Parents can Help Kids Love Reading

I read this great article by James Patterson today. Parents, please encourage your children to read!

Big Changes are coming

Happy Summer!

Keep tuning in to my blog for announcements of big changes coming in September!

Spring Fever

It's getting to be that time of year, when the weather gets warmer and it becomes harder to concentrate on School work. Here in East Rochester, we've just switched to final group in our Computer Literacy class. In this class, we focus on some of the skills you will need in school and in life when using computers. In the comments field answer the following questions

1. Where do you have access to computers in your life? (Home, school, public library?)

2. What do you hope to learn more about in Computer Literacy?

Happy New Year!

Welcome back after a long holiday break. It's hard for teachers to come back too. Did you make any New Year's Resolutions? I did. I resolved to pay closer attention to the people around me. I want to help my students find the things they are good at, and to help them become better at things they have trouble learning.

Not too long ago I read a book called The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson. Sir Robinson argues that everybody is good at something. He goes on to say that the people that make decisions about education in our country need to allow and encourage students to be creative about their learning. He said the businesses and governments in the future need people who can think about things and come up with creative solutions to problems. I hope I can help my student become more creative in their learning and to learn how to learn.



What do you think are some ways I can do that?

Welcome Back!

I want to share a few pictures from my summer vacation. I visited several National Parks including Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, The Badlands, and Mount Rushmore. Here is my favorite picture from the Grand Tetons.

I also visited several places where my favorite author, Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up. She lived in small towns in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota over 100 years ago. Many of these towns are still very small farming communities. It made me appreciate how hard her father had to work to support his family on the prairies of the midwest. Here is a

picture from Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

One more exciting thing I did was take a ride in a 1929 Travel Air Biplane over Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Here is a picture of that plane.

Now I'm excited to be back at work and sharing with my students. Things that have inspired me this month include the new library catalog which is so much more colorful than the old one. I was also impressed with the words of President Obama in his speech to children. He challenged the children of America to take responsibility for their education and learn all they can. Here are some of his words and a link to the entire speech.

"But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive
parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you
fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those
teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it
takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your
education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide."

Here's the full text of his remarks

What are you ready to learn this year?

Mid-Winter

What have I been wrestling with lately? I love to learn about technology. I find it challenging and the prospects of using it are exciting. But it is time-consuming and there is a lot of trial and error involved. In Marc Prensky's book, Don't Bother Me Mom, I'm Learning (St. Paul, MN:Paragon House,2006) he describes "Digital Natives" (kids who have always had computers in their lives) and "Digital Immigrants" (people born before 1980 who have had to adapt to using computers.) I'm a digital immigrant, I still occasionally print out email. But I'm getting better at speaking the language. I really like Prensky's list of Essential 21st Century Skills. I find that I use these skills a lot when I'm learning new things

Some new things I'm learning about at work are Distance Learning via Polycom and Adobe Visual Communicator 3.

News for Teachers

5-8 Library News!

New Support staff - we welcome Mrs. Burns to the library as the new 5-8 Library Aide.

New Audiobook format - I have 8 playaways now. They are like an MP3 player with an audio book on it, all you need to listen to the book is a pair of headphones. (They run on AAA batteries.) Titles I currently have are: Walk Two Moons; The Watsons go to Birmingham; Surviving the Applewhites; The Giver; Number the Stars; Seedfolks; One-Handed Catch (by Mary Jane Auch); and The Wednesday Wars (2008 Newbery Honor book by Gary Schmidt).

Social Studies Resource I decided to update the Atlases I have in the library, and I picked up 2 books that may be of particular use to you. The Historical Atlas of Empires has maps showing the world from 4000 BC to the 21st century. The Atlas of US History shows the US at various points and illustrates acquisition of land like the Louisiana Purchase, and division of states into Free or Slave states, transportation. "A picture is worth a thousand words."

As always, if I can help you in any way, stop down or give me a call.