Check This Out!

If you haven't ever heard of "Teachers Pay Teachers"...you are missing out! It is an awesome site where educators of all grade levels, subjects and special areas... create and post original ideas they have designed for other educators to purchase. Ok...I know what you are thinking at this point in the post....WE ARE TEACHERS...WE ARE NOT RICH!...I know the very thought of having to purchase materials for your classroom use with your own personal bank account can make your stomach hurt. Don't stop reading this now...hear me out for a few more minutes and you will understand what I'm talking about.

Here is the link to the Teachers Pay Teachers website....

As the site states..."It's an open market place for educators". Click onto the picture above to see just what this site is all about. It's teachers connecting to other teachers through their ideas and products. I have purchased MANY things through this site myself. I particularly focus on specific units of study to purchase. For as little as $5.00-$7.00 dollars, I can purchase a complete unit to download with activities from every subject we cover. For example, I have purchased many units from Deanna Jump's product list.  Her units include math, science, literacy, writing and many more ideas. When buying a unit, you get to download it immediately for use after purchase. I don't know about you....but what a time saver. We are all super busy in our day to day lives, and finding resources that are created by other teachers, are like finding a gold mine.  I do not have the time right now in my life to devote to creating such a wealth of resources....It is worth 5 and 6 dollars to me to simplify my life and enhance my instruction time as well!  Many times, you will find FREE downloadable resources on Teachers Pay Teachers! In fact, there is even a tab to access the FREE items in a complete list. Here it is….FREE Items. 
Almost every seller on the site will post FREE downloads for you you to access from time to time.

 What is even greater than all this I've already told you is...you can become a SELLER on the site too and get paid for your great and wonderful ideas! Yes..it's true! It is super easy to become a seller and start getting paid for all of the things you painstakingly create and design. Just think, you can start to sell you items, to make money to purchase other products!  It's a win/win situation!
OK, just so you know, (and I guess you have already thought about this),...NO...I do not get anything for promoting this site in this blog post! I just wanted to share a great resource that I have found that I LOVE!

Teachers always share things with other teachers...our ideas, our activities, our resources...and especially our love for what we do each day to touch the lives of our students!

My Educational Addiction...

I have to confess...I have an addiction! Once my school day is complete, home responsibilities are in check, graduate school work is caught up, and lunches made for the next day...I turn to my current educational addiction!  I am what you would call...A Blog Stalker! I admit it....I spend a lot of time searching other Kindergarten teacher blogs! I think that blogs are the most amazing resource for me as a classroom teacher. It's like a online collaboration of ideas and resources. I am able to collect a wealth of  new ideas, teacher made resources, and new approaches for teaching kindergarten concepts!This is the real reason for my addiction!
Having the common factor of being an Early Childhood educator with the bloggers that I read, is like having a huge party of my closest kindergarten colleagues all together and sharing ideas with one another. Just this week alone,  while reading through my blog list, ....I have printed out a new book to use with my "insect" unit,as well as a really cool way to incorporate an insect art activity into my math time, and an awesome template to use when assessing my students during reading instruction time. All of these things were found on other kindergarten teacher blogs! (I am including the link to these blogs at the bottom of this post.) Because of my addiction searching, I have gained wonderful insight into new and innovative center activities just from reading and following other classroom bloggers. These blogs usually include detailed descriptions, pictures, and links to additional resources. In my last post, I linked my Social Bookmarking list. In this list, I included several teacher blogs that I follow. Here is the link to my Delicious list again--- Social Bookmarking List-.

The blogs that I am referencing are "teacher share"... rather than a classroom blog where the students are responsible for posting and commenting. They are specifically designed for the the classroom teacher to share and connect with other teachers.
Below are a few of my favorite blogs to visit. These blogs are filled with math, literacy, organizational, science, social studies, and so many more ideas!

A  HUGE shout out to the  AWESOME teachers that take their time to create these wonderful blogs, share the fabulous resources, and continue to inspire other teachers like myself to find new ways to teach kindergarten! These are just a few of my favorites to follow....I hope you enjoy them too.

Mrs. Jump's Class

Chalk Talk

Dr. Jean and Friends

Growing Kinders

Social Bookmarking....huh?

Just as the title of this post states...when I first heard that I was going to be required to complete an assignment on "Social Bookmarking"...my first response was somewhat like a response  my students sometimes give..."huh?"   I had not earthly idea what this term even meant, much less how to complete an assignment for this. Just as I have done for all of my other technology assignments this term, I just jumped right in and started exploring what this involved. With the extremely helpful information from my instructor, I was able to embark on a new adventure and  navigate through a social bookmarking site called "Delicious".  I have to admit, JUST the title of the site scared me! I was thinking I was going to be way to old and technology challenged to ever fully understand this concept called "social bookmarking".

Well...I was so wrong! What an interesting and beneficial tool to use when searching on the Internet?! Through this "Delicious" site, I was able to save other websites and resources that I found and organize them through this awesome site. One of the most ingenious features of the site is the toolbar tab that allows you to click and save the site you are reading directly into the Delicious files.  It made it so easy to complete this project. I would search the Internet for whatever topic I wanted to review and once I had decided if the material was something that I wanted to save....all I had to do was click on the toolbar tab and it was saved!  I could go in  later and add tags, descriptions of the site, and even group together sites that were similar or about the same topic.I am HOOKED!  I was searching and clicking like I had been social bookmarking for years. Here is the actual link to my Delicious profile for you to see what I have collected.

Colburn's Delicious Profile

Within this profile, I have saved about 35 different sites that all involve teaching, kindergarten, literacy, math and 21st century skills. I have included webpages, web journal articles, blogs, videos, and podcasts all within this search. Each entry includes tags for ease of searching and sorting. One of the resources that I have added to my Delicious profile focuses on  Literacy Learning Centers/Stations for kindergarten students.

Here is the link to access this great resource.

Classroom Literacy Center Ideas

 I hope that you can find some ideas on this site as well. If you don't... be sure to click over to my Delicious account and search for other resources that may interest you as well. 

 

I am definitely hooked...I can  now say that I  "Social Bookmark" and that I have taken the "huh" out of the equation.  Happy searching friends!

How SMART are you?

I have been so fortunate to have access to a Smart Board in my classroom. I realize that this wonderful technology tool is quite expensive...so having one in my classroom is awesome. Seeking out new and innovative ways to incorporate the Smart Board into my kindergarten curriculum is something I actively pursue. I have even included the search into my PLC goal this year. Within my PLC group, there are 8 other kindergarten and first grade teachers all interested in not only finding pre-made Smart Board resources...but, how to create and share resources ourselves.
When we began our search on the Internet, we were amazed at all of the things that were available. We created a "SMART" folder on our faculty share drive and continually add to the list when we find or create new things.
Using Smart Board technology  in the classroom adds a new twist to teaching. I found this You Tube video that I thought was a great resource about the effectiveness of Smart Boards in the classroom for reading instruction.

 The students are engaged, active and are truly enjoying  the learning that is occurring. This type lesson can be used in both whole group instruction and small groups as well. Withing my classroom, I set up a weekly Smart Board Center that the students can choose to work in both literacy and math center time.

Although this is not my classroom, it is an example of how the students can work independently during Choice Time. I found this video on YouTube as well.

Here are some of the resources that I have found to use with  our classroom Smart Board.
Some of them are categorized by themes, standards, months, and curriculum topics. There are some really great things to use with all aspects of the curriculum.
Here are some of my favorite links.... Remember that you must have the Smart Board software installed on your computer to fully access the aspects of the lesson.

Favorite Smart Board Links---Click on the links below
 Smart Sites
Smart Exchange
Kindergarten Math and Smart Board
Smart Board games and Lessons

I hope that my resource lists will continue to grow. My students LOVE using the Smart Board and I love getting "SMARTER" on new and innovative ways to incorporate this technology into my teaching.