DEN Goes Viral Project Success

In the Fall I had the opportunity to participate in a wonderful project with the DEN (Discovery Education Network).  We had to pick a topic and then create a video similar to the “Did You Know” Video created by Scott McLeod. 

Chad Lehman, DEN Community Manager headed the project and I was one of the Team Leaders.  The topic I chose was “iPads In The Classroom”.  I love using iPads in the classroom but wanted to learn more information from other educators.

I created an Edmodo group and approximately 22 members joined the project.  We had a lot of great discussions along with asking everyone to contribute facts for our video.

Tom McLaughlin, a DEN Star, offered to put together the video for us.  He put together the entire video on his iPad1.  Tom also blogged about this experience at Behind The Scenes of the Did You Know iPad Edition. 

To wrap up the project we had a video conference with Chad Lehman!  We talked about the pros and cons of the project.  Chad wrote a wonderful article which featured our video! 

I hope this summer to have the opportunity to work with the same group of terrific educators along with inviting some new ones to create a part II of our video!

New Year’s Resolution

Well, once again it is that time of year again when we reflect on last year and look towards a new year.  We always set expectations for ourselves such as losing weight, exercising more, and even getting more sleep.  I actually made two lists this year.  The first list was for me, the second list was for my professional development. 

I have a list of blogging topics which I have wanted to blog about since September.  Well, it is time that I start blogging regularly.  At first I thought I would blog weekly and then realized quickly that it is the 9^th of January, I was not going to keep that resolution very long.  So I made the decision to blog monthly and perhaps bi-monthly if I have the opportunity.

New Year….New Me!

What is your Professional Development New Year’s Resolution?

App Page On My Blog

Hello Everyone!

Well, it has been a while since I have posted.  I will be adding to my App Page because that is where I am spending a lot of my time recently!

Please take some time to check it out!

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By I.C. Springman

Illustrated by Brian Lies

I could not wait till I got home today from school to rip open the box from Amazon.  I was tracking this box since yesterday and I placed the order well over a month ago!

You are probably wonderful how a picture book can bring so much excitement to an adult.  Well, I want to let you know all about it!

I have always been a huge fan of Brian Lies.  He is a wonderful author and an incredible illustrator.  Brian Lies wrote and illustrated books such as Bats in the Library, Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Ballgame,  along with many others.  

While in grad school I was taking a children's literature class and had to write and present about my favorite author.  Hands down I knew who I was going to write about and was actually looking forward to this assignment.  I thought it would be fun to write to Brian and ask him if I could interview him.  I did not expect to get an answer but within a day I heard back from Brian saying he would be happy to help me out!  (I admit, I screamed with excitement, glad no one was around).  At the time he was illustrating Bats at the Ballgame so it was easier to communicate through email. He was so kind and answered all my questions.  It was an incredible experience and to this day I give Brian Lies the credit for the A in that class. 

So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that he was illustrating a new book.  More is a beautifully illustrated book and the words are simple but powerful.  The combination of the two truly makes an incredible book.  Immediately, I thought about how this book will be fabulous to use in the classroom.  The story teaches a lesson (you will have to read the book), plus I can see how the students and I can spend a lot of time talking about the pictures and what they see.

Another inspirational book to add to my library!  Thanks I.C Springman and Brian Lies for a fantastic book!

Check out Brian Lies website

You can get lesson ideas, learn more about Brian Lies, or see his sensational illustrations. 

http://www.brianlies.com/index.htm

Celebrating Dr. Seuss

http://www.mamiverse.com/30-dr-seuss-quotes-to-live-by-4920/

While on Pinterest, I came across 30 Dr. Seuss Quotes to Live By.  When I went to the link, there was a link to embed this on your website or blog.  How could I not!  I thought it was great to put in a classroom as a reminder of how children's books can teach us throughout our lives!

Have you been to Berenstain Bear Country?

I was very sad today when I heard of the death of Jan Berenstain. Jan along with her husband Stan created an amazing set of books that will always teach children great lessons.  They wrote and illustrated over 300 books.  After Stan’s death in 2005, Mike, their son, helped Jan to continue creating wonderful books.  With Jan’s death today, I hope that Mike will continue the legacy that his parents started in the 1960s.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many books I “wore” out from reading them over and over again.  As a teacher, I absolutely LOVED reading these books to my students.  I always enjoyed telling my student how the Berenstain family were born, raised, and lived in Pennsylvania.  The students always thought that was amazing to think that the “Berenstain Bears lived in our state”.  These books were not only entertaining but they taught the students many lessons.

The Berenstain Bears has a fabulous site, check it out!

https://www.berenstainbears.com/

Please share your favorite Berenstain Bear book below…

PETE&C Pre-Conference Day of Discovery!

Wow!  What a wonderful day of Discovery!  I look forward to Discovery Education offering a wonderful pre-conference day at Pete & C each year.  I have never attended Pete & C but after this year I decided I am not missing it next year!

The opening presentation was a collaboration demonstration by Hall Davison, Lance Rougeux, and Steve Dembo.  They talked about how we need to look at the 22^nd Century because many schools are surpassing the 21^st Century.   One great app they talked about was “Life of George” created by Legos.  It’s an amazing app and you will want to check out for your classroom!  I left their presentation excited about the rest of the day!

The first session I attended was the Collective Brain given by Lance Rougeux.  He showed us many fabulous websites that would be a wonderful resource in our classroom, such as http://www.yasiv.com  (Amazon’s Product Visualization) and http://agoogleaday.com, which asks a question a day.  Great ideas!

The second session was iThink iNeed iPads in my Classroom presented by Steve Dembo.  Steve showed us many amazing apps along with Apple TV.  He showed us how beneficial it was to have Apple TV in our classroom if you are using iPads.  It was amazing to show our favorite apps by displaying our iPad on the screen.

After lunch there was a DEN Star Showcase. I had the great privilege to share Web 2.0 Tools, which I love.  It was called Beyond the Classroom Walls.  I met so many wonderful people and had the opportunity to share all the wonderful things that are taking place in my school.

My final session of the day was learning about Scratch. Scratch is a great downloadable package to teach programing.   I remember programming years ago and it seem like you wrote a hundred lines to have Hello come up on your screen.  I am so excited that teachers are still teaching it because I think it is important that students understand have programs work.

Once again, it was a fun-filled and educational day.  Reed Timmer, Discovery Education Meteorologist, made a guest appearance today! WOW!  That was awesome!

Overall it was a great day of learning! Can’t wait for the next one!