Cute Dr. Seuss Books on Video

I came across some Dr. Seuss books on Youtube that I will share with my students this week and wanted to share them with you.

Dr. Seuss Ideas..

Seussville is a great website for learning more about Dr. Seuss. There is a section to find out more information about the books he has written and the artwork he has created. There are some short videos to watch as well. There are a ton of printable activities and some games to play online. If you need some ideas check out the site and let me know what you think. Also, if you have any great ideas for craft projects or activities to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day, please share them!


(Image Courtesy of Google Images)

Looking for New Literacy Ideas...

(Image is Courtesy of Google Images)

I found a post from Judy's Blog titled Literacy Shed and thought I would check it out, because the title caught my eye. The site has so many great visual literacy resources for the classroom. Some of the resources are geared for older students, but I found the picture book shed to be something I will use with my own students. One story I read every year is Owl Babies written by Martin Wadell, and this site has a great movie version of the book. What a great way for me to really grab my students attention, and for them to be able to listen and watch the story at the same time. If anyone has any other great sites for free read aloud books that I could play on my Smartboard please let me know, I am always looking for ideas!

Valentine's Day Ideas

(One of the many cute idea on the site.)

I came across a really cute blog a few weeks ago and have been following it now using google reader. The site has many cute ideas for Valentine's Day that would be appropriate for PreK and Kindergarten students. There are lots of free printables as well. Check out the blog, and if you like it add it to your google reader list.

Free Printables....

I am so happy to have set up an RSS feed in google reader. I started searching different topics to subscribe to and came across a great site for early childhood teachers. The site has many great ideas for math, science, literacy, fine motor activities and more. The site has many different age appropriate themes, with all sorts of great ideas and resources for each theme. Best of all, tons of free printable activities! This is one of the ideas I found on the site: write large letters on a sheet of paper in pencil, then children trace over the letter with tempera paint.

Looking for Artwork?

Since I teach at a museum school I am always trying to expose my students to different art images and different forms of artwork. I found a great art wiki that has lots of great images. I plan to share some of the images with my students. If you are looking for art images or maybe an idea for a writing prompt for students that need a visual image, then check out the images on the ib art online studio. Above is one of the images I found on the site, my students will love it!

Need Ideas on Writing Great Blog Posts?

Three weeks ago I had no idea how to make my own blog, or write comments on other people's blogs. Today I would say I'm starting to get the feel for it. Steve Wheeler has a great blog post about what makes a good blog post. I found his ideas to be helpful and the article gave me some good ideas to use as I continue blogging.

Digital Storytelling Resources

Students at Scott County Schools in Georgetown, Kentucky have been busy making all sorts of digital stories. If you are looking for ideas or inspiration check out some student videos from the Scott County Schools' site. I also found a great digital storytelling article from Reading Rockets. The article has examples of digital stories, some background about digital stories and their uses, and there is also links to tutorials, web resources for music, sound effects, graphics, and copyright information.

Response to the article: Online Collaborative Inquiry: Classroom Blogging Ventures and Multiple Literacies written by Dr. Judy Arzt

This article had tons of great information and links. One link that I found really interesting was the Global Read Aloud Project. Students from all over read the same book and comment on their thoughts and ideas on the book. What a great way for students to learn how children from different cultural backgrounds respond to the same story. Another site I found of great interest was from Mr. Avery's Class blog. The students in this sixth grade classroom researched a country and its animals. They then created animotos about their project. Site has some great examples of student produced animotos.

 

Inspiration

I got some inspiration from Mr. Flinn’s students’ blogs. I want to start a classroom blog soon, and would love to have my students eventually have their own blog page as well. A place for them to showcase artwork and for their parents to write them comments. Since I teach Prekindergarten I wasn’t sure what to really do. Mr. Flinn had his Kindergarten students interview each other, write sentences about their peer and then he videotaped each student reading their work. Parents were able to comment about their child’s project. I just thought it was a very cute, easy way to expose young children to blogging.

An Interesting Animoto

I am really glad we are learning about Animoto. I had never even heard of it before this class, but I already have some great ideas of how I can use it in my own classroom. One of the Animoto projects that I saw online that I liked came from Nolia's Blog. She has tons of pictures of her students in action, at both a local farm and in the classroom. What a great way for parents to see what is going on at school and for her to share with her students.