It's Time For...

My 40th High School Reunion!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh my goodness....where in the world has the time gone???  40 years since I graduated from high school...it's hard to comprehend at times.  I certainly don't feel like it's been that long!!!  Actually, I am blessed to be able to say it's my 40th!!!

What's interesting about this is....I was only at that high school one year!  Yep, it's true.  I moved throughout my childhood years with my family, about every two years, due to my dad's job.  So.... my senior year in high school I was at a brand new high school!  Amazing huh! :)

If you know of anyone who graduated from Lexington Senior High School (Lexington, NC) in 1971, please have them go to Facebook and add their name to our Alumni page:  https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=135503386486167 and  https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=65295708853&v=wall.  I am always amazed at what a small world it is and you never know...someone you know may be an alumni.

Look What I Found!!!

This week I shared some information with a few of my teacher buddies about companies currently having sweepstake entries for schools.  That got me thinking....wonder if there are any other education sweepstakes or grants out there right now??  So I did a little research and found a few companies currently accepting entries or grant proposals!!!  With funding for education always on the "chopping block", I've found it never hurts to enter or apply for any of these.  Donors Choose is a perfect example and my teacher buddies have all been extremely successful with their proposals!!  Hope some of you decide to check these sites out...let me know how it goes!!!

Discovery Education Technology:  http://www.sweepstakeslovers.com/sweepstakes/?p=cdwg.discoveryeducation.com/wawl/

Target Grant/Reading:  http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031821#

Target Grant/Arts& Culture:  http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031819

Verizon Education/Literacy:  http://foundation.verizon.com/grant/guidelines.shtml

Bright Ideas:  http://www.ncbrightideas.com/Home.aspx

Digital Wish (similar to Donors Choose but Technology Oriented):  http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/grant_awards

Special Needs Teachers:  http://www.mossfoundation.org/mossfoundation.org/paged708.html?id=3

While searching for grant and sweepstakes opportunities, I also found a few sites offering free lesson plans.  Perhaps you will find some resources on these sites for use with your students or fellow teachers!!

Verizon Site for Free Lesson Plans:  http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Technology Blog with Free Resources for Teachers:  http://www.freetech4teachers.com

What's A Wordle???

Technology is a love of mine and in my house I'm affectionately called a "geek"!!  I am by no means proficient in all the latest technology but I do love to learn about technology.  So the other day I was reading a teacher's blog and she talked about "wordles"...what in the world is a wordle???  So I followed the link and found out a wordle "is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."  Of course, I had to try it out!!!  Check out my Wordle at the top of my post; it's a Wordle of my Blog!!!  Anyway, go to http://www.wordle.net/  where you can try it out and see for yourself!

Now my teacher friends...you know me...I began to think about how it could be used with students.  You could create posters of student reactions to a piece of literature, create a word poster of synonyms, antonyms, etc., create a poster about character traits.  You get the idea.  I found a link with lots of ideas on how to use wordles in the classroom:  http://www.slideshare.net/JenniferW/wordle-ideas !!  Maybe this will inspire you to think of lots more ways you can use Wordle!

Also while reading, I discovered an opportunity for those "techie teachers" who want to learn all about the newest ideas in technology.  Did you know teachers can become  "Google Certified Teachers"?  Yep, they can!!  Google has a "Google Teacher Academy" and all you have to do is submit a creative entry and you could be selected to attend a Google training session.  Isn't that just way cool!!  Interested? 

Go to http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html and check it out!!!  Trainings are held in different locations at different times during the year.  Maybe I'll get to hear about one of you being selected!! 

Oh... by the way, there's a contest on Google for Educators too!  It's called "Doodle4Google" and students can design a new Google.com homepage, submit it and possibly win a scholarship!! 

Check it out at: http://www.google.com/doodle4google/.    

Happy Teching to All,

Whose Keeping Me On My Toes??

One of the adventures I decided to have upon retiring was learning to blog...not something I'd ever thought of doing until recently.  So with great enthusiasm, I forged ahead and signed up to start a blog.  Now you need to remember this was all new to me, so I had to find a blog site, pick a design and figure out what all the gadgets were...let me tell you it took some time!!! 

Okay, mission accomplished...the blog was set up; now all I had to do was decide what to write.  Not being a writer, I decided to pick some topics I thought might be of interest to others.  I mainly hoped to share ideas, places of interest, new projects or whatever came along.  Armed with a couple of ideas, I started New Adventures 2011 not knowing exactly what to expect.

Then came a brilliant thought...who would know I was writing a blog???  Who would read my blog??  Hmm, another brilliant thought...I'll post it on my Facebook page!!  What was I thinking??  (Well, I really wanted to try my hand at writing and this would be a pretty safe way to experiment without making a total fool of myself!)  LOL!!!!!

With these brilliant thoughts, the blog was a go.  I posted it on my Facebook page and hoped for the best.  What I didn't realize was it takes some thought and preparation to do a blog!!  Duhhhh...another brilliant thought!  Let me tell you, it's not always easy to have an idea to blog about on a daily basis.  So I've had a few days go by without writing on my blog or posting it.  I believe the technical term is "writer's block" but I prefer to call it "brain freeze" at my age!! :)

Well, the next thing I know, my two daughters are talking about my new blog!  Seems they can't believe I am blogging...you know " Mom?? Blog??  Get Real!!"  Hey, at least they are reading it, right??  So now the pressure is on...have to show my two daughters I am capable of doing this blog!!  I mean....hey, I can learn new things!!  So now I have an audience...never mind some of  the audience is related to me.

I've done pretty well maintaining my blog posts for the past few weeks, if I do say so myself.  Then it came, the dreaded "brain freeze" so I didn't post a blog.  Big mistake...seems my "family audience" was ready to pounce!!  Next thing I know, my two wonderful daughters are posting on Facebook asking where's my blog for the day???  Okay, that's cool I think.  Oh no....they decide it's time to bash me!!!  Can you imagine that...my own flesh and blood??  Yep, they did just that but me being the mature one...I can take it.  You know why?  Those two young women keep me on my toes!!  I love them both for that.

There will be many more "brain freezes" in my future, I'm sure of that.  However; I have two blog readers that will continue to make sure I step it up!!!  What would I do without them??  Here's to daughters who read their mom's blog and make sure it gets updated!!  Love you girls!!  Thanks for keeping me on my toes!

Got A Nook?

Do you own a Nook or a Kindle?  I haven't bought one because I love the feel of a book in my hand however; I'm giving serious thought to purchasing one in the near future.  My daughter bought a Kindle before Christmas and she absolutely loves it!!! 

Anyway, I was looking at a blog written by a teacher in Florida and came across an absolutely "great idea" related to the Color Nook.  So many times there are children's books we want to use in the classroom but we don't personally have a copy.  We check the school Media Center, check the downtown library and even ask our fellow teachers as we try to put our hands on a copy of the book.  No matter how much we search, there isn't a copy to be found which means we have to order the book.  That means we probably won't receive the book in time to use it right away in our classroom.  Well, this idea could solve your problem.

Use your Color Nook!!  You can order copies of children's books for a third of the cost online and store it on your Nook!!!  Then you can place your Nook under your document camera, allowing students to see the pictures and or words!!  Is that not the best idea!!!  From what I understand, you can even organize your library in folders for a certain unit and have it on hand for home and school planning.  This is a great way to start your classroom library...especially if your funds are limited!!

Okay, I'm just about convinced!!!  Now I have to decide which one!