15 Words or Less Poem Challenge

Cooperation
Around and around
Intertwined
Yet separate
Working together
Creating
A team
Work of art

Check out this challenge at http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/84255.html

Almost There!

My grad committee approved my project. Yeah!! I just have to make some minor adjustments to the paper so it can be stored for posterity in the records department. I plan to print it off, have it bound thinly without using metal, and submit 2 copies on Thursday.

Image from http://www.morguefile.com

Beetles!

These pretty, but nasty little bugs are everywhere. My parents' apple tree is completely brown! When you look at the leaves, you can see 12 - 15 beetles on each leaf. This picture is from the ivy in the front of my house. There are two different kinds and they like one particularly well. I have been picking them off of the day lilies and spraying the burning bush. Hopefully, they will move on soon, but with no real predators I'm not sure what the future holds.

Cookies & Committee Meeting

I have distributed the paper and dvd to each committee member.
I have baked the required treat to distribute at the meeting.
I am wondering what else I need to be doing before my (hopefully) final grad school committee meeting.

At least the cookies are yummy! ...and I feel like it was a highly productive master's project for a degree in Educational Technology. I spent a lot of time evaluating software, developing screencasts and incorporating them into videos to offer short tutorials on topics of interest to beginning teachers. It touched on all my classes in my degree plan. Wish me luck tomorrow!

Reading Poetry

I found these 3 poetry books at Tuesday Morning proving you just never know where you can find a great book!



The Ocean Is... compares the ocean to other places familiar to children. For instance, a closeup picture of a shark compares the ocean to a dentist's office. This book has gorgeous photographs by Norbert Wu.






Hot Potato: mealtime rhymes was written by Neil Philip. This one has some tricky words such as placidly, persist and tureen, but they work into the known subjects visited in this book with poems about cake, jelly sandwiches, picnics and the cafeteria.




Swing around the Sun by Barbara Juster Esbensen contains poems that take you through the seasons of the year. These poems are accompanied by the artwork of Cheng-Khee Chee, Janice Lee Porter, Mary GrandPre and Stephen Gammel. The artists create a visual playground that is just as fun as reading the poetry.

Day in a Sentence

Check out Kevin's Meandering Mind to learn more about this challenge.

My entry this week:
The sun breaks though the clouds as my master's project nears completion.

15 Words or Less Poem Challenge

I found this weekly challenge at Laura Salas' blog: Writing the World for Kids. http://laurasalas.livejournal.com She provides the picture as inspiration for a quick poem. http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/83010.html



Radiance
Morning arrives
Slowly drifting in
As my eyes open
to the glory of the day.

Spell with Flickr

This is a fun tool! It takes the word or words given and finds letter pictures from Flickr creating your word in pictures. If you don't like a particular letter, click on it and it will change to another selection.

link to Spell with Flickr

Ideas are Poppin' in Second Grade

After a trip to the teacher store to look for thematic back-to-school stuff, the theme idea has changed. Now we are looking at a popcorn theme.

I bookmarked some webpages.

• del.icio.us popcorn bookmarks

Here are some stickers.

• Popcorn stickers

More ideas...
• Look Who Popped in to Second Grade!

Ideas from Melissa:

Estimation
Popcorn in a jar

Graphing
What kind of popcorn do you like best?
plain, butter, caramel, cheese

Glyph
stripes on bag a certain color, number of kernels, draw a picture in middle circle of bucket of hobby, sentence along the top lip of the popcorn bucket (see pdf)?

Read poem/song in hallway
www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems94.html

I think it's the 4th one I like--didn't know if happy little fellow could be changed to second grade someway

Different character for math, reading, etc
www.popcorn.org/kids/books/coloring.cfm


Popcorn boxes for homework
www.popcornpopper.com/16605.html

Possible Bulletin Board Titles

newsletter: What's Popping Up in Second Grade?

hallway: Ideas are Popping in Second Grade or
Let's Make Second Grade Pop!

possibilities:

Munch a Bunch of Math

Take a Bite out of _____________

Chew on Some __________ Strategies

Mouth Watering Work!
This Work Really POPS!
An Explosion of Poppin' Good Work!

Pop Open a Good Book! (from Upstart They have some bookmarks,stickers, etc...)

Image from webweaver.nu

More Lillies

Lillies

I love when the lillies bloom. They require a minimum of care for some brilliant flowers.

Websites with a Writing Correlation

This summer I am working on an independent study regarding how technology can be used to enhance writing in the classroom. I have found several websites. Check out the list here at http://writingsites.googlepages.com.

Image from Discovery Education's Clipart Gallery

2008 Olympics

Kathi Mitchell's Olympic Site has some great links for kids!

Writing & Technology

My de.icio.us bookmark tags have been changing in direct correlation to my INO 599: Independent Study - Writing and Technology. Interesting how writing has become a LARGE part of my thinking lately. Compared to the links on my school web page where writing workshop only has ONE link!

Science is still obviously a big part of my teaching. but I was surprised that math is such a major part. Although, it is relatively easy to find sites that drill math skills. I also use several of these sites for review and practice with my students.

Happy Fourth of July!