How Do You Ignite the Love of Reading?

Today on Twitter, I came across the link to Bookopolis! To me, it was a great find for parents and/or teachers to prepare students for Summer reading. If you have seen Goodreads for adults, Bookopolis is the "KID version"! It is a social community where you can read peer suggestions for great books to read. You can also post your own review and rate a book you have read. Love how kids aged 7-12 years (or grades 1st - 8th) can create a bookshelf, earn points, share with friends, and explore new books. (Did I mention that there is also an app for Bookopolis?)TEACHERS, don't miss the section for you to use Bookopolis in your classroom. It has Bookquest that easily steps students through the selection of a book. This is a must to see before the boredom sets in this summer. Heck, reading just might be the thing to escape those pesky mosquitoes! Sign up today, parents!

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Posted in bookopolis, books, bookshelf, boredom, goodreads, points, Reading, summer

Win a Free Book by Reading!

Wow students! For every 3 books you read, you can select a free book from DOGO's Prize list of books. You can read a many as 20 books, which means 6 free books! Why not take advantage of this great deal DOGObooks is providing this summer? Here is the information on the Summer Reading program for 2015. It runs now through September 30, 2015. 

See Flyer here

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Posted in books, ELA, free, prize, Reading, summer

Summer Reading Challenge

Today is our District's official last day of the 2013-2014 school year. As summer begins, consider challenging your student to take the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. There is a section for Kids, Parents, and Educators. The challenge goes through September 5, 2014. Students are able to log their time online. Hope you will join our schools in meeting this Summer Challenge. Welcome aboard! Listen to a welcome message from NASA Astronaut, Leland Melvin. http://bcove.me/xli10hwc

PS. Check out the app for logging your time. They have one for all the different devices: iPad, iPhone, iTouch, and Android.It is called the Scholastic Reading Timer. With this interactive timer, logging reading minutes is easier than ever. Your students who register for the Summer Challenge can win prizes as they reach weekly reading goals Free. scholastic.com

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Posted in astronaut, boredom, Challenge, melvin leland, Reading, Scholastic, summer

Do You Have a Global Classroom?

Please join me/@growingupglobal/@kidworldcitizen for a #5thchat discussion on GLOBAL ED Tue at 7pm Central. #iledchat pic.twitter.com/zz71zqmmY8
— Paul Solarz (@PaulSolarz) May 27, 2014

Ran across this tweet from  +Paul Solarz  and thought it was important to share for summer planning. He has some great questions to ponder and to reflect on your past year. Now, we can transform our classroom to make sure we include some global lesson ideas. He gives this link to the Global Edu Toolkit  book that has more than 300+ lesson ideas. I hope someone who has purchased and used this book comments and lets us know if it is worth the cost! You can view the Table of Contents on Google or at Corwin press or at Amazon.

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Posted in amazon, book, corwin, global classroom, global education, paul solarz, planning, summer, toolkit, tweet

Free Audiobooks

  Thanks to our Community Relations Coordinator, Sherry Combs, I was made aware of the website, SYNC Ya Literature. They are offering free audiobooks each week during the summer for those bookworms out there. It took me a little while to figure out how to go through the process before you can actually start reading. First you will have to create an account at SYNC just by using your email and verifying the account. That is quick and trouble free. You do know to get something free these days requires you to join something. Then you need to make sure you don't forget to uncheck things that they want to notify you. That will surely get your email box full after several joins LOL. Next, to download the books, they send it in a file (omc extension) that is unrecognizable until you install the OverDrive Media Console. They offer many different devices to choose from such as the iPhone, Android, Kindle, Nook, Mac, Windows, etc. The download does not take long and then you are ready to go the Sync to download the free audiobooks. I missed ones offered on Week 1 :-(  Hopefully, you can manage to snag the two this week. They are: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge and Oedipus the King by Sophocles. You have until May 28th to get these two.

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Posted in audiobooks, download, free, literature, overdrive, Reading, summer, Sync

Goodbye, Summer!

Well, I began work this week, and boy has it been busy! I now realize how much I enjoyed my summer stress free. Now I have to admit that my job is stressful, since I returned on Monday and have not been able to sleep. Monday night I slept with so much tension, that I awoke Tuesday morning with a sore neck and shoulder pain. It hurt enough, that I brought a heating pad to work to help relax the tight muscle. Hopefully things will look better and I will be able to adjust back to my work schedule. Summer was well spent. Hope you enjoy your last few weeks!
Let's list the 10 most stressful jobs in America:

1. Working Parents
2. Deployed Military Personnel
3. Police Officer
4. Teacher (that's us folks!)
5. Medical Professional
6. Emergency Personnel
7. Those who Fly, and those who Help Them
8. Newspaper Reporter
9. Corporate Executive
10. Miner
    
    Now, let me leave you with a few facts about reducing stress in the workplace. Won't hurt me to try out a few of them. You can read more details here on the 12 Ways to Eliminate Stress at Work. Note, I chose to leave a few of them off this list. 

• Act rather than React
• Take a deep breath
• Eliminate Interruptions
• Schedule your day for energy and focus
• Eat right and sleep well
• Prioritize your priorities
• Be your own best critic

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Posted in job, relief, stress, summer, work

The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags For Education

This link will give you a complete list of Educational hashtags to read and follow this summer. The best pd can be from time spent on Twitter reading past tweets in one of these groups. It is loaded with resources and sharing of ideas. You can quickly get overloaded with new things to explore.
The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags For Education

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Posted in Guide, Hashtags, PD, professional development, summer, Twitter

Summer Professional Development

Our LCM Community Relations Coordinator shared this image and I just had to post it because it does hold true for many of us in education, not just teachers. Thank God that we are given some time during the summer to re-energize and gain inspiration before returning back to school. Isn't this hilarious? The image was taken from Facebook according to Sherry Combs. Please don't hesitate to share ways you are gaining your vitality back after 10 months in the classroom. Let me share some ways for you to control your own PD (professional development) this summer.This list was taken from +Tim Holt  after I watched his video he created for his district. Thanks Tim for sharing ways we can gain summer knowledge! Here's the link to Tim's PD video called Digital Discoveries: Summer Professional Development. Hope you find some time to participate in a few of his suggestions.

List of Ideas to do for Personal Summer Professional Development:

I -  Subscribe and Listen to a Podcast examples to follow:
   BAM Radio, School --- Podcasts (bad name, but good topics)

1. TED Talks video/podcasts (most popular)

2. NPR Education Podcast (education podcasts)

3. Infinite Thinking Machine

4. edublog awards (blogs or podcasts) http://tinyurl.com/mx2ynwg

II - Read a Book about Education:

1. The Connected Teacher: Powering Up (free ebook) PLP Press

2. Connected from the Start: Global Learning in the Primary Grades

Kathy Cassidy PLP Press (teacher gets teacher digital)

3. TCEA - iPad in the ELEM. ELA (iTunes) ACSD,

4. TCEA - iPad in the SCI.

5. Why School? (Will Richardson) by TED

6. Too Big to Know (David Weinberger)

7. iTunes Books Store, and Amazon (look for free books)

III - Take an Online Course

1. TED - Creative Problem Solving  (iTunes U- free)

2. The Flipped Classroom (iTunes U - free course and book)

3. Just in Time Professional Learning (how to make the most of PD)

   (iTunes U from the Apples Distinquished educator)

4. Integrating iPads into the Classroom (M Ed Program - free)

iTunes U : http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/

Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

700 courses online and free!

MIT Courses online

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Posted in Digital discoveries, PD, professional development, Re-energize, summer, Tim Holt

Summer 2011 Plans

Hello Bear Friends~!

June 10th marks my last day of work! I am looking forward to my summer. It will be exciting with many plans of remodeling.  We will be changing the original carpet out and rearranging some of our rooms.  I hope to begin an exercise program and to shed some unwanted pounds. My plans include a get away with my two sisters for a few days and spending time with the grandchildren.

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Posted in plans, summer, vacation

Jenna's Summer Pictures

Hey Cruisers,
Check out the pictures that Jenna sent from her summertime fun! She will be posting some comments about these pictures for you to read. If you have some pictures to share, send them to me 'cause our summer's soon coming to an end and we'll have to begin a new posting about "Back to School" soon.

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Posted in beach, family, sand, shark, summer, vacation, watermelon

Summer Vacation

Summer time fun!!!
What are some good ideas for family fun this summer?
Tell us where you have gone and what you did so far.
Even if you enjoy fun at home, we want to hear about it.
Hope to hear from our MVE friends and family.

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Posted in family, fun, summer, vacation