September Blog/Taking More Steps

Now that we are closing in on the end of September, I reflected upon the additional steps I have made in technology this month. I am anxious for my kids to fianlly try out my wiki space that inlcuded the Theme 1 assignment, where the children will post a paragraph after reading three biographical web pages on people who have made achievements in our world. I am going to implement this into a center during my reading block. I know it will take a while, because only one child is allowed on the wiki page at once. We will see how it goes!
Additionally, I talked to my enthusaistic mentor this month, Emily Taylor. We have decided to use Photo Story to illustrate and narrate our first major writing assignment, a narrative essay. We decided that we would share them in a Literary Celebration. My class will also be posting on Emily's blog as well to comment on their writing.
I am continuing to use the smart board in my literacy block, and even more so in Math. Pulling up graph paper and showing children how to draw Multiplication models to demonstrate an equation and product really helps the children understand multiplication and square numbers. I also used the Launch Number program as a center in math last week. The children loved the independence of working on the smart board.