Newsletter

Our Healthy Tips for Parents newsletter is going home today! In this newsletter we included a little trivia about yogurt, a recipe for Kid Friendly Salad, and healthy tips for parents. Thank you to HEB and the Oliver Foundation for sharing the yogurt tip and recipe! The English version is below. Keep an eye out for our next newsletter at the end of the semester!

Together We Can STOP Diabetes!

Today we kicked off our Diabetes Awareness and Prevention campaign!

We are working with the American Diabetes Association to raise money to help find a cure for diabetes. We all know someone who is affected by this disease, it is very common in our community and within our school family. I am personally affected, as my mom was diagnosed as a diabetic two years ago.

It is important for us to stress the concept of ENERGY INPUT (food and nutrients) vs. ENERGY EXPENDITURE (exercise and daily energy requirements) to our students. Here are some tips provided to us by the ADA:

Eating Food = Energy Input

• Grains are any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, and barley.
• Vegetables are any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice.
• Fruits are any fruit or 100% fruit juice.
• Dairy includes all fluid milk productss and many foods made from milk.
• Proteins come from meat, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, eggs, processed soy products, nuts, and seeds.

Important things to remember:

Make at least half your grains WHOLE grains!

Make HALF your plate fruits and vegetables!

Enjoy your food, but eat less!

Avoid oversized portions!

Drink water instead of sugary drinks!

Physical Activity = Energy Expenditure

Physical activity is movement of the body that uses energy.

• Moderate Physical Activities:
• Walking briskly
• Bicycling (less than 10 miles an hour)
• General gardening
• Dancing
• Golf (walking and carrying clubs)
• Water aerobics
• Canoeing
• Tennis
• Vigorous Physical Activities:
• Running/jogging
• Fast walk
• Bicycling (more than 10 miles an hour)
• Heavy yard work, such as chopping wood
• Swimming
• Aerobics
• Basketball
• Tennis

Let's work together to teach our students about diabetes and let's help them raise money for this worthy cause!!!

5th Grade Goes to UHD!

Our 5th graders took a tour of UHD today! I did not get to go on the field trip, but it is my school!!! I was definitely proud to be a Gator today! I am so glad our students were able to visit such a wonderful collegiate institution!

I did not have a chance to speak with many of the 5th graders this afternoon, but I told them I would be asking them three questions.

1. What is the UHD mascot?
2. Name one thing they saw in the food court. (I knew food would get their attention)
3. One interesting fact they learned...little do they know I'm really going to ask them for 5 interesting facts! I hope they were paying attention! LOL

I hope the kids enjoyed visiting UHD! It's a great local school, and I hope that there are a few future Gators who visited today!!!

GO, GATORS!!!





Oh, yeah, how do you like the Big Huge Labs pics I included? I'm using my Web 2.0 tools! I knew I would like that website!

(all photos courtesy of the UHD website and Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Marr!!!



Today is Mrs. Marr's birthday! We had a great day celebrating and the kids loved singing to her. She received several notes, pictures, and cards from the kids. Here are just a few...



Birthday poster from Mrs. Rodriguez's class




Drawing from a former student, he's now in high school




Friendly letter from
Mrs. Brown's class

The notes and love the students show is just one more reason to be an educator!!!

Happy Birthday, my friend!



Ladder Exercise

1st Grade Footwork!!!

We introduced a new station for all of the classes today. The ladder exercise! We placed two speed ladders on the floor, these ladders are used to build up agility with fast footwork drills. The drills help the feet to adapt to fast patterns of footwork by duplicating the exercises over and over.

Hana Ahmad, 5th grade

As usual, Becky added a twist to this regular station! The twist involved the students traveling through one of the ladders in the push up position. This enabled the students to work on their shoulder strength. This is especially helpful for the 3rd through 5th graders because of the FitnessGRAM push up test they will take in the Spring.

The students, Kinder through 5th grade, enjoyed this activity today!  It was so much fun to see them run through the drills like real athletes!

Save Our Library!

My friend posted this earlier today on Facebook, so I thought I would post it in honor of our wonderful librarian, Carol Lee!

What do you make?

I got this email today and I've read it before, but I thought I'd share it because sometimes we forget what we make....

The Doctor wants his child to become a doctor... the Engineer wants his child to become an engineer... the Businessman wants his child to become a CEO.... BUT what does a teacher want their child to be?

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discuss-ing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Teacher Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? She paused for a second, and then began...)

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 min. without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

You want to know what I make. She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.

I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them how to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.

(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)

Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN ALL YOUR LIVES, EDUCATING KIDS AND PREPARING THEM TO BECOME CEOs AND DOCTORS AND ENGINEERS.

What do you make Mr. CEO?"

His jaw dropped; he went silent.

Tool #11 - Self-Assessment and Reflection

Holy cow! I made it through the 11 Tools of Technology! WOW! I can't wait to see what we get in the gym! I'm excited about the xBox KINECT and I can't wait to use it in the gym. The problem is finding a way to use it for all 50+ students, but I know we'll come up with something!

Some of my favorite tools are Google Docs, Wordle, Big Huge Labs, Discovery Education, WallWisher, and of course Blogger! Wordle is a great way to display key terms about topics we are learning! Discovery Education has great videos we can share with the students about the body and how it works! WallWisher is a tool I have already implemented, as I created an online bulletin board for my Safety Patrols. All I have to do now is give the link to the patrols, and parents so that they can be informed as well! Personally I cannot wait to use Big Huge Labs for the 5th grade graduation slide show! Check out the Pop Art I created with a picture of BCE! I hope to keep up with my blog and use it to communicate with my BCE family and fellow educators.

Should we get iTouches/iPads as part of our technology, then the Calorie Counter app would be a great tool in teaching nutrition! Especially when we have students who have to sit out for medical reasons, such as those who have broken bones or their parents/doctors have sent a note saying they cannot participate during Health Fitness. The iTouch could also be useful to upload the FitnessGRAM cadences used during testing, and the music we use in the gym.

I'm excited about our students getting the chance to use technology in their classrooms! It's great to know that SBISD is trying to stay caught up with the 21st century learner! A lot of children know more about technology than we adults do! The little girl I nanny during the summer is 2 years old, and she already knows what an iPad is and has figured out more about the iPad than her mom! Check out the photo collage of her playing with the iPad! Kids like that are the ones who will rule our world one day!

As I've posted before, because I'm not exactly sure what we're getting in the gym, I can't say that we will need to change much of what we're already doing. One change would be adding the technology component.

There really wasn't any unexpected outcomes from this journey through the 11 Tools. I assumed I would learn about the different tools we are receiving and Web 2.0, and I knew I would be excited about what I would be able to use! The tough part is figuring out how to use what I want to use!

Thanks for reading about my journey into the 21st century! Be sure to stop by often and check out what we're doing in the gym!!!

Tool #10 - Digital Citizenship

I looked at Vicki Davis's post about digital citizenship on her Cool Cat Teacher blog. I really like and agree with some of the quotes she posted. For example, David Warlick suggested that teachers should start on google and demonstrate to the students how to find the page they are looking for. Kristin Hokanson suggested teaching the students how to find credible resources when researching, instead of just using the first source that pops up.

The most important thing I found in her post was when she said, "Digital citizenship is more than literacy, it is living safely, civilly, and effectively in our increasingly digital world." I believe we need to teach our students how to be safe while surfing the Internet, we must teach them to be polite to others when posting comments online, and the students need to learn how to use technology effectively.

Mouse Tales with Megan and Mackenzie is a good video to use with the 3rd through 5th grade students to teach appropriate technology usage during school. While watching Megan and Mackenzie I found an Internet Safety video for K-3 students posted by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. A great video to teach the little kids how to be safe while online!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm not quite sure if we're getting netbooks in the gym, but I think it's important that we all stress the importance of being good digital citizens. Sometimes I do take students to the library to use the computers, usually the students who do not go to the YMCA for swim lessons. Before I take them to the computers I can go over some rules with them about using the computers, possibly show them the IUP video about Internet safety before allowing them to use the computers.

As far as sharing digital citizenship with parents, I think we can do that as a campus! If we post information on our website and in our newsletter, then the parents will learn about digital citizenship and can work on this at home too!

Tool #9 - Incorporating Classroom-Based Devices in the Classroom

I love Sir Ken Robinson's video on why schools need to change in order to fit the needs of our students. I saw it just a few months ago, in fact I shared with our principal and counselor.

Why is it important to tie the technology with the objective?
The technology piece must be tied in with the objective so that the students can better understand the importance of why they are using technology to make sense of what they are learning.

Why should students be held accountable for the stations/centers?
If students are participating in online discussions about the task/project/lesson then they are taking responsiblity for their learning, and they are taking their learning to the next step. If our goal is to make every student college ready, then taking responsiblity for their learning is key, and it will be useful as they move on.

I don't know if we're getting netbooks in the gym, but I did check out  Learning Games for Kids. I clicked on the Brain Games link and found Hand-Eye coordination games. Under the Health Games link I found games dealing with allergies, body parts, dental, and staying fit!

I looked at the iTouch/iPad apps and found several that we could use! Calorie Counter would be a great app to use while teaching nutrition! RunKeeper Pro would be another great app for the students to use to keep track of their mileage on the track. It could definitely be useful for the collaborative project I wrote about in Tool #7.

On to Tool #10...I'm almost done!

Tool #8 - Looking at the Tools

In watching the video on how to take still pictures and record videos on the new Dell 2120 netbooks I learned that there are several settings the students can choose from to take still photos. Students can change the brightness, contrast, color, capture mode, and they can also take a mirror image. Under the view controls option students can pan and zoom or use the face tracking option. I also immediately recognized my friend Angela's voiceover on the video. Great job, Angie!

I'm not really sure what all we're getting in the gym. I know we're supposed to get the xBox KINECT and I think iTouches. If we do get iTouches or an iPad, it would be great if FitnessGRAM and Apple could come up with an app for FitnessGRAM testing. Maybe I should contact them and make some money off my idea! LOL

After reading the suggested classroom management ideas, I agree with the ones posted on the 11 Tools blog. There should definitely be accountability when checking the equipment out to the students, and because the technology ratio is not 1 to 1, centers or pairing is the best way to use the technology.

Tool #7 - Online Digital Projects

photo courtesy of pviactrack.com

Creating an online digital project with a class on another campus would be amazing! However, I would like to try it between two of our classes first, just to get the hang of it. So, for my online digital project I've decided to create a collaborative project between our 1st grade and 5th grade health fitness classes. Using the spreadsheet in Google Docs the two grade levels can compare and keep track of the number of laps they complete on fitness days. To do so, a 1st grader and a 5th grader would be paired and they would each be responsible for entering the number of laps completed in the class spreadsheet. They can then see how many miles, six laps equals a mile on our track, they complete during the
semester.

Objective: The students will complete their fitness and use the spreadsheet in Google docs to keep track of their laps completed on the track. The students will also utilize math skills during this project.
Implementation: This collaborative project would begin in January so that mileage can be monitored for an entire semester.

Tool #6 - Web Tools for Discussion

I used Wall Wisher to create a wall for the Safety Patrols. This is a great tool to maintain contact with them and post information online. I always write messages on our dry erase board outside of the gym and I post info on our Patrol bulletin board, but sometimes they just don't see it. So, this is just another tool to be able to communicate with my patrols! Plus, I can share the link with parents and they can stay informed as well! Hot diggity!



I've used Skype before, not for education purposes but I've used it.. A former BCE teacher teaches in Germany on an Army base and Ms. Lynne and I have talked to her before. This is a great tool to keep in contact with people around the world! How amazing would it be for our students to have the opportunity to see and speak with other students across the district, city, state, or country! If you have teacher friends who also use Skype in their classroom, I highly recommend using this tool with your students!

Tool #5 - Web 2.0

For my first Web 2.0 tool I chose to use Wordle, which I have used before. Mrs. Lee introduced me to Wordle last year and I used it to make a water safety vocabulary sheet. So, I thought I would use it again but try the advanced option. In the advanced option you can choose the size of each word, as I did, or you can choose the size and color of the words. To choose the color you have to know the hex colors (hexadecimal color codes for HTML) and I did not want to have to look those up!

For my wordle I decided to go with a hockey theme. Not only is hockey one of my favorite games we play in the gym, but it's also on the brain because I'm going to the Aeros game on Sunday with one of my best buds. So, for this wordle I made HOCKEY the focus point and all the words around it are common hockey terms. Wordle can be a great asset to learn terminology for different subjects!  I just might have to use it in conjuction with our Health Fitness Word Wall. (My wordle also came in handy as decoration for wrapping a gift too! I just printed it out, cut around the words and taped it to the white wrapping paper!)

I used Big Huge Labs to create a jigsaw puzzle out of the My Plate picture. My Plate is a new visual to show portion control. Food should be enjoyed, but oversized portions should be avoided! My Plate is easier for young children to understand in comparison with the Food Pyramid, but if we teach the food pyramid and My Plate, they'll understand healthy eating even better!

BHL is a great way to transform regular pictures into amazing graphics! I could personally use this when I make the 5th grade slide show! I think I'm a little excited about this now!

The Technology Journey continues....on to Tool #6...

Key to Success

I thought I would incorporate what happened in my class tonight with what we're doing at school this week.

This evening we had Mr. John Meredith, an adjunct professor at HBU and volunteer chairman of Aspiring Youth, as a guest speaker in my PR Writing class. As he was discussing his background and giving us insight into the PR world he also gave us some advice on succeeding. He told us of a young boy from Atlanta who was at risk of flunking out of school in 8th grade. With some motivation, this young man went on to finish high school, graduate from North Georgia College, graduate from Baylor University School of Law, and get an MBA from Harvard University. Not bad for a boy who was at risk of failing.

He shared with us the KEY TO SUCCESS...and it's simple, just four little words:

WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS!

He suggested that in everything you do, whether it be spiritual, family, fitness, financial, or even hobbies, write down your goals.

Mr. Meredith also told us that he could use his crystal ball to tell our future. Our future: YOU WILL BE YOUR FRIENDS. Basically, the friends we hang out with will determine what we do and who we become. If our friends are driven and successful, then we will also be driven and successful.

How does this apply to BCE? Well, this week is College Week and we're promoting secondary education. Why not integrate Mr. Meredith's ideas while teaching our students about furthering their education and succeeding? I think this is a perfect opportunity to take what Mr. Meredith shared and help our students see that they too can be successful.

By the way, the 8th grade boy who was failing...it was John Meredith.

Tool #4 - Google Docs and Google Forms

I know that this journey into the 21st century is not easy for everyone, so I created a simple PowerPoint titled "Technology and You" to share with some of my friends. It is only a three slide presentation and there's nothing fancy about it; I just wanted to inspire my fellow educators to continue on this technological quest. I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure.

Google Docs could be useful when I need to share simple documents with my teammates, but I think I have an easier time creating something in MS Word. I originally wanted to share the list of words we used in our Health Fitness Word Wall, but I could not create a table. I attempted to insert a table three times, and it never showed up on the screen. It could have been my computer and not necessarily Google Docs, but it was frustrating.

As for the form I had to create, I made a four question First Aid Quiz and I sent it to Becky Marr (Health Fitness teacher) and David Rodriguez (BCE Principal). I thought of creating a quiz because the form reminded me of the online and hybrid classes I've taken at HCC and UHD. The only problem is that Becky and David cannot see whether they chose the correct answers or not, but Google Forms does send the responses to a spreadsheet which I have access to. I guess I'll have to "grade" their quiz and get back to them! This could be a great tool for middle and high school teachers to create online quizzes for their students. Maybe our 4th and 5th grade teachers could try an online quiz too! Let me know if you need help!

Click First Aid Quiz if you'd like to test your knowledge of first aid basics! You must be logged in as an SBISD Educator to view it.

On to Tool #5!

They Make Me Smile Every Day!

November is the month when we remember to be thankful for everything we have, and finding the major things to be grateful for is easy. You know, family, good health, having a job, having a roof over your head, great friends, etc. However, it's the little, every day things we must really be grateful for. So, for the third year in a row I have made this month "30 Days of Gratitude" in order to appreciate the little things.

My 7th Day of Gratitude is dedicated to our students, specifically the little kids. I love the random thoughts that they share with me. They put a smile on my face every day. I am going to share two random thoughts with you...hopefully they'll put a smile on your face too!

Friday's thought: "Ms. Jessica! I have Smurfs living in my front yard!" (kindergartener)
Today's thought: "Ms. Jessica...see my shoes? THEY'RE AWESOME! I love them because they are AWESOME and they make me go fast! Watch!" (1st grader)

(Extra points if you can guess the students!)

Tool #3 - Embedding Videos

I visited TeacherTube, KidsTube, Discovery Education, and YouTube to find videos for this post. I searched for videos about the body, and I wanted to find one that would be good for our Kinder through 2nd graders and one for our 3rd through 5th graders.

As a child one of my favorite Saturday morning shows was School House Rock. So, for my first video I chose to take it old school and use a School House Rock video I found on YouTube. While I think our 3rd through 5th graders would enjoy School House Rock, I would prefer to use it for the Kinder through 2nd graders as an introduction to the body.

I chose to upload a video I downloaded from Discovery Education for my second video. I would use this video with our 3rd through 5th graders to discuss the heart and circulatory system.

Blogger makes it easy to embed videos (knowledge of HTML is not needed), there's a little button you click on while editing your post. You can upload your own video, as I did with the Discovery Education video, or you can search YouTube in the dialogue box that pops up and select it from there. Be sure to watch the YouTube video before you post it on your blog!

As far as Copyright Law...there's a lot to it! Holy cow! I looked at the PDF and got a headache from reading it! I knew that we (educators) had the ability to copy/scan copyrighted images for teaching moments, as long is it is not an entire collection of work. I found the fact that teachers/students "can do whatever they want" as long as the content is being published to a secure network interesting.

I also created a Dropbox account, this could be useful between us (Becky and I) to share documents, but not really useful for the students.

Tool #2 - Checking Out My Friends' Blogs

I checked out some fascinating blogs today!!! It's great to see what my fellow educators have to say about the technology applications we're learning about, and how they're going to implement the technology in their classroom.

The blogs I checked out today by teachers at our campus...
BurgerBytes by one of our fabulous Third Grade teachers, my friend Noreen!
PE Queen by Becky Marr, the amazing PE teacher I work with!
Navigating a New Era by Adrienne Pere, our iCoach and one of the newest additions to our BCE Staff.
11 Tools by Becky Stephenson, THE BEST COUNSELOR IN THE WORLD!
Journey to the 21st Century by Lynne Brown, my very good friend and the BEST Kindergarten teacher!

I also checked out blogs from two friends who work on different campuses...
CBE Corner by Richard Campbell, former Fourth Grade teacher at BCE and current Fifth Grade Teacher at Cedar Brook Elem.
Oh, the Places You'll Go by Deanna Castilla, a Fourth Grade teacher at Valley Oaks Elem. Deanna's page is amazing!

Great job, my friends!!! Keep up the good work!

Killing 2 Birds with 1 Stone!

I am so excited! Not only do I get to get through the 11 Tools of Technology journey, but I also get to use this blog as the blog I have to create for my PR Writing class! Thanks, Professor Heller! So, I will be posting more than just the 11 Tools, be sure to come back and see what's going on in my neck of the woods!