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As usual Term 4 is going to be busy and exciting term ahead!

We met last week for a cluster share where each school had a 20-30 minute presentation on what great things their school has been up to. It was fabulous to see where schools have come from, where they are now and where they’re heading. It was also fantastic to compare our school with others and feel proud at what we have achieved in such a short time. Our school has projectors in every class and these are being used very well. Alot of classrooms have mimios and these are also being used well.  We have alot of sharing and discussing of ICT and inquiry ideas and the students of BDS are benefiting greatly.

It’s also that time of year when we have the magazine due in a matter of weeks! Again we will be using publisher, although I need Belinda to help me with some of the cool things i’ve forgotten how to use.

I’ll be working with Belinda in Week 4 where we’ll be setting up my class blog for 2010 and training year 4 experts in ICT for next year. 

My class blog is going well, and we have quite alot ot catch up on, the children can’t wait to post the work they have done this term already.

Until next time… B-)

We had the pleasure of having Belinda visit Room 20 and share her expertise in Art Rage! My class rave about it! The profile pics then look amazing. We have printed them in colour and plan to put them on a groovy background for our school calendars. I also have ICT experts in class and they are currently training to support the school… they are so proud . Please visit our class blog at room20bds@blogspot.com

Lots of PD happening around BDS on ICT and Inquiry these days! We’ve become experts in the middle team on blogging, we all have fabulous blogs for our classrooms and they are updated and interacted with frequently. Children, parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, friends, buddy classes and more are encouraged to leave a positive comment and ask a question so children can reply! We all have an inquiry model in each classroom and feel positive about using it… although some areas need discussion and clarification, we are doing well. We have had great PD sessions in the school for questioning techniques, and reflecting on the staff survey, there seems to be great positive feedback in confidence in questioning skills. Today we had our Traditional Fairytales Hook Day… middles and juniors dressed up and looked fabulous! Lots of paparazzi were around flashing their cameras, so keep and eye out for these to appear on the blogs and school magazines. In room 20 we are doing a comic strip…any ideas for a fab web 2 tool to use. I want to check out sparkle box.com also… apparently thats the place to be to pick up funky blog stuff. Looking forward to our lead teacher day tomorrow, lots on the agenda Hope every one is keeping busy and having fun, see you all soon B-)

I have been working hard to set up my class blog. We’ve been very busy in room 20. The ICT expo day was fabulous, my work shop went very well and i enjoyed everyone elses. Thanks to Belinda ) Take care, i promise to blog weekly! B-)

A busy interactive day full of useful web 2 tools. Check out our eastnet wiki spaces and have a look at what resources we’ve found today. I really loved using wall wisher, where you put post it notes of info and links on the wall. I need to refer to the wiki more and keep up to date with whats going on, i’m looking forward to our cluster share day, it looks like we have great workshops on the go

We have discovered “sandpit” time to search through the mimio for exciting templates and featuers. All 26 of us work as a team to suggest appropriate tools from the gallery that we can use during work time… we simply love it and cannot get enough of it!

The school magazine is gorgeous

WOW WOW WOW!!!!

Fantastic key note speakers! Pam Hook is amazing, thanks for the smile

I have been to very beneficial breakouts where i have recieved INSTANT resources, that i can use the moment i step back into my classroom- i don’t need to think about it, or set up resources or learn more! I will give you A very quick rundown…

Break out One: Traditional Fairytales with a digital twist.- I loved the interesting and exciting resources. I have a passion for critical literacy (check out cinderellas bum..hehehe) Excellent list of resources

Break out Two: Alive and Humming in the junior classroom- The tough Cam- lets BUY it!  SPARKS: this is the pros of the classroom- C3B4ME if you can’t edit, see who can- they’re called sparks

Break out Three: Juniors can do IT: FABULOUS!!!!!!!!! we were given a booklet of fabulous art ideas using a digital camera, computer,  and printer… who doesn’t have that in their classroom

Break out Four: Exciting E-Learning Centres, Using powerpoint, clipart and hyperlinks: You have an instant learning centre.

Breakout Five: Year 4 Blogging: Pacman- yes we taught the children who were presenting how to download pacman sorry mr B

Break out Six: Mimios: we had this same presentation at school last week

Break out Seven: Check out all the cool gadgets… window shopping only! I entered my name in all draws… so fingers crossed hehehehe

Welcome to 2009! what an exciting year ahead

We have our Inquiry Learning  focus, i’m working closely with the Think Tank team on designing an Inquiry model for Botany Downs, with attractive logos and an easy to follow  matrix. We have had a few staff meetings where we collected the staff ideas and worked closely using the Solo Taxonomy model to help guide us in where we wanted to go…. we ARE getting somewhere

Parent Information Evening: The think tank team are running a cyber safety evening next Wednesday to share with parents the importance about cyber safety, tools available,  and to answer any questions that the parents may have