The video was created as a Week 1 project for #CLMOOC, the Connected Learning Massive Open Online Course.

All four kindergarten classes visited Roots Gymnastic Center in Westfield, two classes at a time. It was easy to arrange and even easier to run as the highly trained and experienced staff took over and the teachers all got to watch and enjoy.

The kids were out-of-this-world excited by their adventures and even the most shy students did well. What was especially interesting was watching some of the kids who exhibit behavior issues at school doing incredibly well. It was a giant field day.  [The one room - 6 kids for 3 minutes - bounce house on Friday at Field Day will pale in comparison.]

Here are some pictures we took. There are 2 classes combined and 4 staff people working directly with groups of 8-10 kids.

And here’s the quick view directly from YouTube.

It stands for Connected Learning Massive Open Online Course.

I have signed up to participate in a MOOC with the National Writing Project. Last month I tried on the MOOC in Google+ called Mozilla Webmakers and found that one put me way out of my depth.

The current project seems much more suited to me, my place on the tech learning ladder, and it connects me with other teachers. It is intentionally simple in its pacing and learning curve so that beginners can learn comfortably.

Week 1 gave us the project of introducing ourselves. How handy was it for me to find Matt Gomez (a Texas kindergarten teacher) posting about using Vizify. I added it to my Scoop.it/Kindergarten curation and now I have the tool at my fingertips.

For my own introduction, I posted my newly created Vizify Twitter video and then continued on, filling the rest in for a more complete bio. I can go back and edit it any time as well.

After posting my own project, and having it checked out by others, I found the Vizify site was going wild, with others from #CLMOOC trying it out as well. I’m sure Vizify was thrilled by the bump up in traffic. Here’s my updated project. I think I will add more images to reflect a broader picture of me.

The MOOC opened on Saturday and on Sunday evening the organizers, including my own mentor and fellow Norris teacher Kevin Hodgson, held a Google Hangout where I was an invited participant. The thoughtful conversations helped me make new connections and have a new and clearer understanding of where the project is going.

I love to learn and this MOOC seems well suited to my needs and interests.

Why not check out the #CLMOOC project? The enrollment is still open and will run for at least 6 weeks.

made on Wondersay – Animate text with style

I have looked far and wide to find a quick and easy tool for feeding my addiction to blog reading. With the July 1st departure of the popular Google Reader, I have been researching a suitable replacement.  Long ago, I decided that I have so many blogs worth reading that I needed an easy tool for aggregating their posting.

Enter – Google Reader.  Every morning I would breeze through a nice organized collection of new posts by some of my favorite bloggers. This was a living thing! I would add and remove content all the time and had great control over what I was reading.  Alas now, Exit – Google Reader.

One night, my Australian friends (as I like to call them) and I were participating in a Blackboard Collaborate Fine Focus session on alternatives to Google Reader. I thought I had found the tool for me but since adding it, I needed to repeatedly login and struggle through the layout.

Then a tweet caught my eye and I set off to check out a recommendation. That brings me to Bloglovin’.

It’s clean and organized without a lot of work. Yep, this is the one for me. Check it out if you want an easy alternative to Google Reader and even more especially if you get your blog feed via email – ugh!

Hello Parents of incoming students.  I am Mrs. Gail Poulin and I will be your child’s teacher this fall.  Mrs. Jennifer Labrie is our classroom paraprofessional and your children will be interacting with both of us all year long.  I will post things here on my blog as often as possible to keep you up to date on classroom events.  The office and PTO will send home notices very often throughout the year, so check those backpacks every day and stay informed.

If you have not given permission for the school to share pictures and videos of your child, I will make every effort to keep them out of the shots. I rely on the internet for most communication now.  The school has set limits on paper use and copying, especially color copies.

There are a few things you need to get for your child in the way of school equipment, supplies, and materials. Hang on to this list!  It is going home with your child on Thursday, June 13th, “Meet You Teacher Day.”

• A full size backpack, not a kid size ~ it will hold many different, yet necessary things.
  • Folder with lunch $, notes, and forms
  • daily work
  • lunch box
  • snack
  • shoes on rainy or snowy days
  • small blanket, pillow, or stuffed animal
  • Show & Tell item
  • Library books
• Plan to get snow clothes and boots very early in the year as children are heartbroken when they miss out on snow play. Snow clothes should travel to and from home in a big canvas or plastic bag and they should be dried out every night. If children live in more than one residence, they will need duplicate items at each house.
• A folder (We provide the first one, you provide the replacements.)
• Good pair of sneakers for phys. ed. (gym); flip flops may not be worn to phys. ed. or on the playstructure for safety reasons.
• A gallon size Ziplock bag containing a change of clothes with the child’s first name clearly printed on the front. These clothes will stay in a bin and should be replaced ASAP in the event of an accident. Choose things that can be useful year-round & in a size that will still fit in June. (avoid heavy fabrics)
• Is your child going to day care some days? Home others? We will need these plans in writing for the office to record – the sooner the better for bus plans.
• FYI – The YMCA runs an after school child care program. Contact the Y for info. This year, I have six kids going for a flexible few days a week.
  
• The bus company will contact you very late in the summer with pick-up/drop-off information.
• Dismissal plans may be changing for you? Write a note which will be shared with the office. They are the center for all dismissal communication.
  
• All notes MUST include the date, child’s full name, full parent signature.
• Lunch money must be labeled as such with child’s name and “KP” on the envelope. Never send in loose money for any reason!
• With the exception of right before the school day starts, I don’t always get to check my email until after school and sometimes I may be absent or in meetings. PLEASE! Call the school office for late breaking changes in plans instead of email. They will relay all messages to the staff about any last minute changes.

Please keep in mind that class work and notices go home every day. That means that you should be opening the backpack / folder and removing these things every single day. We will open the folders every morning and look for notes from home. There should only be new material inside. Keep the notes to school in the folder and not in one of the backpack pockets.

Once I have your email addresses, I will notify you of summer evening play dates when we can gather as class families for an hour of play and conversation. These will generally run from 6:30 – 7:30. You can start sending me your email addresses any time now.

gpoulin @ hr-k12.org

A valuable piece of information is our ever-popular webmix of learning tools. Check out http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/mrspoulinswebmix1

We will use many of these games during our time with the laptops each week.

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Wish List of Sorts

We have an abundance of craft supplies on hand and I will be ordering things like paint over the summer with our school budget. Here are a few things that we can always use. Having your child bring in something each day during the first week, helps them to transition when they have a mission – “Bring this in to Mrs. Poulin and Mrs. Labrie.” The following things are generally useful.

• Kleenex
• antibacterial hand soap
• Crayola classic markers for our marker blocks
• AA batteries
• BJs size healthy snacks for the class to share as needed
• Dry erase markers
• Sharpie markers
• Glue sticks
• Elmers glue
• Legos to add to our collection

I will send out a quick email if I need a particular thing quickly.

See you soon!

It all starts in the summer when I hold a couple of play dates on the school playground. The parents get to meet up with other parents in the class. The kids meet new friends, and younger/older siblings join in the mix nicely.  I will hold these events earlier in the summer this year so the children can arrange summer visits with each other.

This is a picture taken last August during one of our playground gatherings. In it, you see children who were moving on to grade one and others who were just meeting Mrs. Labrie and I in a more personal way before starting school. What better way to get acquainted than this!

It is still quite early, but we currently have 17 children enrolled in my class which is just one of four kindergarten classes in the school. Class size always grows over the summer so we can expect a couple more.

I found a supplier of fresh fertile duck eggs about an hours drive from here and the woman was a wonderful resource.   She had lots of poultry and other animals on her farm.  Having a couple dozen eggs helped me relax about having enough hatch.

I planned to have them hatch on a Monday, 28 days from the start.  In fact, this batch took 29-30 days. The children marked the eggs with an X on one side and an O on the other.  They placed them in the incubator set to just under 100 degrees with a healthy amount of humidity.

Twice each day they turned the eggs.  At the seven day mark, we candled them and saw dark spots in almost all of them with a yolk that had spread out across the egg.  We even saw some red veins.  On Day 14, they were much more opaque with a discernible air sac on one end. On Day 21, we really saw a defined air sac. We also knew that 4 of them had stopped developing early on as they were still fairly clear and some of those even gave off an odor and were discoloring.  I discarded those.  On Day 25 we stopped turning the eggs so the embryos could get into position for hatching.  Over the weekend I started the live stream and marked the eggs that had “pips” in them already.  Things were looking good.

On Day 28, we candled a few and saw that they were dark but we heard lots and lots of scratching and later some peeping.  We also could see that one had a poked into the air sac.  That is the last thing that happens before they start hatching.  We watched the “pips” or chips grow in size but no hatching on Day 28.

I had the UStream-ing operating and had an audience of interested viewers via my Twitter connections.

Video streaming by Ustream

Our literacy integration piece focused on writing a page specific to one aspect of the hatching experience. Here is a video of the book we created.