A Day in the Life of a Techie!

So I am FINALLY getting around to this great linky party put together by Mrs. Klohn over at Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher! I am really excited! I teach technology as well as help serve as the troubleshooter for my school so my day's a little different from the normal teachers. So let's get it going!
5:30AM-My alarm goes off for the first time (Hit the snooze-well slide it on my android powered phone)
5:45am-My alarm goes off for the second time (Hit the snooze)
6:00am-My alarm goes off for the third time and IF it's a good day I finally get up.
6:10ish am-Shower and get ready (Depending on whether I straighten my hair or not this can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes)
6:45am-Heading out the door--in a rush of course
6:55-7:20am-Hang out with my mom in her room and put together the Good Morning Show and finally put my makeup on (because if you haven't already noticed I DEFINE the word procrastinate!)
7:25-7:50am-Breakfast Duty (Greet the lovelies as they enter in for a yummy  edible school breakfast)
7:55am-Play the Good Morning show over the airwaves of NMES and get the lab up and running
8:00-10:00am-Usually this is my planning/troubleshooting/webmastering/yearbooking/whatever my principal wants me to do time. (On Thursday's, however, I have 2 first grade classes that take up this time.)
10:00-11:30am-Guided Reading with my good friend Kristy Cozart (Love this!) (Except on Wednesday's, when I have 2 second grade classes)
11:30-12:00pm-Scarf down lunch while again planning/troubleshooting/webmastering/yearbooking/whatever my principal wants me to do time. (Except on Tuesday's when I have the Cross Cat class at 11:45)
12:00-2:20pm-Various classes on various days. (I have 1 hour a week with 4th and 5th grade and 1 hour every other week with K-3)
2:30-3:30pm-Troubleshooting and fixing any problems I didn't finish throughout the day, except on Wednesday's and Thursday's I meet with my wonderful technology club, the Techno Cats (32 4th and 5th graders).
3:30-Until I finally leave I try to get ready for the next day, but usually end up talking to other staff members and get nothing done.
After school I do various things throughout the week including Subway and Bojangles night for the school, choir practice at my church on Wednesday's and teaching dance from 6:45-9 on Thursdays. In between I am finishing up my Bachelors in Elementary Education online.
So there you have it! A day in the life of a techie! Nothing too special. Going through the day it doesn't seem as crazy as when I write type it.

And Now For an Annoucement...

Ok, so I don't really have an announcement, buuuuut this post is dealing with announcements and a very cool way to get information across to your parents and community! This year we were very blessed to get a wonderful new principal who is very technology minded!!! (I know, I know...she had me at hello!) So, we saw where other schools were posting their weekly/monthly announcements through podcast on their website so that people outside of the school walls would know what was going on. Well we just had to do it one better because, I'm not sure if you knew it or not, but Bobcats (that's our mascot) are the B.E.S.T.! So we decided to upload a monthly video of our principal speaking directly to the Bobcat community about what activities and events we have going on at our school each month. I place it on our homepage. That way, whenever someone views the New Market page, there is Mrs. Savage's smiling face to greet them!
I think this is a wonderful (technology packed) way to keep parents and the community involved in what is going on in your school or classroom! It also makes you more visible to parents! All you have to do is record the video, (we use FlipUltra cameras because they are so easy!), upload it to a safe site like Vimeo, and embed it directly into your school/class website for all to see! Here's a copy of our January video with a link to our homepage where it is located below! Enjoy! I hope it inspires you to create an announcement video of your own!

http://www.randolph.k12.nc.us/schools/newmark/Pages/Default.aspx

Currently....

Ok, so I had to get my link on with Farley's Currently again this month. For some reason chocolate came to my mind a lot! Alrightie...here it is!

WoooHooo for Winter!

Yay! You have no idea how excited I am about winter! Even though I think Miss Weather has forgotten that winter is supposed to be cold. We have been having 50-60 degree weather here in North Carolina! It's crazy! I mean HELLOOOO! What does a girl have to do to get a little snow around here?! So, if it's not going to snow from the sky I will make it snow from my computer! Ha!

I have a go to site that I love to share with the kids every winter called Make A Flake! On the site you get to fold a virtual piece of paper and cut it with your virtual scissors. Then you can unfold it and see your beautiful, one of a kind creation. There's even a gallery you can save it to and look at other's creations as well! The kids absolutely love it and have no idea that they are learning...muahahahaha (evil laugh)! This site is great for all ages because it teaches the little ones great mouse control and teaches the older ones symmetry!

Click on the picture below to visit this great site!

Do Ya Ever Wonder?

I found this great website called Wonderopolis! It reminds me of something like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or something Seuss came up with! I think the name just sparkles!

Ok, so back on track! This website has a different "Wonder" for each day. When you click on the wonder you can read more about it, watch videos, learn vocabulary, etc. I think that this is an amazing site to use with your kids as a story starter or just something fun to start the day off with. The cool thing is that the "wonders" aren't gender biased. For example, today's is Are Monster Trucks Scary? The kids can watch a cool video and read information about Monster Trucks. Then they have different conversation starters to get the kids thinking and collaborating. I have fallen in LOVE with this site and the kids absolutely love it. Best of all....it's free! 'Cause you know I'm a cheapskate! Because we all know teachers love free!!! Click below to let the wondering begin!

An Award for Meee?!?!

I am soooo super duper excited to accept the Liebster Award from Ms. Chrissy B over at Buzzing with Ms. B AND Christina over at Seabears Kindergarten!!! Thank you girls!!! Make sure you go check out their blogs! Lots of cool stuff going on over at both of them!

This award features up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. You can imagine how speechless I was to receive this from 2 such wonderful bloggers!
Ok, so the rules are:
1. Copy and Paste the award on your blog. 

2. Thank the giver(s) and link back to them.

3. Reveal your Top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.


Done, done and done!

And the winners are...

#1. Of course my first is Mrs. Kristy Cozart over at Cozart's Class! She's a wonderful 2nd grade teacher with really great ideas! (Ok, so I'm a little bias because we have a TPT store together and I work in her classroom daily, but she's an AMAZING teacher!)

#2. 2nd Grade Paradise





#3. First Impressions





#4. Monkeying Around with Technology

#5. Paper, Pencils, and Pizzazz

These blogs are filled with wonderful ideas to use in your classroom, as well as a little humor and fun! Make sure you check them out and become a follower!! :)