Winner and a new look!

Congrats to Christy for winning the Zane Education 12 month subscription giveaway!  Thanks to all who entered :)  Thank you to Zane Education for providing me the opportunity to review their website- it has lots of useful resources that I will be sure to use in my classroom!  If you are interested in your own subscription, use this code ZE-EDUCOM2012 to receive 10% off your subscription!

I also want to say a big thank you to Barbara at Ruby Slippers Blog Design for my new look.  I entered her giveaway and won a new look!  I just love it.  Barbara was so easy to work with and really listened to what I was looking for.  If you are looking for a new blog design (she has several pre-made or you can go custom knowing she will listen to what you want!) check her out!  You can also go a-la-carte and get just what you need- a button, a header, a signature, etc.  Two thumbs up- thanks Barbara!

I'll leave you with a fun fall picture.  We went to the pumpkin patch and here's what Henry and Wade picked out!

It really wasn't as heavy as he makes it look :)  He's being silly!

Happy Fall!!

Literacy Centers- Fall

Literacy centers are in full swing in my classroom- and it's nice to see some independence with my kiddos so early on in the year!  Here's my latest round of literacy centers... click HERE to get your copy from google docs.  Here's what you will find:

Literacy Center Agenda shows, at a glance, what each center will be doing.

Student Objectives tell what the student will be doing at each center.

Teacher Preparations tell how the teacher needs to prep the center before starting.

Writing prompt:  My favorite book is...  and they get a book from the shelf of books we've already read as a class.  They find the title, write it, and illustrate a picture from the book.

Capital letters- students press a glob of playdough onto blue blobs and use a cookie cutter to fill in the missing letters.

Students need to turn this in after they complete the center.

There's some teaching time devoted to "conversation" before students can be independent with this activity.  They tend to get off task if they aren't sure of the meaning of "conversation."

I write the poem on sentence strips....

And then cut these out.  Students have to match the word cards

I add the sightwords for this week on the brown rectangles and they have to find them in a book.

The students put these labels in a pocket chart and spell them with letter tiles.

This week we are working on identifying the title of a book.  They write the title and then draw a picture of something that happened in the story.

Teacher center is all about plurals.  We used these to play memory to match the singular noun to the plural.

Then we did this sheet together, adding the s to make the nouns plural.

So, there you have it!  That is what's working in my literacy centers the past 2 weeks.  I hope you can use these in your classroom!

And don't forget to sign up for my giveaway.  It ends tonight at midnight!

Zane Education

I was recently given the opportunity to explore Zane Education.  They gave me a 12 month Gold membership and in return, I will give you all a little insight on what Zane has to offer.  So- here goes!  And stay tuned to the bottom- there's a GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

I've seen educational video websites before, but what is unique about Zane is that each of it's videos contains subtitles.  This is handy for 3 reasons:

1.  It helps my ESL students make relationships between the spoken word and the written word.
2.  It helps all my Kinders increase their reading and literacy skills by seeing the words being spoken.
3.  The subtitles highlight key words (potential vocab words) in the subject being shown.

It is interesting to watch my students watch a Zane video- I notice that they follow the subtitles more than they do the picture.

Zane also offers free lesson plans to go with their videos.  These Lesson Plans are provided for each topic and are important because they provide additional activities to use in conjunction with the video to reinforce the learning of the topic. They also list those words highlighted in the subtitles.

Here are 2 things I'd change about Zane:
1: The videos look a little dated.  They are not animated.  They are still pictures- it's like you are flipping through the pages of a book.  This can be a good thing, however.  I think it increases the student's likelihood that they will follow the words instead of focusing on the picture.
2: The video itself can't be enlarged to full screen and there are buttons in the movie on the right hand side that aren't click-able.  You just have to tune them out :) (Edit- after further review:  They can be enlarged by going into your Control Panel and reducing your screen resolution size which is a 30 second job. The reason why this is so important is because those buttons on the video have been replaced by the interactive study tools located in the right hand colums beside the video - on each video page. This enables students to simply pause the video, then use those study tools to explore the topic further - especially those important highlighted words in the video subtitles (which are important to learning that topic). This then enables students to then return to the video without having to search for where they were when they stopped the video. Previously those buttons on the screen required them to completely go to a different page, which meant losing their place in the video.)

Here's what I like about Zane:
1.  I do like how the videos are categorized.  I can easily click a subject area, grade level, or format option to help narrow my search.

2. Quizzes:  These are helpful because you can take them before to see if you even need to teach that skill/watch that video and after you watch the video to check for understanding.  At the end of the quiz, it gives you the results as well as walks you through each question you missed- stating the right answer.  It doesn't just give you correct/incorrect feedback- it gives useful info to extend the learning.  I can see using this as a whole group instruction tool on a projector- answer the questions together and then discuss the missed questions as a whole group.

3. I also like that each video is only about 10 minutes long or less- so it doesn't take up all my class time.  I can teach the lesson, re-enforce the info with a Zane video, quiz using a Zane quiz, and then reteach anything that is still confusing to them. The science videos have been, by far, the ones I've used most.

4.  There are no advertisements to hassle with- it takes you straight to the video.

5.  The support that comes with a Zane membership is unbelieveable.  If I contact Zane, I hear from them within 24 hours (most of the time it's actually less than that)!

Thank you, Zane, for allowing me the opportunity to review your site!  Now, here's the fun part! 

Zane is GIVING AWAY a FREE membership to one lucky winner.  Just use the rafflecopter below to enter!  I'll announce the winner on Friday.  Good luck!

And if you aren't the lucky winner, Zane is offering all my readers a percentage off coupon code on your membership. Stay tuned for the coupon code- it will be released with the announcement of the winner on Friday!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Currently...

It's October (I can't believe it!  But, I know, neither can any of us!) and I am joining Farley for her Currently, so here's mine:

October is both of my boys' birthday months- so it's the time of year when they both get to enjoy some new toys- their favorite this year, matchbox cars!

And because it's birthday month for both boys, we have campfires, chili in a big cast iron kettle, smores, and all sorts of fall-time fun!

The husband and I have been batting around baby names for quite some time, and we've finally narrowed it down- we still have a few months, so anything can happen- but Caroline and John are what we have settled... for now :)

A MAID!  That's all I need to say- I just need help keeping up with all the laundry that comes with 2 rough and tumble boys!!!

Fall break is next week, praise the Lord!! :)  We adopted the modified calendar, so I get a full week- can I get a whoop, whoop!

Head over to join the fun :)  Thanks Farley!