A Busy Day

Ughhh

Why is it =I seem to mess up the typing whenever I use a laptop? My son says it is because I allow my palm to touch the mouse pad as I type, but if that is the case, then why when the silly curser jumps around to another line it also erases anything I have typed in that line! It is so dern frustrating.

I spent the morning testing some little cuties at the Intake  Center. They just arrived from Jubuti, via France, so they spoke minimal , minimal English, but they were very sweet. (Did I spell Jubuti correctly? oris it Jabuti? I have never written the word before...so forgive me for any misspelling. I will look it up when I am done posting.

I spent the afternoon doing two projects. One was researching e-readers for a grant I need to write for the 5 e-readers I am getting this year. I actually want to have 15 so I also want to write a Donors Choose grant as well. The rest of the day I did some research on the common core and decided to do a workshop on vocab development and the common core with ELLS.  I am excited about  providing prof dev for the city. It should be something different and will only make me more accountable in my own teaching practice;.

So...here is my question to the blogging world...well first I want to ask..IS ANYBODY READING THIS???

Next question is DO you use e-readers or ipads in your classroom, and if so, what do you use and how do you use them?

I really want to use KOBO ereaders because a neat program  is attached called Reader's Life. It keeps track of pages read, minutes read, books completed, and you can earn little awards. I think my students will find it exciting.  You can also share notes and so it becomes more like a book club that goes everywhere with you. How fun is that?

So please share your ideas..I am going to try and link this to pinterest so I can see if there are more readers out there....

Talk soon,
Cindi

My TPT store

Summer School Continues

Today was day 12 of summer school. We have a pretty good attendance and a pretty good routine going. We do word work for an hour a day. They are all working in neat sticker books with sight words, and some are using the National Reading Vocabulary. They have to not only read the words but also know the meaning. It is soooo interesting to see the words they do not know the meanings to. Really interesting. For instance, the word barter. The child could read it perfectly but when asked the meaning he thought it was someone who cuts hair.. We are also working on number fact families and word problems. Oh my! There are some kiddos  entering 4th grade and they still count on their fingers. They do not know how to use the commutative property and some went so far as to write  9-12=3 ! WOW! So the  work we are doing this summer may seem easy and trivial but it is building foundations under some structures that are wobbling....Have a great evening...

Oh yeah, and if anyone knows how to link to pinterest pins and put them here I would love to know.

Cindi

Hey all, summer school is going extremely well. I am really pleased. Because the children are in such varied ranges it just didn't work out for reading groups. So I am trying to get reading time in on a one on one basis or with a couple of kiddos on the same level. We are focusing on vocabulary, using the NAtional Reading Vocabulary lists. They must be able to read the word, but also know it's meaning. It has been enlightening to see the number of words I assumed they knew, but didn't.  In math we are focusing on facts, fact families, and word problems....again, another eye opener. They really struggled with the commutative property today. We had cute little tents with the number families and they had to write two addition and two subtraction facts, or two multiplication and two division facts. I really had some 4th graders writing   9-14=5/ !!! WOw, glad I decided to have a narrow focus. But we are doing it all with fun ways and they are really learning. SO I am excited. Until tomorrow,
Cindi

my computer screen

Okay, so here is a piccture of my laptop screen...the picture in left corner is tv on in the background! HAHAHA Sad, though huh? My 17 year old has a macbook pro, and I have this. Now is that fair?

Okay..so why does it keep posting sideways...anyway, you get the idea...I have to move the screen around constantly to see the print! Ahhhhh. til next time friends,
cindi

Mercy!

Goodness,.

I need to be here more. I am going to commit to posting at least once or twice a week. Well, we got out of school on the 21st. I am going to teach summer school in my own classroom so I decided to go with a camping theme. I must admit I went WAYYYYY overboard purchasing camping and summer things on TPT! I need to put some of fmy own things on there. I haven't posted anything new in a while. ANyway, I leave Mondat for New Mexico to go to an NEA conference/summit on teaching ELLs. Not really sure exacrly what is  involved. I was expecting this huge event, only to find there are only about 45 peoplgoing, s not exactly sure. But it should be fun. I have never been to New Mexico and it is all paid for by NEA.

Please excuse any typos you find, my computer is dying a very slow and labored death. The screen is cracked, the curser jumps all around,  and it erases entire paragraphs as you type for absolutely no reason. Add to that the fact that the battery is dead and it needs to stay plugged in.

I wanted to buy a new MAC but tires for my car, as well as my teenage sons trumped a new puter,. I may just buy an inexpensive PC when I return, since I am told we are getting new Macbook Pros this fall. That would be something else because the elementary teachers have never got any computers except the castoffs from the middle school kids! You can imagine what they were like.

I am making so many spaces so the entire thing doesn't get deleted. I am going to try to post a picture of my sad computer but not sure I will know how. I can be prettycomputer savvy, but blogging is a whole new ballgame. ANyone know of any tutorials for bloggers? I think I might check it out when I finish this..
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Okay, signing off now. Have a wonderful week. Not sure I can post from my ipad so I maynot be back til next weekend.

Cindi

I 'm back!

Hey all! Sorry I've been gone so long. My dear grandmother passed into a better world in January and things got pretty crazy for a while. Seems like things are calming down so I am going to try to stay on top of this blog. Since I've been gone I have become addicted to pinterest. I will put a link here as soon as I figure out how. I also have spent a lot of time trying new things from pinterest..cooking and crafting so I am excited to share. The school year is wrapping up. We go until June 20, so summer isn't here quite yet, but soon. I am excited to post some new things on TPT and I will be making new activities to use for summer school. Well, can't stay much longer. It is almost 1 am and the dog won't stop barking! That's his new thing, he doesn't like to be alone downstairs but he can no longer get up the stairs, so he stands at the bottom and barks half the night! Ugh!,, will write more soon! Glad to be back! <3 cindi