I know it's been a while since I've posted; I've been doing all of my back-to-school duties. School starts Monday in our district, barring any possible power outages from Irene. I am not located on the coast, but I am located inland in one of the affected states. My area is calling for wind and rain, but not much more than a regular thunderstorm. We'll see what happens.
I've been debating on whether to continue my daily blogging, and I think I'm going to try to post a one to a few times a week. (Gotta take some grad courses for my next certification level, so I'll be taking time to do that.) I will continue to post new ideas and neat happenings throughout the year for you, so don't go anywhere!
If you have already started, I hope your year is going well for you. If you have not already started, I hope your year will go well for you. And, if you feel the urge, send me a comment from time to time and let me know how your 180-day journey is progressing. (You can be anonymous if you want!)
Let the countdown begin!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Where Is My Summer Going?!?
Just last week we celebrated our nation's independence with picnics and fireworks. The stores celebrated the holiday with Fourth of July sales, only to be closely followed with Back to School sales. Haven't checked your newspaper flyers lately? I can assure you...it's begun. This week's Target ad has a two-page spread with specials on lunchboxes, lunchbox containers, backpacks, notebooks, and writing utensils. Not to be outdone, Wal-Mart also has a flyer out this week solely dedicated to all things school, whether that school is college or K-12. As my daughter said when the flyers came, "I just want to enjoy my summer!"
Ditto.
I feel like my summer just began. I finished school (with students) on June 10th, was away for a conference that following week, took four days of teacher inservice courses the week after that, and served as preschool director for my church's Vacation Bible School the week after that. And now the papers are advertising for school supplies.
Just. So. Sad.
I know some of you have been planning for the next school year already, but I figure I'll give myself another week or so before I really get into it. In the meantime, I am undertaking a new adventure. I'll be trying my hand at being a freelance education writer for Suite 101! This is pretty exciting because I can write about what I do and I can do so whenever I choose. If you don't remember, I worked in the writing field for a number of years before changing careers to be a teacher.
I know what you're thinking: Aren't you busy enough? Yes and no. This year my husband and I will not be full-time weekend houseparents at the facility for underprivileged children. It was too hard on my children, who missed out on a lot of their own activities (like sports) because we were on duty every other weekend. We are still on the on-call list, but we are not obligated to go in just because there's a need. The second reason we are not working full time on the weekend has to do with me; I have to take some courses in order to attain my next level in teacher certification for my state. There is just not enough time in a week to get everything done.
So what am I doing in the meantime? I'm reviewing and previewing academic skills with my children, catching up on my personal reading, running when my knee permits, and enjoying my family. I can think about school in another week or so...as long as I don't look at any more flyers in the paper!
Monday, July 4, 2011
(Day 3 of Scholastic Trip #2)
Okay, so Day 3 wasn't really a full day. Actually, it wasn't even part of the original plan for the trip, but one of the members of the editorial team asked if any of us would be available Thursday morning to talk about the focus of publishing from the standpoint of the teacher.
I got up and showered, ordered and ate breakfast, finished packing for the trip home, checked my bag at the front desk and ordered my cab to the train station to be ready when I got back from the meeting, and met the three remaining advisors for our trip over to Scholastic.
We met with a member of the editorial team who talked with us for about an hour. We talked about how well the books fit into the curriculum, what areas and levels still need materials, how to address the needs when state standards are so different (although the new Common Core Standards may help with that issue), and how test preparation materials fit into the grand picture of things. There should be more materials in social studies and science coming for the lower grades; one of my complaints was that the materials offered for the lower grades are either too simplistic or too far above grade level for the students to understand. We'll see what happens. We also found out how to submit our own material if we so choose. There's no guarantee we'll be published, but it's nice to know the option is there.
After our meeting, I went back to the hotel, picked up my bag, and got into the cab. My cab ride to Penn Station was just as harrowing as the one I took the night I arrived. I was glad to get out of the taxi! An hour later, after a purchase of a french toast bagel with cream cheese (and a drink), I was on my way home.
Ahh. Home.
I got up and showered, ordered and ate breakfast, finished packing for the trip home, checked my bag at the front desk and ordered my cab to the train station to be ready when I got back from the meeting, and met the three remaining advisors for our trip over to Scholastic.
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| Breakfast. Fuel for the day. |
We met with a member of the editorial team who talked with us for about an hour. We talked about how well the books fit into the curriculum, what areas and levels still need materials, how to address the needs when state standards are so different (although the new Common Core Standards may help with that issue), and how test preparation materials fit into the grand picture of things. There should be more materials in social studies and science coming for the lower grades; one of my complaints was that the materials offered for the lower grades are either too simplistic or too far above grade level for the students to understand. We'll see what happens. We also found out how to submit our own material if we so choose. There's no guarantee we'll be published, but it's nice to know the option is there.
After our meeting, I went back to the hotel, picked up my bag, and got into the cab. My cab ride to Penn Station was just as harrowing as the one I took the night I arrived. I was glad to get out of the taxi! An hour later, after a purchase of a french toast bagel with cream cheese (and a drink), I was on my way home.
Ahh. Home.
(Day 2 of Scholastic Trip #2)
Day 2 began much the same as the first: meeting Carol in the lobby, walking to Scholastic headquarters, and having breakfast. The meetings for the day covered changes to the teacher reward (bonus point) program, back-to-school promotions, some new web applications, and a preview of the new bonus catalog. Lots of exciting things in store!
One of the things I am excited about is the change to the bonus point system. We had complained in the February meeting that sometimes it was hard to reach that minimum requirement to get the 5X bonus points for that month (or whatever the promotion was in any particular month). Many of us stated that we were guilty of padding our classroom orders just to reach the minimum dollar amount threshold. (I suspect many of you do the same thing.) Well, there is good news: Beginning this fall, all bonus points will be lumped together, no matter which book club/flier you use. No more minimum dollar amounts! Your bonus points will be awarded based on the total number of dollars for your order. (There will be a chart explaining how the new system works in the teacher portion of the flier.) I don't know about you, but I use my bonus points A LOT. And to know that I won't have to pad orders anymore and still get the benefit, well, that's just icing.
Another exciting aspect is this year's back-to-school promotion to get children excited about reading. I can't tell you all of the details, but I can tell you it has something to do with a partnership with Wal-Mart and Kellogg's. Just keep your eyes peeled!
Some of the new web applications being put into place (besides easier navigation of the company site and book order links) include a link where teachers and parents can rate books according to specified criteria. The idea behind this application is sort of like Pandora Radio; readers can rate books and move books into categories by title, author, series, skill sets, illustrations, message, age group, etc. There would also be a place to solicit feedback or leave a comment about a book. You know as well as I do that sometimes books can be used for more purposes than the publishing company thinks of or lists on the description/book jacket. Sometimes just a snippet of a book is perfect for supplementing a lesson or a series of similar stories is just right for a concept study. This new site would allow people that are using the books add to the details and description of the book. An example would be the Junie B. Jones series. One of the other advisors uses snippets of the books to do grammar studies. I would never have thought of using the series that way. Through the site, those ideas would be available to whoever clicks on the link.
For those of you who are fans of Book Talk, there are plans to have five new titles from the book clubs highlighted each month. There would be book highlights from preschool to high school. Scholastic plans to have some of the editors and writers do short videos about the highlighted books. Teachers would also have the ability to link to those videos through their personal, class, or school web pages. The book videos would also be archived for later reference.
Regarding the book club fliers themselves, our meeting with the design team revealed quite a few changes. The team has reworked the fliers so that they are going to be less cluttered, a larger section will be available for your class online ordering code, there will be a highlight page featuring authors or series in each, there will be a section for book reviews from the teacher advisors (much like those we do for the Scholastic Facebook page), the layout of the order form on the last page will be MUCH easier to read, and there will be a section with preview pages from different book levels to help parents and children choose "Just Right" books.
I know it's a lot to take in, but it was a busy day. So busy that we had a "working lunch" that day; lunch was brought to the room and we continued on. Our day of meetings ended at 5:30. We had about half an hour to freshen up and/or walk around Soho before we left for dinner.
Dinner that night was held at the Mercer Kitchen. The restaurant had little menus made up for us to choose our three courses. I had the fried calamari with spicy mayo for my appetizer, the Mercer burger for my entree (delicious, and I'm not a burger person), and the sour cream cheesecake with cherries for dessert.
Just. So. Good.
One of the things I am excited about is the change to the bonus point system. We had complained in the February meeting that sometimes it was hard to reach that minimum requirement to get the 5X bonus points for that month (or whatever the promotion was in any particular month). Many of us stated that we were guilty of padding our classroom orders just to reach the minimum dollar amount threshold. (I suspect many of you do the same thing.) Well, there is good news: Beginning this fall, all bonus points will be lumped together, no matter which book club/flier you use. No more minimum dollar amounts! Your bonus points will be awarded based on the total number of dollars for your order. (There will be a chart explaining how the new system works in the teacher portion of the flier.) I don't know about you, but I use my bonus points A LOT. And to know that I won't have to pad orders anymore and still get the benefit, well, that's just icing.
Another exciting aspect is this year's back-to-school promotion to get children excited about reading. I can't tell you all of the details, but I can tell you it has something to do with a partnership with Wal-Mart and Kellogg's. Just keep your eyes peeled!
Some of the new web applications being put into place (besides easier navigation of the company site and book order links) include a link where teachers and parents can rate books according to specified criteria. The idea behind this application is sort of like Pandora Radio; readers can rate books and move books into categories by title, author, series, skill sets, illustrations, message, age group, etc. There would also be a place to solicit feedback or leave a comment about a book. You know as well as I do that sometimes books can be used for more purposes than the publishing company thinks of or lists on the description/book jacket. Sometimes just a snippet of a book is perfect for supplementing a lesson or a series of similar stories is just right for a concept study. This new site would allow people that are using the books add to the details and description of the book. An example would be the Junie B. Jones series. One of the other advisors uses snippets of the books to do grammar studies. I would never have thought of using the series that way. Through the site, those ideas would be available to whoever clicks on the link.
For those of you who are fans of Book Talk, there are plans to have five new titles from the book clubs highlighted each month. There would be book highlights from preschool to high school. Scholastic plans to have some of the editors and writers do short videos about the highlighted books. Teachers would also have the ability to link to those videos through their personal, class, or school web pages. The book videos would also be archived for later reference.
Regarding the book club fliers themselves, our meeting with the design team revealed quite a few changes. The team has reworked the fliers so that they are going to be less cluttered, a larger section will be available for your class online ordering code, there will be a highlight page featuring authors or series in each, there will be a section for book reviews from the teacher advisors (much like those we do for the Scholastic Facebook page), the layout of the order form on the last page will be MUCH easier to read, and there will be a section with preview pages from different book levels to help parents and children choose "Just Right" books.
I know it's a lot to take in, but it was a busy day. So busy that we had a "working lunch" that day; lunch was brought to the room and we continued on. Our day of meetings ended at 5:30. We had about half an hour to freshen up and/or walk around Soho before we left for dinner.
Dinner that night was held at the Mercer Kitchen. The restaurant had little menus made up for us to choose our three courses. I had the fried calamari with spicy mayo for my appetizer, the Mercer burger for my entree (delicious, and I'm not a burger person), and the sour cream cheesecake with cherries for dessert.
Just. So. Good.
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| Sorry about the flash. This is one of the windows out front. |
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| Our menu cover. |
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| Our menu options for dinner. |
During dinner I sat near the guru of the bonus catalog, Tanya. I just have to tell you; when you get the catalog in the fall with your beginning-of-the-year Scholastic materials, HANG ON TO IT! There are SO many good things in there! (And I'm not saying so because I helped choose some of the items, but because there are a lot of neat things in there. My bonus points are already spent for this year!)
After dinner we said goodbye to those folks who were heading out early the next morning. Several of us were going to hang around the next morning before our departures to have an informal meeting with one of the editors from the book club division. More on that to come.
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
(Day 1 of Scholastic Trip #2)
The first day of Scholastic meetings started off with us meeting Carol in the lobby of the hotel, getting our clearance badges for the next few days, and a walk from the hotel to the Scholastic headquarters. (The walk took about 10 minutes. You would be amazed at how relatively quiet Soho is at 8:30 a.m.)
We arrived at the building and were taken upstairs to have breakfast and meet with another Carol; this Carol is the VP of the eCommerce department. She and her assistant Sean walked us through the new website design and further picked our brains for improvements to the book club ordering sites for teachers and parents.
Some of the new changes coming this fall are: a searchable index of all book being offered by the Scholastic clubs, in Club Shop, or teacher materials. (This is one of my favorite new features!) You will now be able to search for titles by author, subject, grade level, genre, skill set, or title. I believe they will be adding a feature that will allow teachers and parents to keep a snapshot of students that will allow recommendations to be made based on the child's grade level, age, and/or reading level. (They were still working on the details for that one.)
Another feature coming this fall (and is already in place in some areas of the country through test markets) is the e-reader feature. Scholastic will be offering e-books for sale through the website to be downloaded to the Scholastic e-reader software, which is free. The software can be downloaded onto a computer, tablet, or smartphone; I think you can download up to five per household. Anyhow, once books are purchased, they go to the device of your choice. Each child has his or her own "bookshelf" where they can store their digital books. The program itself reminds me of a LeapPad combined with an e-book. The students have the ability to look up words, take notes, highlight, play games, and do comprehension activities throughout the books. (This was the one I tested out this past spring; I couldn't tell you the details until it went live.) I can't wait to start adding books for my kiddos.
After the discussions about the above, we stopped for lunch around 12:30. We went to Miro Cafe for lunch and had a few minutes to walk around before we went back. The afternoon was filled with the actual preview of the websites. My take: much easier navigation, especially if you have coupons to enter with your order. The whole ordering process has been streamlined for ease. There will also be a change to the form letter available on the site for parent online ordering.
We also talked about how to get parents interested in book clubs and online ordering. Some of the things the other teachers use are: a Smartboard presentation showing parents how to get on the site during parent nights (if you have a Smartboard. I don't.), an "All About Me" letter indicating student reading preferences, adding a link to your class web page, and providing the "How Book Clubs Work" link to parents.
At 5:30 we ended the day with a little shopping at the Scholastic store. I bought my kiddos some new books: Fairest for my oldest and a Ricky Ricotta book and activity book for my youngest. Here are some new pictures from this trip:
At 6 we went to dinner at Bar 89.
Dinner was delicious, but I'm not going to talk about that. The thing to talk about once you've been to Bar 89 is the BATHROOMS! Yes, the bathrooms. There is only one word to describe them: Freaky. Let me show you what I mean.
Once dinner was over, we went back to the hotel to prepare for Day 2.
Stay tuned.
We arrived at the building and were taken upstairs to have breakfast and meet with another Carol; this Carol is the VP of the eCommerce department. She and her assistant Sean walked us through the new website design and further picked our brains for improvements to the book club ordering sites for teachers and parents.
Some of the new changes coming this fall are: a searchable index of all book being offered by the Scholastic clubs, in Club Shop, or teacher materials. (This is one of my favorite new features!) You will now be able to search for titles by author, subject, grade level, genre, skill set, or title. I believe they will be adding a feature that will allow teachers and parents to keep a snapshot of students that will allow recommendations to be made based on the child's grade level, age, and/or reading level. (They were still working on the details for that one.)
Another feature coming this fall (and is already in place in some areas of the country through test markets) is the e-reader feature. Scholastic will be offering e-books for sale through the website to be downloaded to the Scholastic e-reader software, which is free. The software can be downloaded onto a computer, tablet, or smartphone; I think you can download up to five per household. Anyhow, once books are purchased, they go to the device of your choice. Each child has his or her own "bookshelf" where they can store their digital books. The program itself reminds me of a LeapPad combined with an e-book. The students have the ability to look up words, take notes, highlight, play games, and do comprehension activities throughout the books. (This was the one I tested out this past spring; I couldn't tell you the details until it went live.) I can't wait to start adding books for my kiddos.
After the discussions about the above, we stopped for lunch around 12:30. We went to Miro Cafe for lunch and had a few minutes to walk around before we went back. The afternoon was filled with the actual preview of the websites. My take: much easier navigation, especially if you have coupons to enter with your order. The whole ordering process has been streamlined for ease. There will also be a change to the form letter available on the site for parent online ordering.
We also talked about how to get parents interested in book clubs and online ordering. Some of the things the other teachers use are: a Smartboard presentation showing parents how to get on the site during parent nights (if you have a Smartboard. I don't.), an "All About Me" letter indicating student reading preferences, adding a link to your class web page, and providing the "How Book Clubs Work" link to parents.
At 5:30 we ended the day with a little shopping at the Scholastic store. I bought my kiddos some new books: Fairest for my oldest and a Ricky Ricotta book and activity book for my youngest. Here are some new pictures from this trip:
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| The entrance to the lobby. |
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| With the last installment of the movie series coming out, I thought it only fitting to take this. |
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| Just thought this was really cute. |
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| This is my pic from inside the stall. I am standing in the corner. |
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| Totally fogged. I can see out, but no one can see in! |
When you go into the stall, the door is all glass. Once you shut the door, the stall glass fogs up so no one can see you and a lighted "Occupied" sign appears on the door. When you are finished, you open the door and the fog clears. A shock at first. Once dinner was over, we went back to the hotel to prepare for Day 2.
Stay tuned.
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