Pinterest Follower Giveaway!

The extended weekend is affording me extra time to spend in my crafty nook at home, and surf Pinterest looking for creative inspiration from other teachers, bloggers and crafty souls.  Finding tweaks to try and additions to make in my own classroom organization and learning centers takes time: hooray for Labor Day!

Checking my boards on Pinterest, I discovered I was reaching over 1500 followers:

Along with Kissing Hand cookies and my math board (found here in my classroom tour), my decorated clothespins have been pinned repeatedly, which got me to thinking...

Why not make some pins for a giveaway to celebrate?

Number buttons have been added to two sets of wooden clothespins, so your students can use them from the right OR the left, perfect for counting, matching numbers, and clipping to pocket charts, counting cards, or other daily math centers and activities.  Using clips such as these helps to develop fine motor skills too: three cheers for the pincer and tripod grasps!

The wood has been covered with polka dot paper strips adhered with Mod Podge.  If any edges start to peel after multiple uses, just add another coat (it's thinned out white glue) on top and allow to dry.  The number buttons have been affixed with the wonder adhesive, E-6000.

Want a chance to win the clips AND three star shaped crayons that I shared in an earlier post?  Just work through the Rafflecopter entries below:



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Michaele

New Curriculum Materials and Suggested Resources? Take the Time, Make the Time

I've spent the past week looking through the kindergarten chapters in Common Core Curriculum Maps (Jossey-Bass pub., 2012), and have been putting my visual self to work creating and filling Pinterest boards as I explore each of the six units recommended for my grade. I've included links to samples of the suggested artwork, music, literature, and videos as well as to many teacher-created activities and resources, most of them offered as "freebies" at the time I pinned them.

In the case of unit 3 (Exploring with Friends in the Neighborhood), you'll find I've pinned alternate artwork in addition to the two pieces suggested by the authors.  Appreciating the fact that the unit's activities are "neither prescriptive nor exhaustive," and that teachers "can select from among them, modify them to meet their students' needs, and/or use them as inspiration for creating their own activities," I sought out examples of vibrant neighborhood/community art that would engage my students and get them talking about the friends, family, neighbors, animals, activities and professions that they encounter daily.  But why did I feel the need to seek out alternatives in the first place?

Units 1 and 2 suggested works by Picasso, Matisse, Whistler and others:

As I look at each piece, I can hear in my mind the comments and questions that my Super Stars might pose and share as they examine color and make inferences.  I can imagine their journal entries and interpretations of the artwork that they'll create at the painting easel, creative construction zone or art class.  Families might even decide that a trip to a museum or art gallery should be moved higher up on the to-do list this year.

I can also imagine the dialogue borne of not only inquiry and intrigue but of confusion and possibly fear if my students were to reflect upon all of Pieter Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559, one of the two pieces of artwork suggested for unit 3:

According to Wikipedia, the painting depicts Dutch proverbs of the day and includes representations of "the absurdity, wickedness and foolishness of humans."  A fascinating piece, I can imagine junior high, high school, college students and adults studying it and engaging in colorful discussions and debates over the imagery, style, humanity, complexity, economy and iconography depicted.  But four, five and six year old children?

Ew, I can see their butts!

What is she doing to that devil?

My mom/dad says that the devil can sneak into your heart and...

Etc.

Teachers can interject themselves into the conversations of their students when they feel it's necessary, but in my opinion, Netherlandish Proverbs risks requiring excessive amounts of maneuvering and redirection as students explore, reflect upon and compare their own neighborhood to the one depicted by Bruegel.  This maneuvering can further be affected by a teacher's own interpretation of and feelings about the painting, or beliefs about religion, modesty and morality, topics about which parents and families feel very strongly.  As you imagine yourself viewing Netherlandish Proverbs through your kindergartners' eyes, do you think they'll examine the painting as a depiction of collected scenes in a neighborhood/community, or do you feel their attention will constantly be divided between the separate images that for whatever reason, catch their eye? 

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What kind of community artwork do I think is appropriate for young children?  Todd Berman has created collaborative neighborhood art full of colorful characters found here:

Angela De La Torre depicts colorful architecture in Buffalo the Beautiful:

Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach art quilt and story (link to Amazon.com):

Reading the foreword and introduction in Common Core Curriculum Maps, I was unable to find a statement contributed by an early childhood/kindergarten teacher, though the Maps were "written by teachers for teachers" in the public school arena.  Hoping to find an explanation about the consideration and final selection of Netherlandish Proverbs, and provide my two cents regarding suggestions for future fine-tuning of the Maps, I checked online and found that commentary and suggestions can be shared only if an educator becomes a member ($25 fee) of the Maps site.  As I've already purchased the book and am comfortable tracking down resources and activities to supplement each theme, I won't be spending the extra money, though I'd love to hear from any of you who have decided to access the Maps and the additional bells and whistles online. 

Teacher Tip: Whether you're an experienced teacher or one new to the profession, always take the time to look over curriculum materials suggested to you or utilized by your district.  If you're swamped, make the time, as no one knows your students like you do, and your professional judgement must be utilized for their benefit.  

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Links to artwork suggested by the Maps can be found in a PDF Art Guide available here.

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Don't forget to vote for my blog over at Circle of Moms (click on the badge) daily until July 9.  I appreciate your visits, and love to share what I know and do with other early childhood professionals, teachers and families!  Thanks for scrolling down the list, finding my smiling face, and returning the love by clicking on the heart:

~Michaele~

Common Core Curriculum Maps, Zoo Phonics, and Pinterest, Oh My!

I've been "off work" for the summer since the end of May.

This means I've been...

1)  ... in my classroom six times, moving furniture,  re-papering bulletin boards, and planning changes.  Oh, and killing ants.

2)  ... attending professional development regarding K-12 science education.

3)  ... catching up on my education-blog reading.

4)  ... familiarizing myself with this book:

A quick-scan of units 1-6 in May had me a bit perplexed.  While I appreciate thematic units with art, music, and science integrated, I couldn't find phonics-specific information, and wondered why suggested stories/literature weren't more current.  Part of me is a traditionalist, so Mother Goose and her nursery rhymes have always been included in my class library, but there is a wealth of newer poetry, artwork, literature and music for children available too that teachers shouldn't ignore (I've got your back, Pete the Cat).  New-to-service or new-to-district teachers who follow these ELA maps will need to ask their grade level partners if they'll follow a letter-per-week model,  c-v-c unit instruction, or complete immersion.  Traveling around thanks to Uncle Sam (Dear Husband has retired from the Army), I'm flexible with change because I've had to be: despite state standards, NCLB, Race to the Top and the Common Core, no two districts have been cookie cutter in their implementation of curriculum.  My suggestion to new teachers?  As you swim through materials or create your own bank of resources from scratch, ask questions.  Lots of them.

With all of the relocations, I have had a trusted stand-by, thanks to a former colleague in Alaska.  I've used Zoo Phonics (since the 1990's) in the four different school districts which I've taught, because it's a program that works well to not only teach letter sounds but to help differentiate for the needs of my students.  Many children enter kindergarten with letter name and sound knowledge, so slogging through twenty-six weeks' worth of the alphabet can be boring and redundant.  For those kiddos with little to no print awareness and/or low phonemic skills, Zoo Phonics is an engaging introduction to letter names and sounds that includes a body motion to help facilitate whole brain/body learning.  Students at all levels of phonemic awareness enjoy the fun factor, and are able to employ the elements of animal identification, story, sound and motion in the first two weeks of school and as they develop their reading and writing proficiency throughout the year.  Watching strong readers and their early-emergent classmates interact, share, and choose to partner with one another when writing, exploring word work activities or enjoying books in the class library using their shared Zoo Phonics references is a strong affirmation for me as a teacher as I work to create an inclusive environment where students learn not only from me but from one another. 

By the way, Zoo Phonics didn't ask me to promote or praise their program, no sir-ee Bob.  I've just seen it work in Alaska, New Mexico and Kansas, with general education kids, English language learners, students with special needs, and especially those who are articulation-challenged.  Watching a student who can't produce r, l, w, y, t, or s sounds verbally *still* be able to write words, thoughts and sentences by indicating a body motion or finding the necessary animal on a Zoo Phonics chart is a powerful thing to witness. Barring a hearing loss or auditory processing problem, students can hear and discriminate between sounds even if they can't produce them. 

5)  ... creating Pinterest boards for units 1-6 from Common Core Curriculum Maps.

If you'd like to take a peek at the boards (or follow them), you can find them here:

Unit I: A Colorful Time with Rhythm and Rhyme

Unit 2: Tell a Story, 1, 2, 3

Unit 3: Exploring with Friends in the Neighborhood

Unit 4: America: Symbols and Celebrations

Unit 5: The Great Big World

Unit 6: Wonders of Nature: Plants, Bugs and Frogs

I'll continue to add to them this summer.  

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Thankfully, my summer hasn't been all work and no play: today I'm going to go out to lunch with a friend!  On a Thursday!  

The little things really are the big things with teachers, aren't they?

I hope your summer has gotten off to a wonderful start!  What are your plans?

*****

Don't forget to vote for my blog over at Circle of Moms (click on the badge) daily until July 9.  I appreciate your visits, and love to share what I know and do with other early childhood professionals, teachers and families!  Thanks for scrolling down the list, finding my smiling face, and returning the love by clicking on the heart:

*****

See you back here tomorrow when I ask your opinion about artwork suggested in Common Core Curriculum Maps.

Pinterest Tutorial: Pinning from the Original Source

Here are more tips and a how-to for those of you wanting to use Pinterest for collaboration and/or personal use.

Avoiding the "cannot pin from this site" block:

~ If you 1) have a Pinterest account AND 2) have installed the "Pin It" button into your internet browser's bookmarks bar, you can get around the "sorry, we cannot repin from this site due to suspicious activity" hiccup that pops up at work when you're on the actual Pinterest site and you've found a pin you like on someone else's board.  Here's how and FYI, it's also the BEST way to save an actual link, site, work page, tutorial, etc.

Let's say you've found some images/pins on Pinterest that you'd like to re-pin.  I'd like to re-pin the "Sweet Paul Holiday Countdown: Day 6-Crepe Paper Roses" item to one of my own boards.  

When I click on the image, I see the following:

**INSTEAD** of clicking on the "Repin" button and saving it to my board, I will click on the PHOTO itself:

Clicking on the photo opens up a new window.  The window SHOULD be the actual site from which the photo was originally pinned by the other Pinterest user.

On that site, I will go up to my "Pin It" button that I installed in my bookmarks bar (it's in the upper right corner):

After clicking the "Pin It" button, the screen will change to this:

 These images are miniatures of photos that appear on Sweet Paul's site.  I need to click on the picture of the item I'm actually wanting to pin (which is the crepe paper flower tree).  See how the white "Pin It" link appeared on the photo I hovered my cursor over?  I'll click "Pin It"....

...at which point this window pops up:

As I DO want to save this particular pin to my "Christmas Cornucopia" board (and the caption is fine in the dialogue box), I"ll click on the red "Pin It" button.

After I do, here's what I see:

I can click on the links in this window, or I can click it closed (red dot, upper left corner), OR just wait a few seconds as it will close on its own.  The pin has been saved to my board, avoiding the "blocking pins from this site" message that might have occurred if I had simply tried to repin from someone else on Pinterest itself.

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Pinning from the actual site:

1) saves you from getting the dreaded "can't pin" blockage when you're at work; 

2) makes it much more likely that you'll be able to get to the actual link/publisher/copy/creator at a later date 

3) makes it possible for colleagues who repin from YOUR boards to find the original source instead of being led on a wild goose chase that can happen when repin trails get too long

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Privacy:

I don't have a problem with friends, family, colleagues or even strangers knowing that I have a thing for the color pink and that I love finding new-to-me crochet patterns.  If you would rather not share that kind of information with the world, consider creating two accounts: one professional, and one personal.

For your professional boards, create your account using your school email address and identifying name and information.  Colleagues can search for, find you, follow you (or your boards), and repin links you've shared.  So can anyone else who ~happens~ to stumble across this account.  Only pin links, items, photos, tutorials, work pages, resources, craft ideas, etc. that you wouldn't mind your colleagues seeing/using.

For your personal boards, create your account using your personal/home email address.  Under your name tab (upper right of your Pinterest home page, next to the Add+ and About links), choose "settings" and fill out your personal information using only initials or a nickname.  Do NOT link to Facebook or Twitter.  This makes it harder ~but not impossible~ for parents, students, colleagues, and strangers to search for and find you. 

As almost all activity on Pinterest is public, do not be surprised when eventually some other pinner follows you, your boards, or repins something you've added to a board.  

You can deactivate your account at any time by going to your name link (upper right corner of Pinterest screen), dragging down to "settings," and clicking the "deactivate account" button near the top of the screen.

Happy pinning and collaborating!

Pinterest How-To for Teachers

More and more teachers, administrators, specialists, interventionists and other partners in education are finding, pinning/re-pinning, and creating boards to save links, ideas and resources on Pinterest for not only classroom use but for school-wide collaboration and sharing.  I was recently asked to help facilitate a learning/sharing session regarding Pinterest with my own colleagues, and found it necessary to create a step-by-step tutorial with need-to-know info just in case our district server tried to block our activity.  Several teachers found it helpful after they got home and were able to surf the web without filter/blocker issues.  Are you new to Pinterest?  If so, I'd encourage you to try it out for a bit.  You can deactivate your account at any time.

1) Open your internet browser and click on the link below:

Pinterest

If you're at work, you're likely to be blocked via your server's filtering program.  Some allow you to enter teacher or district credentials that unblock the site for you.  If you're able to reach Pinterest, continue on.

2) Click on red "Join Pinterest" button

3)  You can link your Pinterest membership to your Facebook or Twitter accounts, OR you can sign up using your email address.  If you plan on creating boards and pinning/re-pinning for professional use and collaboration only, I'd suggest you use your district email address.  If you're not concerned about colleagues/friends/family/strangers finding your boards on Pinterest, use your personal/home email address.  Please be aware that almost all activity on Pinterest is ~public~.  Click on your choice and fill in your account information.

4)  You'll be asked to follow 5 boards.  Select "education" and scroll through, selecting several to follow. Be aware: just about anything on the internet can be pinned, mis-pinned, or added to a board whose creator doesn't keep it sorted.  You can always "unfollow" a person or board at a later time, so just select five for today's practice.  Hit "next"

5)  Create your first board by scrolling down to "Something Else."  Click on it, and then create a title for your board.  Try "Bulletin Boards." 

6)  You'll now see a screen full of pins!  These are from the pinners you chose to follow.  Before you scroll through the images, go to the top of the screen.  Find the Add+, About and your name links.  Select "About" and scroll down to "Pin It Button."  Follow the directions on the screen.  Once your "Pin It" button is added to your bookmarks bar you'll be able to pin most images you find (and you want to save) on the web.  

7)  You can create pins from sites, links, and images you find on the web by using the "Pin It" button in your bookmark bar, AND/OR you can re-pin others' sites, links, and images you find on their boards by choosing the "re-pin" button.

8)  You can find other boards or "pinners" (other people on Pinterest) by searching for them.  Once you find an individual, you'll have the opportunity to 1) follow him/her or 2) select boards created by that person to follow.  If you decide to follow a person, you will end up seeing all of the pins they add to every one of their boards.  It's better to select a person's individual boards that you'd like to follow to keep things manageable. 

9) Pinners will be notified that you are following them and/or their boards and when you re-pin (you make a copy of their image to save it to one of YOUR boards) photos or links from their boards.  You will also be notified when someone starts to follow you or the boards you've created, or have re-pinned links from your boards.

10)  In the Search box at the upper left of the Pinterest page, type in "bulletin boards" and click "search."

11)  Results will appear on the  next screen.  You can search pins, boards, or pinners using the links beneath the search box.  

12)  If you find a link/pin you want to save, you can "repin" it and save it to the boards you've created.  You can also simply "like" a pin.  Want to share your thoughts about a pin?  Add a comment (but remember, everyone who has repinned the image will see your comment in the dialogue box).

13)  As you repin an image, a copy of it will appear on your screen with a scroll bar that lists your boards beneath it.  Select "bulletin boards" and if you want to add details about the pin, or a note to yourself, type it into the text box below.  Your comment or label can be seen by anyone who repins the image from your board.

14)  If you encounter the "sorry, we've experienced problems repinning from this site" message, it's probably because of a district web filter.  In tomorrow's screenshot tutorial, I'll show you how the teachers in my district have been able to get around that particular glitch. You shouldn't have problems pinning when you're at home.  

15)  You can create additional boards at any time: as you pin from the web (your prompt/boards box allows you to scroll to or create a board), as you repin from another board, or you can follow the links beneath your name at the top of the screen to see your boards, pins, likes, or adjust your settings.

16)  Now: open up a new window in your web browser.  Head to Google, and search for images of bulletin boards.

17)  Select an image, go to its original web page, and scroll down until you find the image you were looking for.  

18)  Click your "Pin It" button in your bookmark bar.  Your screen will change, and will show possibly multiple images from the web site.  Move your cursor over the image you want to "pin."  A "pin it" prompt will appear.  Click it!

19) A "Create Pin" window will appear with the image, your board selection menu, and a text box.  Select your "bulletin boards" board, either leave the text/info as it is in the text box or change the caption.  Click "Pin It."

20)  If the pin is successfully saved, the window will let you know!

21)  There is now an option on Pinterest to have "secret" boards.  These boards cannot be seen or repinned from by other members.  Only 3 "secret" boards are allowed at this time.  All other boards are visible to all Pinterest members.

Tips:

As you create boards, be specific:  Videos for School, Kindergarten Math, Speech Interventions, Cute Cupcakes, etc.

As you pin, make sure you save images to the correct board so they're easy to find later.

And....

When you re-pin from another person's board, you might end up just saving the image, but not the actual link or source of the image.  Visiting the original source and pinning what you want from there instead of re-pinning it from a board helps immensely, which is what I'll show you how to do in tomorrow's post! 

If you're anything like me, you'll be a Pinterest Addict in no time!