EL conference...and news!

EL conference! from Ryan Eckart on Vimeo.

Another great learning experience!

Clifford Sighting!

Math is Important!

IUN visit from Ryan Eckart on Vimeo.

Bench Pick Up

Road Trip from Ryan Eckart on Vimeo.

Loading up the Lids!

June 11 Flipping our Lids! from Ryan Eckart on Vimeo.

Sharing with Middle School Teachers!

June 10 @ Scott Middle School from Ryan Eckart on Vimeo.

EL Conference

Yesterday I attended the Indiana State EL conference (English Learner) with a team from my school. We were able to attend some meaningful sessions by various presenters. Michelle Luck shared great ideas for making learning more meaningful for kids by creating ways to make learning into games. Kids love games and I am excited to try out her game, Dots. http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Just-Game-Michele-Luck/dp/0578011182/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1393009294&sr=8-3&keywords=learning+is+just+a+game We were also able to present during one of the breakout sessions to educators about our Literacy Initiatives at Lincoln! We shared our story of book commercials turned into book trailers and postings on our youtube channel: mylincolnlion. We were excited to share our story with so many educators in Indiana! We hope that they will bring book commercials and book trailers back to their classrooms and their EL students!! What a great way to motivate kids to read!!

Goal...accomplished!

Here I sit at school during another snow day! No kids, a million things to get done. Yesterday I got a call from a teacher, "do you have a minute to meet with a student?" I said sure, send him over. After 10 minutes, he had not arrived, I walked down the hall to the classroom. I went in the room and over to the boy who was organizing items in his folder during the literacy block. I bent down next to him and ask what's going on? He looked up at me, and said "I met my reading goal today." Awhile ago, I had "caught" this boy writing in class about how he wanted to reach his reading goal. We walked to my office and talked about how he met his goal, how he felt about it and his next goal. He was so excited to share with someone in addition to his teacher! Priceless.

No limits

I love seeing excitement in kids' eyes. We are continuing to promote reading and trying to keep kids excited about reading each day. Almost everyday, one student shares a book commercial on the morning announcements. Today was a first. Today, our first kindergarten student shared! A book commercial consists of telling briefly about the book, the author, genre, and a reason why you recommend it. The kindergarten student who shared today stepped up to the intercom and shared his commercial without hesitation. When it was finished, an entire 5th grade class applauded him without teacher guidance. A teacher emailed me, "wow!" Another kindergarten student immediately asked, "when can I do a book commercial?" The school was buzzing about what they just heard, and what a 5 year old could do! Reading, excitement, discussion, energy. From a short 90 second book commercial to start the day, our school was talking about a book, a student and reading! Together, we can accomplish anything!

After attending a powerful professional development workshop this week, I was inspired to start a blog. My school is continually working to help students realize their potential in and out of the classroom. We work daily with students to promote literacy through reading, book commercials, book trailers and our newest adventure, book blogs!