One week down...

Well, the first week of school is complete! The students were excited to be at school, but I think they were a little shocked when they were at school ALL day! It was quite a shocker for most of the students. We had some fun. We had some tears. We had time to explore the classroom, motor room, and outside. By Friday afternoon, although they were tired, the tears had dried up a little and they were ready to work. I have a feeling that this week another week of transitions. After Labor Day weekend, our classroom routine will be in full swing!!

Updates for this week:

Curriculum Night
Please join us for Curriculum Night Wednesday, August 28. 
Grades Pre K-2 ~ 6:30-7:10, Grades 3-5 ~7:15-8:00
I will do a classroom presentation from 6:30-7:00, then will be available after that for questions. Please feel free to attend the homeroom session during the 6:30 time and meet with me afterwards. I will have handouts available for you to take with you.

International Dot Day
September 15
We will participating in International Dot Day (well, we will make it more a dot week or so). If you want to check on some info on the event, check out the Dot Day website. This will be a great beginning of the year activity as we explore how we each can make our mark this school year. The Dot's theme:

"Make your mark, and see where it takes you."

REMINDERS

• Please remember to have your child wear gym shoes EVERYDAY. We do gross motor activities everyday ~ in the classroom, motor room, and outside (weather permitting). Gym shoes provide the most support and are the safest for the students.

• Please turn in all paperwork signed and be sure that all information is updated with the school for phone calls and mailing.

• Please consider joining the PTA. The PTA has been very supportive of the students and teachers. You don't have to attend every meeting, but helping out is a great way to get to know other parents in the school.

Happy August!

Wow!
It is hard to believe that summer is almost over!! I have to start out by apologizing for not updating this site in a while, but I have been busy finishing up my graduate work. In about two weeks, I will officially have a Masters in Educational Technology. If you'd like to take a look at my two year journey, you can check out my capstone portfolio I have been working on for over 6 months. I will consumed with coursework between now and the first day of school, but it is all well worth it! I have learned so many neat things that I can't wait to try out this year!

photo credit: permission from
flickr user TJ Houston

I hope everyone has enjoyed the summer! I know I have LOVED the weather here in Ohio once all the rain stopped! My family and I have enjoyed a couple trips to Kings Island. The weather has been perfect lately for some outside time. Hopefully, you have enjoyed some too. 

Me and my friend hanging
 with some UC players

In June, I made two trips north to meet and chat with some amazing Ohio educators. First up was #edcampCLE, a participate driven conference where the participants decide the agenda. I was excited to share some time with my #edubestie, Morgan (@room5friends) who shares my love of technology and working with exceptional students. Later in June, I ventured to Columbus to attend the first ever #ohedchat meet up. #ohedchat is a weekly chat that takes place on twitter where Ohio educators discuss various topics effecting our schools. A meet up is were individuals who interact online have a chance to meet in person. For this event, I was about to meet and interact with individuals from my personal learning network (PLN) from twitter. It was great to talk to other educators who have similar views as well as individuals who have similar struggles.

The football women ~ can you find me?

My favorite part of the summer took place this week on July 31. I was fortunate enough to attend the University of Cincinnati's Woman's football clinic. My childhood dream of playing football was fulfilled (well, at least a little bit) as we received a tour of the locker rooms before heading to the field for a little practice. We even met Coach Tuberville!! 
All proceeds from the clinic went to benefit breast cancer research at The Barrett Cancer Center at University of Cincinnati Medical Center. 

Here are a couple upcoming dates you will need to know!

• August 5 Welcome Letters/supply lists to be sent out - I will post Welcome Letter and supply list on this site as well so check back next week.
• August 15 from 6:30-7:30 Welcome Back Ice Cream Social - stop by, visit w/friends, share your exciting summer news, and enjoy some delicious ice cream!
• August 28 from 6:30-8:00 Curriculum Night - This will be a time to meet the staff and learn about academic & behavioral expectations at each grade level.

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!

~Melanie

iLearn 2013 Conference

This weekend several Tri-state organizations will be sponsoring the iLearn 2013 Conference at the Vineyard Church in Tri-County. There some great session about how to better utilize mobile technology for all students. I will be presenting in the afternoon (same session presented twice). Check out the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati's website for more information. 

Hope to see you there!
Melanie


**Updated** If you would like to view my "tweeted" notes as well as my presentation, check out the post I did on Teaching with Technology 2.0.

Sweden and the Arctic

For the next few days, Mrs. B’s Reading Roots class will be reading about Sweden and the Arctic.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Are you from Sweden? 

Do people in Sweden speak English? Do you know some facts about the Arctic?

Our Reading Roots group would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment and share with us!! If you would like to send us an audio or video clip, leave your email in a comment and Mrs. B will email you.

For the Reading Roots students and families, here are a couple of resources about Sweden so that we can learn more about this European country.

National Geographic Kids ~ Sweden
The Official Gateway to Sweden
Sweden on Wikipedia

Connecting Countries and Cultures

Dear blog followers,

My reading class is beginning a section of stories that focus on different countries and cultures. I will be posting a little about the countries and cultures, especially questions that the students may have. This will be a part of building background knowledge for the students as well creating a motivating, authentic audience for our writings. 

What can you do as a follower? The students would love to have some comments that we can read in class. Anyone can comment. (Comments are moderated before posting.) What I am really looking for are people who can be the students personal connection to texts we are reading. For instance, we just started a book about Sweden and the Arctic. I would love to have a comment or two from someone from Sweden and/or the Arctic. Feel free to share this post if you know someone who could help connect our class.

Thanks for your time reading! Sorry the posts have been limited in the past few months, but I have been focusing on creating an eportfolio (electronic portfolio) that showcase myself and the classroom. This process has been time consuming so between lesson planning, grad school, and being a mom, the blog had to suffer a little. I hope to be back up and blogging regularly starting in May.

Melanie