I'm Addicted

I'm addicted! Since participating in a swap on Swap-bot www.swap-bot.com designed to gain exposure to your blog, I've had the good fortune to "meet" some wonderful people and read their blogs. The scope of these writers is amazing! I have not spent a great deal of time online in the past reading others' blogs, but all that has changed. I am now subscribing to several blogs and blog lines, and I am quite humbled by the experience. The level of writing, the range of topics, and the depth of feeling put into words by some of those whose blogs I am following is nothing short of amazing! I am also getting tons of ideas for changing the way my blog is presented, so stay tuned as I experiment with layouts, gadgets, tools, feeds, colors, etc. in the coming months. Meanwhile, if you have suggestions for me to improve what I'm doing here, please contact me or leave a comment. I'm here to tell you, you can teach an old dog some new tricks!
My students are continuing to receive packages of goodies and information from Ohio colleges. Today brought three parcels in the mail, and students are eagerly looking forward to getting mail. It always has been a treat for students to be sent to pick up mail for the teacher, but now everyone wants to go check the mail. The coordinator of the program emailed me and told me that she would make sure that any students who didn't receive replies to their letters would get something from her, so that made me happy. I really don't want any child to be disappointed because I know how I feel if it were me being left out. Ohio Weslyan University in Delaware especially generous sending both a T-shirt and a pennant. Go O-WU!
Right now I'm off to follow my blogs - such fun!

You've Got Mail

My students are starting to get really excited about the letters they wrote last week. One of our fifth grade Ohio LA Curriculum indicators is writing business letters, and my students wrote to Ohio colleges. This week they have been starting to receive replies, and they are lovin' it! Monday a girl receive a pennant from Columbus State (thanks Columbus State!). You know what she was most excited about, though? In the business letter they sent to her, they called her "Miss," and she just thought that was the best thing since sliced bread! Today, another girl received an envelope from The Ohio State University, Lima Campus. She acted just a tad disappointed because she did not get a pennant, but she did receive some very cool 6X8 color postcards promoting the university. I tried to play them up by saying she could send them to other people and write letters on them, but I don't think she was buying it. I am hanging on to the items the students get back until this spring so we can create an " I Can Go to College" wall to display everything. This will piggyback on our science and social studies teacher's unit about jobs, market society, and supply and demand.

This is when the students see the value of what they do in school; when they get something back from the "real world." This is authentic writing - it's what adults do in the course of going about their everyday lives. Now I just wish I could get them to realize that adults spend a lot of time waiting in line and that they don't push, chatter, kick, sing, whistle, or act silly while they are doing it . . . Sigh.
I am posting a picture of another dotee I made this weekend. My husband thinks it is ugly and a total waste of time, but I think it's rather attractive even if its face is lop-sided. I put a lot of work into embroidering the face and doing the beading and embellishment. Just in case you're not sure, it's a cat. Grin. I don't know what I made it for or what I'm going to do with it, but here it is.