Having recently upgraded phones, I have been busily exploring the App Market for the Android OS.  I am simply amazed by how many applications that are available.  Among the many that I have found interesting, convenient, and educational for my daughter or myself, is Space Junk.  If you are wondering, Space Junk is FREE!  With just a little more investigation I've learned that Space Junk is the lite version of star3map, which costs $4.99.
    Space Junk is a satellite tracker, and planet, star, and constellation viewer for mobile phones and tablets. It uses your current location, current time, and current satellite data to show you what is currently in your sky. One can even use it to find the International Space Station or Hubble Space Telescope!  For those of you who love Google, Google Sky Map is also available for FREE and it turns your Android-powered device into a window on the night sky as well.
    As an educator, I immediately envisioned myself using my cell phone to show my students images of space as we embark on our journey to study our Night Sky unit. 

 
    In today's world, when articles and advertisements reference a website to learn more, one almost has to read the newspaper next to a computer in order to realize the fullest scope of the piece being read.  Thank goodness I was able to do just that when reading the article written by Joesph Dans for the Times Herald Record.  In his article, he provides his personal account with a cloud-based internet learning portal by Castle Software.  I visited the website, have taken the teacher tour, and have read the benefits of this software.  Castle Learning Online appears to be quite a find.  I am hopeful that one day I will be able to  utilize such a tool with the students that I teach.
 
I have been very excited about using the LibraryThing.com website, so the other day I went in, created an account, and quickly added three titles that I new my class would read this coming school year.  With just a click, each book's cover was there with all of the information about the book that you could find on Amazon.com.  I am hoping to import all of the titles from my classroom library and allow my students to sort of use it as a book catalog in my classroom (provided I can find a laptop for them to use).  At the same time I have been fascinated with the notion of assigning the Reader's Responses on a class blog for students to share their reactions and personal connections to passages that they read. Today I decided to play around a bit with Shelfari, since it offers the user the option to create a widget to add to a blog. 
I am so excited!  I was able to figure out how to add the "book I'm reading" widget to my Reader's Response Blog (check it out!).  It wasn't overly difficult....it just took me awhile to figure out how to add the HTML to the blog for it to appear in my website.  Creating the Widget in Shelfari was the easy part.  As it turns out, you simply have to select the Custom HTML button in the more sidebar while you edit your blog.  Then with a cut and a paste, the addition is done.   I plan to play around more with both sites to decide which program I will employ in my classroom.  Maybe I will use both!

 
It is officially HOT outside!  Wow!  The thermometer outside my house says it is 105 degrees.  We will be heading down to the shore this weekend for our annual family vacation, so I had to do some food shopping to prepare.  I think everything that I is supposed to remain cold, melted just from the store to the car.  Bummer!
I am going to head to the pool with my daughter to cool off with some cool cucumber treats! If anyone has some inventive ways to keep cool or some great snacks to help beat the heat, please post!
 
    I typed up this blog in Word after responding to a post on Blackboard about obtaining permission to photograph and publicly display photographs of students.  I forgot to add it to my blog last week, but thought I'd add it now:

    Interestingly, I have yet to have a student whose parents have not granted written permission for their child to be photographed and included in all media outlets.  However, after a professional development workshop I attended within district, I refused to give my own daughter's preschool permission to photograph her and use it on their website.  The workshop was given by a retired Bergen County Technology Department Detective and the information he shared about child predators, how they find their prey, and the means they use to stalk them sent chills through my spine.  A similar course was then provided to the parents of the students in our district through our Parent University night program to educate parents about internet and technology safety.
    This year a local bank then visited my daughter's preschool and brought professional photographers to help them create a marketing flyer and develop a portion of their website that was geared toward a specific bank account for young children to manage, called a Piggy Bank Account.  A separate permission slip was sent home for this event.  Again, I did not grant permission for my daughter to be photographed.  Later that day, my daughter informed my mother-in-law about the bank's visit to her school and what she had learned about banking.  Further into that same week, my mother-in-law went to the neighborhood bank, bumped into the manager, and mentioned what an impact the banks' visit to the local preschool had on her granddaughter, stating that she was informing her all about it enthusiastically after school that day.  The bank manager questioned which child she was referring to, walked to her computer, and showed my mother-in-law photos taken during that visit of the children on her computer.  Who was sitting smack dab in the middle of most of the the photographs?  My daughter!  Of course, my mother-in-law retold me this story excitedly, proud that her granddaughter was sitting so nicely actively engaged in the lesson (she is a retired elementary school teacher herself) and had no clue of the potential danger those pictures could hold, nor that I had not granted permission for them even to be taken.  I haven't seen any photographs used publicly, but I was really upset.  Why ask for permission if one isn’t going to honor a parent’s request not to photograph? 
    So now I know that when the day comes that I have a student whose parents do not give written consent, I will completely uphold their wishes and not photograph the child at all.  I used to think that I would include the child and then just either crop him/her out or just not include that photo in whatever display I was making.   However, now I wouldn’t want to be “caught” with a child’s picture if permission isn’t granted, god forbid it ever got into the wrong hands somehow (I do fear hackers- probably because I am a “digital immigrant”), and I now know what it feels like to be in the parent’s shoes.  So I question, should I as a teacher be sharing photos of my students on the internet, with written consent of course, when I as a parent would not want my own child's photos on the web for all to see?  Please share your thoughts/input on the topic.

 
Yippy!  I am an official blogger!  For my first blog, I'd like to mention how much fun I have had researching and playing around with the different sites available to create free websites.  I have learned so much in such a short period of time about how to create websites with the various tools.  I have already created a second blog for my students to use instead of their Readers Writers Notebooks to reflect on passages they've read.  I've set it up for the first story in our curriculum and plan on asking our new administrators for permission to use the blogging tool in September.  Please stay tuned to check out how my website develops, as my mind is spinning with all of the resources I could add to this terrific communication portal. 

Another thought.... With my new knowledge of creating free websites,  I could make my cousin an extra little wedding present.  Her wedding is next week in Florida.  We have a large family and not everyone can attend.  Since my daughter is the flower girl in the wedding, we will be flying down to take part in the celebration. Throughout the planning process, she has felt terrible that members of our family who are dear to her could not afford to make the trip, and she has questioned her decision to hold the ceremony/reception so far away from where so many of us live (NY and NJ).  How wonderful would it be for me to create a website to post pictures and videos.  I could add a wiki and others could post or add content as well for all to see! 
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    I am a third grade teacher at Haledon Public School.  I enjoy learning new things, and learning how to blog is one of them!

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