Curling up With a Good Book

You may not know this but we are now reading 1/2 hour every day. 1/2 hour!!!! If you could be a fly on my classroom wall this is what you would see; students sprawled out, laying on pillows, curled up in a corner, feet up on the chairs and every single one of them reading. There isn't a sound in my classroom. Did you know they could do that? If they can do that with 25 other people in the class, could you imagine how easy it would be to spend some time at night, curled up on a couch/bed/pillow, to read your favourite book? I don't know about you but I am completely jealous of my students. I think tomorrow I might pretend to be one..just for a 1/2 hour.

Podcasting with Audacity

A new feature to the blog this year will be podcasting.  The students are going to be making a weekly, online review to let you know about some of the major events that took place over the week.
First we will be learning how to create a podcast using "Audacity".  This program will allow the students to digitally record their voice on the computer and then we'll upload it to the blog.  You can also download this program at home for free by clicking on the "Audacity" link above.  I've thrown in a quickie tutorial to get you started.  I can't wait to hear about all the exciting events that take place in our class.



Audacity Tutorial from Mr. Kitchen on Vimeo.

First Day!

Wow! Here we are already.  For those of you new to my class, welcome!  This blog is a way to keep you informed of what happens during the school days.  I update this blog often so be sure to keep coming back.  As you can see there have been a few changes to my usual class blog.  We will be featuring a podcast this year where the students will review what has happened over the week.  As usual, I have useful websites the students are using and an event/homework updater.  I can't wait to see how this year unfolds.
Here is the tentative schedule for my class.