The semester is over!

What can I say about this semester? I truly enjoyed both classes and I like that we only had one big project for each class and that they were linked. That made life a lot easier. I thought the classes were well structured and paced. I am really excited about the next semester and all that we still have to learn.

One More Week to Go!

We are down to the final week of our 2nd semester!! I am so excited, glad to be done with the Design Doc and Instructional Package. I can't wait for summer vacation, I got to lay out ALL DAY yesterday and I am finally back in the gym (much to the dismay of my outta shape body). I've got 4 weeks to drop a dress size for my brother's grad party :)

America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week. - Evan Esar

Happy 40th Aida!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

All aboard an emotional rollercoaster....

This week has been a hard one-lots of ups and downs. I had to attend an SDEA meeting regarding my pink slip and the 3 day hearing that I have to attend next month. On a very sad note, my cousin's wife lost their baby after a very short 5 month pregnancy. While we all knew the day would come it was very hard to be in the hospital that day. But I know there is a plan for my cousin and his wife and that the good lord will bless them with another baby.

On a positive note, we celebrated my aunt's 40th birthday yesterday. We had so much fun but I am exhausted today! That is me and the birthday!

So the emotional rollercoaster should be coming to an end. I am definitely ready for a little vacation.

Sunday Football Day Festival 2007

I can't get enough of Smilebox...

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

New fun tool

Wow! Monica just told me about this fun new tool called Smilebox through Hallmark. Here is my first slideshow, can't wait to make more. Thanks MVP!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I am sooooo sad that Spring Break is over :( The week flew by. It started off a little slow, got some business done and then it was my birthday on Wednesday: we had a great time, I love my friends & family so much-they spoiled me. Then we went to Rosarito for my aunt's brithday. We had blast at the spa and ate yummy lobster! Friday was a relaxing day-hw and wine with the girls. Saturday we celebrated my uncle's birthday (my family has a lot of birthdays in March) and then today was Easter (and my aunt's birthday). I'm exhausted and don't really want to go to work tomorrow but I do miss my students (a little bit). So, now I am back in school/work mode-getting things done and almost ready for bed. How many more days til Summer Vacation?

My Movie

Well, when I bought my new laptop I had to get one with Vistas-trust me I tried no to but apparently ALL the new PCs come with Vistas installed. So far, it has worked flawlessly-knock on wood, quick!-but when making my movie I discovered I had to use Windows Movie Maker. I was a little skeptical about using this program since it was not on Terri's list of suggested movie edited programs and when we spoke on the phone last week she asked me how WMM saved movies-you know making sure other people could view the movie...well you'all know my luck when it comes to technology. So, cross your fingers for me because there is a good chance the only people who will be able to view my movie are those of you running Vista. Also, I had trouble getting my audio imported into WMM, so this is not the music I originally chose but I think it works just the same. Other than this annoying little snaffoo (sp?), I had fun making my movie. This was my second attempt at it, the first was too much like a ppt. I hope you enjoy it, it is intended to serve as the intro to my 544 project. Can't wait to make another one -this time for fun!

Social Networking Site

http://sandiegoteach.ning.com/

New EdTec tools & life...

Hello world and happy Sunday. I finally got my meds and am feeling MUCH better-good bye sinus infection! hello happy, healthy Alex.

I am really enjoying the 572 class. I think we are learning a lot of new, innovative tools that we can incorporate both into our classrooms and our own lives. My students' parents and fellow teachers are loving the class blog and the other tools I have began implementing in my classroom. I feel that they are both transforming the way I teach and the way my students learn as well as making me a more marketable teacher. The latter is really important right now considering the budget cuts looming over our disctrict. As a fourth year teacher at a very small school and am faced with the harsh reality (yet again) of being forced out of my classroom and into limbo. But, I kn ow that all the new things I am learning this semester will help me no matter where I end up.

KinderBug

Yes, I caught the KinderBug really bad. My doctor is supposed to call in a prescription for me but it wasn't at the pharmacy when I got off work! I feel horrible.

Everything else is going very well. I presented at the Greater San Diego Reading Association Winter Conference on Sat. It went really well and I was excited that my group liked my presentation. I can't wait until the Fall conference, I don't know what I will present but I have a while.

My studies are going well and I am having a blast learning all these new tools. I am excited to start using these new things in my own classroom.

oh, yeah, I had to buy a new laptop this weekend!!!!!!!! My old one bought the farm-after putting hundreds of dollars into it to try and upgrade it for this program the DC jack came loose and now it will cost another hundred or so dollars to replace a $5 part. I had had enough so the nice guy at Best Buy helped me select a new HP that will support everything I will need for the next year. I like it, it's nice but very unfamiliar and it is taking a while to get used to it.

guess I'll be taking out another student loan!

Uuuuugh

Good morning world. It is President's Day-the end of what could have been a fabulous four day weekend. Could have been meaning it wasn't! Friday started out good-pedi and lunch with the girls then dinner with the family. It all went down hill Saturday morning when I woke up with a cold. It could be worse-one of my students came down with Strep so a cold doesn't seem so bad compared to what I could have. I ran around getting my errands done on Saturday (God bless my mom-she puts up with me when I am sick and cranky) and spent yesterday in bed watching the last season of America's Next Top Model. Then, Mon came over and we got most of our homework done. That content map was tricky! I'm sad that I didn't do anything fun this weekend but will make it up during Spring Break!

ahah! moment

I just had an ahah! moment. My partner teacher and I are planning a parent night to talk to our parents about the tools and techniques we use in our classroom to teach reading and writing in the hopes of creating continuity in instruction (school and home). But with blogger we could actually film lessons (or even the parent night if we still plan on doing it) and post to our blogs so that parents can watch us in action. Can't wait to talk to Mel about it!

February is flying by!

I started my classroom blog. I polled my parents and they were very excited for me to start it so...I did and I am so happy. I actually got to plan during my prep time instead of updating and making copies! And my partner teacher is interested in learning how to blog so I showed her my class blog and she wants to start her own. I know sh will need a little prompting now and then but I am excited that blogging fever is spreading. Here is my class blog: http://bayparkroom12.blogspot.com/

I also started using Bookr with my kids during Interactive/Shared Writing. We made two "practice" books, Big Cats and The Bug Book. I linked The Bug Book to my class blog so the parents can see it. The kids are so excited to use it, I promised them that after they made a few books with me that they could start using the computer lab to make their own books. Now I need to teach my parent volunteers how to use Bookr! I am glad Terri made the suggestion of creating my own folder for Flickr images. I was wondering how to make the whole process safe for my 5 year olds.

This month is so crazy! We have Valentine's Day coming up this week (thank God for my co-room parents!), then next week we have our 100th Day Celebration the following week. I love that I can post the pictures from these events onto my class blog!

Our 2nd Week of Class

I am having so much fun this semester! I am really into all these new tools that Terri is introducing us to. I was just playing around with Bookr's pimpampum and I can't wait to start using it in my own classroom. We make books together all the time in my class but I know this will be a great addition to our writing program, my Kinders will LOVE it!

I am also playing with the idea of starting a class blog. I already send home a 2-3 page newsletter every Friday but the idea of having a blog instead of a paper newsletter would be such a savior. I think I will come up with a sample blog and test it on a few of my parents. Not only will this save me time but it will also save paper and I won't have to spend my whole prep time updating the newsletter and making copies.

Now I can't wait to explore the other tools we were introduced to.