Monday, August 4, 2008

Is It Time For School to Start Already? Yeah!

As I anticipate the upcoming school year, I can hardly believe how fast this summer has gone by. Speed of light. It just seems like yesterday that I said good-bye to my first 4th grade class ever and now I'm about to welcome my second set of 4th graders. Some old-timers might think I'm crazy, but I can't wait to get the school year started. I learned so much my first year; some things I did right, some things I did wrong -BUT I LEARNED. Now I get a second chance to do better and grow both as a person and as a professional. I'm excited!

I've got some cool stuff in the works for my kids this year:

1. New ways to derive spelling words (from what we read, not just from a list in a book)
2. More Social Studies, cross-curricular, project-based learning
3. A unit on the Olympics that take place very soon
4. A unit on the upcoming Presidential Election
5. Access to laptop computers in the classroom on a regular basis
6. More use of technology to help us learn and showcase our work for our parents, our school, and the world through the use of wikis, digital storytelling using PhotoStory and PowerPoint, podcasting, and movie making
7. Distance learning projects that allow us to collaborate with other 4th grade classes on projects and activities

Wow! That should keep us busy! I hope that by working on essential 21st Century Skills (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/), these kids will be ready - and perhaps have an advantage - as they continue their education and prepare to enter a competitive job market. 

Of course, at the very least, we'll have FUN!!  :-) 

Posted at 10:13 AM 1 Comments