Christmas Around the World

Sometimes it's hard for children to see beyond their own immediate surroundings to realize that Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated in many countries all over the world!! 

While each of our own families have their own traditions regarding Christmas, what does it look like in other countries? Is Santa still Santa? Do children leave out stockings?

One way to tie in the holiday is by tying it in to other subjects via a research project. Using Writing, History, Geography, and more children can learn about this great holiday and how it's special and different to other children as well. 

I am including many research links below to help teach about Christmas around the World. While you may have your own ideas on how to present the information learned, feel free to also check out the Arts & Creativity and Tech Tools tabs on my Live Binder for sites that would help integrate technology into your projects. 

Enjoy! 

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Around the World

Cultures

World Xmas

Lessons & Activities: Christmas Around the World

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas Customs

My Favorite Twitter Hashtags

Twitter is a great way to connect with other educators and to build up your PLN. I have so many people that I love following on Twitter because they share the greatest educational resources! I will share some of my favorite accounts to follow in another post soon, but for today I want to share some of my favorite hashtags to use and follow on Twitter. 

Hashtags help to find Tweets on specifics areas of interest. If you are looking for a certain subject or are wanting to make sure that others view an important Tweet of your own, be sure to utilize those hashtags! 

Below I am sharing a few of my favorite hashtags to follow as well a link to a list of many, many more!! Enjoy!

#education

#teaching

#edtech

#edchat

#edcampkc

#elearning

#STEM

#children

#classrooms

#elemchat

The 2012 A-Z List Of Educational Twitter Hashtags

Create, Sell, Earn Money!

I have always maintained that teachers are each other's best resources. I have found that to be increasingly true in recent years with the involvement of social media. 

Many of us follow blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Pinterest boards and more that are FULL of so many great teaching ideas and resources. These are all usually ideas that someone, somewhere has actually tried and tested in a classroom. As a worldwide community of educators, we are always so kind and helpful towards each other and are willing to share in whatever way that we can. 

With that said, we also deserve to reap some benefits from all of our hard work and ideas. 

Most of us know and participate in Teachers Pay Teachers online. I am forever grateful to the former co-worker who introduced me to it years ago, before the really big "hype" set in. I love the extra income, no matter how big or small the amount may be! 

Many of us are also aware and participating in Teacher's Notebook online. While I have not added as many products to my TN site as I should have, it's still a growing store for me and does give me a bit of extra income every so often. 

However, I was unaware until within the past few weeks, that there are other similar sites out there for educators to sell their products. I have yet to list anything on a few of these, but I plan to in the very near future. 

If you have any comments, suggestions, or reviews of any of these sites, please share them in the comments below or on my Facebook page. We'd all love to hear what your experiences have been! 

I am listing the links to the other sites below. Enjoy and Happy Selling!! 

Ed World Exchange
Tools for School
Resources 4 Teaching
Buy Sell Teach

Learn & Search

With today's vast resources online, it's become easier for teachers and educators to learn about the latest in education. Teachers learn best from each other and we always seem so willing to share our resources and expertise with one another. 

With that said, I am including links below to sites that will allow educators to search for great PD resources or education technology tools and resources. If you know of any others, please feel free to share. 

Thanks! 

Tioki: Connect with other Educators

EduStruct: Digital Learning Environment

EdShelf: Reviews and Recommendations of Ed Tools

Quixey: The Search Engine for Apps

Bundlenut: Create Bundles of Links

You're invited to read Mrs. P's Ed Tech Talk

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KC Tech Net Conference: Part 1

On February 28th, I attended the annual KC Tech Net Conference. This is the 2nd year in a row that I've attended, and just like last year I came with away with so much information and resources!! 

I am grateful to live in a city with so many talented, educational professionals who are so willing to share their knowledge and expertise with the rest of us. We had some wonderful presenters again this year, a few of which I had the privilege of also hearing speak last year. 

Today's post will include links to the presenters' pages and resources that were shared during their presentations. Their expertise in education and educational technology was astounding! 

I hope you will find something new through their sites as well! Stay Tuned for even more resources that I acquired from the conference! 

-Jenifer

John Kuglin: Keynote Speaker

Anibal Pacheco

Kyle Pace

Lisa Lund

KC TechNet Symbaloo

Other presentations from that day: 

QR Codes

Technology for ELL's

March Goals

I've decided to use this new month to make some changes and goals, both personally and professionally. This month is long, but brings promise. We have our Spring break coming up, my brother is getting married, and Spring itself starts! YAY!

The first goal/challenge I am aiming for, involves my PLN. I want it to grow! I love how big it is already, but I would love to expand it even further. Thank you to those of you who are already a part of my PLN. I enjoy learning from others and I enjoy sharing and teaching others even more.

Below I am adding links to many of my social media sites. I will list how many followers I have as of today and how many I hope to have for each site by March 31st. I hope you will help me out with my goal/challenge!

Click on the logos below to get to my sites.

Thank you to all of you who share in this PLN journey with me! You are appreciated!

 

Currently: 777 Followers

March Goal: 850

 

Currently: 212 Followers

March Goal: 235

Currently: 75 Followers

March Goal: 90

 

 

Currently: 37 Followers

March Goal: 45

 

 

 

All Aboard...for TpT Freebies!!

I LOVE the Polar Express! I love the book best, but the movie is pretty good, too. I also enjoy sharing in the Holiday classic with my own children. It's such a great tale!

 

With that said, I decided to look up Polar Express units, printables, and resources on TpT. There are sooo many creative minds out there! All of the links below lead to FREE Polar Express activities via TpT.

 

Feel free to also check out my new Polar Express Unit as well. It is on sale for this week only!

 

If you have any ideas to share, feel free to do so in the comments below. Enjoy!

 

Addition Bell Matching Center

Polar Express Bookmarks

Polar Express Syllables

Polar Express Day

I Believe in You!

All Aboard the Polar Express Vocabulary

Polar Express Movie and Craft Activities

Polar Express Freebie