What A WONDERful Idea! Adding A Little "Wonder" To My Student's Summer.

I have been racking my brain on what to give my students for their end of the year gift.  I usually give my students a book at the end of the year, however, I wanted to give them something that would: 1.  Be an extension of what we have been doing in our classroom. 2.  Inspire them to continue to write on their blogs this summer. 3.  Involve their parents in the project. One of the major changes in my classroom this year...

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The Magic of Social Media

The definition of Social Media from Wikipedia is "Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks."   I think I can say that I do my fair share of utilizing social media in and out of my classroom.  I have my personal blog that you are currently reading, I have a classroom blog, I tweet professionally using @mrswideen,...

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Must Have Apps For Any Classroom

I was asked to go to a meeting tomorrow to consult on an iPad image for our board. These iPads will be going to K-8 schools in our district. I am honored to have been asked to give my input and I have been thinking about how I will answer this complicated question. I have been blessed with 20 iPads in my room this year.  I decided what apps to put on them.  I have a very supportive administrator, so if I go to him with a request...

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What Does Camouflage Mean?

Last Wednesday during literacy, students were trying to figure out what had happened to our three missing tadpoles when the word camouflage came into the conversation. I was surprised to learn that many of my students did not know what camouflage meant. This was a perfect time to learn! On Thursday I read the book, "Animals in Camouflage" and we watched a great video on brainpopjr about camouflage. I then told them that they were going to...

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