And the winner for favorite children's author is...

Kevin Henkes!

I'm a huge fan of any and all Kevin Henkes' books. I love his mice characters, especially Lilly, because they are so relatable for myself and students in real life situations. Not to mention, they are very entertaining and I love the vivid illustrations!

Below is a Prezi Presentation I completed for my graduate class that highlights important information about Kevin Henkes, as well as a read a loud of my favorite book: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse.

Enjoy! :)

http://prezi.com/scvbyimupt0x/present/?auth_key=ghor764&follow=hjlxnes9d0fv

Movie Maker Project

The following is a video we were assigned to make for my graduate school class, ECT 510, that gives our classmates a little more background information about us. I used MovieMaker to make this video which is a movie editing resource found on most Windows computers. It is very user-friendly, and fun to use when making slide shows for special events!

1st Entry is a Little About Me...

Hello all! 


Thank your checking out my blog :) My name is Sami and I am southern-twenty something who is also a beginner teacher! I am certified to teach grades 1-5 and this is my 2nd year of teaching. However, this year happens to be my first year of teaching gifted students, which is far from the traditional teaching you learn about in college! My students are extremely intelligent (I learn something new from them everyday) and our class as a whole is a lot smaller in numbers. However, the instruction is much more fast paced, hands-on, self-directed and very engaging. I love having the opportunity to go by my own curriculum, as well as see gifted children be challenged and enthusiastic about learning versus bored and restless; which is the case too many times.
I teach three separate classes that are all centered around ELA & reading skills: grades 3rd, 4th and 5th. I love being able to interact with student of different ages who are at different learning stages, along with teaching my favorite subject and getting to read multiple stories all in one day! It really is the best of both worlds.
The school I teach is at holds students ranging from Pre-K to grade 8; the campus is huge to say the least! In the afternoons, I have the privilege of sponsoring the middle school cheerleaders which keeps me very busy, involved in our school, but entertained by these pre-teens all at the same time. Needless to say, at the end of the day, my brain is pretty wiped out from having to change from opposite ends of the spectrum! However, I feel very blessed to have the job position(s) that I do and love the school that I teach at.
The main purpose of this blog is to be able to network with other teachers who work with gifted children and collaborate with them on new ideas and suggestions for the classroom. Since there is no set curriculum, and especially with everything aligning to Common Core; I could use all the new, fresh ideas I can get that are guaranteed to have promising results on my students!
I cannot wait to get more involved in the blogging community and begin collaborating with others through this unique network. 



Happy blogging everyone!