Blooms questions on a Ring

Every year I try to make sure that I am hitting every level of Bloom's Taxonomy to address all the different levels in my classroom. I know that some days I do better than others, but I really want to maintain a greater consistency. While totally consumed on Pinterst, I may be addicted, I came across this picture:

Mrs. Saylor, over at http://saylorslog.blogspot.com, typed up her own set of cards and color-coded them by Blooms Level. If you click on the picture on the site you can grab your own cards for FREE. I would take a look at her site...she has lots of great ideas that you may want to "borrow". ;)

Words in Collage Form

I like to "make" artwork with technology, because as my students can tell you, my hand drawn pictures never quite look the way they should. One site that lets you do wonderful collages with words is Tagxedo. It is a great way to express your words both in writing and through shapes. You can then save the image and use it in your students' writing, frames, displays, etc. If you go on over to Ms. Jessica's blog, A Turn to Learn, she has step -by-step directions (and lots of other great resources and ideas) that are very easy to follow if you are a little nervous to try. The best part is, even if you do make a mistake, you can start all over again.;)
Here is a sample of mine:

How would you use it in your classroom?

Planning...or something of the sort

I am really trying to plan for the first 6-8 weeks of school in great detail. I seem to be caught up in the aesthetics of how my lessons plans look. I know I should not worry about that, instead I should be solidly focused on the content. It's just not happening... In order to get my mind free to focus on the content, I really need the format and the colors to mesh and make sense to me (and pretty of course!).
I was trying to get the correct fonts, and the ones I have were just not doing it for me. I remembered I had pinned on one of my bulletins on pinterest.com about free fonts. Well guess what? Not only are they free, they are absolutely what I needed. Miss Tina over at http://misstiina.com/ has a great selection you can pick from. Head on over and get some for yourself. Make sure you read the disclaimer and leave her a comment as well. Have fun looking!

My thoughts exactly!

As I am sitting in front of my computer, planning away my summer days, I came across this poster by Krissy Venosdale at Venspired.com. I know I will be visiting her site quite often. She has tons of free posters that you can download and print. I will definitely be making many into full poster size. Go check out her great stuff.



 Which one do you think you might use?

Storybird

This is absolutely one of my favorite apps so far this summer. Students can create and "unlock" their own stories using the provided artwork and themes on the site. They can focus on the writing and the reading. The possibilities are endless. My students' writing already amazes me. This will only stimulate their imaginations even more. The students are even able to email the completed stories to friends and family or print them out to make into hard-copies for themselves. I love, love, love this site. I would nonetheless try it out first before you present it to your kiddos to work out any possible glitches that may arise with your kids. I can definitely see this as an independent activity with older kids and as a guided activity with younger students at the beginning. It is very easy to follow along though, so give it a try. I have included a copy of my own short story.


My Summer Days by mrsgarciascorner on Storybird
Follow the link below to get started with your own class account.



How do you see yourself using this in the classroom with your students? I am very open to suggestions.

Great Ideas!

This is my first post on this site. I hope to keep a record of great ideas, lessons, and resources that teachers everywhere can access. I also hope to hear all about the wonderful things we do in our classrooms.

I have been visiting a plethora of teacher blog sites and websites. It is unbelievable the amount of ideas and resources available to us through the generous contributions of so many great teachers.

The following are some ideas that I plan to implement this school year. I have tried to give credit accordingly and a link when appropriate.

Dr. Jean over at drjeanandfriends.blogspot.com has some wonderful ideas that can be modified for all grade levels. I am going to do the Keepsake Notebook and place it in our classroom library. Even though my kiddos are 5th grade, they still want to know what the other kiddos wrote to me. It will be cute to see their notes and photos all in one place.

                                                         

I will also be doing the Paper Doll Teacher . This is so simple and heart-warming. The kiddos will be greeted with a great message from you.

These were the directions posted by Dr. Jean:

Lay on a large sheet of butcher paper and ask a friend to trace around your body.  (You’ve probably done this to your children before.)  Color yourself and cut yourself out.  (Go ahead and take off a few inches.  You can body sculpt all you want!)  Tape this on the door and then make the following labels and attach them to the different body parts. 

“A head full of great ideas.” 

“A mouth to sing you songs and read you stories.” 

“Arms for hugging.” 

“Hands to help you learn new things.” 

“Pockets to hold surprises.” 

“Tennis shoes for outdoor fun.”  

“A heart full of love for you!”