In the last post, my students just had their first experience commenting on our class blog. I’m so proud of them for following directions carefully and almost all remembered not to include their last names. For those who forgot, I edited their comments before publishing them. That’s the beauty of being the owner of this blog, I get to have that little bit of power. I will be spending some time with the students helping them understand blogging and commenting and how when it’s done with sincerity and thought, can open a whole new global world of conversation that can help them learn from others; not just me.

Soon the students will be writing for this blog and eventually, the students will have their own (moderated) blogs. The students last year really loved having their own blogging space and I’m looking forward to the day when my new students are ready. For so many students and parents, blogging is a brand new experience. If this is new to you, I hope you will take a moment to watch me and Katie explain how we used our blogs last year (see first video below). This is a segment from PalmBreezeCAFE. You can watch PalmBreezeCAFE on Comcast channels 234 and 235 (at 2:00pm and 7:00pm) and the segments are also available on YouTube.

When you are done, please leave a comment telling me what you think about this class blog.

If you are still confused about blogs, watch this:

I’m SO excited that a new school year is about to begin. Last year was my first year back in the classroom after working as a district administrator for 5 years. I taught elementary school for 20 years prior to that. As a matter of fact, for 3 of those years, I was right here at this very same school! So, I left the classroom and worked on special technology projects with the grown-ups in our district and was making lots more money,  so why did I return to teaching? Because I really missed the kids!

And it was a GREAT decision. I LOVED being back in the classroom last year and I am really looking forward to an even better year this year. One of the things I loved was how interesting each of my students were. It takes a little while to get to know everyone but I really loved learning about each and every one.

Sometimes, the first few days of school can be nerve-wracking. We tend to worry about what the expectations are and what others will think of us. I know when I meet someone new, I hope they will understand that sometimes I ask a lot of questions and repeat myself and it’s not because I’m trying to be rude but because I am curious or maybe I didn’t understand something.

What are some things you would like people to understand about you when you meet them for the first time? Please respond by clicking “Post a Comment” below. Your comment will not be seen by others until I approve it. If you are under 13, please:

• Use only your first name and last initial.
• Do not use your real email address on any blogs or Internet site. Use email@email.com here instead.
• Do not include any personal information on any Internet site (such as your last name, address, phone number, etc.)

I am looking forward to reading your response and learning about you. I have a feeling we’ll be learning a lot from each other.

Mrs. Kolbert

Today is the last day of school and what a great year it’s been! My students brought me many gifts this year. The spontaneous cards and posters they created and many very generous gift cards and candles, mugs, beach bags and other items that I truly love. I recognize that, unlike many deserving teachers in the world, I’m very lucky to teach in such an affluent, generous and highly supportive community.

Then there were other gifts that didn’t come in colorful bags with tissue paper. Those were the gifts that showed me my students were learning and that they wanted to learn more. The gifts of interest, growth, kindness and eagerness. These are the gifts that teachers value the most; like when we recognize that we’ve reached our students in some special way.

Alayna surprised me with a lovely gift today. She brought me this video she created that was inspired by some recent projects we created in class. She said it only took her about an hour to create from start to finish but I think it must have taken her much, much longer. She did an awesome job and we all loved watching it in class. It’s the perfect digital send-off for our class blog. Enjoy!

I’m happy to present our final group of science videos created this week. The students worked long and hard in their groups to write their scripts and develop their explanations to create these videos using the model inspired by CommonCraft. We hope you enjoy them. Please leave us a comment to tell us what you think.

It’s The Rock Cycle by Troy, Rachel and Frankie

It’s Raining Weather by Jack, Katie and Taylor

Weathering and Erosion by Olivia, Eric, Seth and Ray

It’s Raining (The Water Cycle) by Miles, Madison and Grace

Saving The Earth (Conservation) by Kyle, Santiago, Elle and Maria

Sensational Soil by Ben, Dario and Nick

I’ve always loved the way the folks at CommonCraft, with their “In Plain English” series, use paper cut-outs to give simple explanations about not-so-simple things. The CommonCraft-like videos we created a few weeks ago were created by my 3rd block class. They were all on the same topic, The Reason For The Seasons. They did a great job on the videos and learned a lot about their topic in the process of creating their videos.

After going through the process with that class, I decided to let my 1st and 2nd block do similar projects, but this time gave each group a different topic that basically covered the most difficult ideas from this year’s science curriculum.

I’m also very excited to announce that Lee LeFever from CommonCraft has agreed to videoconference with my class next week. Lee and his wife, Sachi, comprise the entire company of CommonCraft and produce all their own videos from start to finish. My students will have the unique opportunity to “meet” and ask questions of Lee and they are already generating their questions.

So here are the latest videos. I will post them as they are created. I hope you enjoy them. Please leave a comment.

How Land Features Affect The Water Cycle by Alayna, Brett and Carly.

It’s Rocktastic by Jordana, Noah, Hannah and Kim

What Are Mineral Resources? by Gabby, Rachel and Julianna

Wild Weather by Lilly, Jordan and Jessica

The Water Cycle by Ryan, Raegan and Isabella

Spoil The Soil (the role of soil) by Julia, Ethan and Brooke

Weathering and Erosion By Elly, Ashley and Jenna