My name is Hailey Pulliam and I am an Elementary Education major! I go to Northern
Kentucky University and am currently a junior. I graduated high school from Walton Verona High School in Walton, KY. I was ranked #11 when I graduated. I was a cheerleader for the first couple of years in high school then I played tennis. Also, I was the president of our Senior Beta Chapter! I live with my mom, step-dad, brother, sister, and three dogs. I really enjoy going thrift shopping and looking at yard sales for things I can make over. I go to church at Crossroads in Florence and I volunteer in kids club with the one year old children every Sunday. I chose to be a teacher when I was a little kid. I have never thought about doing anything else with my life, I have always known I would be an educator!
I believe that having a blog is helpful because it allows parents to stay up to date with the information and things happening. It is definitely not Eco-friendly to print copies of everything happening for parents to just throw away. Also, it is not possible to include pictures from the events at school in a newsletter. By giving parents access to the information via the Internet, they can see it in color, transport it anywhere they go, and share with other family and friends. Another reason why having a blog as a teacher is to collaborate with other professionals around the world and get information to better improve my classroom. If other teachers read my blog and leave valuable commentary, I can implement some new strategies and have everyone be successful! If students write a blog, they are learning about technology. When I was in elementary school, we had to keep a journal about the things we did and my teachers would always write letters to send home with us. Nowadays, anyone can write with a pencil and paper, and it is a basic skill that students are expected to have. However, when educators introduce technology and the proper ways to use it when students are young and in their peak learning phase, valuable skills are taught. Having a blog also teaches students about diligence and responsibility. If they are required to post on their blog every day at a certain time, then they make sure that they do it. They are responsible for making sure that information is uploaded. If they miss this, their parents are not informed as to what they did that day. Finally, having a blog teaches students about collaboration. They have to work with their teacher and their peers to make sure they're information is accurate and they are using the technology appropriately.
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"Opencaching Blog Logo" by Openclipart user ftfshop.eu
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The name of the site a great website for kids to use to help build math, reading, writing, and brain skills is Gamequarium. This site is designed for students in grades 3-6 to use when they are not at school. There are many different subjects to choose from such as: Brain Games, Character Education, Math, Safety, Music, Spanish, and so many more! The website itself if simplistic so that children can navigate through it. There are not many links other than what takes the student to the activity. This is also a great website because of the variety of topics that it covers. There are many subjects for children to learn about and practice when they are not in school. There is no better way for a child to learn than them thinking they are playing a game. This website can help in the classroom because students can see how to navigate the website and then can do it at home by themselves. Also, it is beneficial to have an extra activity for kids to do when you need something to do in class. Having online resources allows the teacher to keep the interest of the children.
I definitely agree with everything you said about the benefits of a blog. I think that keeping parents "in the loop" on what their students are doing in class is very important! This way they can assist the teacher with anything they may need to do to better their child's education. With a blog the teacher can easily keep parents informed without too much hassle.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with everything you said about Gamequarium. I have also found another website, Khanacademy.com, and it is another great source of educational fun for students.
I whole heartedly agree with your take on blogging. Allowing parents to see and read what their child learns and does every day is great because some children do not like talking about their day to parents when the parents ask. Allowing students to blog teaches them responsibility; it is in the child’s hands to remember when to post a blog. So many children now already know how to work a smart phone or Ipad so blogging teaches them what more they can do with technology and the right way to do it. Blogging teaches students about technology in a fun and creative way. I also think saving on printing paper is wise and that blogging helps to do it. Where I work almost everything is now digital and it is a lot easier. Blogging is helpful in many ways. It also helps teachers stay in contact with other teachers and they can gain different ideas to put to work in their classroom. The website you found is a great tool. It could be helpful to a student at school or at home. The website could help keep the students minds fresh in fun ways such as the games and activities. I found another helpful website that you might want to take a look at. It is Cookie.com. It has educational games, stories, worksheet, etc. There is so much you can do on the website. It is definitely worth taking a look at. I believe blogging can give the parents the opportunity to suggest ideas to the teacher to use in the classroom. Blogging opens so many doors. Blogging is a great tool!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about blogging. I think it should be a good resource for parents to not only stay up to date about what is going on in the classroom, but it allows the parents to be able to get involved in their child's classroom. I believe as a parent myself that it is very important to stay in constant contact with my child's teachers. As a mom with a child that has speech delays, I firmly believe that we as teachers to stay in constant contact with parents because, with my experience, if the teacher and parents are on the same page, my child has thrived. From this past August to now my son knows how to communicate through sign language and he is beginning to say some small words, I think the biggest accomplishment was when my son said "help papa."
ReplyDeleteWow! What a great blog posting! I found it very interesting that you used Gamequarium as your site for your students. I am currently a sub and whenever the kids (I find myself calling students that more often than not) get done with their work or have a couple of extra minutes, they always ask to get on this site! In fact my moma (who teaches special education) loves this site for her kids. They use this site as brain breaks. What is funny is they aren't really getting out of the school mode, but they think they are! I guess that is why I find this site so useful, you can have your students get on the computer and play these games on rainy days at recess! Great post and I loved hearing all you had to say!
ReplyDeletePs. I didn't know you played tennis! Awesome!
Great post! I hadn't thought of all the benefits of blogging that you came up with. I especially liked how you said that it's not eco-friendly to print lots of papers to constantly send home. It's definitely a lot easier to just get online and go to a blog to get classroom information. Also, a blog is just easier to keep up with because you can't really lose it like you can a piece of paper. I will have to check out, Gameaquarium. I have never heard of it, but it sounds like a really great educational tool!
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