The House that Annie Built

Well I have finally completed my doll house. I am really glad that it turned out so well. Choosing the color scheme was nerve racking (I have a hard time making final decisions). But all in all I really like my little house! I can hardly wait to find some furniture for it!

WebQuest Ideas

For my WebQuest I am focusing on 4th Grade Standard 5. It is about Utah's different habitats and the animals and plants that live there.
I have a couple of ideas that I am trying to decide between for the activity.
1. I am think about having them create a poster or powerpoint about their chosen habitat. This will include the temperature and weather as well as which animals and plants most live there.
2. Students will choose an animal and figure out which habitat they should live in, who their neighbors are, and what their dinners may consist of.

Do these ideas sound like they may be engaging and help the students learn?

Who wants to be a Millionaire

For my Family Finance class we we required to read the Automatic Millionaire. I wasn't sure what to expect at first. How could someone become a millionaire automatically? My thoughts were that it was all about investing in the stock market.

Actually it was only a little about investing. David Bach's theme throughout the book is to make things happen automatically without any extra thought put into it such as setting up automatic bill-pay and having your employer automatically deposit a set percentage of your paycheck into your 401K. There are so many great ideas to follow to finish life rich and happy in retirement.

I strongly encourage you to read this book ( I have it if you want to borrow it). I had so many "of course I should do that" moments, like it just finally clicked in my head. Check out David Bach's website for more info. http://www.finishrich.com/pages/home.php

WebSite Evaluation

post a summary of your evaluation on your blog - talk about the strengths of each evaluation guide and how their use changed your opinion of the evaluated site - and what you learned from the process of evaluation

There are huge benefits to evaluating websites before allowing children to use them. The teacher is responsible for the safety and protection of the students in their class. While evaluating kidsreads.com I used Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators and Wave.webaim.org. According to Schrock's guide the website would be good for young children. A student could navigate the site easily and there are large pictures and links. The information is great and it is good for students to get more info as well as for teachers. The Wave was a little harder to understand. It seemed that most of the errors it detected were mainly about the code used to create the website and it's links.

Overall I think that kidsreads.com is a great place to learn about authors of our favorite books. But I think that it is mainly geared toward teachers. It looks like it could be a good tool for students to find books and learn about authors but in my opinion a parent or teacher should oversee the student's search.

Every Wonder what it's like to have a Learning Disability?

This semester I am taking a special Ed class. Every week we have to do an activity relating to the topic that we are discussing in class. Last week's activity was really eye-opening. I couldn't believe how hard some of the tests and activities were! After completing the activities, I have a new respect for those who have learning disabilities. It just makes me that much more grateful for my mind and body.
Check it out! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/

Google Docs Spreadsheets

When I was introduced to Google Docs a couple of years ago. I didn't think much of it. But know that we are actually learning how to do different things on I think that it is a valuable tool for teachers. You can not only share documents, but you can also create surveys and quizes online. You could use the survey for parents. This will enable you to gain a better understanding of what parents understand and expect.

Comfort Food Survey

Everyone has a comfort food that you just need sometimes. What is yours?