Posted by Teacher Ria in Multimedia Center, Teaching Resources, Tools for the Techie Teacher | 0 Comments

Oh Dropbox, You’re Amazing :)

I have recently rediscovered the amazingness of Dropbox I’ve had an account for some time now, but because I still was on the first generation iPad and my classroom didn’t have such a great internet connection, it was frustrating for me. However, since I upgraded to iPhone5 and my school’s system is much better, I am beginning to really enjoy the wonder that is known as Dropbox. It has allowed me to be more efficient with sharing files with my students and colleagues, and allows for access to my personal files anytime, anywhere I even got to use it to share photos with a friend of mine that I took on my phone when we went to the beach. It was easy, peasy sharing! As compared to email, which takes a long time to attach, this was quick. Sure there were a few delays when my internet signal dropped, but all in all, it was great

As a teacher, I like how dropbox makes file sharing and storing very simple. The space allotted for a free account is good enough too, although if you really want to keep your files there for long, you may want to follow simple steps to upgrade your storage allotment. Most of them are free too

Dropbox is definitely another one of those tools for the techie teacher! Check out and sign up for dropbox here: http://db.tt/ehxlNVEP

Posted by Teacher Ria in Multimedia Center, Teaching Resources, Tools for the Techie Teacher, Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Tools for the Techie Teacher!

I think I have written about several tools for the techie teacher in the past, but I can’t remember what they were anymore! Haha. As such, I shall make this a new category on my blog to be able to help out other teachers like me.

For today, my featured tool is the headset microphone from musicians friend. I’ve tried different versions of headset microphones with portable speakers in class, and it really helps, especially when my classes are large. I even used it for a yoga class once. It saves me from having to exert too much effort to speak up especially in rooms where the acoustics are not that great. These kinds of microphones are definitely an amazing addition to any teachers arsenal

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Summer Activities

Summertime is usually one of the busiest times of the school year. While the students may be on vacation from their regular classes, this is when they are enrolled in a whole bunch of other extra curricular activities. While some still come in for reading and math tutorials, many of the younger ones come in for trial runs for the upcoming school year. Older students come in for summer camps, some of which can include art, music an movement activities. Here are a few great ideas for summer activities:

1. Clean and Green – environmental awareness. Can include planting, composting and recycling activities
2. Rainbow Art – this can be done through tie dying projects (and the summer heat is perfect for drying up these art works easily even when you need your dryer repaired like I did hahaha) or paint popsicle art (freeze some poster color into popsicle crayons and let the kids loose on the sidewalk!)
3. Treasure Hunt – check out my previous post for map sample
4. Animal Parade
5. Seed art

These are pretty straightforward and simple activities Any other suggestions?

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Treasure Hunting!

In my last kids yoga class, we went on a treasure hunt. I hadn’t planned on making a map or what not, but five minutes before class this suddenly came to fruition! Not the best drawing, but the kids loved it I was able to incorporate a quick math lesson, a science exploration and even a language building activity in the yoga class. This, my dear, is what a preschool teacher is all about I’ve missed it!

Posted by Teacher Ria in Uncategorized | 0 Comments

The Sounds of Summer

The summer heat is beginning to scorch and it’s that time of the year again where kids have no more classes and their parents are starting to scratch their heads thinking of what to do with them for the next two months or so.

One of the many suggestions I give parents for their kids is to enroll them in an activity that does not have anything to do with academics. After all, they have a whole school year of that. I tell them music and movement classes, for one, is a really good thing for their kids to explore. They can even gather up a few kids from the neighborhood hire a tutor or teacher to come to the house or to the clubhouse and they can do whatever lessons or activities together. All they really need is space, a music player (such as an ipod with a portable bluetooth speaker) and makeshift instruments (they don’t really have to be the real deal or be the best percussion instruments). This has the makings of a great summer.

So, allow your kids to explore the sounds of summer In the next few days I will give other suggestions for activities for kids