For my third C4T assignment I was assigned to Matt B Gomez! Matt is a kindergarten teacher and this is by far my favorite teacher blog I have seen. He blogs regularly and he blogs helpful things from apps that he uses in his classroom to filing methods he has discovered!!
On the first blog post that I commented on, Matt was telling us about an app that he uses in his classroom. The app's name is Popplet. It was just a short video showing us how Popplett is used and telling us that it is free but there is a more advanced version that cost a small fee a month, but there is no big difference in what you receive.
When I responded to Mr. Gomez, I started out by telling him who I was and that I was currently a junior at USA and also how I found his blog! I made sure to tell him that I thought it was awesome that he is a kindergarten teacher! I really enjoyed his video explaining Popplet! I told him that I find it very helpful to see present day teachers speaking about tools that they use inside their own classroom. I could see the visual word webs helping his students remember more things about the subject they were being taught! His video was detailed enough for me to download the app and create my own word web without any problems! I always end with thank you for sharing! I wished him a great finish to the year and left my BlogSpot address so that he could visit if he found the time!
For my second post that I commented on, Mr. Gomez told his followers about his filing system he uses in his classroom. He has his kindergarten students file away their finished work each day in file cabinets. He uses two different cabinets and half of their names are in each file. He told us that he found that multi-colored files work best because when the students open the file they see the color inside also. He teaches them to make sure the inside is the correct color so they know they are using the correct file. He says after just a quick demonstration they are able to handle using this system and it has worked well for him for many years. He says they learn to stay organized and it makes it easy on him to check their work Friday morning to see what they may need to finish for the week. The unfinished work is kept in a separate shelf which also makes it easy for them to know what they still need to finish. He adds that with this system he expects the kids to keep track of their work. On Friday mornings, he has the students bring him all of their finished work and they go through the work together. Anything that needs to be fixed would be moved to their unfinished work bucket, to be completed. As he meets with each child the class plays in imagination tubs because he thinks every Friday should start with fun and play! Usually it takes about 20 minutes to go through all of the work and then the class switches to centers to finish up the work for the week! He also adds descriptive pictures of his filing cabinets to help everyone understand what he is explaining, in case anyone was confused.
When I responded to his second blog post, I again told him who I was and how I found his blog. I told him how thankful I was that he shared this system with us! I told Mr. Gomez that I enjoy reading his blog post! I even plan on adding it to my PLN! I told him that he has some amazing ideas and methods. I also told him that I was really glad I got assigned to his blog! I added that I wasn't sure what grade I would end up teaching but I am sure this would come in handy regardless. I am so glad that he has a blog to share his work. I added that I love that he teaches his students responsibility. It is never to early to start teaching students this and I think kindergarten is a great place to begin! I left on the note of thanks again for sharing, and I look forward to looking at more of his blog posts! I do intend on using this system in my classroom, depending on which grade I start out teaching. I think this system could be used for many different grade levels.
This time I got a comment back from Mr. Gomez, and he replied, "Thanks for commenting Shanda."
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