Teacher Website No. 4 - Welcome to Ms. Sanchez' Class

This is a website created by a fourth grade teacher, Ms. Mariely Sanchez. What appealed most to me about this particular site is that she shares a great list of favorite teacher websites that include the grade levels of Pre-K through 5th grade--it is an expansive list and from the several that I briefly explored, the resources are endless. To explore the list, go to the Teachers Corner tab and then Favorite Teacher Websites. The site provides many ideas for teachers including thematic units, curriculum resources, new teacher's survival guide, website building, bulletin board ideas,  organizational tips, and many more resources just a mouse click away! The website address is http://www.sanchezclass.com/home.htm.

Teacher Website No. 3 - Teaching Heart

Teaching Heart is a website created by teacher Colleen Gallagher, beginning in 1998. According to the creator, the site began as a way to archive her ideas and designs for the classroom and blossomed into a site dedicated to helping fellow teachers obtain great ideas and information for their classrooms. This site is a wonderful resource for kindergarten teachers because it provides ideas, information, strategies, and tools for every component a teacher would need to have a successful classroom. Some of the resources include bulletin board ideas, behavior management, themes/units, a new teacher page with awesome information, as well as products available for purchase. I love the philosophy stated on her "About Me" page: "Education is more than just teaching; it is loving, caring, showing, communicating, and growing" (Gallagher, 2007, p. 1). The website address is http://www.teachingheart.net/.

Teacher Website No. 2 - Miss Chapple's Kindergarten Classroom

This website was created by Ms. Melissa Dawn Chapple, kindergarten teacher in North Carolina. This is another great site that was recommended by my team teacher, Mrs. Holly Turner. She originally introduced me to the site to get sight word printables for reinforcement for my kindergarten children. This website offers a variety of tools and strategies for maintaining a successful learning environment at the kindergarten grade level and keeping kinders engaged. It has an excellent example of a classroom newsletter; great printables, morning meeting ideas, and an example of a behavior system which encourages positive behavior choices with logical consequences for helping children learn self-discipline. I like this statement that Ms. Chapple makes in her writings about behavior management: "Children have a short attention span. It is unfair to expect them to be 100% perfect all day. Children are eager to please and one mistake shouldn't ruin their day" (Chapple, 2008, p. 1). The website address is http://www.misschapple.com.

Teacher Website No. 1 - Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten

This website is for kindergarten grade level and was created by Mrs. Nicole Ricca, a kindergarten teacher in Kihei, Hawaii. I was introduced to this site by a great kindergarten teacher on my current kindergarten teaching team, Mrs. Holly Turner. I love this site because it is well organized, user friendly, and provides endless ideas and resources for all aspects of daily classroom management and instruction. The website shares information on classroom management, organization, thematic units, lots of freebies, lesson plans, as well as a list of favorite teacher blog sites--awesome ideas and information! The web address is http://mrsriccaskindergarten.blogspot.com/

Hello to Professor Martinez and all my classmates,
This is all new to me. I have never created a blog--exciting and frustrating at the same time. The photo that I uploaded is a picture of my two dogs, Tate and Teddy, and myself. The second photo that you can view in my album under my profile is a picture of my classroom turtle that I brought home for the summer. My kindergarten children named him Tattle Turtle. When my son (who is know 22 years old) was in the 6th grade, he wrote and illustrated a story entitled "The Tattle Turtle" which his teacher made into a book. I read it to my kindergarten children at the beginning of each school year to help them understand the difference between tattling and telling--so that was the inspiration behind my summer pet's name!