Wonder-blogs that I am following.

I love finding inspirational blogs. I would like to share the following with you.

Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning is a great website. The authors are pre-school educators based in Melbourne. Their pre-school centre is play-based and includes beautiful, inviting learning environments for children (as well as providing me with a wide range of ideas!)

The other must-read blogger is another Australian - Kathleen McGeady. I follow two of her blogs - her own and her classroom blog. One day, I can only hope to achieve in the classroom what her students are currently producing.

Interesting ICTs - Beebots and iTeddy

I am becoming excited about the types of ICT tools that can be used in a Prep classroom. I am lucky to have access to a Beebot and wow - were the children engaged!

I had a large grid on which I had placed all the students names. Their challenge was to work out how to find their name. They were all engaged and actually clapped each of their classmates when their turn was finished (whether or not they had got it right). I am now asked on a daily basis if the Beebot can come out to play!

Our focus Jolly Phonic letter this week was 'Bb' - and Beebot was one of their brainstormed words.

I'm looking forward to creating Beebot slalom challenges, and other grids with numbers, letters and sightwords. I also want the students to make a path out of blocks for the other students to navigate with Beebot. I'm looking forward to going to a PD called "Count me In" to find out more ways that the Beebot can be used for numeracy.

In a classroom without an interactive whiteboard, it is my challenge to find new and engaging ways to incorporate ICTs to enhance learning experiences.












My new purchase is an iTeddy. I have yet to introduce him to the class, and I am about to get me an Easi-Speak microphone. More about these later . . .

More discoveries!

I am finding that the blogosphere is an incredible place. Through the current blogs that I am signed up to, I keep discovering more and more wonderful things. My creativity levels are not up to those that I discover, so if I cannot be a giver of useful and creative resources, then I will attempt to be a sharer of wondrous discoveries.

My latest discovery is a blog called Learning Today. This blog has many contributors and a wide range of topics and resources (lessons, math games and posters for Blooms to name a few). One of its most recent postings discussed another blog called Fun 4 The Brain. This blog has a range of fun interactive games to promote concepts of numeracy and literacy.

I have also shared these discoveries on diigo and delicious. I'm looking forward to more discoveries that I can share.

Random Acts of Reading - a wonder blog!

Since I have now discovered all about Google Reader and its joys, I am delighting in reading all of my new-found interesting blogs. As I am doing my internship in a Prep classroom, I am finding these sites invaluable for ideas that I can use in all aspects of the curriculum - art, literacy and numeracy. (All of my favourite blogs are listed in the side bar.) As I find and use more, I will keep you updated.

I am particularly loving Our Random Acts of Reading. The author, Laura, leaves well-loved picture books and activities for people to find. Each blog posting talks about why the particular book is a favourite, and describes the activities (and links) to the activities that are included. Laura wants to be able to "gift" 2, 010 books in 2010 and is looking for people to join the project. While it is American, I would love to try that here in Australia. This will be my project . . .

Where to start? Possum Magic, Diary of a Wombat, Graeme Base - so many fave authors, so many books. Will need to start getting creative . . .