We entered the Blogosphere!

Hi Families!
Today students ice skated, celebrated the holidays together, and entered the world of blogging.  You should have seen their faces, eyes wide open, fingers typing away, making that realization that their learning extends beyond the classroom with blogging. Seeing their excitement when learning the possibility of reading and commenting on one another's written thoughts was a great gift for me to experience.

We are using kidblog.org, an educational blogging site designed for schools.  It is very safe and moderated completely by me.  I currently have it set up that all posts and comments must go through me before being available, but they are not public.  Their writing is only public to each other, and other class blogs that I link from other teacher friends around the area.  Students only use first names and have been taught the basics of blogging, as well as the general ethics of what it means to put your words to print, or in this case, screen.

My next step is to figure out how to correctly add in families so you all can read and comment on the students words.  I love authentic experiences like this! I will let you know when that happens!

I will add the link to our "links" page and I hope they all get on successfully tonight to blog for homework about Ice Skating!  As always, any questions or concerns about anything- let me know!
Thanks everyone,
Jaclyn Karabinas

Wow. All I can say is wow.

We had triumphs, frustrations, Plan B's and Plan Z's... Models, websites, raps...you name it!  Thank goodness for Duct tape and Popsicle sticks.  The theme of our wrap-up at the end of the day was: "It's the process not the product." Some students wanted to bring projects home to finish and others definitely were ready to take a break!

Tomorrow we will reflect upon the process, talk about individual problem solving along the way, and share our stories born from a day of hard work.  Some entered the classroom today excited "not to do any work" but I have a feeling their perspectives may have changed at this point!  They were exhausted in such a great way- and so am I!

Innovation Day: Progress so far!

Creativity and problem solving are at a high here in 4th grade! Within moments, the students were gathering materials and learning quickly that there would be many hurdles throughout the day.  They are motivated, however, and most did not even acknowledge recess at 10 this morning.

Innovation Day is in the works!!!

The excitement in the 4th grade is exhilarating as we gather all materials for Innovation Day.  The students have created plans, sketches, material lists, tentative schedules-you name it- to get ready for tomorrow. I am so looking forward to seeing their ideas come to life with problem solving turned on high!  I collaborated with some teachers from SAU16, who created a website to highlight the day: Check it out here! There are some videos and additional information about the vision of this day.

Look for video/pictures throughout the day tomorrow- I am going to try and be super-techy and make you all feel like you are here with us. 

Here we go! An exciting 2 weeks ahead...

Hi all- Going to do this via email and blog since I am still getting the blog subscribing finalized for a few. Here are a few upcoming events, some are just FYI and some allow you to come in, if you want!

Ellis Island Simulation

On Friday morning from about 8:30-10, my class will do a simple, yet powerful simulation of immigrating through Ellis Island.  If anyone wants to help out with this, let me know! You could be an examiner or guard, or something like that.

Ornaments

Grades 3 & 4 will collaborate to create 4 types of ornaments on Wednesday morning.  We will be placing these in baskets around town for community members to take, as our way of spreading holiday cheer in Hampton Falls.

Class Party

I would like to do this Thursday, 12/22 from 1-2, which will be fun after a morning of skating!  It does not have to be major- maybe a simple craft and/or game, hot chocolate and a treat? Could someone organize this/be the go-to person for this party for me?(I already have 1 box of 10 hot cocoa pouches.)  Everyone is welcome to attend the party with us, if you want!

Innovation Day

Mrs. Elzey and I are collaborating with other Gr. 1-5 teachers around the Seacoast to experience “Innovation Day”, a day which celebrates the ideas and curiosities of young learners and allows them the chance to explore a topic/question/idea of choice3, and create their own learning for a full day, with teacher guidance. This used to be called ‘Fed-Ex’ day, and the idea is to encourage curiosity and innovation in students. We will be doing this on Tuesday, December 20 for the full day.  I will keep you posted, as well as put up video/pictures on the blog!

Ancestry Projects-Due Wed 12/21

How is it going?  The kids have been great about asking questions in class and gathering materials from me.  Please encourage your child to reach out to me if they need something, have a question, or get stuck! Besides nightly reading, this is their primary homework- I am purposely keeping light on any other work so they can be immersed in learning about ancestry.

I know it is the time of year when there are not enough hours in the day.  I feel it and I am sure you all do as well!  One day at a time, we can do it! J

Jaclyn Karabinas

Welcome!

Hi Honeybee Families! Subscribe to the blog, then come back and read the post below!  Look on the right for a section that says to follow by email. (you won't get spam-just the blog posts) Type in your email.  It will send you a confirmation and from there you need to click on the link in your email to activate your subscription.

If you are unfamiliar, a blog (short from weblog) is a way for people to share information and create discussion, when needed, like a website.  The purpose of this blog is to create a space in which we can all communicate, and you and your students can access things like:
*websites used frequently in class or for homework
*useful websites for parent reference or for student projects
*weekly/bi-weekly curriculum updates on what kind of learning has been happening in the classroom
*information about projects happening at home or at school
*information about homework expectations
*pictures from the class (not linked up yet- for now enjoy the bee pics!)
*reminders or upcoming important dates

While email is a successful way for me to reach all of you, it doesn't organize the information in one place.  This way you can easily look back through archives if you want to re-read something or find a link I sent without searching your email fruitlessly among my many emails.

This site will replace frequent email updates, but please continue to use email or phone for questions/comments you would like to keep between us.  I am open to any suggestions for things to add or ways to improve the usefulness of this site for all of you. Finally, when I create a post, an email will be sent to you that there is a "new post".  It won't disappear if you aren't able read it right away.  Everything posted there will remain!  You may respond with questions/comments in the comments section but it is not required by any means.

I can help you with ANY aspect of this process, regardless of your comfort with technology so please let me know, come on in, or give me a call.

That's it for now!  Thanks,
Jaclyn Karabinas







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