Great New Discovery

I have discovered a great new resource for my classroom. My school has subscribed to a program called Tumble Books. It is great! There are many ways to use the program. One way is to have the kids log on and then they pick a book that they would like to be read to them. They can then take quizes or play games about that book. I think that way is great, but another way to implement the program into your daily lessons is to present the book to your class via a projector. I have been using it in that manner this past week and it has been AMAZING how my kids have reacted. I know my kids love when I read stories, but their attention spans are not always that great. When I show them the books from Tumble Books they are completely engaged.

I have also found that I can use this resource not only during my lessons, but also during trasnistions times like when we are packing up I put a book on and they pack up quicker and quieter!

I cannot say enough about how great this program is. For more information check out the website- www.tumblebooks.com

Motivated

I feel very motivated after this last week of reading about multi-media and beginning to think about my culminating paper. It is crazy how excited I am to try new things in my classroom ( it probably doesn't hurt that on Monday we had a district wide staff development day focused on technology).

Anyway during this past week I decided that I am completely capable of making movies with my kids. I figured it couldn't be that difficult. Today I tried for the first time. I had each child find a picture that began with a certain letter of the alphabet in kid pix. Then I saved each of them as jpeg files. Finally...after transferring each of them to photo story, adding music and a few other details....tada...we had our very first movie! I will admit it was a simple silent movie with only music, but for my very first one I have to say I was very excited.

The best part was the excitement from my kids during the process. Seeing the look on each of their faces while we worked and as they watched our "ABC Movie" was enough for me to know that there will be many more movies made in the future.

Uniqueness

I have found that it is usually easier to remember someone if I know something unique about them. So here's a few unique facts about myself that might help you remember me...

* I have lived in four states (Missouri, Alabama, Georgia and Texas)

* Most of my family lives in Poplar Bluff, Missouri- the same town that Charleene from "Designing Women" was from.

* I have celiac disease. That means I cannot eat anything with gluten (wheat, rye, oats and barley) in it.

* My husband and I have been freinds sicne our freshmen year of high school.

* I love the St. Louis Cardinals and go to their spring training every year!

Do you think you can remember me now?