Liebster Award

I am so excited to have been nominated for a Liebster Award!!! Thank you so much to Pixie Anne at Growing Little Learners for the nomination!!! The Liebster Award is a way for newer bloggers (with less than 200 followers) who have great content, to link up, meet other bloggers and share a little about themselves!

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging? 

 Blogging was a complete accident and I am so happy for it! I started reading blogs two years ago to get inspiration and ideas for my classroom. I then found the amazing resource Teachers Pay Teachers. Being OCD, I wanted to make things like what I found on TPT but that perfectly fitted me and my classroom theme - frogs. After spending countless hours teaching myself to design I decided to open my TPT store just to share what I created and to support my TPT and graphic habit!  I realized the best way to share my product would be with a blog, so I decided I would give it a try. A year and a half ago and started my own blog. I now spend WAY more time on my blog than my TPT store. I have been truly blessed by all the amazing teachers I have met along the way!

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why? 

Connections! As a teacher, we spend so much of our time with little ones that it is so nice to have adult interactions. I have amazing teacher friends and amazing non teacher friends to help fill my need for adult interaction but lets face it, we are a different breed. I saw an great article on Facebook this weekend from the blog Love, Teach {here} explaining why teachers are psychos. It is hilarious but true. I think blogging has connected me with so many amazing teachers that "get it". I love hearing their teaching stories and how that interacts with their personal lives. It is nice to be connected and know that we can all by psycho together!

 3. Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey you wished you knew before? 

YES! So much!!! For much of my first year of blogging, I was clueless. I felt like I was talking to dead air. I then learned the power of linkies and blog hops. I also learned a lot about blog design that would not trade for anything! The blogosphere is full of amazing, talented and friendly people that have blessed me and this blog!

4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging?  

Doing anything with my beautiful nieces, my 3 dogs, and my hubby! I also love to read (books and blogs), "playing" on Pinterest and spending time at the beach.

5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?  

A couple of hours now that school is back in but I always wish I had more time! 

6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most? 

It's hard to pick just one. I love finding ideas to incorporate technology and I love anything that has a craftivity - whoever came up with this word is genius!

7. Where does your blog inspiration come from? 

From my Kinders and from the amazing ideas I have gotten from fellow teachers, blogs, and Pinterest. What keeps we coming back though is the connections!

8. Which post that you've written are you most proud of?

My Discovery Education posts {here}. Discovery Education is amazing! Not only is there tons of content that make integrating technology into the classroom easy, there are are also tons of teaching tips and a fabulous support for teachers in aspects of teaching. Almost daily I find some way to use DE in my classroom.

9. Is there any post you have been planning to do, but have postponing it for a while now?

I don't think so! I just wish I could get back to the amount of blogging I did this summer!

10. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

Connections and having a voice!

11. Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you be most likely to try yourself? 

Pixie Anne has these super cute button frames with pictures and facts about each child for end of the year parent gifts. I have pinned these for the end of the year! Check them out {here}!

Blogs I am nominating:

 

Learning at the Teacher Table

Laughter and Consistency

Now its your turn (nominated bloggers) to participate - here are the official "rules" for accepting:

1. In your post link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and "shout out".

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you (the ones I answered above)

3. Nominate 11 blogs that have less than 200 followers each. Provide them with 11 questions (listed above) to have them answer.

4. Let your nominees know they've been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post so they can accept.

5. Send your nominator a link to your post so s/he can learn more about you as well. (you can just put your post link in the comments below)

Discovery Education & Our Five Senses

So I promised the blog post a LONG time ago but since then my world has turned upside down in very exciting ways that I cannot wait to share with you a little later on. (No, not pregnant - yet!) I hope this finds you all well and enjoy your new kiddos!

Have you heard of Discovery Education? If not you are missing out, and you must be fairly new to my blog (older posts here)! 

DE is an amazing resource that I am so lucky to be provided by my school system. One of my all time favorite parts of DE (there are sooooo many) is the common core lesson plans. I taught a few of them last year, but made a point this year to put them on my scope and sequence. These lessons are amazing! They include links to video and image files from DE, worksheets, digital books and many more resources. Not to mention they list all the common core standards you are teaching!!! 

This past week we started talking about our five senses. This is something in the past I have taught near Christmas along with gingerbread men. However, since starting to teach AMSTI (Alabama Math Science Technology Initiative) science kits, I now need to teach five senses at the beginning of the year. So I began looking for fun ways to get my kids interested and was so excited to find a great three day lesson already done for me on Discovery Education. 

I took this lesson and added to it to make a Project Based Learning lesson. I wanted to show not only how amazing the common core lessons from DE are but also how easy they are to add to and cover an amazing amount of standards.

Day 1

I asked the essential question for the lesson, which was provided in the DE lesson, (one less thing to come up with on my own!): 

How do we use our senses to learn about the world around us?

This lead to a really great discussion. Some of my kiddos knew about the five senses and some did not. Then there were some kids that knew what they were but not what they were called. I loved when those students figured out they actually knew more than they thought. Another thing I love about the DE lesson is that they give you a list of questions that you can ask during discussions that are great for bringing in ELA standards. These helped me lead the discussion to hit all five of the senses. 

After the discussion, I told the kids we were going to watch a video of Little Red Ridding Hood and I wanted them to think about how Red used her five senses. After the movie we reviewed the plot (questions provided with the lesson to cover science and ELA standards) and about all the ways Red used her five senses in the story. 

Next we re-watched the part where Red realizes the wolf is disguised as her grandmother. We made a chart of what Red noticed, the wolf's reasoning, and the sense.

To end the lesson for the day we read one of my favorite five senses books, My Five Senses by Aliki. Click the book to head over to Amazon and get a copy for yourself!

Day 2

We looked at our chart from the day before and discussed each sense and then labeled our five senses anchor chart:

This was a last minute find on Pinterest {here}. I made labels to laminate but they were not ready until late Friday so we just used sticky notes. 

We then talked about how important our senses are to us and how different our life would be without any of our senses. We closed our eyes and tried to write our name and then a few tried to find the bathroom. We did a lot of giggling but realized just how hard it would be not if we could not see.  We then watched a video from DE about a little boy, Tristan, that is deaf. When we discussed the video (again questions provided that cover not only science but ELA standards as well) I was touched by how much empathy the kids had for Tristan. We then talked about how Tristan was just like them in a lot of ways. I passed out the DE worksheet for them to write/draw about one way they are like Tristan.

Day 3

This was a short day due to our schedule. We reviewed our senses with our anchor charts.  We watched the short video segment from Discovery Education: Your Five Senses and the world around you.

My sweet teacher neighbor gave me an amazing and simple flip book to make with the kiddos. They drew which part of their body was important for each sense.

Then we moved into our AMSTI weather unit. We used our five senses to go outside and observe the weather. This lead us to talk about how scientist mostly just use FOUR of the five senses and how dangerous it is to taste things when we are being scientist! I sure did not want to have to write a letter to a parent to explain why their child ate dirt or licked the sidewalk. :)

Day 4
We started this lesson with the question, "How can we use all our senses at one time?". I had a lot of great responses and most were centered around food - which is where I wanted it to go. Then we popped and ate popcorn and filled in this anchor chart. (From Pinterest of course! here)

To wrap up our lesson I asked the essential question again. How do we use our senses to learn about the world around us? This time they wrote/drew about how they use their senses to learn about places they go or things they do. (part of the DE lesson)

I gave them the prompt: My senses help me learn about my world when I ___. They thought about a place they could go or something they could do. We then met on the carpet and shared our writing.

Just FYI in four days, I covered the following standards:

Other Books We Read:
 
 (Click on pictures to go to Amazon)

Link to my Kindergarten Anchor Charts Pinterest Board {here}

Five for Friday - Summer is almost over!

I cannot believe that Monday my teacher friend and I will be teaching Kindergarten Jumpstart and then the next Monday all teachers report back to work. I am happy to be back in the blogosphere after taking a few weeks off from blogging with my nieces in town and my crazy busy schedule, I missed you guys! Here is my quick Five for Friday. Thank you to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!

My nieces! Sure I have probably post more than anyone (other than me) cares to know about these two but I just can't help it! They came back into town last night for one more weekend before we all go back to school!

AMSTI Math & Science

After four total weeks of training (2 weeks this summer, 2 weeks last) I am finally fully AMSTI trained in Math and Science. You will have to check back in during the year to see all the amazing hands on math and science lessons my kiddos will be doing this year!

I LOVE Discovery Education!

My award for my Discovery Education blog came in the mail a few weeks ago!

A few days later I got my Silver Star for being a DEN STAR!

If you have not heard about DE, check out my previous posts {here}, check out the DE site, and stay tuned for a whole lot more posts this coming year! DE is probably the best tool I use in my classroom!

Digital Renaissance Summer Conference

This week I spent two amazing days with wonderful teachers in Baldwin county learning lots and lots about using tech in the classroom. Check out my post from yesterday {here} for more information!

I am having a TPT Sale August 4th-5th, all items in my store will be on sale! Click {here} to visit my store to start your wish list and then see who else is having a sale!

An Award??!! OH MY!

I am almost in tears. I cannot believe that after one school year of blogging I have won an award for two things I love most - blogging and Discovery Education!

Today I received an email from Porter Palmer, Director of DEN Global Community:

"Greetings!

In case word has not yet reached you, let me be the first to congratulate you on being recognized at the 2014 DENny Awards. These awards are presented annually to members of the DEN community for being shining examples of what it means to be a STAR Discovery Educator."

You can watch the archive {HERE} 

As a brand new blogger, I alway have the fear that I am talking to myself! I love when I get comments or any feedback! I have fallen in love with blogging. I love sharing stories and ideas and getting even better stories and ideas from other bloggers.  The past two years I have been lucky enough to participate in our county Digital Renaissance Leadership Team which then lead to me becoming part of the Discovery Education Network STAR program. So the natural progression would then be to share my love and enthusiasm for DE!

If you have ever read my blog, you know I am over the moon for Discovery Education {see posts here}! I think it is one the best technology tools we can give our students and I am constantly surprised by how much more I am learning about DE. I am beyond honored to have received an award for something I love and that I feel is so important. I cannot wait to begin the DEN STAR (year 2) program next year!

Here's the complete list of recipients DENny Awards:

Best/Most Creative DEN EventDENGeocaching Day: Mark Case (NC)
Meet, Eat, Tweet, and Converse with the DEN at METC: Melissa Robison (MO)
DENaissance Fair: Judy Uhrig (NC)
Dining with the STARs (Belk Challenge): Ana Hale (GA)
DEN Gone Country: Tim Childers (TN)
Kansas City Music Experience: Cathy Mulligan (MO)
CAppy Hour: Brandon Wislocki (CA)

PL-DEN 
Cate Beck (CO)
Martha Howell (NC)
Andrea Keller (TX)
Dean Mantz (KS)
Lisa Parisi (NY)
Kristy Vincent (TX)
Zulma Whiteford (MD)

RJ Stangherlin Award – Best Individual DEN Blogger 
Rafranz Davis
Barb DeSantis
Erin Gannon
Melissa Spriggs

Rising StarMichelle Joyce (FL)
Chris Layton (TN)
Jessie Beth Miller (TN)
Beth Mossholder (CO)
Tiffany Mumm (FL)
Marianna O’Brien (CA)
Peter Panico (NC)
Bill Steinbach (IL)
Stacy Vinson (TX)

DENthusiasm 
Susan Bowdoin (NM)
Jessica Donaldson (SC)
Edie Erickson (MI)
Terra-Lee Gratton AB (AB)
Renee Henderson (MD)
Pam Inabinett (SC)
Krystal Irby (NM)
Cheryl Lykowski (MI)
Alison Schleede (NC)
Neene Shields (NY)
Kat Staton (VA)
Robyn Thiessen (BC)
Karen Zilhaver (FL)
DEN Ambassador Pilot Leads:

• Terri Gaussoin (NM)
• Krystal Irby (NM)
• Tiffany Goldscmidt (AL)
• Amy Hance (FL)
• Delsia Easely (AL)
• Karen Green (CA)
• Cate Beck (CO)
• Neva Moga (WI)
• Alison Schleede (NC)
• Loraine Morazzano (TX)
• Melissa Lander (FL)
• Laura Love (NV)
• Leslie Sellinger (NV)
• Robyn Thiessen (BC)
• Marita Diffenbaugh (ID)

Community Choice

Best Balloon Arch 
Pete&C

Pre-service Seed Planter
Shelby Bailey (MO)

Dynamic Duo Award
Sandy MacDougall (NS)
Mario Eleftheros (NS)

Guide on the Side
Jan Abernethy (PA)

Creativity Champion
Tracy Carpenter (MD)

Pushing Buttons Award 
Brandon Wislocki (CA)

Spirit of the DEN
Sheila Fredericks (PA)

DEN LegendCarmella Doty (MD)
Mark Perlman (PA)
Mary Carole Strother (TX)

Class of DEN 2014 Gurus
Sandi Dennis (GA)
Dennis Grice (CA)
Dacia Jones (NC)
Sandy MacDougall (NS)
Dave Tchozewski (MI)

Again, I am so honored to be part of this amazing group of people and hope to be able to continue to share my love for blogging, tech, and DE over the coming school year!

Sending out an S. O. S. with Discovery Education

When I first started writing this post last week I didn't know just how fitting the title and the life ring would be to my beautiful community. After a crazy day Tuesday with early dismissal and another day of dealing with the unreal amount of flooding and flood damage, I have never been so grateful to be back to school, sitting at my desk writing (finishing) this post.  I have read reports of an estimated two day rain total of  26 inches and dozen of sinkholes in our area. There are still families dealing with water and closed roads. Please keep all of those affected not only down here on the Gulf Coast but also out west in your thoughts and prayers.

There is no good segue from talking about the horrific flooding in our area to talking about education so:

I am excited to share with you Discovery Education’s Spotlight on Strategies (S.O.S.). S.O.S.  is a series DE posted here to provide some tips and tricks for implementing technology in the classroom.

This week I want to share a couple of teacher tested S.O.S. that I have used in my own classroom with my kinders!

The first strategy I would like to tell you about is Figure it Out Together. This is something a lot of teachers probably do already but with a tech twist! The post of the DE blog uses figurative language to teach this strategy but it can be used for many different lessons. In fact, we used this during one of our very first projects. In Figure it Out Together, students work together to come up the answer. When my class was learning about sharks, they worked together to find 3 facts about sharks using DE Board Builder.

We also used Figure it Out Together to create different boards about the different insects we have discussed last week. Each group of three used DE  Board Builder to share video clips and pictures of the insect of their choice.  This week we will share our boards and use them to write informational text about insects.

Another S.O.S. we have used this year is Sound Check. Again this is something I have done before in my Kindergarten class but it now has a name. In Sound Check, students listen to different sounds as a review to what you have been teaching and identify the sounds or where they come from.

Back in the fall, we read a story about baby animals in grasslands. We discussed the different types of animals and their babies (i.e.: Kangaroo / Joey). At the end of the unit, I played sounds of the different animals and my kiddos told me the parent and child that belong to that sound. They loved hearing the sounds and it made what could have been a boring assessment a lot more fun.

These are just two of the great S.O.S. you can read about on the DE Blog. There is so much information on there. On my journey to becoming a DEN STAR I have been amazed and the shear amount of resources DE has to offer. I have now spent a year and a half intensely learning about DE and continue to find new and amazing resources. 

Do you use Discovery Education in your classroom? What type of strategies do you use?