Technology Tuesday: eNewspaper

My school has it's first eNewspaper written by students.  The idea started last year, when four 4th grade students asked the principal if they could start a school newspaper.  She told them if they could find a teacher that would sponsor the club, she was all for it.

The girls got one of the 4th grade teachers to agree to sponsor it and myself and another 5th grade teacher hopped on board too.  We met with the girls last year to discuss what they were thinking and to formulate a plan for the club.  

The sponsors met with our technology specialist and decided that the best format to use was edublogs.  We set up shared google folders and decided what types of stories/sections we would publish.  

Our first meeting with the students was September 17th.  

We talked about the process, brainstormed ideas for stories and assigned trios of kids (reporter, photographer and writer) to work on certain subjects.  At our next meeting 2 weeks later, the students brought the results of their interviews and set to work writing their stories.  And then finally last week, we got the students together again and edited the stories on the screen together and published our first edition.  

Woodstone eNews

There are some things we want to change for next time, but overall we are pretty pleased with the effort.  There was a lot of behind the scenes work done by the sponsors in between the meetings with the students, but I'm sure that will become more integrated as the students become more familiar with edublogs and how to actually publish.  

We plan to publish at the end of each 9 weeks, so our next issue will hopefully be before the winter break.  

Wimberley Fundraiser

I am so saddened by the pictures and stories coming out of Wimberley from the floods this weekend.  I have seen many posts on social media of people in central Texas sending supplies and manpower to Wimberley to help search for missing people and clean up the destruction from the floods.  I wanted to do something too.  So I have decided to donate 30% of all purchases from my Jamberry website from now until Sunday night to the Red Cross to help with aid.

This can be any items from the website - wraps, gift certificates, nail care products, Style Box subscriptions, application tools, hand care products... anything.  Think of gifts you need for birthdays, graduations, summer fun, even the holidays in December (get shopping done early and help a great cause at the same time).  Remember wraps (excluding college and sorority) are always Buy 3 Get 1 Free.  

Please help me help those in Wimberley who have been affected by these recent storms.  

Friday "Wrap Up"

This week I started kinder research and while I was dreading it a bit, it actually has been kind of fun.

• 9 kinder research lessons
• 3 first grade nonstandard measurement lessons on ipads
• 4 second grade inferencing lessons on ipads
• presented genrefication session with a middle school librarian to other librarians in our district
• walked/ran total of 9 miles on treadmill (I messed up my knee doing T25) 
• blogged twice
• participated in 2 twitter chats

and my nails this week... Half Shell and Darkest Black (the baseball is in honor of my freshman making the High School JV Baseball team)!

Jamberry Black Friday!

I'm so excited!  Jamberry is bringing back all the Sister Style Exclusives from the year for 4 days only... Black Friday to Cyber Monday!  These are the special wraps the three founding sisters design each month and are only usually available for that month only.  However, this year, they are "Bring them Back for Black!"

I certainly plan on getting my favorites... Pop Star and Fire and Ice.

But the others are just as popular.

Modern Chic

Ripped From the Runway

Here's to 14

Art Class

Born to Sparkle

Flutter By

Psychedelic Style

Alphabet City

Check It Out

On top of that great deal running from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, Jamberry is offering this BLACK FRIDAY ONLY deal...

That's right, spend $50 on anything Jamberry and get this exclusive wrap FREE.  Buy gift certificates, Buy 3 Get 1 Free wraps, Lotions, Holiday Sets, Indulgence Hand Care, Mini-Heaters, Application Kits, Black Friday Wraps... Anything! 

What are you going to buy?  Not sure, comment below on wraps you'd like to see on hands and I'll post pictures.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My New Obsession

On top of it being WAY hard to get back into the groove after the two-week winter break and starting 3rd grade research projects and having technology issues with said 3rd grade research projects, I have become a consultant for Jamberry Nails!  I am obsessed with these way to cute nail wraps that are so easy to apply with heat and pressure and stand up to the daily duties of a librarian and mom for at least two weeks!

Check out my Jamberry Page  and follow my facebook page for more information.