My class just started using a website for math practice called Ten Marks.  You can find it at http://tenmarks.com.  It was mentioned by several people in the 4thchat on Twitter last Monday.  I had looked at this website before, but I hadn’t really moved past the home page.  That was a mistake, because this website [...]

A friend of mine just got a position teaching fourth grade in another state.  This is a new grade for her, so I was trying to share some of the resources that may prove helpful.  For me that means Twitter and the chats that go along with it. *  Twitter has literally changed my life. [...]

Today begins my first full week of summer vacation. I’m working for a few hours at my part-time job, which is tutoring at Huntington Learning Centers, but mostly my week will be free. I love time off, but for me it always takes a little time to transition into summer. Teaching is such intense work, [...]

School is officially out for the summer and my classroom is closed. Before the kids left for vacation, however, I had them participate in a survey about the technology we used in our classroom this year. I wanted to know how they felt about the projects and websites we used. To administer the survey I [...]

This is our new class photo. I know we look a little different than we did in our previous pictures. These are our Avatars, and we created them on the cartooning website, Bit Strips for Schools. We are using it in connection with our Being a Writer curriculum. The unit we are working on now [...]

One of my goals for this school year was to learn how to make a Glog. I had heard about them, and seen a few, from others on Twitter, which is where I get most of my technology ideas. It took me a while to get around to doing it, though. I have been gradually [...]

Most Monday evenings,  I have been participating in Twitter chats with other 4th grade teachers from across the country.  We hold these #4thchats on Mondays from seven to eight PM (central time.)  A few weeks ago we talked about teaching writing.  Over the years, I’ve always felt that teaching writing is one of my greatest strengths.  I am [...]

  EdCamp Omaha took place yesterday at the Thompson Center at the University of Nebraska/Omaha.  It was my first time to attend something like this, and it was a wonderful experience.    After driving from Des Moines, which is about 2 1/2 hours away, I arrived just after nine.  As soon as I walked in, [...]

Next weekend I am going to camp– EdCamp Omaha, that is!  I’m pretty much a homebody, and I’m not much of a traveler, but this is one of those times that the closer it gets, the more excited I am.  This will be my first EdCamp, and there are so many things that make this [...]

We are more than two months into our class “Photo of the Day” project.  In reality I am running more than a week behind, so we will be playing “catch up” when the kids come back after spring break.  Having students participate in a “Photo of the Day” project  seemed like a natural progression, since I am on my [...]