Edublog Nominations :: 2014

The Edublog Awards provide a wonderful opportunity to reflect on all the fabulous blog posts and web contributions that people have shared over the past year. It is always difficult to make decisions and narrow it down to just one choice per category. I want to personally thank the many dedicated, talented, and passionate educators who contribute to the educational community each and every day. I learn so much from my Personal Learning Network (PLN), so many thanks!  

Here are my nominations: 

Best Student Blog - Miriam's Magical Moments 
http://victoria-miriamsmoments.blogspot.com/

(Miriam is a former student or mine who has blogged consistently since 2011.)

Best Class Blog- Miss Jordan's Class

http://missjordan.global2.vic.edu.au/

Best New Blog - Room One @ Auroa School
http://mrwebbauroa.blogspot.com/
(@NZWaikato)

Best Library Blog - Bulldog Readers Blog 
http://bellbulldogreaders.edublogs.org/
(@mrs_hembree) 

Best Individual Tweeter - JoAnn Jacobs 

https://twitter.com/JoAnnJacobs68

Best Individual Blog – wwwwatanabe (Tracy Watanabe)
http://wwwatanabe.blogspot.com/

Best Hashtag -#comments4kids (Thanks @wmchamberlain for your contribution!)

Best Ed Tech- Langwitches (Silvia Tolisano)
http://langwitches.org

Best Teacher Blog - Cool Cat Teacher 
http://www.coolcatteacher.com/


Best Educational Use of a Social Network - Student Blogging Challenge
http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/
(@tasteach)




Best Free Web Tool – Twitter
 https://twitter.com/

Best Open PD – Global Education Conference

http://www.globaleducationconference.com

Best Educational Wiki - ICT Magic
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/

Best Mobile App – Educreations
https://www.educreations.com/

Lifetime Achievement – Jennifer Wagner 
(Projects by Jen)

Make your *nomination here!

*Nominations will close TODAY (November 24) at 11.59 PM EST USA. 

A Thanksgiving Journey!

Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. Students learn about the history of Thanksgiving in school and sometimes there is a Thanksgiving presentation. Our reading buddies are in the Journey's program at our school. They are pre-kindergarten students; many are only four years old! Our pals invited us to help and watch their Thanksgiving Performance.

Before the show, we helped the young performers with their costumes. Four third graders worked as ushers who handed out programs to the parents in the audience. Ella assisted with the entrance. The Pilgrims, turkeys, and Wampanoags were excited to start their show.  

Here they are lined up ready to begin! 

Mrs. Cuevas introduced the presentation. 

What a great pumpkin backdrop! 

This little Pilgrim welcomed the crowd.

The audience enjoyed Thanksgiving fun facts, sensational seasonal  songs, and it ended with a poem of gratitude!

The young performers enhanced the singing with clever gestures. A gesture is a movement that expresses an idea. 

Leave a message for your Journey's buddy. 

Remember, they are just learning to read. 

It is okay to leave very short sentences. 

It is okay to start your sentences the same way.

What was your favorite part about the presentation? 

The Wonderful World of Weaving!

Nic's mom and grandmother came in to class to teach our monthly art lesson. This dynamic duo taught the class how to weave!

First, we made a paper loom and then the weaving began. 

Over. Under. Over. Under.

Over. Under...

What have you woven? 

What was the most difficult part? 

How To Write a Compound Sentence!

Remember: November is Family Blogging Month! 
This is the perfect post for family comments!

Mrs. Yollis' students are always trying to improve their writing skills.

*       *       *       *       *

 A compound sentence:

1. Combines two shorter sentences (so has TWO subjects)
2. Joins the two sentences with  a conjunction (and, or, but, so)
3. The comma goes BEFORE the conjunction.

*       *       *       *       *

 Here are some sample compound sentences, and they are all about Thanksgiving!

(Hey, that's a compound sentence!) 

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, and many families gather for a traditional feast. 

In 1620, the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, but they had really planned a trip to Virginia. 

 The Massachusetts winter was extremely cold and  harsh, so everyone had to work together to survive. 

The Wampanoag Indians helped the struggling Pilgrims, so they were able to harvest crops for their first feast. 

Modern Americans dine on turkey and stuffing at home, or they make a reservation at a local restaurant.

Here is a link to the BrainPop video about Thanksgiving. 

For Homework!

In the comment section, tell about your plans for Thanksgiving. Be sure to include at least two COMPOUND SENTENCES.

Research Thanksgiving. Add new relevant information about this American holiday. 

Happy Veterans Day!

★     ★     ★     ★     ★     

On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday! 

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.

★     ★     ★     ★     ★     

Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop video entitled
Armed Forces. 

What did you learn about the 

army, navy, air force, marines, and coast guard?

★     ★     ★     ★     ★     

Here is a link to a wonderful Veterans Day blog post by Mrs. Hembree in Seattle, Washington. Read about her father-in-laws service and see photos from his Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  

Photo honoring veterans at the World War II Memorial.

Photo by Joe Hembree

★     ★     ★     ★     ★     

In class, we will be sending holiday cards to active military personnel. Chance and Nate are in a Cub Scout Troop, and they provided the cards for the "Holiday Cards for the Troops" project. 

★     ★     ★     ★     ★     

Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?

Please tell us about them and thank them for their service to America!

November is Family Blogging Month!

Mrs. Yollis and her students ♥ to share what they are

learning and experiencing.


In an effort to include more family members in our online community, we are proclaiming: 


November is Family Blogging Month!

Each student made a list of their family members. After looking through the archive, students selected specific posts tailored to the interest of a particular relative. 

We're inviting everyone to comment: moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts, and cousins. 

We welcome friends, too!

Students will be inviting their family and friends to participate in a conversation! 
Maybe we'll get some 2-point comments! 

(We frequently evaluate the comments that our blog has received. In order to earn the 2-points, a comment must be error-free and add something to the post.   Many of Mrs. Yollis' third graders have already met the challenge!)

If you don't know what to say, here is a video made by Mrs. Yollis' third graders. 

Learn FIVE tips for writing a quality comment! 

If you don't know How to leave a comment, here is a video tutorial about HOW to leave a comment on our blog.

Here is the key we will use for  Family Blogging Month.

 

What do you think of our idea?

Who are you inviting to be a part of our online community?

Please leave a comment and introduce yourself!

Spook-tacular Baking!

Aryana's mother put together a team of volunteers to help us bake! 

It was a spook-tacular project full of measuring, stirring, decorating, and devouring. 

 

What was your favorite part of baking? 

What is something that you enjoy baking or cooking?

Monstrous Fun!

Having a classroom blog provides a plethora of opportunities to collaborate and create with classes all over the world. Recently, we were invited by Miss Jordan in Victoria, Australia, to participate in a monstrously creative writing project. 

Miss Jordan's pupils are grade 4 students and have a classroom blog just like us!

The directions for the Monster Project: 

Step 1:  Students draw a monster of their choosing.

Step 2:  Students write a paragraph detailing the monster. 
Important descriptive details to include are color, shape, and size. 

Step 3: Students trade the descriptive paragraphs with a blogging buddy. This was done via Google docs.

Step 4: Students draw their buddy's monster using only the descriptive paragraphs. 

Step 5: Students Share and compare the original drawings. We used a Google slide show. As you compare the two drawings, what do you notice? (Sometimes a detail or two gets left out of a paragraph. Sometimes students miss important words when reading. )

Step 6: Publish the results on the class blog and have fun reading and comparing!   

A student reading her buddy's description and 

giving it a rough draft draw. 

Sometimes students worked together to read and clarify a description.

Rulers were employed as specific measures were given in the description. Since our buddies are from Australia, we used the metric system, centimeters and millimeters!




Finally, the final drawings were colored. 

Next stop, the Photo Booth. Student took photos of their monster and their buddy's monster. Each student emailed the photos to Mrs. Yollis. Student learned about the importance of the subject area of an email. 

The Photo Booth in action! Once the photos and text were assembled in a Google Slide Show, we were ready publish!

Click here to visit our blogging buddies' site with their monstrous slide show!

What did you notice about your monster?

How did your buddy do with your directions? Did you miss any details? How can you tell? 

What did you learn from this project?

Who Will Visit on Character Dress Up Day?

Photo by Mrs. Yollis 

This Friday is Character Dress Up Day at our school! 

In class, we have been talking about who will be in our room. 

:-)

Some people are characters from our reading textbook like Anthony Reynoso, Ms. Gernsblatt,  or Mulan. Others are from chapter or picture books. I've heard that Cam Jansen, Katie Kazoo, and even Harry Potter will be in attendance this Friday! 

Leave a comment as if you are the character!

What name tag will you be wearing?

What props will you use in the classroom?

Tell us a little about yourself!

Who are you excited to meet? 

A GREAT Assembly!

This week we enjoyed an entertaining, yet purposeful assembly!

Mark and Obediah from Razzle Bam Boom are talented musicians with an outstanding message!

They introduced their five strategies to being a “G.R.E.A.T.”^TM student.

Photo by Mrs. Grubb

G.R.E.A.T is an acronym. 

ac·ro·nym

(ak rə nim)

noun

1. an abbreviation formed from the beginning letters of other words and pronounced as a word

Here is what G.R.E.A.T stands for:

Goals – Know what you want to do.

Retry – Don’t give up. Try, Try Again

Excel – Always do your very best.

Attention – Focus on the most important things.

Train- Practice until you are GREAT.

What GOALS have you set for yourself?

What will get your ATTENTION?

How will you TRAIN?

Thank you, to the PFC for making this awesome assembly possible!