SKYPE!

Today my class skyped with our classroom aid, who is vacationing in Hawaii!  What a great experience for the kids.  They were so tickled with the whole operation, from the webcam to the conversation.  It was an exciting event and I can't wait to do it again.  If anybody has any ideas for classroom skype uses, I'd love to hear about them.  We are planning to find an author to skype with, but I'd love to skype with another classroom somewhere far away.  We felt very professional with our video conference call today!

New Teachers Promotion

The IRA is currently promoting new teacher membership with a discount ~ new teachers can become members for $29!  This is $29 well spent.  You will have access to a members only section of the website, and they are creating a new teacher zone where new teachers can get tips and ideas.  Wish this had been around when I was just starting out!

Don't forget to attend the Western Kentucky Council of KRA meeting on Thursday, Sept. 30th!

Reading Today Daily

I was just browsing the IRA website, and enjoying the Reading Today Daily feature.  Reading Today takes top news articles about literacy from other sources and writes up an abstract and provides the link to the article.  Tonight I read an abstract linked to an article from the Washington Post about a research study dealing with children's daily computer use as it relates to their standardized test scores.  I was able to follow the link and read the article, which seemed to show a positive outlook on computer usage, even gaming, increasing test scores.  I also read about a traveling exhibit from the Library of Congress called The Gateway to Knowledge, which would bring replicated famous objects around the country so that people can see them.  You can get the dates and cities on http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-195.html   There were several other short articles posted, and as I read them I thought, it is amazing how much information is readily available and easily accessible.  Filtering all of the information that is out there is so time consuming, so it's great that organizations like IRA are searching for the valuable, "good stuff" and putting it through on their website in quick doses.  I love being able to scan articles quickly for updates on research and news for literacy topics.  If you get a chance, visit IRA's website http://www.reading.org/ to see more of what I'm writing about!

I am a member of the International Reading Association's Teacher Advisory Panel.  As a member of TAP, I enjoy receiving first-hand information from IRA. Currently IRA is having a book sale, and many premium educational resources are being sold for $7!  I always find current information in the resources I get from IRA.  Just look for the marketplace on http://www.reading.org/ . 
I am a member of the Kentucky Reading Association as well, and am looking forward to a great conference on Halloween weekend.  I will be presenting about RTI strategies, so if you are attending and need some reading intervention strategies come to my session! 
On September 30th, at 6:00pm, the Western Kentucky Reading Council of KRA will hold a meeting at WKU in room 366 of Tate Page Hall.  We will have the opportunity to hear Dr. Pam Petty of WKU speak about helping your students shift from passive to active reading. 
I also have to share a great happening in my classroom today! Last weekend I attended a technology conference with the Kentucky Writing Project where I received a free IPod Touch and webcam for attending.  Today, I told my second grade students I was giving it to the class to use this year.  I showed them how to make a voice memo and put it in a reading station with the Arnold Lobel book, Days With Frog and Toad.  Those kids were so excited!  They couldn't wait to use it!  They did a pretty good job too!  I am so glad that there are ways we can get expensive technology into student hands who would normally not have access to it.