October Entry
I used Contraction Action this month.  The lesson came with a game called "Contraction Ball" and a crossword puzzle.  I knew that both of these activities would be great to use with my second graders - they love games!  I started off by introducing contractions and using my pocket chart to have the students make contractions.  Then we moved on to the game.  The children loved coming up to the computer and typing in the correct contraction!  The only problem was that the game took quite a bit of time due to my students' lack of typing skills (they are still using the hunt and peck method).  Even though they were a little slow, the rest of the group stayed focused and very attentive.  They just couldn't wait until it was their turn!  I used the contraction crossword puzzle as an informal evaluation of the lesson.  The children did a great job with that as well.  My attitude going into the lesson was a very positive one.  I am always looking for new and exciting ways to introduce a concept - particularly one that can be a bit "dry".  My students were very excited when I told them we would be playing a game and that they would each get several chances to come up to the computer. 
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November Entry
November 4, 1998
This month all of my children got to use e-mail several times.  They each have a key-pal at another school in our district.  They are beginning to become more familiar with the keyboard and get very excited when they receive an e-mail from their pal.

We started the Class Pet Exchange in September.  Each student was able to take our class pet home with them for a night.  They were then asked to write about their experiences with our class pet in its journal.  We also included a picture of each child with our pet on the journal page they wrote.  We sent our pet to visit California in October.  We have not yet received their pet, but it should be here any day now.  Then I will allow each child to take the visiting pet home for a night.  Our partner class does not have e-mail in their school, so we send our messages to the teacher who passes them on to the children.  This project has been a huge success and a favorite with my students.

In October we also worked on a class newspaper.  The children enjoyed looking at CNN and reading the stories.  We chose a story to report on about a young boy who received a transplant.  This story prompted a big discussion about organs and transplants.  The children then helped me write a story highlighting the main points of the newspaper article.

I was able to use a Cyber Ambassador several times this month.  She helped by reading Accelerated Reader books with some of my lower readers.  She then helped them take the test on the book.  In addition, she was able to help familiarize some of my children with e-mail.  She helped several students e-mail their key-pals. 
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December Entry
 have just begun to use the lesson plan for The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree.  The children enjoyed learning about the Appalachian Mountains and finding them on the map.  They enjoyed discussing and looking at pictures of the way things were long ago.  One of their favorite things was creating the storyboard to retell the story.  They enjoyed working together to create a scene from the story and then putting them all together to hang up.  The music teacher will help out by teaching the children the songs that are found in the book.  This lesson plan lends itself well to integration with other subject areas.  We included reading, language arts, music, art and geography in this lesson. 

This month we looked at CNN to find and report on stories of interest to the children.  One of their favorite stories was related to sports and the Tennessee Vols.  Since the Volunteers have achieved and held on to a number 1 ranking in the polls, the children have enjoyed reading about their success. 

I have continued to use Caleigh to help my students with email and Accelerated Reader.  She comes in three times a week to sit with the children as they send email to their key pals.  She has been very helpful in teaching them some basic typing skills such as how to capitalize a letter and where the period, comma, apostrophe and question mark are located on the keyboard.  Caleigh has also helped by reading with some of my lower readers.  After they have read an Accelerated Reader book with Caleigh, she helps them take the test on the book.

The Word Blaster program by Davidson was a big hit with my students.  They enjoy anything that comes in a game format, and were already familiar with Reading Blaster and Math Blaster.  I liked the fact that the program allowed you to focus on specific skills such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  Though I have not used it yet, the program does allow you to enter your own word list.  This feature would be very useful to drill vocabulary words that have already been introduced.
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January Entry

In December I worked on organizing my email.  I made several folders for the different types of email I receive.  I already had an address book of my own, but I did add some people to it this month.  I also helped another teacher set up her own address book. 

I continue to use Caleigh in my classroom.  She is a Cyber Ambassador who helps my children with email and Accelerated Reader.  Occasionally she also helps them with a new piece of software I've recently introduced.

My Internet project is going well.  I am participating in the Class Pet Exchange with a second grade class in Los Angeles.  We have already sent our pet to visit them for awhile.  Their pet is now visiting our class as well.  Each night one of my students takes our visitor home with them.  They are asked to write in the pet's journal about the adventures they had together.  Every few days I ask students to read what they did with the pet.  The children have enjoyed hearing about Spooky's adventures.  The class in Los Angeles does not have a computer in the classroom, but the teacher has one at home.  We email each other periodically with an update of our pet's adventures.
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February Entry

In January my class participated in an ICQ demonstration with other classes.  Connie led a game of Jeopardy to demonstrate the different uses of ICQ to a computer class she was teaching.  The children loved it!  We also had an ICQ chat session with Denna Stroud's 2nd graders on ABC order.  We gave each other lists of words to put in ABC order.  Just yesterday one of my students who happens to have ICQ at home was sick.  Her mother had sent me an email to let me know that she would be absent.  I emailed back and told her that we would love to chat with Paige using ICQ.  It wasn't long before we received a chat request.  The children really enjoyed chatting with Paige and telling her how much they missed her. 

Not long ago, I received an email from a teacher who had found the Cyber Exchange website.  She was looking for a list of Dolch sight words to use with her students.  I was able to find several sites on the Internet, and emailed her with the information.

I continue to use Caleigh to help my children email their pen pals.  Occasionally, I will show her how to use a piece of software and ask her to introduce it to my students one at a time.

The laptop has been used by all of the Cyber Exchange teachers at our school.  It is frequently used to create Power Point presentations for use in the classroom. 

My class continues to participate in the Class Pet Exchange.  Each of my children has taken home the visiting class pet and written in his journal.  I have seen notable improvement in their writing skills throughout this project.  At the beginning of the year each of my students took home our class pet and wrote in his journal.  At that time, many of my students were forgetting to use the correct capitalization and punctuation.  The visiting pet's journal has shown me how far many of them have come in their writing skills. 

My students' reading and writing skills have improved through the use of technology.  As I mentioned earlier, their writing skills have improved through the Class Pet Exchange and the email pals.  They are remembering to use correct capitalization and punctuation.  When they receive an email from their pen pal that has no punctuation, they will tell me how hard it is to read.  What a great teaching opportunity!  I remind them of the importance of capital letters and periods.  Allowing students to go to websites on the Internet (with close supervision, of course) has helped their reading skills.  They know that I cannot come over and read everything to them, so they must read the directions or the information themselves.  It is amazing how much their vocabulary has grown.  Allowing them to use software has improved their listening and reading skills as well.  Many times, the directions are explained orally, so they must be good listeners in order to play the game or use the software.  I have found that pieces of software that I thought might have too many directions in them have been no problem for my students.

My class has enjoyed going to CNN to find an interesting story to report about on our weekly newsletter.  Frequently, the story we select leads us in many other directions.  Many times a story will generate a lot of questions from students.  At that point, I go to other sites to find answers.  We also try to report on some of our favorite websites and update the parents on our visiting pet.  The parents enjoy and appreciate being informed about activities in school. 
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March Entry
This month I made a Power Point presentation to introduce the story Curious George to my students.  I gave a short synopsis of the book and included information about the authors as well.  On the last page I hyperlinked it to a Curious George site with games and information about the books and authors. 
 Caleigh, my Cyber Ambassador, has continued to help me with some of my slower readers.  She quizzed a student on the dolch sight words and has been using flash cards to help the student learn the words she did not know.  In addition, Caleigh has helped this student write and type sentences into Word using the dolch sight words that she needs to learn.  Caleigh continues to listen to students read to her and assists them in taking Accelerated Reader tests. 
 We are getting ready to wrap up our Class Pet Exchange.  In the next couple of weeks we will be sending our visitor home.  We have also been taking home some and journaling about our experiences with visiting Flat Stanleys.  We are getting ready to make and send our own Flat Friends to send to other classes across the nation and in Canada.
 This month we used  ICQ to communicate with our keypal class at Piedmont School.  We used English skills as our topic.  Each class took turns typing in a sentence and asking the other class to find the noun, verb or missing capital letter.
 We continue to report on newspaper articles from CNN.  The kids have been getting better at identifying the who, what, when, where, why, and how.  We also continue to write to our keypals on a weekly basis.  I have seen a great deal of improvement in my students' writing skills.  They are getting much better at making complete sentences, using capital letters correctly and remembering proper punctuation. 

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April Entry
 Due to TerraNova testing this month, I have not used the Cyber Ambassadors as often as I have in the past.  When my Cyber Ambassador does come, I have asked her to help students email their keypals.  She also continues to read with students and assist them with Accelerated Reader tests.
 I have used the laptop to work on our school SACS evaluation. 
 I have put my students' "All About Me" stories on my classroom website.  I plan to have each child write their favorite things about 2nd grade and post them to the website.  Next year, I plan to expand my website by putting my class newsletter up each week.  I also plan to include links to our favorite sites and more information about projects we are doing in the classroom. 
 At the end of each week, I send home a class newspaper informing parents of upcoming events and important information.  I also try to include interesting stories about what we are doing in the classroom.  Periodically, our class looks at a news story on CNN and helps me write a brief summary to include in the class newspaper.
 The Class Pet Exchange project is coming to a close.  I plan to send the visiting pet, its journal, souvenirs, and personal items back home this week.  Our pets should be returning home soon as well.  We currently have 25 Flat Stanleys visiting our class.  My students have thoroughly enjoyed being "in charge" of their own visiting Flat Stanley and writing in its journal.  We even made a book to send home with the Flat Stanleys titled "All About Tennessee".  They will be mailed back this week.
 The keypals and Internet projects have focused on writing.  I have noticed a significant improvement in my students' sentence structure and mechanics.  They have begun to use adjectives and more complex sentences as well.  I have also noticed that they concentrate on their handwriting much more when they are writing in the class pet or Flat Stanley journal.  They want to make sure that whoever reads their entry will be able to read and understand what they have written.  In addition, they have gotten opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge through the creation of PowerPoint presentations in the computer lab.
 My students worked in groups to create PowerPoint presentations in the computer lab.  Their presentations focused on English and reading skills.
 My students and I have thoroughly enjoyed incorporating technology in the curriculum.  I have found so many new ways to introduce concepts to the students with the help of the computer and software.  The computer has made my class even more interactive than it was in the past.
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May Entry
This year I have participated in several Internet projects that focused on reading and writing.  I participated in the Class Pet Exchange, the Flat Stanley project, and Kids to Kids International.  Each of these projects requires my students to write about their experiences and to do some creative writing.  They have written and illustrated several books this year as a result of participation in these projects.  Because our school has a computer lab, my students are able to access the Jefferson County website and the Tech Update on a regular basis.  They love the start of a new month because it means a new Tech Update is on the web.  The Tech Update introduces the students to many interactive, yet educational sites.  The bookmark files in the computer lab include reading, language arts and spelling sites. These sites enable my students to practice what they've learned in class.  When they find a really neat site, they love to share it with the other children.  I constantly hear them asking each other, "How did you get there?  Will you help me find that site?"  I use the Internet in my classroom to find author sites to use with books we are reading.  Any time we have a question about something, we go to the Internet to find the answer.  I have used the Internet a great deal more this year than I did last year.  I now take my students to news sites on a regular basis.  We find articles of interest and periodically report on them in our weekly newsletter.  One of the bookmarks contained a list of basic skills related websites.  Whenever possible, I allow students who are having difficulty with a particular skill gain extra practice on an appropriate site. 

I integrate technology and the Internet in my curriculum whenever possible.  I have found online lesson plans to be a valuable resource.  What a timesaver!  I have used "Contraction Action", "Fact or Fiction", and a lesson plan on The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree this year.  Any time my students get to use the computer, they seem to be more attentive and receptive to the lesson.  "Contraction Action" included a game that allowed each student to come to the computer and form contractions.  (Of course, I used my TV so that all of the students could see what was being typed.)

My class has teamed up with another 2nd grade class in our district in a keypal program.  Each of my students has a penpal in the other class.  We email each other on a biweekly basis.  My students have improved their mechanics greatly.  Occasionally, they have trouble reading what the other student has written.  I use these opportunities to stress the importance of using capital letters, periods, correct grammar and spelling (to the best of their ability).  They are beginning to understand the importance of these skills.  We have used ICQ chats with our keypal class as well.  We have played a miniature version of Jeopardy with each other.  We ask each other questions and try to "stump" the other class.  We have also played this game with one of the other 2nd grade classes in our building. 

I am a huge fan of PowerPoint, and I use it often.  I downloaded and used PowerPoint presentations from the Cyber Exchange site as well as ones I have created.  Just recently when my class was reading Frog and Toad Are Friends, I used a PowerPoint presentation on Frog and Toad from the Cyber Exchange site.  I use PowerPoint to introduce many skills.  For example, I introduced nouns with a PP presentation.  The presentation on nouns is interactive and allowed students to come up to the computer and click on the picture or word that named a noun.  My students have also demonstrated their knowledge at the end of a unit by creating PowerPoint presentations on nouns, capitalization, punctuation, verbs, etc. 

I have had nothing but positive comments about our website from parents, grandparents, and other family members of my students.  They thoroughly enjoy seeing their child's work and progress.  I plan to expand my classroom website next year to include current events and a copy of our weekly newsletter.  The class newsletter has also been well received by parents.  They appreciate being informed of what's happening in the classroom.  Reports on online articles seem to generate discussions at home as well.  Many times I will include on the newsletter websites related to our units of study.  Several children have used these sites at home. 

The monthly training sessions have been wonderful!  It is great to be given school time to learn ways to enhance my teaching.  These sessions allow us plenty of time to learn and use the software, technology and skills. When we leave the training sessions, we are comfortable with whatever we've done that day, and are ready and willing to use these tools in the classroom.  Not only do I take what I've learned and use it in my classroom, I have also shared my knowledge with other teachers in the building.  Denna and I have begun doing after school workshops in the school computer lab.  We have introduced people to publishing, PowerPoint, the use of the digital camera, etc. etc.

The laptop has allowed me to work somewhere other than school on projects such as PowerPoint presentations.  I have also used it to work on our SACS evaluation this year.  The laptop is so beneficial to teachers who do not have a home computer. 

The Cyber Ambassador I used began by helping my students use email.  She sat with each student while they typed their message and showed them how to change the font size and send an email.  She has also helped facilitate the Accelerated Reader program in my classroom.  She listens to students read and assists them in taking tests.  Occasionally, I will let her introduce a piece of software to each of my students.

Although my reading curriculum was interactive before, it has become much more interactive through the use of technology.  My students have had more opportunities to use computers this year due to the projects we've been involved in.  They have also been given opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge through the use of PowerPoint. 

The training sessions and the equipment have been the most beneficial aspects of this project for me.  Typically, ongoing training for teachers is lacking.  However, with this project, we are given valuable training and support on a regular basis.  This training is beneficial for both my students and me.  I feel confident using the skills I have learned in Cyber Exchange each month because I have been given step-by-step instruction and time to use the skills during my training sessions.  One of the biggest strengths of this project is our technology training coordinator, Connie Campbell.  She is tireless in her efforts to impart her vast knowledge of technology to all of us.  She does not just turn us loose to sink or swim, she is always very supportive and willing to answer questions (even the stupid ones).  She is an excellent teacher, and provides unending support to all of us - this is definitely a beneficial aspect of this project.

Through the use of the computer lab at our school, Denna and I have held after school training sessions for interested teachers.  We have introduced them to classroom publishing, ICQ, Word, PowerPoint, etc.  More and more teachers are beginning to show interest in technology. 

It would be wonderful if more teachers could be involved in this type of project.  A project for teachers with very basic computer skills would be great.  These teachers would benefit from ongoing training that would help them integrate technology in their classrooms.

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