Humbled

One of my students was in the office after dismissal, crying because the daycare van had left without her. I went to the office while the office assistant made the call, got the little girl some water and candy and waited with her up front. She wanted me to play the iPad game "Bookworm" with her (see a previous blog about apps!), so that's what we did until the van came to get her. From the moment she saw me, she couldn't stop thanking me. I hadn't done anything spectacular, but she kept hugging me and thanking me. Now I'm sitting in my classroom bawling because of how humbled I'm feeling. I might teach them some things, but my babies teach ME a LOT!
School year is winding down, and I'm hyper-emotional about turning these babies over to middle school. *sigh*

Send me Kleenex,
Jenn

App Review: Bookworm

Howdy....

For my fellow Apple product users, this is a fairly useful app.

BOOKWORM!!!!!

Just a few observations:

1.) Have you ever played "Ruzzle"?  Same thing, with a twist.  It's kid-friendly, and there's a cute little worm character there.  The user joins word tiles to form words.  For little-known words, the definition pops up at the top of the screen. SCORE!
2.) Users are challenged because fiery tiles are thrown in:  If a word isn't made with said letter tile before it hits the bottom of the screen, the entire library catches fire!  LOL!
3.) It isn't free: It's $2.99, but I think it's worth it.

There ya go....Check it out! :)

Til next time,

Jenn

Website Review: ThinkingBlocks.com

*giggle*

Just for laughs.....

Teacher Nights

Ever sit down....
Completely worn out......
And realize......
Doggone it! I did a great job teaching today?

That's me.....
Riiiiiiiiight about now!

Goodnight,
Jenn

Be Encouraged

Hi!!!!!!!

One of my co-workers gave me a jar, and in it were inspirational quotes for me to randomly pull out if I ever was to doubt my worth as a teacher or get discouraged.

(WHAT?!??!?!! Teachers? Discouraged? NEVER!!!!!!!!)

*facetious cock of the head and upturn of the lips*

Here we go......

The true aim of every one who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds.  --- F.W. Robertson

To me, education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul.  --Muriel Spark

One good teacher in a lifetime may sometimes chage a delinquent into a solid citizen.  --Philip Wylie

Love is a better teacher than duty. --Albert Einstein

Nine-tenths of education is encouragement. --Anatole France

Be encouraged: We are here to plant seeds of wisdom.  We are an elite bunch, and only WE know what it's like to be in the trenches every day.  I tip my hat to you all. :)

Respectfully,

Jenn

Website Review: ABCya!

Happy Beginning of the Second Semester!!!!!!

Welp, I felt the need to blog, and my good friend told me that I never should have stopped blogging in the first place, so here goes nothin': 

Have you ever gone to the gods of the internet (otherwise known as Google) to find an educational website for your children (be they biological or adopted through the agency of the school district), feel the gratifying double-click under your finger, only to find something that's bogged down with nested links, laden with activities of poor quality, or worst yet, requires a SUBSCRIPTION FEE?!?!?!?!!! Those deplorable, culpable wastes should all be burned in the fiery pits of...........

My gosh.... I just had to take a pause in typing because I felt my teacher-blood begin to boil.

*throws away that negative energy and focuses my blogging chi*

www.abcya.com is a divine gift from the heavens for students, teachers and parents.

And NO!!!! I'm not exaggerating!

Backstory in a nutshell:  This developer for print and media began teaching, found there were few websites for teachers to use in the classroom, and built the website. Fantastic!

My review of the site:

1.) This site is extremely good for differentiation. I teach 4th grade, but as any true teacher knows, levels can vary from K-whatever, depending on the needs of the children.  If I want technology integration within my lessons that's commensurate with the level of learning of each child, this site makes it easy.

2.) This site is really simple to navigate.  All kids have to do is to touch the grade level (K-5), pick the category (Letters, Numbers, More, Holiday) and select their game of choice.  Each game is represented by a graphic, so yes....it's THAT EASY! I've got kids with exceptional needs that can navigate the site without any assistance...it's great! *proceeds to do the happiest of dances*

3.) The activities are FUN! *pauses to play...and nope! I'm not ashamed to say that I play the games riiiiight along with my class when I get the time--thank you very much* 
Sooooo am I supposed to give MY favorite games or the KIDS' favorites? A bit of both? Mmkay!
**Word Frog: Need practicce with synonyms, antonyms, and homophones? LOOK NO FURTHER!!!
**Ice Cream Talk: Practice with nouns and verbs...the kids love it!
**Spelling Bees: A word is called and the kids rush to spell it.  The cool part is that they're playing against online players! (No te preocupes; the online players can't communicate with your children-- it's safe!)
**Fraction Tiles: Not a game, per se, but it gives the kids manipulatives to use for fractions without worrying about dropping them! 
**Math Fact Shoot-Out: Basketball. Math facts.  Oh yeah!
**Hockey Score: Once again--Hockey. Math facts. Oh yeah!

Those are just a few....I encourage everyone to check the activities out for themselves. Who knows? You might stumble upon something that you can share with ME!

Happy New Year,

Jenn