Professional Information

Project Based Learning in My Classroom
In my 11 years of teaching, I have never had experience with Project Based Learning. I think it could be easily implemented in a Pre-K classroom because it is similar to the approach on learning we currently use. We teach by themes and incorporate all subjects, learning centers, and go on appropriate field trips. I used Google to search some ideas and found tons of resources. My favorite was a unit called The Lunch Project. The teacher developed the unit after realizing where her student interests and needs were. The way that the project unfolded and the learning that took place was truly inspiring. Please follow the link to check it out!
Resource:http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v7n1/floerchinger.html

Glogster is a website that allows students to create visual displays of information. It is fun to use and you can get quite creative with all of the options. I liked the Glopedia where you can find tons of examples of other glogs. The only thing that I did not like, was when I hovered over a button, before clicking on it, it didn't say what the symbol meant, so I wasn't sure what all of the buttons did. Click the link below to check out my glog!
http://edu.glogster.com/glog/lindsey-wallace-ect-510/2if1633twad

Video Projects in My Classroom
I have looked at several video projects that I love! My favorite was story-telling lip syncs, in which younger students tell the stories they created and adults act out the stories. The clips I viewed were hysterical! In my classroom, I would use that idea and have upper elementary students work with my Pre-K students. I would start simple- after reading a book aloud several times, my students would do a retelling of the story and the older students would do the acting. Then as the year went on, I would allow my students to make up their own stories. I would do it at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. This way, at the end of the year I have a great parent gift and we could all see the growth they make in one year!
This is a podcast I created using Audacity.  


This is a snapshot of the Popplet I made about using technology in my Pre-K classroom. I listed four types of technology I will use: blogs, iPad, SMARTboard, and MovieMaker. Then I told two specific ways I will use that technolgy. I made this Popplet easily after creating my Popplet account. I really like this website. I think it is user friendly, which is important for technologically challenged people like me! I think that students would really enjoy concept mapping using Popplet!

Read, Write, Think

ReadWriteThink.org is an excellent resource for teachers! I have never used it before, but I will start using it in my planning this summer. The website offers classroom resources as well as professional development, videos and parent and afterschool resources. My favorite part of the website are the lesson plans. There are tons of free lessons with resources available. The state standards, Common Core standards, and IRA/NCTE National standards are identified for each lesson. The lessons give teachers everything they need from preparation to extension activities. You can search by grade level, lesson plan type, objective, or theme. I will use this resource when I do my planning for the school year. I follow a curriculum, but I am able to supplement as needed. I will search lessons that match the concepts that I am teaching, and see what I can use.

Lesson # 1: Active reading using The Enormous Watermelon- In this lesson, children will identify main characters from nursery rhymes and identify high frequency words in nursery rhymes. In the first lesson, students will read several nursery rhymes aloud as a class, they will identify the main characters in each. The teacher can use the rebus rhymes found on enchantedlearning.com to help students ready rhymes independently.  In the next lesson, students will read the book The Enormous Watermelon and find the characters from the nursery rhymes within the story. For the final lesson, students will have high frequency words on index cards and they should find their match. In my Pre-K classroom, I would have to adapt the high frequency word matching game. I could focus on matching rhyming picture cards, instead. (Egg and leg, star and car, etc.) My kids would love “reading” the rebus rhymes.

Lesson # 2: A is for Apple: Building Letter recognition fluency- In this lesson, students will engage in various activities to identify letters and letter sounds. There are three different websites that students will visit to “hunt” for words starting with different letters of the alphabet. Students will record what they find in an ABC book that they will make. This lesson would be fun at the end of the year in my classroom, once I have introduced all of the letters.  It would be a great way to review. I could use the suggested websites throughout the year in my computer center as well as in large group on the SMARTboard.

URL: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/apple-building-letter-recognition-132.html

International Literacy Association 
The ILA is an organization with over 60 years of experience in promoting literacy across the globe. I chose to join this organization to be one among the over 300,000 educators, researchers and experts that are already members. Their mission is to “empower educators, inspire students, and encourage leaders with the resources they need to make literacy accessible for all.” I want to be a part of that. Being a member of ILA offers many resources and opportunities for me as an educator. There are conferences, where educators can connect with one another and learn about the latest research and developments in literacy. There are numerous online resources, including: Literacy Today magazine, Literacy Daily blog, journals and articles written by literacy experts, as well as instructional units. The ILA has published several books that can be purchased at a discount by members. I feel that literacy is a gift everyone should receive, but not everyone has. I joined ILA to help give the gift of literacy to everyone.   ILA flier

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