Elementary School Blog Research

Green Meadow Elementary School

While surfing the web, I ran across a blog site for Green Meadow Elementary School in Oshkosh, WI. It’s packed full of information for parents and students including recent events, what students are currently working on, and links to outside websites to assist with learning.

First graders at Green Meadow recently learned how to set up a powerpoint presentation! First graders! That's crazy! Forth grade students assisted the little ones with formatting and such. What a great "partnership" between students helping each other!

This blog site also offers information to parents on various events such as a Pancake Supper. As a single parent of a 7th grader, parent involvement is priority. I have typed the Causey Middle School newsletter several times. Although I have a full-time, stressful job, I still MADE the time to be Room Mother when Hannah was in the 4th and 5th grade. As Room Mother, I had the "inside scoop".

Barrett Elementary School

A blog site for Barrett Elementary School in Arlington, VA features various videos put together by students. One video highlights facts on paper recycling. My current profession is with soil and water conservation, so I could use this video while speaking to a local school group about conservation.

Another video includes 1st graders showing "HOW TO" videos -- "HOW TO" make paper airplanes and snowflakes, "HOW TO" tie shoes, "HOW TO" jump rope, "HOW TO" take a bath (of course, demonstrated by washing a Barbie doll), and even "HOW TO" make paper (from paper…didn’t quite get that one, but it was cute…).

I tried to post the video on Trees. However, if it doesn't, here's the link.

Check it out!

Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, & Students Satewide

Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide ACCESS is a valuable resource tool for students and teachers, especially in rural Alabama counties. It enables students to take courses that aren’t normally offered at their school. Classes are web-based, so the expense and time from traveling is eliminated.

Picture this -- A student from a low-income family in Marion, AL has a dream to be a doctor one day. His grades are excellent. Marion is VERY SMALL – not even a Wal-Mart! Because of his family’s limited income, he’s unable to attend Marion Military Institute, so he’s stuck in a school that has limited courses available. ACCESS offers all kinds of courses such as AP Statistics and even Chinese; therefore, this enables him a head-start with college credits...at HIS school! ACCESS makes perfect sense!

Classes are also interactive, so students aren't limited to only observing their instructor talk and talk and talk. Students get to interact and ask questions through “whiteboard”. To be honest, at first, the mental picture I had regarding this program was a group of students watching a TV screen with a teacher talking for an hour…that was it. However, I was impressed with the option for students to ASK QUESTIONS regarding the course.

Nationwide, Alabama always receives a poor score with its education. Honestly, I don’t see how. We have great teachers who CARE about their students and TRULY want them to excel in their education! ACCESS is just ONE example of Alabama’s effort at broadening educational opportunities!

Did You Know? Shift Happens

WOW! That’s my reaction to the “Did you know – Shift Happens” movie found at Did You Know? . I’ve worked in an office for 15 (short) years. The mouse was introduced to me about 12 years ago. I remember part of our training to “get used to” the mouse was to play solitaire. Needless to say, I quickly mastered the mouse!

This movie really puts modern technology in perspective! I had NO IDEA of the rapid progression!!! It’s actually overwhelming. A computer is such a massive source of information. While shopping for a new cell phone recently, I was introduced to the IPhone. How is it possible to have the world at your fingertips in a CELL PHONE? I got my very first cell phone 13 years ago, only because I was pregnant and had an hour commute to work every day. It was a “bag phone”. TODAY, I can actually pay my mortgage while sitting at the red light at the intersection of Schillinger Rd. and Airport Blvd. The picture below is of the good ole' ... "bag phone".

According to the movie, “Over 70% of 4-yr-olds have used a computer.” My 12-year-old daughter, Hannah, cannot drive a car or vote, but she has a MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube, GMail, Hotmail, and Yahoo accounts. Hannah has 333 friends on MySpace. I had NO IDEA she was such a popular kid. She CLAIMS to know all these kids…yeah, right. Hannah has had a cell phone for two years now. She can type at least 50 words per minute on her phone! I’m pretty quick with texting, but I believe that she’s got me beat hands-down.

Pictured to the right is my little Drama Queen...

I definitely agree with the ending remarks of this movie. I hope we, as a society, can keep up with the ever-advancing technology! Our kids need the best education possible utilizing every resource available! The school system should continue to supply qualified teachers, BUT without ANY budget concerns! Our government should ensure adequate funding to make this happen, too! Children are our future, so we all must focus on education as top priority.

ALEX/ACCESS

Alabama Learning Exchange ALEX is a GREAT on-line tool for educators to obtain tons and tons of information to assist with lesson plans. Games, worksheets, and activities are just a few items to be found on this website. If I was a teacher TODAY, I would include the on-line games in my classroom. Kids today love their electronic games such as the GameBoy DS, so on-line (learning) games would be a great way to “trick” my students into LEARNING something instead of simply mastering Guitar Hero on their DS!

Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide ACCESS is a great website that provides additional classes for rural schools. I had never heard of this before! What a great opportunity for students in rural areas of Alabama! Schools that currently do not have the resources to provide AP courses can enroll in ACCESS. Classes are web-based. For example, students can attend class in Dothan while the instructor’s in Birmingham!

I’d never heard of either of these websites! ALEX and ACCESS would be included in my top “Favorites” if I were an educator! As a single parent of a 7th grader at Causey Middle, I am always looking for new ways to become involved in her education. I plan on using my new "tool", ALEX to encourage her to stay in learning mode even when school is not in session. With Science being her weaker subject, I began to really look on the site to see if there was any assistance that I could be receiving to help her out. To my suprise, I can log into information for Science subjects for all grades. ScienceHelp

AP classes were available at Murphy back when I was there. I did not realize how spoiled we were at Murphy to have these classes readily available. Technology has improved significantly over the past twenty years!

Tonight, January 14, 2009, was a "first" for me. After almost 20 years, I'm back in college! I believe I've made a very smart choice by taking Microcomputing Systems. I work in front of a computer all day long and then go home to play on another one. Blogging is still a little new to me, so this course will certainly help me grow in my education as well as my current profession.

I've chosen education as my major because I've ALWAYS wanted to teach. I love to see a child's face light up when he/she "get's it" when solving a frustrating math problem. I want to make a difference. I want to be a positive influence.