Caitlin+Weatherwax

==== My name is Caitlin Weatherwax and I am a senior in Early Childhood Education at Clemson University. I am currently doing my practicum at Hunt Meadows Elementary School in Mrs. Smith's first grade classroom and I adore all of the children and I am loving the first grade! I am originally from Jamestown, NY and moved to Hilton Head Island, SC in 2001 and have lived there ever since. Outside of school, I enjoy going to the beach, Clemson football games, walking Perimeter Road with my roommates, and just spending time outdoors in general. I love traveling and have been to Australia, India, Belize, and Guatemala and I hope to eventually travel to every continent. I am very close with my family and I love spending time with my friends and family as much as possible! I absolutely love working with children and I cannot wait to be a teacher. I am hoping to attend graduate school next year to major in special education and I hope to teach either first grade, second grade, or special education someday when I have my very own classroom! ====

=Caitlin Weatherwax's PLN= ====**The Inspired Apple:** This is a blog created by a first grade teacher named Abby, who calls herself Babbling Abby. She puts up numerous lesson ideas, as well as other teachers' lessons, and she also has links to other teachers' blogs on the side of her page. I really liked her activity with "Jitter Juice" because it was very creative and the students seemed to love it! I also love that she posts pictures and samples not only of the activity going on in the classroom, but also of the academic parts to the lesson, such as the writing about Jitter Juice that she had up on big paper for the class to see how to make it.==== ====**Chalk Talk:** This is a blog by a woman named April Larremore, who is a kindergarten and first grade strategist for her district. She writes about lessons and ideas that she has done in her classroom in the past, as well as lessons and ideas that she sees being executed in the classrooms that she visits and observes. I loved what she did with the turtles because it was not only informational and allowed the children to learn about turtles as well as practice other literacy skills, but they had live turtles and the kids would love that! I also like that she puts up pictures with each post because it helps to give a better idea of what she is talking about and can give teachers ideas for their own classrooms.==== ====**Fabulous in First:** This is a blog created for other teachers by a first grade teacher named Michelle Oakes. She not only includes lessons and links to other teacher-related blogs, but she also has a product catalog with Teachers Pay Teachers. I really like the variety of materials that she has in her product catalog, such as the Dr. Seuss Word Family Center and the Spring Sugar Cookie Sort-Parts of Speech.====

====The PLN activity has made me realize how many resources for teachers are actually out there on the Internet, all of which have nothing to do with Google! I would have never guessed that there were so many different types of websites that are useful for teachers in creating lessons, worksheets, activities, setting up the classroom, and so much more. I think the idea of teachers' blogs is wonderful because it allows me to see what worked and what might not have worked so well so that I can modify ideas for lessons during student teaching and more importantly, when I have my own classroom someday!====

=Blabberize= //Image from//: [] //Poem//: Delta Zeta creed (memorized)

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I really enjoyed working with the Blabberize assignment! It seems like just a fun, silly activity to do with your students, but after comparing it to the standards and guided principles, I realized that there really are a number of academic components to it as well. The activity addresses standards in oral language development by encouraging them to expand their vocabulary and having them speak in a manner that is understandable by all. This may be hard for some children whether they are shy, have trouble speaking in front of others, or simply have speech problems in general. By hearing their voices played back to them, it allows them to hear how they sound and to improve on speaking slower, faster, etc. if necessary. In turn, their conversational skills can be improved through self-correction rather than a teacher telling them what they are doing right and wrong. Also, this activity allows students to explore media that they may not usually have access to. Recording themselves can be a lot of fun for children and it is great experience for them to have with different technologies since technology is such a huge part of today's world.