October Entry
October 6, 1998 
The lesson plan that I implemented was the Brown Bear, Brown Bear lesson that Nina and I created.  In past years I have read the book and helped my students create their own Brown Bear book.  Every year it is interesting to see the children work on the illustrations.  It is common to hear, “I can’t do this!” or “I don’t know how!” These comments seem to fade by the time that we finish the book as the children discover that they can illustrate in their own way, and they usually feel a real sense of accomplishment. 
This year we made our own books, made a color word book, acted out the story with story cards, and are currently working on a big book called “First Grade, First Grade! What do you see!”  I had anticipated that I would by finished with this big book by now, but I have found that this creation is taking more time than I thought.  We are teaching a new reading and phonics program that consumes a lot of our day, and I am still working with time management in my classroom.  Hopefully, I will be able to complete this book in the next couple of weeks! 
The children have been very excited about this project, and their illustrations and thoughts have been wonderful.  I believe that starting out the year making this book helps the children to realize that they are very capable of creative work no matter what their skill level is.  I feel that this process enhances positive feelings within them to know that they can create a project successfully. 
 I plan to implement this lesson plan next year and for years to come as it is a fun and creative way to teach color words, sight words, patterning, and sequencing.  The children have enjoyed it and so have I. 
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November Entry
November 4, 1998
 This month I made a classroom newspaper to let parents know about how our fall fieldtrip to a pumpkin patch went.  My class brainstormed some ideas about what we would write.  We talked about sequencing the events of the trip also so that they would make sense in a story.  When we began writing the story, the children became very excited to see their thoughts typed on the big screen television! The children had some great ideas about how to put the story together also.  Our biggest challenge came when it was time to choose a picture from the pictures that were taken with our digital camera while we were on the trip.  We did not have one picture that had everyone in it so some arguing about which picture we would use occurred! We finally decided upon a picture and put it at the end of the story.  Another fun moment for the children came when I printed out 18 copies for them to take home.  They were amazed that we could make a newspaper so quickly and that they could take it home that day!  I hope to make more newspapers in the future as time permits! 
 I have chosen the “Kids to Kids International” Internet project to work on.  I like the flexibility of working on this project at my own pace.  I have a very challenging class this year and a lot of my spare time is consumed in documentation and behavior reports.  I will plan to begin this project in January after the holiday season.  I am looking forward to it!
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December Entry
 November was a busy month for us in first grade! I chose a lesson plan that related to Native Americans since we would be covering a unit on this subject.  I found this lesson plan on an educational lesson plan web page from the University of Illinois.  This lesson plan introduced Native American symbols to the children by using the book Brother Eagle, Sister Sky.  We read the book and then I showed my students a chart with different symbols on it.  The lesson plan called for making vests to put the symbols on it, but I knew that most of the children had made vests in kindergarten so I adapted the lesson plan for my own use.  We decorated paper teepees with symbols instead.  After this project, we wrinkled brown paper to make it look like animal skin and we composed a story on it using symbols.  Each child “read” his or her story to the class.  I found that the children took great pride in doing these projects.  They were very willing to share their work.
 I have made two newspapers so far for my class.  We made one paper about our field trip to a pumpkin patch in Hawkins County.  The other newspaper was about our Power of Positive Students or POPS Assembly.  Each six weeks, our grade level chooses three to four students to be honored for some accomplishment aside from an academic accomplishment.  We have an assembly for the children where two classes perform some songs for the season and then our assistant principal, Mr. Vick, presents the honored children with certificates.  We took pictures with our digital camera and imported the picture of our class’ honorees into the class newspaper.  One child that was honored said that her mother was very happy to see her picture in the newspaper.  I am planning to put each group of children honored in the paper after every POPS assembly.
 This month I tried the Reading Blaster program with my class.  I found the program to be useful and enjoyable when I led the class through the program.  When the children tried to work independently with it, they had a lot of trouble since some of the activities did not read the words to them like Reader Rabbit or Bailey’s Bookhouse do.  The children are not strong enough readers to read long passages at this point in the year.  One afternoon, a student of mine from last year came to visit me during bus call, and she was able to read the passages to the children who were working on the computer.  I felt that Reading Blaster would probably be better for second graders since this student had no trouble reading the words. 
 I have not utilized a Cyber Ambassador in my classroom yet.  The new reading program that we are using this year consumes are lot of my time so some days I am not always sure how much time we will have for different activities.  Perhaps when I have a stronger handle on the reading program and its’ time consumption, I can bring an ambassador into my room.
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January Journal Entry

The month of the December was a very hectic month for my class and myself.  With Christmas, a bout of strep throat, and a continual challenge of trying to place an emotionally disturbed student in a more appropriate setting (this finally came through!), I found myself struggling to stay above water! I was able to set up my address book using folders, which is something we learned at the last training session.  I found this to be more efficient for me.
I am looking forward to a fresh start in 1999 since this major problem student has been removed from my classroom and is getting the help that he needs.  I am facing this semester more refreshed and have great expectations of completing my Internet project of making and sending a class book to children overseas.  The children in my classroom love to make books and share a spirit for giving to others.  I am ready to give this project my full attention.
Due to the continual unrest in my room caused by the student mentioned before, I have felt uncomfortable bringing a Cyber Ambassador into my room.  I did not feel that having any more changes in the room would benefit my children or the Ambassador.
I am looking forward to training on the laptop computer this semester.  Donna has assured me that the training will be soon! 
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February Entry

During the month of January, my class and another Cyber Exchange teacher’s class used ICQ to carry out the lesson plan that this teacher and I created at our last Cyber Exchange meeting.  We sent sight words from our Saxon phonics lessons to each other, and the children read them.  Each class sent a new word to the other class for them to read.  The children enjoyed getting messages from the other classroom.
Two weeks ago when there was a threat of tornadoes in Tennessee, I would ICQ our assistant principal to keep a check on the weather and the possibility of a tornado drill.  We ended up having a fire drill, but I was informed of this so I was prepared for this!
I am hoping to set up an early morning time with a Cyber Ambassador to work with the children one on one writing stories with the program Stanley’s Sticker Stories.  Setting this up is my goal for this week.
I am still waiting to use the school’s laptop.  We are having a technology meeting today at school, and I am planning to ask our school coordinator if I can spend some time working on the laptop on my own.
My Internet project is coming along very slowly.  I plan to focus more time on it in the spring months when things are not so hectic.  February is a busy month with the 100th day of school, Valentine’s Day, Dental Health month, and President’s Day! The spring months always go slowly so I am looking forward to using this lull to work on our book for the project.
I have noticed a heightened interest from my class in my reading CD-ROMs that we use in our classroom.  The children have become experts on Reader Rabbit 1 and are ready for Reader Rabbit 2.  I overhear them talking about the activities that they are using on the computer often.  We have mastered Kid Phonics 1 also, and we are beginning Kid Phonics 2.  I am excited to see them so eager to use the programs.
We have been making a class newspaper once a month in our class.  I enjoy using the digital camera to import their picture onto the paper.  The children like to see themselves in print! I know that these newspapers cannot be posted on the web with their picture, but the children seem to feel more ownership of the paper when they are featured in the pictures.  This month’s paper featured our Power of Positive Students assembly that first grade presents every month.  Our picture showed the children who received awards for being a good citizen, being a super reader, being a good friend, and being most improved.  We also added an “article” about our upcoming 100th day of school.  We are planning a special snack using 100 pieces of different foods, and we need parental support for this project.  A couple of children said that they just knew that their parents would read the newspaper and see what we needed.  Perhaps the newspaper works better than a note home from me! I am looking forward to a positive response from home!
I am looking forward to continuing to utilize the technology that I have during this busy month!
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March Entry

This month I created a PowerPoint Presentation for Dr. Seuss’ birthday.  One day while I was working on the presentation, the children returned from their special area and several of the children were very interested in what I was doing.  I showed them how I was creating something for them to watch.  They seemed fascinated that something so animated could be created on the computer.  I plan to show them the finished process tomorrow when I return to school.  They are learning more about Dr. Seuss today at school.
I attended a short meeting concerning the laptop computer for our school.  I will feel comfortable using it in the future.  My main concern is that with so many people sharing it, I have not had a chance yet to check it out and work at home with it.  I am sure that I will have a chance in the future to use it, however.
 My next newspaper will be coming out in the next two weeks after our Power of Positive Students Assembly.  The children enjoy seeing their pictures in the paper as a result of them being honored for something special.
 I am working on gathering resources for my Internet project.  We are going to send a class book and school supplies to another country.  My class has a difficult time supporting projects for the classroom monetarily as well as bringing items in.  I am going to gather the school supplies from my sorority at UT, where I am now an advisor.  The sorority’s philanthropy is Choose Children, and they are always looking for ways to support children’s projects.  I am asking them to supply the markers, crayons, etc. to be sent with our book.
 I have been observing my classroom’s performance on our reading software in the classroom to monitor each child’s progress.  I have some Frank Shaffer programs that monitor each reading groups’ progress and achievement for skills such as digraphs, blends, vowels, etc.  The children seem to be doing well on these.
 I feel that I have used technology quite a bit this month, and I am excited with the progress that my children and I am making. 

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April Entry
 I have not had any success using a Cyber Ambassador.  The Ambassador’s schedules did not seem to coincide with our busy first grade schedule.  I think that the size of our school and our intricate schedules have played a part in this program not being successful.
 During the time before parent/teacher conferences, I used the laptop computer at home to complete my individualized reports on each of my children.  I share these reports with the parents and give them a copy of this report.  I have not used the laptop since this time as other teachers have been using it.  It is hard for so many of us to share.  I have felt that what one of my colleagues is using it for is more important than my own exploration.  Hopefully, I will have more access to it during these last few weeks.
 I successfully added stories to my children’s names for my web page.  I have not been successful uploading these changes to the page.  I hope to have some help from Connie! I am anxious to get this up and running.  The children enjoyed writing a rough draft of their stories and having the stories put on the page. I hope to complete this soon!
 I am in the process of putting my next newspaper together.  I always send one out after out Power of Positive Students assembly.  During the most recent assembly, our digital camera’s battery ran out so I did not get any pictures of the children who were honored.  I am waiting until this Friday to take these children’s pictures so that they will be wearing their Friday t-shirts.  I will have one more paper for the month of May to honor the final group of children.  I plan to have an end of the year paper as well.
 We are still working on our class book for out Internet project.  I hope to have it ready to be sent by the end of the year.
 My children are independently writing stories on Stanley’s Sticker Stories.  They are getting better with the typing.  We are starting to use Kid Pix to illustrate handwritten stories as well.  This way we are integrated “old-fashioned” writing with some technology.  We have also made more class books about spring with dictation on the computer and child drawn illustrations.  I plan to make an insect book with the children next week to go with our study of insects.  I can see how far the that the children have come by seeing that they are no longer afraid to try to sound out words and spell them for their stories.
 A new program that we have started using is Trudy’s Time and Place House.  This program helps with spatial recognition, geography, and time telling.  The children are thrilled to get to use this program and cannot wait until it is their turn to use it.  I still am getting requests for The Cat in the Hat Living Book also! The children have made this one a real favorite!
 I feel that I have been able to enhance my teaching style this year by using Microsoft Word for stories and newspapers, PowerPoint for making presentations more interesting, and Internet sites for adding a useful resource to my classroom.  I am pleased with these new things that I have learned through this program.  It has been fun to have my children ask, “What did you learn in computer class that you can show us?” They have an understanding now that teachers never stop learning!

May Entry
During several units of study this year, my class has used the Internet on numerous occasions.  This particular group of children that I have this year is very interested in seeing “real” pictures of things.  They were excited to see web sites that contained pictures of people such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and St. Patrick.  We have looked at many animal and insect related sites as well.  For young children, being able to see things outside of their world helps bring into reality some broad concepts.
We have been able to explore some author’s web pages such as Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle.  These authors are familiar with the children, and the children have enjoyed learning more about these people. 
I feel that I have used the Internet more this year than last year because I have been made more aware of web sites that are available from my involvement in the Cyber Exchange program.  I have been able to learn about sites without having to spend hours and hours looking for them on my own.  Sometimes in the world of first grade, there is simply not enough time to sit down and look up items on the Internet during our busy day!
We are completing our Internet project for the Kids to Kids International project.  I am 
emphasizing the importance of being helpful toothers in need.  I feel that this is an  important concept for young children to obtain. 

Nina Belcher and I created a lesson plan that incorporated the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle.  We always do a unit on this book each year, but we took our plans one step further this year by creating a big book about the teachers and staff at our school.  The children in my room enjoyed sharing books with the children in Nina’s room.  I hope that perhaps some other teachers may have benefit from this lesson plan.   I also used some online lesson plans that we searched for in the Internet during Cyber Exchange.  I added several lessons on Native Americans to my Native American unit.  I particularly enjoyed the lesson using The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.

My class has enjoyed using email to send messages to other classrooms in our school.  They like to send seasonal and holiday cards from Blue Mountain Greeting Cards to our principals and to Nina Belcher’s room.  They vote on which card we will send and compose a message to the recipient.  It is exciting to receive a message in return acknowledging the card.

Nina and I used ICQ to play a sight word recognition game.  Each class took turns sending a word through ICQ to see if the other class could read it.  This game caused quite a stir between the classes!

Having just learned about video conferencing last week, I have not had the opportunity to use this technology yet.  I would like to find another classroom at another school to participate with us in this kind of project.  I would find it challenging to locate another teacher that would like to participate with us.

I have used Word to help my students create classroom books this year.  The children dictate their own page for the story.  We print out the page and the children draw their own illustrations on the page.  I have also used Word to create our classroom newspaper.
I created a PowerPoint presentation for Dr. Seuss’ birthday. The children enjoyed seeing this.  I also used our Vowel Pals presentation to introduce vowels.  I would like to work on some more presentations this summer for the beginning of the school year.

I have not been able to upload my web site as of yet.  I am hoping to be able to do this by the end of the week.  My students wrote stories, and we put them on the web page disk so it is ready to be uploaded.  I will make the URL available to my children’s parents as soon as it is up and running.  I am unsure, however, of the number of students that have Internet access at home.
My classroom newspaper has been a success.  The children and their families have looked forward to these coming out from month to month.  I discovered that the parents seemed to read this information more carefully in a newspaper format as opposed to a letter that has come from me or the school concerning upcoming events.  The children like the use of the digital camera’s pictures for the pictures of the stories as well.

Having monthly training sessions has enabled me to have time to learn something new, go back and try it in the classroom, and follow up the next month with suggestions or receive help if needed.  I have been able to learn so many new things such as PowerPoint and have been able to follow up and enhance my learning in the following meetings.  I feel that I learn better with this type of training instead of having one week of training and no follow up.  I have felt successful with this program.

I used Word on the laptop to work on student evaluation forms for Parent/Teacher Conferences.  I was able to work in the comfort of my own home on this after school hours.  For teachers who do not have access to a computer at home, the laptop is a lifesaver for working at home!

I have not been successful with the Cyber Ambassadors this year.  Our school is so large and our schedules are so detailed.  This has made communication with these students very difficult.  Often if the children were scheduled to come to a classroom, they did not show up due to another conflict.  I do not know if this is an aspect of the program that could be successful in our particular school.

At the beginning of the year, some of my students could not even use a mouse.  Through time and practice, the children are now very fluent on the computers.  They are very self directed when using programs such as Bailey’s Book House and Reader Rabbit 1 and 2.  I feel that these programs have provided a fun way to check students’ learning.  The children are very confident reading with these programs.  Using the Frank Schaffer software, I have been able to track each student’s progress on reading components such as vowels, digraphs, and diphthongs.
Composing stories and newspapers on the computer has also helped my class compose complete sentences and learn how to write creatively for the purpose of enjoyment.

While participating in this project, I have felt the most benefits from having one whole day to work uninterrupted on new computer programs and skills.  I feel that I have learned about so many different things.  Connie has provided step by step instructional time to teach us about PowerPoint, web pages, ICQ, email, etc.  Often times there is not enough time to learn these things on our own.  Some days I am so exhausted at the end of the day, that I do not feel that an after school instruction on these topics would benefit me.
I have also felt the benefit from being able to use PowerPoint in my classroom or the Internet for different projects.  As I mentioned before, it is nice to come together and see some projects and suggestions that will really benefit my students.

I have shared my newspapers with other teachers, and I have tried to help a couple of teachers start their own papers.  I have informed other 21st century classroom teachers of web sites that might be useful in their classrooms as well.  Many more teachers are on ICQ at our school now.  Perhaps this is because several of us who have been involved in this project are a part of this program.

I would like to see more on video conferencing in the future.  Perhaps locating other schools that could participate in a video conferencing project would be beneficial. I think that one could always benefit from more work on the Internet.  The possibilities are endless for exploring the Internet!  We have learned so much this year, but teachers never cease to learn!
 

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