• Kaboose - Thanksgiving games and printables
• Discovery Education monthly newsletter - links to lots of good resources, scroll to the bottom to view Thanksgiving resources on Discover

Enjoy!

News you Can Use!

Hi Everyone,

Just in case we do happen to get the snow they are predicting and you are spending some quality time inside this weekend, I wanted to share a couple links to things I have come across on Twitter. 

Halloween Apps - Some are just for fun but others have some good instructional value.Think of something special for center time on Monday.

Mission to Learn - 26 Games to Change the World

5 Cool Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom - Follow me on twitter tlandrydtsd

Bunny Hero Labs - Adopt a pet and write about it. You can also embedd your students' pets into your blog or wiki

Word Tamer - An Interactive Story Builder

Student Blogging Challenge - A Great Concept and this page also has a lot of good links for students

ICTmagic -English Resources

KIDblog - Safe and secure online blogging for free

Sparklebox - Free Printables for Reading, Math and Classroom

Maths Games - Free Online Games for all Ages

So if your in a digital mood this weekend....check out some of these resources.

ISTE 2011 Reflections

Wow! That's about all I can say is wow! To steal a phase from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, a Kevin Henkes children's book.

That's exactly how I feel after attending ISTE 2011. I am hoping to continue the conversation on twitter and here. Take a look at this blog post reflection on ISTE from Ben Gray. Very well put. 

Please share a reflection or a significant moment that stood out for you from ISTE this year. I hope we can collectively grow a garden of knowledge.

Summer Offerings

There are several technology events I would like to remind you of that are going on this summer.

First and foremost, Tech Camp! We are offering around 24 different 3 hour sessions on a variety of technology topics for you this year. Please check out the list on my blog page here. This is a great way to earn that trade time, refine your tech skills and have fun in the process. All sessions are hands on so BYOL (bring your own laptop). Sign up on CARATS today!

Also, we are hosting the Pennsylvania ActivEducator Summer Conference here at our High School on August 11. This is another great way to earn that trade time. There will be sessions for all experience levels from beginners to advanced users. The afternoon will be a guided make and take session so you will leave with resources you can use in your classroom next year. This conference is sponsored by Promethean. Register on CARATS and online at the Promethean Site. 

We hope you have a great summer and that you consider taking advantage of these exciting events.

Skratch Track

Just came across this over Twitter, thanks to @kbkonnected, and thought I would pass it along. Skratch Track is a great virtual bookshelf for use with kids. It is similar to Shelfari but more primary for student use. I plan to check it out more for sure.

Kelly Tenkely has a great blog post on how to use Skratch on her blog iLearnTechnology. You can read more about it here.

Let me know if you want to use this resource with kids. 

Connect with Other Classrooms

I was recently in Mr. Titzel's middle school classroom while he was setting up a Skype session with another class in Tennessee close to the areas that were hit by the recent tornadoes.  The students were excited to be engaging with another class and were going to be sharing their perspectives on their communities during this initial getting to know each other skype session. The teacher connected with the other class through a social studies group in Edmodo, a secure social learning network for teachers and students.

Mr. Titzel also indicated that he wanted to connect with more teachers and plan more opportunities for skyping next year. I recently came across this blog post that is a resource list of contacts of  classrooms who wish to skype - Check it out at EduBlogger. Here is the whole list as a webpage. Let me know if you are interesting in connecting with another classroom, I can help with getting a webcam and accounts set up if necessary.

Please share any other resources you have found to connect with other classrooms or experts in your field of study. Enjoy!

New Blog

Hi and welcome to our new TIME blog. I would like to use this more as a collaboration tool to share out ideas and resources with our TIME teachers. I hope you enjoy it and please leave comments so we can learn from each other. Make sure to add this link to your favorites. http://techieteachrs.blogspot.com/