Thing #6

I heart Google Reader, I'm addicted!!! :) Like I said in my last post, I've been feeding my Reader since day 1. I've been Reading quite a bit about Children's books, and it's been very informative in working towards my Master's degree. I'm working towards a Library Information Sciences Degree. This feed keeps me up-to-date on what books are coming out, what reviews are saying, and what books are receiving awards etc. I've also been Reading from Braingle quite often. Braingle updates several times daily. Every day I get a Brain Teaser, a Trivia Question, a Vocabulary Word, A Creativity post and A Memory post. I've gotten the most benefit so far from the Creativity and Memory posts. I've found so many ideas that I have been able to take and find ways to adapt to my classroom!! I'm so excited, they work as good fillers and morning work/bell ringers! For example, on February 1st, and at several times prior to that, they gave the idea of working on familiar family words. It states that we should come up with 26 words (one for each letter of the alphabet) for each of a certain category. Ex. Animals (Ant, Bear, Cat, ....) Jobs (Artist, Baker, ...). I already make an "ABC" book at the end of the year, over what we've learned. But, it's was a refreshing reminder that I can do it quickly, with a small time frame, and a familiar topic as a motivator, or a transition etc. Another, of MANY, idea that I liked was called Superhero. In Superhero, it's all about creativity! You are supossed to pretend that you are in charge of comingup with a new superhero for a comic book. You give the student 5 minutes and come up with as many unique creative names as you can for this superhero. Then tell what their super-power is. The goal is to see who can come up with the most, truly unique. I have also been receiving daily posts about quotations. I love using quotations as inspirational techniques in my classroom, as anecdotes to awkward situations, and as transitions. I've found lots of quotes that I like, but not so many that I can use in my classroom. Rotten Tomatoes has been sending my daily updates, however I'm not too sure if I will be keeping this "feed". Even though, I enjoy my information on movies etc., I've been finding some of what they have to say somewhat annoying. Not the last of my feeds, but the last for today is a feed from Google News that I specified to my "needs". My father's cousin, Dana Rohrabacher, is a representative for the state of California. I subscribed to this feed so that I can stay up to date on what's going on in his life, and give me a better excuse to stay up-to-date on political news. I usually tend to fall behind on what's going on. ........... More to come later!