Pinterest

Pinterest can be used in several unique ways when trying to find interesting subjects to use in the classroom. Teachers can use Pinterest to look  for grade-specific material, locate images for their lessons, find fun ideas for a new project, and even exciting ways to decorate the classroom. Not only can teachers use Pinterest, but they can also have their students use it to complete assignments or to find ideas to complete a project.
                                                           


I created an assignment based solely on ideas I gathered from Pinterest. I made a Polar Express day for my first grade classroom! First the students receive a note on Thursday to send home to their parents telling them what we will be doing in class the next day, to make sure no parents object to their child watching The Polar Express, and to tell them that they are allowed to wear their PJs to class as long as they are school appropriate.

 Then, for that Friday, I found several activities for the students to do involving math and literacy skills. The first subject I plan to go over is math. I found three worksheets in which the students can do semi-independently that are educational and relate to The Polar Express. The first is using a bar graph to analyzing information in which they collect from their peers. It is a graph to tell if the majority of the students like marshmallows in their hot chocolate or not.




I also found a worksheet that the students have the freedom to be creative and innovative while also reviewing their knowledge of basic two-dimensional shapes. They can choose any shapes and colors they like and decorate their very own PJs with them. The girls might enjoy this more than the boys because it's just like playing dress up on their dolls, but it's still fun for the boys to create your own PJs. I like to think mine looks a bit like a puppy dog.













The last math assignment I found would be a bit more instructional than the other two. Using train cars, the students write their numbers from one to fifty. This should be pretty easy for most of the students to do so we will discuss grouping the numbers into sets of ten. From there we can discuss counting by tens, at least up to fifty.





After we were done with math, I found three English assignments for the students that will focus on using words to describe common objects to give real life meaning to adjectives, speaking and listening, and using images to convey ideas.





First, each student gets their own cup of hot chocolate (on a piece of paper). They think of one word in which they would use to describe hot chocolate, some students will be able to write their word down on their cup by themselves if they choose warm, dark, or hot, but others will need some help with their spelling. After everyone has their word we will make a big cup of hot chocolate and put all the words on the cup and to see all the adjectives people came up with.








I found two different, technically writing prompts, for the students to do, but since this is a first grade assignment I will read the two prompts aloud and they can choose which one they find more interesting. They will answer the prompt aloud one at a time. This improves the students ability to speak in public and to work on silently listening to your peers when they are speaking.



After we have done the math and talked about the north pole and magic trains, it is time to watch the movie! I will serve cookies since that is what is served on the train with milk instead of hot chocolate because that will be safer. I found fun color sheets for them to do in their spare time, if they finish one of the other assignments early, or while they were watching the movie.

  






After we have watched the movie we will work on expressing ideas through a visual aid. They will draw and color a picture of their favorite part of the movie. My favorite part was when the boy opened the tiny box under the tree and found the gift that meant the most to him, the jingle bell that Santa had given him.











If any of this interested you then follow my board on Pinterest!

Web 2.0

Marleigh has been doing this thing for one of her classes called Web 2.0. She had to find 10 of these tools which she thought were interesting and write about them. So, in the spirit of teamwork, I decided to do the project as well. Although these tools are mainly for teachers, maybe fish can use them some day too!



Storybird is a writing tool that helps students create stories in minutes! There are safe places to go to read other students stories and places to go to share their own. This tool gives them an image which they can use to inspire their story. They have multiple images to choose from and they can read other student's stories with the same image to give them more creative ideas. They can also comment on other student's stories, which can help their writing as well and also their social skills.

Blinkx is a research tool that allows students to search for video resources. By typing in a key word, phrase, place, or person they can find just about anything they need. This is a good tool for students who intake information better by listening to it than by reading it. This is also a good tool for teachers because she can make sure all students are watching the same video and receiving the same information, rather than every student learning something different from unreliable sources.

 Picasa is an image tool helpful for editing, organizing, and sharing photos. Students can create "circles" within the classroom and share photos with them. They can create "circles" outside of the classroom and share interesting photos with the class if it relates to the subject. They can create and organize collages by themselves or with their "circle". They can tag their friends in photos and share them and talk about them to help them socialize.

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My name is Jesus

My name is Jesus. I am a beta fish who lives with Marleigh Norris. I have lived with her since January 22, 2014. I have lived in several different places while I've been with her. First I lived in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas because she was in school at Williams Baptist College. Walnut Ridge is about 30 minutes from Jonesboro, Arkansas, which is where she found me at PetSmart, anxiously awaiting a new home. I lived in Walnut Ridge for a long time and I liked it a lot. People came to see me all the time because my name was "soooo cute!" Who would ever name a fish Jesus anyway?? Then people continued to visit me because I apparently I changed colors. I wouldn't know-I can't see myself. I can only see Janice who lives in the bowl with me. She always gets in my way when I'm trying to look out of my bowl, she's quite a pest. Her colors changed from green to blue so I don't know why people came to look at me and not her, I guess my change was cooler than hers.

After spending some time in Walnut Ridge we had to pack up and leave and went to a new town called Hot Springs, Arkansas. I wasn't sure I would like it there because it was new to me but it seemed familiar to her, I think she lived there before she lived in Walnut Ridge. There was a dog in this new place named Abby, she was not very nice. She would bark at everyone like they should be afraid of her, but she was just as small as me! And a lot hairier! I think Marleigh knew I disliked the dog because she got me a new cave in this new town! It was white with colorful plants on the sides that I love to lay on. The pink one is my favorite! She also got me these cool green rocks that glow at night.

We didn't stay in Hot Springs for very long, we packed up again for her to go back to school, except this time we didn't go to Walnut Ridge, we went to Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She studies to be a kindergarten teacher here and I think she likes it. She got me a new bowl with lights that change colors so I like it here! The only problem is I don't see her much anymore because she is in class all day then works in the afternoons where she teaches girls how to pitch. She used to pitch in Walnut Ridge but she quit after we moved to Hot Springs so she seems to be enjoying doing it again, but I still miss my friend. That's why I decided to start this blog. I wanted to tell my story about Marleigh and me to pass the time and remember all of our fun times together. So that's all for today!