Hope for the Future: Our Second Grade Shines!

When posed to answer the question by myteachermyhero.com on the hope for the future of American education, it's easy for me to look past the negative news of this past year and focus on the faces of the many students and staff at Jouett Elementary. While this year brought a new president, with new hopes for education funding, the reality is that he does not have a magic wand to wave and *poof* everything becomes "good" again. With the pressures of standardized testing, staying healthy in a world made paranoid by the H1N1 scare, and other negative news about education, it's easy to isolate ourselves in our small rural county and focus on what's most important: the students.

I am so proud of my students this year. We have embarked on new journeys and experiences. We are taking the "budget crunch" in our own hands and getting our own funding through DonorsChoose.org for projects that we feel benefit our class. We are seeking grants to help fund field trips and projects that otherwise might not happen. We are becoming 21st century learners and future leaders by becoming "global" and expanding our worlds to include other students in other places through projects such as Voice Thread and blogs. We are becoming independent learners, inspiring ourselves to learn more about subjects that we are interested in, through the use of our library, the Internet, and other resources. The students are even becoming teachers themselves - teaching other classes, both in second grade and beyond, how to create and utilize technology that we ourselves have learned and mastered.

My class gives me hope and instills in me a warm sense of pride as I watch them grow and learn. This is the future of our country, and the future of our education. How can I not feel that the road ahead, although rocky at times, will lead on to bigger and better things for these wonderful individuals? Happy Holidays to all my students and their families. See you in 2010! :)

This post is part of the MAT@USC Hope for the holidays event. Did you have an experience or witness something in 2009 which gave you hope for the future of American education? If so, please see this post for more information on how to share it.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a happy holiday and safe break. I hope everyone is having fun in the snow and enjoying themselves! :)
I'm already planning some fun activities for 2010! Speaking of planning, if someone you know, business or person, needs a great tax deductible donation for 2009, please guide them to our Donors Choose page! We have three current projects posted we're hoping to have funded soon. The students are so excited about this website and its impact it has had in our classroom this year. We'd like to keep this ball rolling. :) Thanks for helping us out and once again, have a great break! Stay safe and have fun! :)

Building Houses - A Fun Treat!

We had a great time today creating our graham cracker houses. Unfortunately, some of them fell victim to a "tornado" and collapsed, but it was just as fun to rebuild and decorate the pieces! Check out our class creativity below!

Fun Things to Do :)

Feeling snowed in? Here is a great site to create your very own personal snowflake. It's a lot of fun! Check it out!



Also, I will be adding to the Portaportal over the holidays, so be sure to check it often. I'm trying to do a bit of reorganizing, so if you don't see your favorite site in its usual place, it may have been moved to another folder! Have a fabulous break and I will see you in January 2010!

AR STARS!

Students will qualify for the next AR Celebration by making 30 points by this Friday, December 18th. Here are our Top 10 AR Stars:

1. Taylor: 64.6

2. Kassandra: 53.0

3. Alex: 43.1

4. Alexis: 39.6

5. J.T.: 38.2

6. Abby: 30.1

7. Katya: 21.0

8. Trey: 20.7

9. Hunter: 19.3

10. Zachary: 16.6

Congrats and great work to all of our students! :)

Google Earth

Today, we explored maps, and the places we've discussed, in a whole new way! It's called Google Earth. This shows satellite images of the Earth, and can even be zoomed in to see tops of buildings and houses! You can do this by typing in addresses in the program. Google Earth is a free download, but draws its information from the Internet, so it does not take up much space on your computer.

Today, we saw the pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall in China, Jouett Elementary, and even a glimpse of Mrs. Youel's house! :) Students are VERY excited about this new program! We hope to use it in the future for virtual field trips, as well as exploring new places!

http://earth.google.com/