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Edublogs Nominations

I am an ongoing learner no matter what activity I am engaged in!  Since joining this wonderful community of Georgetown, I have been focused on learning all that I can about how to use every tool for learning (including technology) in the best ways possible.  This journey has taken me to the best classrooms via twitter, blogs, nings, jings and webcasts.  Our blogs are sponsored by Edublogs, and they have been key in growing my understanding about how best to communicate with the world.

Edublogs hosts an annual award for best blogs and tweeters and much more.   I would like to share my nominations with all of you:

The Edublog Awards

The Edublog Awards 2009 are open for nomination!

This is our chance to nominate and celebratethe achievements of edubloggers, twitterers, podcasters, video makers, online communities, wiki hosts and other web based users of educational technology.

Here are the categories, I would like to nominate the following individuals:

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Holiday Program Snow Day Plan

winterIt’s official!  Resurrection Life Church has provided us with a snow date for our Holiday ProgramIf we have a snow day on Thursday, December 10, our Holiday Program will be held on Thursday, December 17 at 7 pm.

This contingency plan has been developed to ensure that the projected winter storm MISS our area and allow our program to go on as planned.  However, if the storm does hit our area, our music teachers and students know that all their rehearsal time will still be rewarded the following week.   As theatre veteran Noël Coward once said, “THE SHOW MUST GO ON!”

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Top 10 Educational Videos

Remember the days of video tapes, CD-ROMS, and encyclopedia’s on your shelf?  The world wide web now provides free and accessible information and the London Times has provided the top 10 best educational videos.  I reference these often and hope that you find videothem to be great resources as well.

1 nationalgeographic.com
The American magazine covers a huge range of subjects, from space and the environment to animals and even world music (where you can listen to thousands of artists). What’s shared is a passion for the living world. Inspiring stuff, brilliantly presented.

2 www.nasa.gov
Videos, podcasts, a vast photo archive, 3-D image files and pages for missions where you can view raw data as they stream in, make this a must for anyone with even a fleeting interest in space.

3 howstuffworks.com
Expertly written articles explaining everything under the sun, from how a Taser is put together to the history of the jeep. Hundreds of videos add to the experience.

4 discovery.com
It might be a giant plug for the Discovery Channel’s roster of shows, but the dozens of microsites here are uniformly excellent. Links to the websites of sister channels (Military, Science and more) drive an even bigger wedge between you and any work you might have been thinking of doing.

5 smithsonianmag.com
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington is the world’s largest museum complex, and its magazine is a rival to National Geographic. The associated website is a rich source of eye-opening good reads.

6 bbc.co.uk/nature
Possibly the best BBC microsite — a simple collection of video clips. Choose from 370 animals to see related footage, and scare your friends when they walk in by playing the “what they sound like” widget. (Works better with tigers than rabbits.)

7 ted.com
TED is an organisation that invites inspirational people to an annual conference to share their thoughts on the world, technology, design and more. It videos the results and archives them here. Will keep you hooked for days.

8 arkive.org
Videos and photos that live up to the simple tagline “images of life on earth”. Endangered species are a speciality; the promise is they will live on here if nowhere else.

9 historytoday.com
Once registered for free, you can browse through hundreds of articles culled from the popular magazine. They are sorted into categories and, despite the lofty academic credentials of the authors, are easily readable.

10 pbs.org
PBS is a publicly funded American TV channel with an emphasis on science, the arts and history. Watch entire shows or browse their excellent, richly detailed sites.

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A busy week ahead!

As you know, this week is going to be very busy.  Posted below is our schedule of events.   We will keep you posted on the status of our Holiday Program which we hope will be held on Thursday, December 10 at Resurrection Life Church.  As we all know more about the approaching winter storm, updates will be posted on the blog, and if necessary phone calls will go out through the school messenger service.

Remember to check your child’s classroom blogs for more specific details about the events this week and next.

7

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Hottest Educational Gifts

Being the tech geek that I am, one of my email subscriptions is to Google Tutor. This week I received a list of the 5 Hottest Educational Gifts for Christmas.  I thought I would pass these along.  And, Santa… if you happen to be reading our blog, please remember that I would love a Kindle this year.  I think I have been extra good!

1. The Amazon Kindle Although not technically a “toy”, the Amazon Kindle is the perfect educational gadget for anyone age 12 and over. Download thousands of books directly to the Kindle and the fact that it cannot be used for anything but reading ensures your teen is actually expanding his or her literary horizon when they are staring at the screen. You can also upload PDF files, and stay on top of the news with the Kindlesanta sleigh

2. The Wii fit is a great gift for the whole family.  The Wii Fit can be used by anyone, with any fitness level and of any age, making it one of the best family gifts! Not only can you learn from the Wii, kids will stay fit, focused and active throughout the winter. This is the perfect holiday gift that actually gets kids off the couch.
3. Lego Ultimate Building Set: the Ultimate creative and educational gift Lego sparks the imagination of all age groups.  Kids get creative, learn to play together, and learn to use their imagination when playing with Lego.  The Lego Ultimate Building Set has all the pieces needed for hours of play time and lots of creative fun. Lego is also one of those timeless gifts that everyone loves, and boys and girls alike have played with Lego for a few generations. It’s a gift that lasts a lifetime, and that is also why it is in this list of favorites.

4. Playskool Talking Truck  The Playskool Chuck my Talking Truck speaks over 40 phrases and words. It is the perfect gift to keep little ones entertained for hours, and help them practice their verbal skills. The coolest part of this toy is that it will start driving when it is called. It will talk when you lift his dump bed, press his bumper, or press the top of the truck, making play time discovery (and learning!) time.

5. Snapp Circuits SC-300 This toy isn’t just my favorite, it also has the National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, was named the Dr. Toy 100 Best Children’s Products, and is among the Dr. Toy Best Educational Products. With Snapp Circuits you get over 60 parts that can easily snap together to create alarms, doorbells, burglar alarms, radio, and over 3oo other fun technology projects. Kids with a heart for tech will love this educational toy! It is without a doubt one of the best educational toys, for both boys and girls who like to create fun electronic projects. Although kids get to play with circuits and build projects, they can do this safely without a risk of injury. The toy comes with a manual showing how to create the 305 possible projects. This is definitely not a toy kids get bored with easily.

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Night at the Museum

If you are looking for an activity to keep your family busy during the holiday break, GRMuseumyou might want to consider a visit to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. They have many interesting exhibits and host a special “Night at Your Museum” on December 27.

Another event, da Vinci di Notte / Leonardo at Night, held December 28-31, January 2…including New Year’s Eve, is also one worth considering.

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Our First Snow Day

It is December 4th and we are experiencing our first snow day of this school year!  Use this day to relax, play in the snow and participate in the BLOG SCAVENGER HUNT! We will have our drawing on Monday…so that gives you three extra days to get it done.snow day

A tip for finding the “silly” scavenger hunt posts on each blog:  TYPE THE WORD  silly OR scavenger hunt INTO THE SEARCH BAR OF EACH BLOG.   By doing this, you should pull up the post you are looking for!

Enjoy the snow and the day to play.

Mrs. Reagan

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No Turkeys in this HUNT

24 Hours Remaining for our

BLOG SCAVENGER HUNT!

Our third hunt of the year is designed to introduce silly things teachers do!  Your job is to hunt through all the blogs and a silly teacher in each of these areas:

  1. A prek or kindergarten
  2. A 1st  grade teacher
  3. A 2nd grade teacher
  4. A 3rd grade teacher
  5. A 4th grade teacher
  6. A 5th grade teacher
  7. A special teacher

ENTER YOUR ANSWERS ON THE ENTRY FORM.

For those of you who have never participated, the rules are simple:

  • Search all the Georgetown blogs linked to this site.
  • Keep a list of blogs where you found your items.
  • When you have found all the items, submit your answers on the SCAVENGER HUNT ENTRY FORM.
  • Everyone who enters by December 5 will be included in the school wide drawing.
  • Student winner receives:  A Barnes & Noble Gift Card.  Winning class (those who have the most students participate in the scavenger hunt) will receive one hour of choice time.
  • All those that enter will be added to the Reading Counts Drawing (held on December 15)

Happy HUNTING!  And…Good Luck!

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Moon Over Georgetown

When I pulled into the school parking lot this morning, I was struck by the way the full December moon was poised over Georgetown…and set against an indigo sky.  I had to take a picture and share this with you.

We will have another full moon on December 31…and this will be a BLUE MOON.  If we have a clear sky, I will take pictures to share on the blog along with a HAPPY NEW YEAR post!

Based on the percentage of cloudy days we typically have in the winter months ahead, our current full moon may be the last one we see for sometime.  Enjoy!

moon over ges

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A Great Night of Art

Our first KIDS ART SHOW was a tremendous success. We featured over 240 pieces of art work and hosted well over 300 people at the event. This event was sponsored by KIDS ART FAIRS. We were impressed by the the focus on featuring and appreciating artists and their work.

I did my very best to take a photo of every artist with their piece…but I know I missed some of you. It was such a busy night. Enjoy this video that captures the pride of each artist as they hold or stand next to their beautiful work of art!

Thank you to Mrs. Brouwer, Mrs. Anderson and all the volunteers who made this event possible!