Sunday, June 23, 2013

Blogger Meet Up, Gaming in the Classroom & SS Mentor Text Linky

Busy weekend! Saturday was so much fun!
I ventured up to Austin for a Blogger Meet Up! Ari picked a great location to meet! Hula Hut! I was thrilled to meet some really great bloggers!


Ari over at The Science Penguin
Kristen over at A Day in First Grade
April over at A Modern Teacher (I actually have her teacher organizer on my wishlist! Didn't even realize!)
Alyssa over at Fourth Grade Racers


Today, I started organizing! Laundry room first, moved on to the back desk area and finally my craft closet! Soooo... not done in the craft closet!

Then, I ventured to downtown San Antonio to see Jane McGonigal, one of the keynote speakers for the ISTE conference! Holy mega number of people!  20,000 signed up to attend! 6,000 in Hall A to see Dr. Jane who happens to have a Ph D in gaming research! (That's probably not the official Ph D name.)
She has a really good TED Talk video. You should watch it!

Her talk this evening...
Here is my huge take away from her talk...ok, really it's one of many...
Gamers encounter 80% failure, but still play! 80%?!!! 
They are always on the verge of an epic win!
How do we harness that perseverance in the classroom?


Super excited...Dave Burgess is tweeting about ISTE!
Think I might have to go check this out!


Which leads me to the social studies mentor text linky by the Collaboration Cuties!
Dave Burgess, author of,  Teach Like a Pirate, said it is ok to not be passionate about every subject. Social studies is the subject for me. I think this past year was a good year for me with teaching social studies, but it definitely needed work! This summer I have challenged myself! Beef up my social studies!
I always like a challenge! This linky will definitely help!




The text I'm sharing is Civil War by Peter Chrisp.

"This book brings the story of this dramatic episode in American history to life for children. Using dynamic artwork, graphics, and clear, engaging text, each spread is packed with facts and feature panels. The American Civil War explores the big issues of the conflict and how it unfolded, but also details the day-to-day life of soldiers from both sides and of how the war affected families back home." Scholastic

This book is perfect for cause and effect as well as compare and contrast! 

What I love about this book is that it doesn't read like a typical history book. It has great graphics and captions that will grab a student's attention. I think I'm going to order a few more for partner reading!

If you haven't already, please click on the Bloglovin' link on the right, to follow me. Thanks!

Also, follow me on Twitter and Instagram! I'll be posting about my adventures at ISTE! 
Will I find Dave Burgess? 
Will I get a seat at Tammy Worcester's session? 
What cool new techie things will I learn? 
Follow me to find out!

4 comments:

  1. Hi there,

    I found you through the linky. I agree with you about Social Studies. I like it - but it's probably my least favorite to teach. I teach US History to my fourth graders and the Civil War book will be great to go along with my lessons. I like the way the pages are layed out. It looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

    Angie
    Teaching With Class

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  2. Ooooo, I'd totally be stalking Dave Burgess. :O)

    I love the look of this book. I think it is so much more captivating when there are captions or smaller snippets of information instead of just pages and pages of text. This looks great!

    Thanks for linking up!
    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for having this linky...one of my favs!
      Bummer...Dave is not here! He is just running these give aways remotely! Darn!

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  3. Charlotte~ What a great meet up! I loved the Hula Hut when I visited Austin. So fun!
    Everyone is talking about this ISTE conference. I may have to check it out next year when it is on the East Coast.!
    Enjoy your week.
    Michele

    Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans

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