This is my wiki page for PSU 464.

 

 

I am a Kindergarten/First Grade looping teacher at Lynch-Bustin Elementary for  the Athens Area School District. I am teaching first grade this year. I have been teaching for 23 years. I have three children. Nicole is a first grade teacher for Athens.  Todd works and lives in New York City. He works for Metropolitan Telecommunications in Manhattan. Travis, is a senior at Sayre and is hoping to attend Penn State University next fall. He plays basketball and golf. He works at Joe's Marine for gas money. In my free time I enjoy walking, reading, and eating. My husband Jim and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in August. We also have a golden retreiver, Carmella. She is 7 months old.

 

I am a Kindergarten/First Grade looping teacher. So I have the best of both worlds. I get to teach the same children for two years. So far it has had many advantages. I have not seen the disadvantages. Parents have the choice to opt out of a loop, but luckily I have not had that problem.

 

Some of my favorite websites are:

www.kinderkorner.com

www.kidskorner4teachertalk.com

www.teachingheart.net   (Themes)

www.edina.k12.mn.us  (Six Traits of Writing)

www.mrsmcgowan.com  (Themes)

www.cyberspaces.net/6traits

www.print-bingo.com   (bingo games)

www.puzzlemaker.com   (crossword puzzles, word searches)

www.teachingheart.com  (Themes)

www.atozteacherstuff.com

 

Lesson Plans

 

Virtual Technology Lesson Plans:

In December, in First Grade our theme is "Christmas Around the World". We learn about holiday customs in Germany, France, Mexico and Italy. We have special guest speakers. The virtual tour that we have been using in the computer lab is:

http://www.tramline.com/tours/cross/xmas/

 

 

The websites that I liked for Virtual Tours are:

 www.educationworld.com 

 www.nationalgeographic.com.

 www.carteretcountyschools.org

www.itchysalphabet.com

www.field-trips.org

 

 http://www.tramline.com/tours/cross/xmas/_tourlaunch1.htm

 

 

One of the virtual technology websites that I use weekly in my First Grade classroom is www.Unitedstreaming .com. My class really enjoys these videos.

 

 

Kidspiration Lesson Plan:

Caterpillar Capers: For this lesson I would read Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". We would discuss the kinds of snacks the hungry caterpillar ate and I would model the use of Kidspiration Healthy Snacks. We would discuss healthy vs. nonhealthy snacks. The student would then put a snack in the appropriate grocery cart on KIDSPIRATION-Healthy Snacks.   Students will be able to sort and classify healthy and non healthy snacks using the computer program KIDSPIRATION.  For a culminating activity, we would make a first grade book class book called "The Very Hungry First Grader".  I would take their picture with my digital camera and they would each choose a healthy snack to illustrate for their page with their picture. The link for this lesson is www.kidspiration.com. It is free for 60 days. I believe that Athens will be purchasing this with their grant money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animal Alphabet Book

In First grade we love to publish alphabet books. We have created an ABC book for Frog and Toad, a Halloween ABC book and we will do one for every month of the school year. For an Animal Alphabet book, the students would use the internet, prior knowledge and field trips to learn about the animals. We would start by brainstorming animals that start with each letter of the alphabet. Students would then be assigned a letter of the alphabet and they could choose an animal. They could then look it up on the internet and then complete their page for the class book. They would illustrate their animal and write a fact about the animal. I would copy the final copy of the ABC book.

 

 

Digital Photography:

 

I use digital photography in my Kindergarten/First Grade looping class. I take pictures with my digital camera beginning in Kindergarten and take many pictures throughout Kindergarten and First Grade. At the end of First Grade I create a DVD with our favorite songs in the background. At my end of the year program I show the DVD. There are many tears when the parents see this DVD. Also my children make scrapbooks for Kindergarten and First Grade. Once again I use the digital camera for the pictures that I use. I also make many collages throughout the school year with pictures that I have downloaded. My students love to help make these collages.

 

 

Wiki and the Classroom Environment:

 

I would like to use the Wiki as a teaching tool. I would like to use it as an online collaboration tool. I would like to be able to share ideas with other teachers. I would also like to look at other teacher's ideas. The internet has been such a great teaching enhancement and I think that using a wiki page as a collaboration tool would benefit many teachers.

 

Web Page

 

I update my web page weekly. Most of my parents check it to see what we will be doing every week. They know ahead of time activities that we will be doing in our class. They also know any important dates. I just started updating weekly this year and it has saved me a lot of time. I use to create a weekly newsletter and sent it home on Fridays. Now I just update on Sunday for the following week. I also have the First Grade Sight words that can be downloaded. If I forget something I can quickly make any changes on the computer.

 

Inspiration Lesson Plan

 

I teach word families to my first grade students, using poems, books, and many games. To check for understanding and review word families the students would use the inspiration program to sort words in to the correct word families. This lesson could be done in our computer lab.

 

Pod Casting:

 

We do many reader's theatres in First Grade. It would be great for those parents who cannot come in, to be able to view the reader's theatre on the pod cast. Parents could also view specific topics that we are learning about by viewing a pod cast. For example, we do an extensive study of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in our first grades in Athens. Some parents have no clue as to exactly what this is. Parents would be able to view our pod cast and learn for themselves.

 

Powerpoint and Podcast Lesson Plan:

 

Our group of five teachers decided to make a powerpoint presentation using "Mr. Nat.". This is a song that the children learn in Kindergarten and First Grade. This song teaches the "at" word family. We recorded my class singing the song that goes with the powerpoint. This podcast could be used by families at home to reinforce the word family taught at school. Click on the following:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G0M_KhUZlw

 

 

Webquest:                                       Word Families

 

 

A WebQuest for Primary Grades (Literacy)

Designed by

Webquest by Cathy Gabriel, Martha Close, Janet Hughes, Glenda Otten, Lisa Simons

cgabriel@mail.athensasd.k12.pa.us

 Put some interesting graphic representing the content here

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits

 

 

 

Introduction

 

 

 

 

WELCOME TO THE WORD FAMILY

 

What is a word family?

 

New ways to build your vocabulary!!!

 

 

How many words can you find in the same word family?

 

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The Task

 

 

 

It is your job to make new words and see words of the same word family! 

 

 

 

Go to: http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/play.htm?f

 

 

 

 

 

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The Process

 

 

 

You will:

 

1. Choose a word family.
2. Pick letters to make words that match the picture.
3. Drag the letter to the space to make the word.
4. At the end, you will read the words that you have made.
5. Click the green arrow to choose another word family.

 

 

 

 

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Evaluation 

 

 

Show your teacher what you have learned by making a flip book with one ofthe word families that you learned. Read the words to a partner and then your teacher.

 

 

 

 

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Conclusion

 

There are many word families that you worked with today:

 

Were you able to match the words with the pictures?

 

Did you learn a lot?

 

Would you visit this website again?

 

 

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Credits & References

 

starfall.com

instantprojects.org

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Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based on a template from