NCEA, Here We Come!

Hey Kids!

On April 8th I have the opportunity to share two of my favorite joys: teaching and blogging!  As a presenter at the NCEA (National Catholic Educational Association) Convention, I will help other teachers learn how to blog.

I Helped Out! Enokson via Compfight

  Will you help me teach the teachers?

 

I need your input to show everyone how great blogging is.  As you read this post, think about your own experiences with blogging.  While you are reading and thinking, I’ll be sharing our class experiences.    I’ll start with a little powerpoint that explains why I began blogging in the first place.

Next up, I’m going to show this video which explains what blogging is.  Do you remember the first day you went into the computer lab and got your own blog?   How cool was that, right?

I’ll need to mention, of course, the importance of digital safety and the responsible use of technology.  Have you ever had a problem with inappropriate material on your blog?  Think about copyright use, too.

We are going to learn all the important blogging terminology so that the teachers can write fantastic posts.  We’ll be learning about embedding videos, adding widgets, creating avatars, and giving attribution, in addition to lots of other blogging skills.   All the best blogs use these concepts.  What are some of your favorite blogs out there?  As my kids know, we are great buddies with the kids and teacher (Ms. Smith) at Huzzah!, and I am sure we will take a trip to British Columbia, Canada, to visit them.  I would not be here at the NCEA Convention in Orlando, presenting to other teachers, without my BBB (Best Blogging Buddy) Ms. Smith.  Also, I would never even have begun my blogging journey had I not been inspired by third grade teacher Mrs. Yollis in California  and her blogging buddy Mrs. Kathleen Morris in Australia.

We love exploring blogs, reading about all the great learning that is going on in the world, writing quality comments, and connecting with other kids and teachers.   Reading posts from other classes really makes me feel as though I have discovered a “captain’s log” from a ship sailing in a distant land.  Or even perhaps from a  ship sailing in space; I often hear the voice of James T. Kirk in my head as I begin to read a new blog, “This is the captain’s log…”  Do you have a favorite entry/post that you would like us to visit? 

Some of my favorite posts involve special blogging activities we have done, like our blogging parties for reaching a goal.   I also love the Skype visits we have had with author Graham Salisbury; movie producer Dana Hankins; Shakespeare birthplace curators Lisa Peters and Anjna Chouhan; and Mrs. Emerick’s 6th grade class, Making Waves.  Another great experience for me was our guest lecturer, Mrs. Joanne Chonody, who connected with a friend she hadn’t spoken to in over twenty years thanks to Family Blogging Month and our quest to collect visitors from all 50 states.  All of these events were possible because we blog.  Have any of your special memories from school been the result of blogging? 

Under The Blood Red Sun March 26 at 3:14pm · Edited · Here’s our favorite Florida classroom wearing Under the Blood-Red Sun beanies and baseball caps that they earned by partnering up with us. Our website EDUCATION page includes curriculum and a list of schools that have received bookmarks & posters & pin buttons – http://underthebloodredsun.com/education.html Please share to help us reach more schools/classrooms teaching the book and/or movie this year!

 

Of course, I love blogging mainly because it gives us an authentic audience for our writing.  As soon as we write our first post, we have become internationally published authors.  Do you remember Malala?  She started a blog in order to bring attention to the plight of girls’ education in Pakistan, and she was certainly successful!  In 2014, at the age of 17, she became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.  While most bloggers don’t achieve global celebrity, blogging has become a bona fide career for some and an enjoyable hobby for many others.  As of 2011, there were 181 million blogs all vying for a piece of your screen time.  In order to become a successful blogger, you have to be a proficient writer.  We use blogging to sharpen our writing skills; that’s an important job in a language arts class.  Do you enjoy writing and blogging enough to make it your living?

Okay, now here’s the part where I could use your help.  Would you take a few minutes to think about a specific experience you’ve had with blogging and then share that story in the comment section?  I know the teachers at the convention will want to know about blogging from the students’ points-of-view.  This is how you can help me teach the teachers. 

As my new blogging friends from Hawaii (Graham Salisbury and Dana Hankins) say,

Mahalo and much aloha!

Facts in Five

Have you ever played the game Facts in Five?

facts in five

photo credit 2015 University Games Corporation

 

Facts in Five is a GREAT game for those who like to challenge their minds, compete with their friends, and have fun.  That’s pretty much everyone, right?  

This past month, we have learned some great facts from five different sources.  Special guests visited our class this month, both in person and via Skype, to share scientific, historical, and cinematic information with us that added to our understanding and enjoyment of novels we have read.  In addition, we began writing our own informational texts, again inspired by our novels, to broaden our knowledge base in scientific areas.

Here are five categories each with some information that helps us learn more about books that we read.

 

Geology 

What type of rock decays underground to form a sinkhole? (Click on the photo below to find out!)

Geologist David Brown explains sinkholes to us after we read about them in the novel Tangerine.

Geography

In what state does the story Under the Blood Red Sun take place? (Click on the photo below to find out!)

Movie producer Dana Hankins and author Graham Salisbury visit via Skype to share information about creating a film from the novel Under the Blood Red Sun.

Movie producer Dana Hankins and author Graham Salisbury visit via Skype to share information about creating a film from the novel Under the Blood Red Sun.

Sports

What sport has the highest concussion rate for its participants?

Literature

Who wrote Up From Slavery?

Writing

What  type of plagiarism is common and most severe in intent?

 

Did you get all five facts?

See if you can stump us!  Leave a question in our comment box and check the box that indicates you would like to receive follow up comments.  Let the games begin!

Red Carpet for Red Sun

Anyone who stepped into my shoes today would want to be a teacher.  After reading the book Under the Blood Red Sun two years ago with my middle schoolers, grades 6-8, we were treated to the recently released movie adaptation today.  Little did I know then that the book we had started to read in class would culminate in a transcontinental educational connection with an award winning author and a movie producer and countless more opportunities for learning to read, to write, and to become better people.

In March of 2013, we were reading the novel when- lo and behold!- a comment appeared from Dana Hankins, producer of the movie, on our blog.  I had no idea a movie was being made.  Somehow DanaHankins found our class blog, wrote us a comment, and then sent bookmarks from the upcoming movie to all the students.  She also got author Graham Salisbury to write us a comment, too.  By just reading and writing, we made a real-life connection with the author and producer, 4,600 miles away.  We had a literary tea party at the end of the school year, and quite a few kids dressed as characters from Under the Blood Red Sun.

During the next school year we watched the movie in progress via its web and Facebook pages.   I loved seeing the photos of Tomi’s house and the screenplay as compared to the novel.

At the end of 2014, we learned we had been nominated by our friends at Huzzah! in British Columbia, Canada, 3,000 miles away, for Best Class Blog.  Honored and humbled, we asked everyone on our email list to please vote for us, confonnit!  Again- lo and behold- Dana Hankins reached out to us and all her Facebook followers, asking them to vote for the classroom that had students dressing as Red Sun characters.  We re-established a connection, which grew to include a Skype visit next week.  We also received copies of the movie and a few more bookmarks.

Today, to celebrate all we have accomplished with our blog (connecting with Dana Hankins and Graham “Sandy” Salisbury at the top of the list), we held a Blogging Party, “Red Carpet for Red Sun”.  Celebrate for a few minutes with us!

What book would you like to see come to life on screen?  

 

And the winner is…..Hey, Kids!

 

Here is the list of winners for Best Class Blog for 2014!  We are in the first place spot!  We won Best Class Blog *Student Challenge Winner* and we are so EXCITED!

Thank you to everyone who voted for us!  Thank you to Ms. Smith at Huzzah!  Thank you to the awesome Kids who work on this blog all year long!  Thank you to Edublogs for all the support you give us all year long.
Merry Christmas!  

 

Please vote for us, Confonnit!

Hey Kids!

Do you remember reading Under the Blood Red Sun last year?  Do you remember the bookmarks we got from the movie producer, Dana Hankins?  Do you remember our Literary Tea Party and dressing up as characters from the novel?  Do you remember the author, Graham Salisbury, and the producer, Dana Hankins, commenting on our blog?  All very exciting moments for us!  Fortunately, the folks who made this movie remember how much we enjoyed the novel, and they have not only voted for our blog, but they have invited all their Facebook friends to vote for us as well!  Super cool, right?!

 

The movie is recently released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital Downloads. We plan to watch the movie as part of our blogging party celebrating our 20,000th visitor! Time to roll out the red carpet for Under the Blood Red Sun!  Check out the trailer, too.

What do you think is the best part, and the hardest part, about making a movie?