Grants and Funding for your classroom/school!

With districts around the country facing budget cuts, the bottom line for teachers is more out of pocket expenses. Last year I spent more money for my classroom than I can remember spending ever before. Paper seemed to be a hot commodity, white paper, colored paper, construction paper, glue was the second runner up! I had written four grants the year prior but only one was funded; the grant really helped though because we were able to have science supplies I never would have been able to purchase had I not had grant money!

Grant money is definitely a great source of funding for a classroom. There are plenty of grants that are available throughout the year but now is the time to write; when you have some time to spare. Tech&Learning has posted a great resource for those looking for grants that I have posted here. It provides the name of the grant, the company, the link, and the grant deadline. I highly recommend writing at least two, just in case one is denied. If you have lots of time on your hands then write more than two. Make sure to follow the grant guidelines, I know from experience and from having friends who are on grant committees, those grants that do not stick to the guidelines and adhere to the format are not even looked at. With more and more educators and grant writers out there, "if you cannot respect to follow the guidelines then they will not bother to look over the grant proposal", so I've been told.

I hope you find the grant calendar useful. If you are unable to read it once you've clicked on it- I've posted the link below.... The best of luck to the grant writers out there!!!

http://www.techlearning.com/uploadedFiles/dellgrantscalendar09_10.pdf

A Great Blog- Prestwick Cafe!

I'm in the car on my way to Tennessee. The first amazing thing I love about computers is that I can check to make sure I spelled Tennessee correctly, which I did! Horray for me!! (I've always excelled in spelling but it never hurts when you feel a bit uneasy about your spelling to hit the 'spellcheck' button- just to be on the safe side. The second amazing and incredible aspect (I truly LOVE this part) is that I can access the internet while my husband drives the car!! I love leisurely reading or blogging in the backseat while he does the driving. Now, of course, I did offer to drive but he wants to do it...so I'm happy to be in the back reporting the following to you all...

I've just found a very resourceful blog called the Prestwick Cafe. Full of interesting and helpful topics, links to other helpful blogs, I wanted to mention it because as an educator and new to the blogging world- I want to bring to 'LivingLearners' readers the most useful sites and blogs so that my readers don't have to spend time looking for those resources themselves. I you will enjoy it. Here is the link... http://prestwickhouse.blogspot.com/
Tell me what you think by leaving a comment!! Thanks!

A Literacy Must-Have Resource!

One of the most useful tools that I've come across during my years of teaching has been the International Reading Association's (IRA) website, ReadWriteThink.org. It has resources, links, downloadable materials available for all educators from Kindergarten throught 12th grade! If you find that you've found a great lesson on how to create a "flip-book" but have no idea what a "flip-book" is because you are new to the education field as you're previous job was being the CFO of the Trumpt National Bank; well have no fear... there are video lessons on how to create a variety of resources that teachers use in the classroom, i.e. a 'flip-book'.

Check out the following resources and look for some of your own!
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/flipbook/
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/alphabet/

The best part of IRA's ReadWriteThink is that there is no cost to access any of the materials... They are completely free!! There are benefits to being a member of IRA, and having been one myself for over 12 years, I can only state that I find the benefits FAR outweigh the price of membership. If you'd like to visit the IRA's website and see about membership and current research regarding literacy and language, check out their wonderful website; another wonderful tool for educators of all areas!
http://www.reading.org/General/Default.aspx

iTeachtoo!

I found a great new tool online and I think if you are a teacher you should sign up and join today!! It is called "I teach too" and it is a 'collaborative' type of website that educators post lessons that they have either created themselves or have found to be useful. It has some awesome lessons and although it seems to be a relatively new site, it already has a wealth of materials!!! I've posted a great resource on the website that I created for my district. The tool is geared towards 2nd grade math but really can be used by teachers of k-3 and will give you a variety of tools to use for teaching mathematics. It is aligned to Florida's new Mathematic Benchmarks and the current Palm Beach County Mathematics Textbook. It is a tool that will be used by teachers in the Palm Beach County School District and I would love for teachers to check it out and leave a comment or add an additional resource!!! The link to "I teach too" is

http://www.iteachtoo.com/index.cfm?go=main.registerform

When asked "How did you hear about us?", please mention this blog- livinglearners.blogspot.com! Let me know what you think!!!!

Moodle

I've been reading about Educational Technology over the past two days and this word 'Moodle' had kept popping up everywhere. Well, of course, being the 'Curious Georgina' that I am, I had to find out what it was. It looks very interesting.... If you use it, please leave a comment. As I try to find some semblence of a definition for you- (you may look up the Wikipedia one if you like)- you can check out Moodle for yourself at the website. It is an absolutlely FREE tool to use and seems to have amazing uses for the classroom...so Moodle away! http://moodle.org/

Guided Reading or Reader's Workshop

I've just finished attending the most fabulous Reader's Workshop professional development that I've seen in quite awhile. Conducted by the Teacher's College of Columbia University, the focus was on teaching reading and writing through the use of the Reader's and Writer's Workshop. I have used both in my classroom for quite sometime, though the emphasis in the district where I am employed is focused more towards the Guided Reading approach, there can be no denying that the Reader's Workshop works. By looking at the amazing gains that this school has made because of the implementation of this system and the informal research I have conducted within my own classroom setting, it is clear to me that the better approach is the Reader's Workshop. I will be posting information on how to implement the Reader's workshop in the classroom setting within the next 2 weeks. Those using it already- PLEASE- leave your comments!!

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Readicide

My thoughts so far- WOW- Kelly Gallagher has put into words what I feel districts and schools are doing to reading by implementing these "systemic" changes to the way we teach reading. We can no longer enjoy books, educators (some, of course, NOT ALL) dissect every little piece of the book until you no longer remember the book that was read but the minuscule lessons that were pulled from each page and picture, extracted by the most eloquent of educators! Let us no longer kill books, let's just read them just to enjoy them sometimes.... Just read! Check out his podcast by clicking the link.
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/readicidepodcast.htm