Searching and exploring the WWW and all it's resources

When I find a website I like/need I always bookmark it as part of my favorites. Of course, this could have is cons because it is only available on the computer on which it is bookmarked and if something happens to that computer then all the bookmarks are lost. I have somewhat come up with a way to solve this dilemma and bought an external hard drive backup and on that a back up my favorites are saved. I have tried another alternative of saving websites by using Twitter, but found that I wasn’t a fan of twitter so I do not continue to use it.

I always joke in saying that Google is my best friend and to be honest, it is! I Google EVERYTHING! Although I am such a huge fan of using Google I was unaware that there is a difference between using a search engine, such as my wonderful Google, and using a search directory, such as Yahoo. A search engine allows you to type exactly what you are looking for in the search bar and all the websites that contain any or all of the words in you search bar will appear. A search directory is a little more complex and organized in the way that you click on a series of links to get you exactly where you want to go. I still like the idea of a search engine better because I like to just type in the words I am looking for and see what the WWW has to offer. I found it interesting that if you add quotation marks around what you type in the search bar that the engine finds that exact sequence of words.

The amount of websites available for our use today is infinite, but there are a few websites that I really like for K-12 educators. Of course, my number one favorite is Google for Educators. I really like Google for Educators because it offers a large variety of teacher resources. Ask for Kids is also a personal favorite. Although I am considered an adult I still like to ask a lot of questions, and I find that this website is excellent for answering some of the question kids and adult have. Lastly, I like Sites of Teachers because like Google for Educators it offers a wide variety of resources. This site also has the sites listed in order of popularity so you can see which sites are used more often by educators like yourself.

The FLDOE is a site that I am familiar with but definitely not an expert on. I really enjoyed exploring the site and seeing some of the information and resources that I had not discovered yet. One thing I found about the FLDOE site is that there is a link for colleges, but I was only seeing that they had the community colleges listed. I am not sure of I just didn’t see a link for the other universities, but I found that to be a little odd. After reviewing the FLDOE site I went to look at a few other states. The first state I looked at was New York because I love NYC and know that teaching there would be a whole different world than here in Florida. As I looked at their site they had a lot of the same information as FL, but I found FL’s site to contain more information and to be more appealing to the eye. Next, I clicked on the Rhode Island site and found the link to be incorrect and it actually takes you to a car insurance site. Looks like the site must’ve changed and the change hasn’t yet been made to the main education site. Finally, I looked at Maryland’s site and found that I liked that site and resources better than New York’s, but I still think Florida is my favorite.

I am currently not teaching so I chose to look at the Orange county website since I live in Orange County to see what they had to offer. I feel like this site has a lot to offer to students, teachers, and parents alike. Of course the usual information such as a school calendar and latest news and information was available, but other resources such as a letter from the superintendant, frequently called number for the parents and homework help available for the students. Moving forward I continued to look at different sites and links that were available on the web. Some of the sites were more user friendly than others, but they all were manageable after a few minutes of playing on them. If you can’t find what you are looking for on the different sites you can always use my plan of execution, Google!

I'm back!

Hi! I know it has been quite sometime since I was on here last, but I am back!! I hope you enjoy the new work and projects that will be posted over the next couple of months.
-Ginnie :)

Favorite *Five* books from reading log!

Below is a list of 30 books that I have had the chance to read and give you all a little information about, but here are my top five books that I have selected from the below postings list.

1)Dumplings are delicious By: Deb Capone
This book is about a five-year-old girl named Rain who loves to make jiaozi, a Chinese dumpling, with her adoptive American mom. After making them one day she takes them to school in her lunch and learns that all other cultures make dumplings, but in many different ways. Excellent book when teaching diversity. This is a picture book that introduces diversity by celebrating the things cultures share in common. It introduces the different dumplings in cultures around the world such as Russia and Mexico.

2) Families have together By: Harriet Ziefert

Awesome rhyming book about the ups and downs and ins and outs of every family. Amazing book that that used rhyming to describe how family works. I thought this book was great to show students that all families are the same.

3) Casey over there By: Staton Rabin

A story about two brothers who are affected by World War 1. The older brother is sent off to war and the younger brother is left there waiting for his return.I really enjoyed reading his book because it gave me an insight on how it felt to go off to war and how his family is affected by the war.

4) How the states got their shapes By: Mark Stein

This is a very interesting book that explains how the different states received the shape as we all know them today.
I really enjoyed this book because I never myself understood why the states have all different shapes. I always thought they should all just be squares. I found this book extremely interesting!

5) Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom By: Catherine Clinton

Wonderful book on the life of Harriet Tubman and how she help the slaves during the Civil War. This was a great book that tells the epic tale of Harriet Tubman and how she helped so many people during the slavery periods

Books GALORE!

Have you ever needed a great book to read, but didn't know what book to read?! Well your in luck because I have created a reading log with some great books! In this reading log you will be able to find many great books from a variety of different areas such as fiction to biographies. This is not only a list of books but also a short description of the book, reading level, number of pages, what i thought of the book, and how I would use the book in my very own classroom. If you are a parent, you can slightly adjust my classroom use column and use it at home with your child.
Follow the link below for many great books:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3606084/Andersonannotatedbibreadinglog-FINAL

Bookmarks here, Bookmarks there, Bookmarks EVERYWHERE!

Reading is fun, but what about when you have to put that book down for a couple of minutes and then you lose your spot?! Here are some cute book marks that I have designed, along with how to make each book mark. These are not just your ordinary bookmarks, they have books that they are tailored to as well as many different ways to make them! Hope you enjoy the endless fun in reading these awesome books and making this incredible bookmarks! :)

Follow the following links to find the fun:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3606018/childrens-lit-choice-assign-BOOKMARKS
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3606008/childrens-lit-making-bookmarks-revised-part-2

Tood Parr: A truely AMAZING author!

Todd Parr grew up in a small town in Wyoming. He always loved to paint and wanted to be an artist until he failed an art class in high school which crushed his dreams. After several years of doing many other things he went back to his dream of becoming an artist. Once again Todd didn’t have the best of luck with his work in galleries and had the opportunity to display his work in Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in San Francisco. It was then after this that he began to have merchandise in Macy’s, designing children’s clothing, creating children’s book, and more.
For more information, visit http://www.toddparr.com/todd/bio.html.

If you would like to know more about Todd Parr and some of his books then check out the author study that I created. This will give you an insight on some of his great books, why I like Todd, and a few ways that you can teach your children or students using Todd Parr's work.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3605963/AndersonAuthorStudyRevision

Parents:Tips to get and stay involved!

Parents, being a part of your child’s education is more important than you may think. Involvement, just like other things in life can be very easy and minimal or it can be very time consuming. Here are a few ways to stay involved.
1) Become a room mother: This is one of the best ways to become involved and stay connected with your child’s class and the teacher. Being a room mother is fun and usually isn't to time consuming.
2) Become a teacher’s aide: Great way to actually get into the classroom! Being a teacher’s aide will require you to be an assistant to your child’s teacher doing things such as grading papers. A teacher’s aide can be time consuming depending on your child's teacher’s needs.
3) Attend school board meetings: If you are looking for something that is relatively easy and very little time commitment then this is for you! The schools usually hold board meetings once a month that usually only last for an hour or two. This will allow you to stay connected with the school and knowing what is going on.