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LEFTHOMEREADER TEACHER AUTHORRESEARCHER MOTHERABOUT MERIGHT
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Monday, June 30, 2014

Early Childhood Symposium 2014

I was able to assist in a two-day symposium provided by Utah State Universities Early Childhood department.  I was very excited beforehand to meet the two keynote speakers, Dr. Douglas Fisher and former IRA President, Dr. Maureen McLaughlin.  

Here I am setting up the room as the prepped the sound system.  

He spoke about the top 5 most important Common Core Standards and how in San Diego, they conduct research in literacy that focuses on Close Reading of text.  The teachers were taught how to choose, teach and determine text complexity.  He was an excellent speaker with stories, book recommendations, video's, jokes, research points, and he even brought his text to give-away to each participant.  







The second day of training with Dr. Maureen McLaughlin was more literature-based with picture book mini-lesson ideas, ways to use music in the classroom to teach and other information about the Common Core Standards and how they came about.  I was hoping to hear more about her international experiences but that didn't come up as I'd hoped.  



Overall, I enjoyed the presentations, and loved getting to know the speakers personally during lunch.  The teachers also felt like they learned a lot and some even went on to take college credit with me about the topics that came up during the conference in an online class.  

POSTSIG

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Kinesthetic Learning DVD

An older movie created by the Kovalik Associates.  I wish they would update this.  There were some good messages and activities within though like the Geography song/ dance, math in PE ideas, and just the idea of kinesthetic learning.  



POSTSIG

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Fifth Grade Portfolio Ideas

My son had a master teacher this year.  He loved her, she loved him.  He learned so much and produced great work.  His end of year portfolio was evidence of that.  If you teach fifth grade, here are some great ideas.
















Children's Book Blogs


Wonder about what blogs are up to these days?  Check these out...
  1. Allie Jones of In Bed with Books
  2. Camille Powell of BookMoot
  3. Charlotte Taylor of Charlotte’s Library
  4. Chris Barton of Bartography
  5. Holly of Book Harbinger
  6. Jen Bigheart of  I Read Banned Books
  7. Jen Robinson of Jen Robinson’s Book Page
  8. Jennifer Donovan of 5 Minutes for Books
  9. Julia Garza of January Day
  10. Katy Manck of BooksYALove
  11. Kelly Jensen of STACKED
  12. Lee Wind of I’m Here. I’m Queer. What The Hell Do I Read?
  13. Leila Roy of Bookshelves of Doom
  14. Maria Burel of Once Upon A Story
  15. Maureen Kearney of Confessions of a Bibliovore and Kid Tested, Librarian Approved
  16. Melissa Fox of Book Nut
  17. Pam Coughlan of MotherReader
  18. Paula Willey of Pink Me
  19. Rosemond Cates of Big Hair and Books
  20. Sarah Stevenson of Finding Wonderland
  21. Sheila Ruth of Wands and Worlds 


Monday, June 2, 2014

Old Clothes and Old Friends

A former student and new buddy of mine decided to go out to dinner and check out a vintage clothing store nearby.  It was a great nice of good conversation and great costume dress ups.  That store had everything!



Sunday, June 1, 2014

Journals

Just got my new journal, or as I like to call it, my writer's notebook.  The choosing of the journal is one that has to call out to you.  This is definitely where I'm at these days.