The 1st Teaching K-6 Carnival

Welcome to the first Teaching K-6 Carnival. As we begin 2009, we are considering what this year will look like in our classrooms. Some of us will soon be meeting our new classes for the year, focusing on classroom management and getting off to a good start with our teaching programs. Others are past that phase and are now busy teaching their programs and finding the most effective ways of assessing students. This edition of the Teaching K-6 Carnival kicks off the new year with some great posts to motivate and challenge. I encourage you to visit the featured posts and leave your comments.


Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Tiger Lily shares her thoughts on Innovative Ideas for Integrating Technology posted at Teaching eVentures. She provides tips on how to teach using technology in innovative ways without breaking the budget. Her tips include classroom websites, blogs, podcasts, movie making, interactive e-books and digital storytelling.

Christina of Early Childhood Teacher posts about her experience with and use of Interactive Whiteboards in early childhood. She found a way to keep all her students engaged in the lesson through pairing the interactive whiteboard with individual student whiteboards.

Kelly Hines encourages us to consider Are Textbooks So Last Century? on her blog Keeping Kids First. She talks about the benefits of engaging students in their learning and drawing on multimedia resources to develop greater understanding of the topics being covered. She shares her argument for the use of laptops in the classroom in place of textbooks.

Jim McGuire at The Reading Workshop has a new way of grading where The More You Do, the Better the Grade. In Jim’s class students can improve their grades through regular reading at home, detailed online journal entries and by leaving comments on the class blog. He shares the rubrics he uses for grading this additional effort.

Rita Phillips would also like us to consider the ways we assess students and the support we provide. She shares three posts from Your Teacher Links. Teaching Test Taking Skills Doesn’t Mean You Are Teaching to the Test – tips on supporting students with preparation for classroom tests. Scissors and Glue and Glitter, Oh No! – tips and tools for providing students with opportunities to demonstrate their learning through projects. Teach Success Part II – tips on supporting students with note taking for research projects.

I share my article Tech Tips Tuesday - Making Good Use of Your Digital Camera which suggests a number of ways you can use a camera to enhance the learning and record progress throughout the year.


Brain Strain

Alvaro Fernandez of Sharp Brains wins the position of Brain Strain in this edition. He shares a review of The Overflowing Brain: Most Important Book of 2008. Included in this post is an article by the author Dr. Torkel Klingberg. It’s not a leisurely read, but gets you thinking more about the ways we require our brains to function in the information age. Make sure you read the comments at the bottom as Kenneth Cooper offers a different perspective that is also worth your time.


Look no further

Looking for textbooks? One Family’s Blog has a comprehensive list of Elementary School Guides, Workbooks and Assessment Resources , Elementary Public School Textbooks and Resources for Kids with Special Needs and Learning Disabilities.


Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

At this stage, editions of The Teaching K-6 Carnival will be posted monthly on the 7th. I will be collecting submissions throughout the month, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch.

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of Teaching K-6 Carnival use our carnival submission form or the widget at the bottom of this page.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page or on the widget at the bottom of this page.

Support this Carnival

If you enjoyed this edition of the carnival, you can support its continuation by sharing it with others. Link to us, add us to a tweet, stumble or digg us. Thanks!

Tech Tips Tuesday

This week's tip: Make good use of your digital camera

I have an excellent camera that I keep with me to use throughout the school day and at home. It's a Kodak Easy Share DX7590 that I bought a few years ago, so I'm not sure what the equivalent is today. It has an automatic setting, but also allows for a range of manual options. It can also record short videos as .MOV files.

When I first began using my camera I tended to use it mostly for special occasions. I took the photos, but often that was where they stayed - as a file on a computer. This week, I'd like to share some suggestions for how you can get photos working for you in the classroom. This post is by no means definitive so please share your ideas in the comments.

Build a sense of community with photos of students

Early in the year I take photographs of my students and get them up around the room often as labels. When students see photos of themselves in their classroom they feel a sense of belonging. These photos come in handy for other purposes throughout the year. With young students I have created "Who am I?" classbooks where students write a few clues about themselves at the top of the page and glue their photo with a flap covering it at the bottom of the page. These pages are then compiled into a book. The same photo can also be used for the covers of "Star of the Week" books, a goal wall and portfolio cover pages.

Take photographs of students as they work and learn

Sometimes you notice new things about your students as you take photographs of them as they work. Looking through a frame helps you to zone in on that particular child and block out other distractions. These photographs can help you to reflect on how students are progressing with their development. They also provide visible evidence that can be shared with parents during discussions.

I particularly like to use the video function of my camera to capture students when they work cooperatively in groups. It is interesting to review these later to see how each person participates in the task. I'm often impressed by the sort of language I hear my students using as they work together to solve problems.

These photos and videos can be shared with the school community through a newsletter or added to the class blog or school website.

Take photographs of students as they play and share fun times with friends

I take lots of photos of the fun experiences we have throughout the year. These events often create positive emotions for students and the photos help students to relive these experiences. Collections of these photographs can be made into a Photo Story or Movie or viewed as a slideshow throughout the year. I received a digital photo frame for Christmas which I plan to use to play photos of the students throughout the day. (As a side note: Today I learnt how to pixelate faces with Gimp!)

Take photographs of student work to discuss as part of a lesson

Photographing is a great way of capturing the hands-on experiences of students during a Maths lesson. I took my class out to the playground to explore the concept of position - under, over, between, through etc. The students posed for photos in a position on the playground. I then printed them out straight away and we made labels to go with the images eg. "Hannah is between the bars".

Another time students worked in groups to make buildings out of 3D shape blocks. I took photos of the buildings and then put the images up on the interactive whiteboard for discussion. Students named the different 3D shapes that had been used. This allowed for everyone to have a good view of the buildings without the issues of students crowding the building or blocking someone's view.

As a spelling lesson, students worked in groups of three to make words with a common rime. As soon as a group had made a word they brought it to me and had their photo taken. They then went off to make another word. We then used the digital images to review the words and select spelling words for the week. (Faces are cropped her for privacy but were present in class activities).

Take photographs during excursions, special school events and cooking sessions

Photographs help to aid memory when students sit down to write. If you want students to write a recount of a special event photographs are a great visual aid to assist with ordering the events and including details. When writing a procedure they provide additional visual information which may be difficult to explain in words. These recounts could be made into a PowerPoint slideshow, Photostory or movie and shared with the school community online.

Capture moments of interest to share in class

If you have a camera with you when you're out and about (even as an application on your phone) you can be on the lookout for images that will interest your students. I have captured rainbows, dragonflies, cockatoos and hot air balloons to discuss with students in class. This is a great way of bringing science into the classroom without a lot of fuss. It also provides the opportunity to show how science relates to real world experiences.

Take photos for students to use in their artwork

Students can create multi-media artworks including photographs of themselves as the subject. I have seen classes where a photograph was taken and cut along the line of symmetry. Students then drew in the other side of their face.

Recently my students were creating an underwater scene of The Great Barrier Reef. One student asked if we could include a photograph of them pretending to swim as part of the collage. Students lay on the floor and posed for photos which were easily printed and included in the artwork.

Take photos of students with their parents at the school

When we have a learning journey at our school I keep out the camera to take photos of students with their parents as they demonstrate their learning. You can capture some really lovely moments during this time. These photos also remind students about their parents' interest in their learning.

The Blogger Behind This Blog #3

7 Things You Really Don't Need To Know About Me

Lyn Tiernan tagged me with this meme. I'm actually very glad to have been tagged as I'm missing "my kids" and am struggling to think of interesting things to write! To make it interesting, I thought I'd make it a photo meme. (Thanks Lyn, I've had a fun afternoon going through ALL my photos - digital and printed!)

1. I like to paint. I'm no artist, by any means, but every now and then I get satisfaction from playing with paint. I like to paint in the abstract, but my hubby prefers paintings that look like the subject. Here's one I painted of my dog for my hubby's birthday. I love the texture of oil paints. I love how it stays all globby on the canvas. New York City brings out the artist in me more than anywhere else I've been.

2. I was in Times Square for New Years Eve 2006/7. I stood waiting for 10 hours for the ball to drop. Once you're 'in' you can't leave to buy food, drink or go to the toilet. We bought some Subway subs at 2pm to snack on during our wait. By 3pm they were all smooshed and sloppy from the crush of the crowd. Don't know that it was worth it, but not EVERYONE can say they've done it! All the paraphernalia I'm wearing was provided by the organisers and I bring it out for dress-up days at school!

3. We are a "fur kid family". My dog is like a child to me. We got him as a pup 7 years ago. He goes just about everywhere with us. He even moved to New York City with us when we lived there for a year. We've taught him all sorts of things so that our lives run more smoothly (and for fun too). He won't cross the road without our say so. We generally walk him off-lead, and when we want him to stay by our side we say "Stay close" and he does! He's also great company. When it's just him and me at home, I talk to him as though he understands English, and he responds at though he does. Here's a video of when I was teaching him how to swim. We used an old drink bottle and threw it out just a little further than he could stand. Eventually he got it!

4. When I was a kid I loved to climb. I particularly liked to climb the 'spider web' at a park in my city. I climbed rocks and trees and had no fear of heights. I remember the day my dad told me he thought I had gotten too old for climbing trees. I was probably about 14 at the time and had never thought a time would come when I couldn't climb trees. I understand that it's not socially acceptable any more, but it still burns within me. (I must admit, I did climb a tree at school this year because one of the kids from my class had got his teddy bear stuck up it!)

5. When I was in preschool, my grandparents came to visit and brought with them a lamb that they found wandering by the side of the road. We adopted him and called him Woolly. I took him to preschool and was very chuffed to be like Mary from the old nursery rhyme! He kept jumping out of his box and running around to the amusement of everyone. I was sad the day we ran out of grass and had to take him to a farm where one day he would become someone's dinner!

6. This is what my bedroom looked like when I was a TEENAGER! Need I say more? Just so you understand how embarrassingly 'nice' I was:

Yes, that is a teddybear on my bed - given to me by my mum so that I wouldn't need to hug boys.

Yes, it is a frilly, white, anglaise bedspread with cute embroidered pillows.

No, I don't know WHY I had a grizzly bear poster!

And all those little pictures on the wall? Most of those are pictures of babies photographed by Anne Geddes. (I went through a whole "baby phase" where I also cut out the lists of births from the newspapers each week and collected baby names.) Other pictures are photos of friends and arty farty photos I took for my photography class.

7. Finally, no list about me would be complete without SOME mention of "the hair". This is probably the most radical my hair ever was. As you can see, I had a fringe!! YES, a fringe. The rest of my life my hair has been as long as I can put up with it - usually somewhere between mid-back and mid-butt. Its never been dyed, permed or anything else. When I need a cut I usually have it done in-house. I've been using Pantene for years and swear by it.

And now, to pass this meme on, I tag the following 7 people:

Pat at Successful Teaching

AlannahK at Life is not a race to be first finished

Lili11 at Be Beautiful

Life Learner at Life is...all about Lifelong Learning

Carissa at Good and Crazy People (even though I know she hates these things!)

at Amy at Resourceful Mommy

and Bec who will one day start a blog

Don't feel you have to play along. But be sure to let me know if you do.

I won an award!

I was very excited to discover I had received this award from Lili11, but with all the hustle and bustle of the last couple of weeks, I just haven't got around to doing anything with it yet. This is my very first blog award, so I find that pretty cool too. Thanks Lili11, I'm glad you like my blog. Lili11 has a whole stack of blogs that you can check out through her profile.

Rules for the Butterfly Award:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Put a link to the person you received the award from.
3. Pass this award on to 10 bloggers.
4. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
5. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

I'm a bit of a stickler for wording, but also like to challenge rules and authority from time to time, so I'm going to pass this on to ONE and ONLY ONE other blogger which I really feel fits the title of the "Coolest Blog I Know". This blog is one I really look forward to reading in Google Reader. It's an easy read, a lot of fun, usually funny and always (and I mean ALWAYS) puts me in a good mood. As far as I can tell, she's not trying to push a product or collect a bunch of followers. She's just cruisin' along writing a brilliant blog about her life and her little one. And let me tell you, it doesn't take much reading to fall in love with that little one. So what is this blog of which I speak?
Check out Rachel's blog at "Following in My Shoes"

CONGRATULATIONS Rachel and thanks for keeping me entertained through the coolest blog I've ever known.

The Year To Come - 2009

I am excited at the prospect of a new year and have already been busy thinking, dreaming and planning what 2009 will hold.

At school I will be teaching year 4 with a male teacher who I've worked well with in the past. Our Integrated Inquiry units will include the topics:

Personal Relationships - including a novel study of "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda, nature conservation at a local ridge, and hopefully the development of a class blog. Through this unit students will learn about building and maintaining positive relationships; and roles and responsibilities within a community.

Australian History - including a focus on Aboriginal history prior to British colonisation and then the different challenges faced by settlers up until the time of federation. Through this unit I would like to see students developing timelines with Dipity and trying out video casts to explain Australian history.

Textiles and Design - looking at fabrics and their uses, exploring different techniques with textiles, and creating their own designs to suit a particular purpose. I would like to see children working in team project groups to liaise with others, determine needs and wants, and produce products to meet communicated needs eg. costumes for school dance performance, craft items for school fete and commemorative t-shirt for year co-hort.

The Solar System - including an understanding of apparent size/distance, gravitational pull, current information from space exploration and the causes of changes to the surface of the Earth or atmosphere. There are numerous interesting and useful websites to support this unit of work.

At school I will also be working on our Student Enrichment Policy - trying to link up, document and promote all the great things the school does to enrich student learning and growth. I am excited by this prospect because I really do feel the school does this so well.
I've also expressed an interest in helping the school find and purchase a class set of laptop computers. Given that we now have wireless internet access, I can't wait to get the students started on laptops!

In my 'computer world', I hope to connect more with my personal learning network - testing out my webcam and exploring "Flash Meetings". I want to do some more podcasting, for Link 4 Learning, but also consider its future direction. I've recently taken on a Blog Carnival, so hopefully will be able to maintain this throughout the year (the first edition will be out on Jan 7). I'm keen to get my Delicious accounts working for me even more than they are currently. And, I'm sure I'll be surprised by a number of other opportunities that will pop up.

On the home front, there will probably be renovations, and hopefully a 30th Birthday overseas trip for my husband. He wants to see the Northern Lights and also drive on the German Autobahn. With all of this, it will come down to how much we can save up and what we decide to prioritize! Speaking of prioritizing, I'd like to get back into my running - probably early morning, or home from work in the afternoons.

All in all, it's looking like a great year.