Grab your Hat and Read with the Cat!

Read Across America 2013-
In celebration of NEA's Read Across America and Theodore Giesel's birthday on March 2, Mrs. O'Risky's readers are logging 1 mile per book point, leaving from the Statue of Liberty, and heading to the Golden Gate Bridge! We obtain "miles" by reading books and testing well on them. 
Grab the map and move it around to see our markers. Click on each marker on the map to see who is driving, reading, testing, and where we are today! We are expected to begin on Feb. 1 and arrive in California on March the 1st.




View Read Across America 2013 in a larger map

SeaPerch Competition

Quincy soldering the motors for the Black Lagoon (ROV)

Our Black Lagoon team is preparing for the State competition! This year the State SeaPerch competition will be in Dubois County. We'll be ready!

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Veteran's Day Interviews

Do you remember the days when we just read and talked about how to conduct an interview? My, how the classroom has changed!

Thanks to Colonel Connie Harden for allowing my language arts class to interview her yesterday. We conducted a video SKYPE session from our classroom in Indiana to Harrodsburg, Kentucky! Carlie did an outstanding job asking questions of Colonel Harden, and the entire class took notes on their iPads.

We will be writing reports and presenting a program for our interviewed Veterans on November 10th.

Todays Meet

I was encouraged by Connie Jesch, an innovative iPad pilot teacher in our district, to give Todays Meet (web 2.0 tool for whole class responses) another try. We had tried to use this tool last year and it was a fiasaco! Connie told me about using this "back channel" to display good reader's thoughts. As we read a story together, students posted questions to unfamiliar words, made inferences, personal connections, validated predictions, and responded to the story. It also offered the opportunity for the teacher to model "self-talk." Well, Connie, it was a success! Thanks for reintroducing me to this cool tool!

ICE Conference - No Teacher Left Behind!

Last Thursday and Friday, our district's iPad pilot teachers were given the opportunity to attend the Indiana Computer Educators conference in Indianapolis. We had a wonderful time listening and observing masters in using technology to reach our digital native students.
Two of the many presenters that I was able to attend were Michael Gorman and Leslie Fisher. Check out their contributions to the online learning world!

Foldables

Using foldables as graphic organizers are a great way to get all involved. This week we worked with a Venn diagram foldable. Look for terrific foldable ideas at this website!