Best laid plans!

So I started this week thinking that I was going to follow the Teacher Week linky that I started on Monday, but since my classroom is not done I couldn’t post pictures on Tuesday and couldn’t post about my organization yesterday. I will post both of these as soon as my room is done. So my room, well yesterday my son and I went to work in my classroom, and I think it looks worse now than when I arrived yesterday morning. I started to try to organize stuff and when I organize I make a mess first. My son was very helpful.

It doesn’t look like I will get back to my classroom this week as I am at an ipad training today and tomorrow am spending one of my last few days of summer with my family.

Oh so this is kind of random, but this week I bought a very inexpensive laminator (at WalMart, my least favorite store, but I knew they had them in stock and cheap). I bought the kind that you have to buy the sleeves for. Since I moved to a new room I decided to redo some things in my room (word wall etc) and had several things to laminate. I have owned this laminator for 2 days now and I LOVE IT!!!. It only does things 9” wide or less, but it’s perfect for what I have needed so far. It’s small enough that I can bring it back and forth to school and home as I need. Here is the link to the one I bought just in case you want to look into it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Scotch-Thermal-Laminator/27018071

Take Care

~Erica

Teacher week 2013-10 things about me.

I have linked up with lots of great blogs for Teacher week. Each day there will be a different topic to write about.
Today's topic is 10 things about me. So here it goes.

1.     I am married to a teacher. My husband Shane teaches high school social studies. We are on complete opposite ends of a student’s school journey. We also know that neither of us would want to teach what the other one does.

2.   My household consists of Mr. Gower, my wonderful son Josh, my mother-in-law Judy, and our golden retriever Katy. Josh is entering 6^th grade, which makes me feel old. He loves soccer and technology. My mother-in-law moved in with us last year and we bought a house together last fall. Katy keeps Judy company during the day and vice versa. Katy is almost 7 years old and is a super sweet girl.

3.   Last week my husband and I did something wild and crazy for our 15^th anniversary, we both got tattoos. Mine is a heart and infinity symbol, which I got because I tell my son Josh that I love him to infinity and beyond. It hurt a lot, but I am super happy I did it.

4.   My favorite color is purple (if you know me that will not be a surprise).

5.   One of my favorite places to go on vacation is Isla Mujeres Mexico. I have been there twice and I love it there.

6.   I love my MacBook Pro!!! I would be lost without my MacBook and I could never go back to a PC. I am officially and proudly an Apple girl.

7.   I sell real estate part time. I love helping people find the house that’s right for them or sell their current house so they can move onto the next chapter in their life.

8.   I really, really want a pair of ruby red sparkly shoes like Dorothy had in the Wizard of Oz.

9.   One of the reasons I love being a teacher is because when students see me outside of school they act like I am a movie star. Makes me feel loved!!!

10.  I am envious of many of the teacher blogs that I follow. I hope one day to have a larger blog following, but for now I am just happy that you are reading this, so thank you!!

~Erica

Okay so I am a little excited and nervous.

I just uploaded my first item for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers. I love technology (I know I have said that before) and I decided to make a writing around the room packet that uses QR codes. I think it’s kind of cool. Now we will see if other people think the same thing and buy it. Here is the link in case you are interested: 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-around-the-room-with-QR-codes-813591

~Erica

I Love Technology!!!

One of the things I love to use in my classroom is technology. I have a projector and ipad that I use everyday in my classroom for things like calendar notebook, using Harry Kindergarten videos on YouTube to teach everything from counting to days of the week, using a time timer for work time, and using the ipad as a document camera to introduce work. I can honestly say that if my projector or ipad broke I might cry. I also have the use of ipads for my students which I often use as part of my literacy centers.

I think it's very important that students have the opportunity to be introduced to technology as early as possible. The technological world my kindergarters are growing up in is not the same world that I grew up in and I want to make them as prepared as I can. There are some people who think we have too much technology and that we rely on it too much. I will not argue about that whether it's good or not, but the fact is it's my job to prepare my students for the future and like it or not technology is the future.


So getting back to the reason that I decided to write this post. Mr. Gower (my husband) is a high school social studies teacher and this week he went to an Apple training on both the ipad and the MacBook. He shared with me many things, but the one I want to share with you today is an ipad app called popplet. There is a lite free version and the regular version that costs $4.99. I downloaded the free version for now. :) At first I didn't get it, but then last night I created these:

Both of these I could and now will do in my classroom using this app. The first one as an introduction to dinosaurs and the second one after we have learned some things about them. I am sure most people have seen these kind of maps, but I love the fact that I can create this (very easily I might add) on my ipad while having the students help me fill it in. I can then print it out to display in our classroom. LOVE IT!!!!

I am sure there are lots of other ways to use this app and I would love to hear from you if you find a creative way to use it. I am sure I will be posting more in the future about cool apps and other technology related stuff. Have a great day!

-Erica

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