Video Interview with Robert Sabuda

Do you know Robert Sabuda? Sure you do! He's the author of those WONDERFUL pop-out books such as 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' and 'Cookie Count: A Tasty Pop-Up'. Well, the website, Reading Rockets has an 18 minutes video (broken into VERY short segments) in which Robert Sabuda discusses when he became fascinated with pop-up books, the challenges he faced with his first pop-up book, and how he makes those pop-up books. Check it out here. While you're on the website visit the page that links to other video interviews.

Did You Know? The New $5 Bill

There's a new $5 bill on the way! The $5 bill will look pretty much the same, except it will have shades of gray and a splash of purple (Mrs. Sharoff's favorite color!). The new bill will start being available on March 13, 2008. Read more about it here.

Follow You, Follow Me

That's the motto over at Wayfaring a website where you create you own personalized place-by-place map for others to follow. Once you create the map you can share it with your friends, family, and practically anyone you wish to. And if you're planning a group vacation where everyone wants to get their two-cents worth in, this is the perfect planning tool since it allows collaboration on building the map.

What's great about this map is that you can actually insert information about each stop, along with a description. If it's a restaurant think about including items you would recommend someone order. Distance between stops is also listed, which could provide helpful if you are designing a walking tour or even a cross-country trip.

Time for Bed

Not sure what to title this post yet, so I'll wait until I'm done writing. As I was looking through my Bloglines.com I came across this post from Connect With Kids entitled 'No Sleep After Gaming'. Basically, studies are showing that teens who spend two to three hours watching tv, playing video/computer games, or playing music will find it more difficult to fall asleep. I thought this article was timely for me since I tend to spend a lot of time on the computer after dinner, though I have to say I don't seem to be having any trouble falling asleep! LOL The article went on to provide the following tips for parents:

Studies in children have shown that playing interactive video games can lead to significant increases in heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate, "and thus a higher arousal state of the central nervous system.” (National Institutes of Health, NIH)

A new study shows that the bright light of a screen may alter the body's biological clock and suppress the natural production of melatonin that's critical to the normal sleep-wake cycle. (WebMD)

In the hour before bedtime, which experts say should be a time to relax and prepare for sleep, the majority of adolescents watch TV or surf the Internet. (National Sleep Foundation)

Sleep requirements: (National Sleep Foundation)
18 months to 3 years should get 12 to14 hours/night
3 to 5 years should get 11 to13 hours/night
5 to12 years old should get 10 to11 hours/night
Teens should get 9.25 hours/night

Create a bedtime routine. Bedtime routines are important, regardless of a child's age. It should include at least 15 to 30 minutes of calm, soothing activities. Discourage television, exercise, computer and telephone use, and avoid caffeine (found in many beverages, chocolate and other products). (National Sleep Foundation)

Track Santa -- the Tech Way!

I just got the latest Google Earth Sightseer e-mail and I needed to share the following with you:

It's that time of year again - the time for good food, good cheer, and, if you've been good, presents! NORAD ( North American Aerospace Defense Command) has been tracking Santa for over 50 years through their NORAD Tracks Santa program. This year NORAD Tracks Santa has partnered with Google to track Santa's trip. The countdown begins on December 1st, on http://www.noradsanta.org/, where children and families can find a new kid-friendly game or activity every day until December 24th. You can also countdown the days and hours until Santa's flight and track his real-time location on December 24th by adding the NORAD Tracks Santa iGoogle gadget.

On December 24th starting at 1:00 am PST users will be able to track Santa's trip in real-time on http://www.noradsanta.org/ or download Google Earth and the special Santa Tracking file from the website for an enhanced, 3D Santa tracking experience.

Robert Munsch's Website

One of my favorite children's authors, Robert Munsch, has an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS website. Some of my favorite books are available in audio format on the website. My favorite, 'Stephanie's Ponytail' is available in audio format. In fact, it's even READ by Robert Munsch! Now how cool is that?!? What's your favorite Robert Munsch story?

Tech Toys for 2007 - #1

First a disclaimer: The order of the 'Tech Toys' you will see appear in this blog are in no particular order. HOWEVER, they are ALL in my Top 10 Picks for 2007.

Today's Pick:

That's right folks -- get your very own 'Ellenville Central Schools' flash drive. It's a 1 GB flash drive so you can hold over 200 images or 200 music files and all for JUST $20. Get your flash drive now by contacting Hillary Smith at extension 414 or Phil Althouse at extension 407. Oh, and did I happen to mention that your purchase will help benefit the Senior class?

Save the Date! December 6th

Thursday, December 6th, the Ellenville Elementary School will proudly host its Winter Concert. The event will be held at 7 p.m. in the High School Auditorium. Join us for what is sure to be a fun-filled musical evening featuring the 4th grade band playing 'Merrily We Roll Along' among tunes and the 4th grade chorus singing 'Sleigh Ride' and other foot-tapping melodies.

Do a Little Dance...

A 'Snow Dance' that is! Heard on the radio driving in this a.m. that there's a good chance of snow on Sunday, possibly extending into Monday. Whether this will actually happen is anyone's guess, but it's that time of year again, so as a reminder -- please listen to the local radio station or you can call 647-0121 to hear about school delays and cancelations.

When I taught 2nd grade if there was a possibility of snow I would tell my class to sleep with their PJs inside-out if they wanted a snow day. And you know what? It worked! How are you going to sleep Sunday night?

Proof, Proof, Proof

That was my mantra for when I taught the writing process in my class. You didn't just give your written work a quick glance and call it 'proofing'. OH NO!!! You had to get three different people to look at your work before it could be considered 'proofed'. I ran across this activity the other day and the results had me chuckling. I mean, I'm considered by most to be the 'final eye'...and you might consider yourself the same. So take this short test and see how well you 'proof'. Three times may NOT be enough! LOL

Read the following sentence:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Now, quietly count the F's in that sentence. Count them ONLY ONCE. Do NOT go back and count them again (that would be cheating).

Click HERE to go to the website for the answer (you'll have to click on the 'click here for the answer')

Printable Bordered Papers

I know that as teachers, we're always looking for ways to enhance the look and appeal of our children's writing. At PrimaryGames.com you can do just that by printing out a variety of bordered papers. Especially designed for younger children, find various themes to download and print, including winter snowflakes, dinosaurs, Chinese New Year, etc.

Family Portrait Night - November 14, 2007

Family Portrait Night is coming to Ellenville Central Schools on November 14th. Portraits will be taken from 5 - 8 p.m. in the Elementary School Cafeteria. Price packages range from $9.00 to $50.00 and payment is due at the time the portrait is taken. If you are interested, please contact Jenn Bonitz from the Ellenville PTO at 647-4793 to schedule an appointment.

Daily Activity

Check out Enchanted Learning's Monthly Activity calendar page. Every day has a link to a different part of the Enchanted Learning website. Some links send you to a quiz page, other days you'll read about something new, and yet other days you'll find directions to a nifty craft project. And while you're at Enchanted Learning, check out some of the other areas of the website, you won't regret it!

Get Out Your Skates!!!

Nope, not discussing the impeding forecast of snow in the upper echelons of New York, I'm talking about Transmedia's Glide 2.0. Word on the street (or would that be the 'web') has it that it outperforms Google! You got to register to see it and believe it! What? Rumor has it that Glide 2.0 allows you to save to PowerPoint format or PDF (are you listening Google????). You do need to have Adobe's Flash Player on your machine (most of us already do). And when it comes to sharing, you can invite ANYONE, not just those with gmail accounts! I can't wait to check and the mobile version and upload to my iTouch.

Family Engagement Night

We are very excited about the upcoming Parent Engagement Night. This important event will take place next Thursday evening, November 8th. Dinner will be served to all family members and staff members who attend. Last year at our first Parent Engagement Night, it was so great to see entire families dining together. Childcare will be provided by the Advantage After School Program. There are fourteen workshops offerred on a variety of topics ranging from nutrition, math, parenting, special education process and many more. Two of these workshops will be offerred in Spanish.

Hope to see you there!

Tumblebooks.com -- Reading Resource

Check out Tumblebooks.com, billed as 'E-books for E-Kids', for a variety of books (which are READ ALOUD -- how cool is that?!?), quizzes on the books, and a variety of puzzles and games.

You can choose to view the website in either English, French, or Spanish (simply choose from the drop-down menu on the right side).

Star Light, Star Bright...First Star That I See Tonight

If you have a star-gazer in your house or classroom, this is THE website to check out!!! Click on the map above to get there. Once on-site you'll want to click on 'Getting Started' in the blue menu bar. If not you might be clicking the night away! LOL

I want to thank my colleague, KJ Hax for sharing this website on his blog.

3rd Grade is VERY 'Scare-y' Indeed!

If you enter our building, you'll see some pretty 'scare-y' fellows hanging out in the main lobby! These are just a few of the scarecrows created by our 3rd graders. Check out the pictures below to see more of them!

Check out the slideshow HERE.

Mouse House Mural

The Elementary has a wireless lab located on the main floor. It used to be called the 'HOTS Lab', but has now been renamed the 'Mouse House'. Decorating it has been a 'work in progress' (and I'm not quite done yet). To make the space more inviting to our students, our Artist Extra-Ordinaire, Ms. Weyant, agreed to create a mural -- and what a mural it is!

By Monday afternoon the wall looked like this:



By Wednesday afternoon the wall looked like this:



You can see Ms. Weyant hard at work here:



And the masterpiece was finished by Thursday afternoon. Check it out! Isn't it B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L?



Stay tuned for looks at the final 'Makeover'!

Tips to Help Your Child with Reading

I was surfing the web this morning and ran across some information from 'Reading Rockets' on tips to help your child with reading. The information is in their 'Target the Problem' section which focuses on helping to "understand the specific problems a child may be having with reading. You'll find practical suggestions on what you (and kids themselves) can do to help students overcome or deal with their reading difficulties." There are sections on: phonemic awareness, word decoding, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and other sources of reading difficulty. Each area has an explanation of the problem, how it affects a child's reading, and suggestions on how to help your child. Check it out at 'Target the Problem'.

Do You Know What a Computer Mouse Is?

I have to tell you...I have a GREAT job!!! I get to work with children from grades Kindergarten through 4th grade and, boy, do they keep me on my toes! LOL I ABSOLUTELY LOVE working with the Kindergarten students. They take everything so literally. I'm keeping a log of the amazing things that they say and do in computer lab and plan on sharing this 'pearls of wisdom' with you throughout the year.

My favorite 'Kinder Komment' so far has got to be the following: I was teaching a lesson on the four main parts of a computer to my Kindergarten students. We went over the keyboard, the monitor, the CPU, and when I got to the mouse I showed the class a cute little stuffed animal mouse and asked them if this was a computer mouse. To my amazement, this student decided to take over and teach me a thing or two! I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed watching in amazement the workings of a Kindergartener's mind!

NOTE: PLEASE WAIT UNTIL THE GRAY BAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE VIDEO SCREEN IS ALL THE WAY TO THE RIGHT BEFORE CLICKING ON THE 'PLAY' BUTTON.



'Stay Tuned and Stay Connected!'

Web 'Cubed'

[This post is 'cross-posted'.]

O.K. So I've been thinking about this for a while and finally decided to put my thoughts to blog.

You know how the web is considered by most to be the 'read/write' web? I don't think that is applicable any more and would like to offer a new paradigm. I think we need to view the web as 'cubed'. Instead of 'read', we should look at 'consume', because, let's face it we don't only 'read' on the web anymore since 'read' implies text. As for 'write', we should look at 'contribute', since again, 'write' implies text and we now have the ability to 'write' images, videos, audio, etc. And we have a new component -- 'collaborate', since so many of the new applications are social in nature and provide the ability to work with others.

So here's my new slogan: 'Web 'Cubed' -- consume, contribute, collaborate'. [And if anyone can figure out how to get the exponent '3' onto a blog, PLEASE let me know!] [Actually I would like to see it 'Web', then the letter 'C', then the exponent '3'. Help!]

What are your thoughts on this?

Sight Word Practice

I've been asked by a number of people if there was a website that students could use to help them review their sight words. And the answer is a resounding 'YES'! A Canadian educator, Kathy Cassidy has put together an incredible page of sight words. There are four sets with 5 sub-sets. The best part is the ability to move the mouse over the word and have the word read to you by a child. How cool is that? Check it out at Mrs. Cassidy's Sight Word Sets

When you click on a link, you will have a slideshow appear that will allow you to listen to the word by hovering the mouse over it. The first set contains the 100 most common words found in children's books. The second set uses the Dolch words, minus the 100 most common words found in the first set. There are a total of 590 words in the four sets of words.

Teachers and Parents: Click here to get a list of the words in each set and sub-set.

Want to Meet me Halfway?

Just spent the better part of the last hour presenting and sharing with Discovery Educators from around the U.S. Someone shared the following website that allows you to type in your address and the address of the person that you plan on meeting halfway. You then can choose from a variety of places to meet, such as 'coffee' or 'pizza'. The result is a place halfway between the two of you, it shows the location on a map and gives a whole list of either coffee shops or pizzarias, etc. where you can meet.

And their web address is to-the-point: www.a.placebetween.us

Kids Say the Most Amazing Things!

I have to admit, I am learning SOOOOOOOOOOOO much from my Kindergarten students. The first, and not surprisingly, is that they take your questions literally. Case in point: I was going over the four main parts of the computer. To introduce the mouse I showed my class a stuffed toy mouse and asked, 'Is this a computer mouse? Raise your hand to tell me either Yes, No and Why'. One little boy raised his hand and when I called on him he answered, 'Why'. Hey...in his mind I had given him three choices. These are the moments that make me stop, laugh like crazy inside, and basically add a little more sunshine to my day.

If you check the my webpage, scroll down to the link for 'SmartBoard Projects'. There you'll see the examples of the students in Mrs. Rosselli's class writing their names. I can't wait to re-do this activity with them at the end of the year so they can see how much they 'grew'!

'Stay Tuned and Stay Connected!'

An Article Worth Reading

Connect with Kids has posted an article on their website entitled, 'Computer Vision Syndrome Affecting Kids'. Definitely an article worth reading.

First Pep Rally of the 2007-2008

Last Wednesday, the Elementary school celebrated its first Pep Rally of the school year on the football field. It was a beautiful sunny day, our K-4 students were a wonderful audience, while some of our more courageous teachers took part in some of the races. Check out the photo below:



(revised posting on 9-19-07)

Look What the Kindergarten Students Will be Working On

One of the skills that I need to make sure that my Kindergarten students know is 'mouse control'. They need to be able to 'click', 'double click', and 'click and drag'. Now how to make this relatively simple task something that will be fun for all? Easy! I took pictures of all the Kindergarten teachers, uploaded them to my Jigzone.com account, and 'VOILA'! a lesson Mouse Control ('pest control'???LOL).

Here's a sample of one of the jigsaw puzzles using Mrs. Rosenstock: (OMG! I just 'looked' at it on the blog and it's even BETTER than I could have possibly imagined!). We'll be doing the 'Mouse Control' lesson the week of September 24th. At that time, I'll probably upload ALL the Kindergarten teachers to this blog so that my students can practice mouse control even outside of school.

To get this going, simply click on the image and a pop-up window with the puzzle pieces will appear. What was your best time at putting Mrs. Rosenstock back together again?

Here's the NEW Me!

It's Saturday and it's raining so I'm doing what I LOVE to do -- checking out all the cool websites on the internet. I ran across one that lets you make your own avatar (basically a computer generated image of a human, supposedly yourself).

I thought the selections were a little limited -- I couldn't find a hairstyle that suited me, nor did they have the option of selecting the color purple (my favorite) from the color pick choices, but other than that a quick and easy way to create an avatar. You're given a few options for code for posting to your webpage, blog, or social networking space -- one allows for full body avatar, the other for just a headshot, and the final for a small cropped headshot. Here's my full body shot:


Check it out at: www.doppelme.com

So...do you think this looks like Mrs. Sharoff? What changes would you make to the avatar?

First Day...and a GREAT Day at That!

It's 8:30 and if I weren't so excited about putting together the two slideshows below I would be snuggled under my covers! I don't know about the kids (or the parents! LOL), but I'm EXHAUSTED!!! I think between the fact that I could not fall asleep last night, that I woke up waaaaaaaaaaaaay before my alarm went off, that I was the 2nd person in the building, that I think I must have been just as excited and nervous as the kids, if not more so, and the fact that I think I was on 'Full Speed Ahead' the entire day, well I'm just pooped! BUT.....I got some great shots of opening day for our 1st - 4th graders, as well as some great shots of some of the teachers that I just HAD to spend time downloading pictures and putting together this slideshow.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. BTW, on the first slideshow, check out the PreK parents sitting at the desks and filling out forms!

***SLIDESHOW REMOVED

Here's another slideshow I put together of some of the teachers on opening day.

***SLIDESHOW REMOVED

OK....now I'm off to a well deserved sleep....wait...maybe just a LITTLE more surfing on the web to see what's new and what I can bring into our school.

'Stay Tuned and Stay Connected!'

(revised posting 9-19-07)

We're Baaaaaaaaaack!!!

Well, at least the teachers were today! And tomorrow our students will be arriving. It's all very exciting, I've got butterflies in my stomach (yes, even teachers get 'butterflies', although in my case it might be 'dragonflies'! LOL), and I'm not sure that I will be able to fall asleep, but you can be sure that I'll be up waaaaaaayyyyyy before the alarm clock goes off. Although my pile of 'things to do' keeps growing on the desk next to me, I'm surfing the internet to add websites to my 'technology treasure chest'. I'll be sharing many of these websites with you on this blog so 'Stay Tuned and Stay Connected!'.

In the meantime.....

Myspace Graphics at WishAFriend.com

(revised posting 9-17-09)

The CountDown Begins...

My countdown to the beginning of school has begun. I know that students sometimes get nervous about returning to school, but did you know that teachers also get nervous? I always have my one 'back to school nightmare' (that's right, I said 'nightmare'!!!LOL). I just had mine. Here's what it was about: I walked into the Computer Lab and it was in total disarray -- computers were shoved in a corner, there was 'stuff' EVERYWHERE, I didn't have ANYTHING planned for the first class, and Mrs. Corbett's class was about to walk in the door!!! Talk about SCARY!!!!

What do I do to calm myself down? I go surfing for 'Sharoff Site-ings'! Here's one I just ran across that I thought was kinda cool and appropriate.



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