PLN Starter for Elementary Teachers

Our school is one of the schools who received an Innovative Learning Designs Grant for this coming year.  This is Phase 2 of the District project.  You can learn a little about the Innovative Learning Design Project here.

To help our teachers build their Personal Learning Network, I thought it would be a good idea to bundle up a bunch of great blogs at various grade levels for them to get ideas and inspiration. Jennifer LaGarde (aka Librarygirl) made a similar tool you can find here. I wanted to create one that was more specific to different grades.

To start following and reading blogs, you may find it useful to create a Google account and then set up a Google Reader associated with that account. This will allow you to “subscribe” to blogs via the blog’s RSS feed you find interesting and that you’d like to revisit.  You could also just copy and paste the link (URL) of the blog directly into your Reader (once you click on “subscribe” in the Reader) and then click ADD.  Every time you open your Reader, it will show you which of the blogs you have subscribed to have new posts. It’s quite handy.  This will also ensure that your email isn’t bombarded with emails when people add new posts to their blogs (we know we all don’t need any more emails!).  When you are getting started, you may want to limit the number of blogs you add to your reader though, so you do not overwhelm yourself.

So, let’s get started.  Below I have listed a few blogs you may want to consider subscribing to, as you begin this journey. In no way is this list complete. It actually barely touches the surface of what is available for you on the world-wide web.  I just wanted to give teachers a starting place, without making them too overwhelmed, hopefully. I tried to include many local bloggers – from SD#36, BC, and Canada. I have also included a few amazing bloggers from around the world as well.  The inspiration is endless!  You may even want to consider following the authors of these blogs on Twitter (I have not included their Twitter Username, but they would be easy to find if you search their name).

Kindergarten

The Way I See It – Jodi Pulvers (SD36)

Searching for Sunshine – Michelle Heibert (Abbotsford, BC)

Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century – Tanya Alvarez (Canada)

Miss. Night’s Marbles – Miss. Night (Canada)

My Hullabaloo – Matt Gomez (Texas, USA)

Grade 1

Peeking into Division 16 (class blog) Learning and Sharing with Ms. L (Professional blog) – Karen Lirenman (SD#36)

Adventures in Teaching Grade 1 – Lora Sarchet (SD#36)

Excitement in Grade 1 – Niki Leech (SD#36)

Mrs. Soltau-Heller’s Class – Sarah Soltau-Heller (BC)

Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog – (Sask., Canada)

Primary Preoccupation (Kathy Cassidy – Professional Blog) – (Sask., Canada)

Miss. Dugsiger’ Class Blog – Aviva Dugsiger – (Ontario, Canada) (Soon to be teaching Gr. 6)

Ms. Wideen’s Grade 1 Blog – (Ontario, Canada)

Grade 2

Driven to Read – Carrie Gelson (Vancouver, BC) (Gr. 2/3)

Kleinspiration – Erin Klein (USA)

The Frugal Teacher – Louise Morgan (USA)

An Educational Phoenix – Carol McLaughlin (USA)

Tools 4 School – Karyn Keenan – (USA)

Rockin Teacher Materials – Hilary Lewis – (USA)

Grade 3

Mrs. T’s Grade 3’s Class Blog – Robyn Theissen (SD#36)

Learning Today, Teaching for Tomorrow – Diana Williams (SD#36)

Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge – Christina Bainbridge (USA)

The 1:1 Classroom – Mark Pullen (USA)

Soul Strikers –  Jaclyn Karabinas – (USA)

Mrs. Schmidt’s Classroom Blog – Tina Schmidt – (USA)

Grade 4

Mrs. Dyck’s Classroom – Linda Dyck – (SD#36)

Teaching is Elementary – Nancy Carroll –  (USA)

A Leader in Educational Technology – Jason Seliskar (USA)

Powell 4th Grade – Kimberly Powell – (USA)

Teaching in Cute Shoes – Cynthia Alaniz (USA)

Day in the Classroom – Barbara Day – (USA)

Grade 5

Just a Thought – Errin Gregory – (BC, Canada)

Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension – Pernille Ripp (USA)

My Teaching Life – Sarah Allan – (USA)

Inside the Classroom Outside the Box – Jill Thompson – (USA)

Diary of a Public School Teacher – Lisa M – (USA)

A Fly on the Classroom Wall – Ally – (USA)

Grade 6

Journey’s in the 21st Century – Brad Issel (SD#36) – Gr. 6/7

The Spicy Learning Blog – Royan Lee – (Ontario, Canada)

Miss. Dugsiger’ Class Blog – Aviva Dugsiger – (Ontario, Canada) (Soon to be teaching Gr. 6)

Education Rethink – John Spencer (USA)

Stump the Teacher – Josh Stumpenhorst (USA)

Shiny Happy Teachers – Laura Gilchrist (USA)

Grade 7

Today is a Great Day for Learning – Hugh McDonald (SD#36) – Gr. 6/7

Integrating Technol0gy – My Journey – Gallit Zvi (SD#36) – Gr. 6/7

Mr. Hong’s Class of 21st Century Learners – Ryan Hong (SD#36) – Gr. 6/7

Dare to Care – Denise Krebs – Grade 7/8 – (USA)

Room 13 – Year 6/7’s Sharing their Learning – Pam Thompson – (Australia)

Our Genius Hour – Joy Kirr – (USA)

Library

Our School Library – A Virtual Mall of Knowledge – Lisa Domeier – (SD#36)

Martha Currie Library Blog – Dawne Murray – (SD#36)

Fraser Heights Library Learning Commons – Angela Monk – (SD#36)

Bear Creek Library – James Holgate Teaching Journal – (SD#36)

Bryan Hughes – (Vancouver, BC)

Georges Vanier Library – Anna Crosland – (SD#36)

Watch. Connect. Read. – Mr. Schu (USA)

Music

Avenue4Learning by Michelle Baldwin (USA)

Learning Support

Mad About ELT – Barbara Garcia – (Argentina)

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages – Free Online Webinars by Shelly Terrell – (USA) and more from Shelly – one of her online Livebinders

Language Journeys – Elvira G. Deyamport (USA)

Misc.

Room 198 – Instructional Technology Matrix – Ryan Wiskar – (Coquitlam, BC)

Twinkle’s Happy Place –  Starleigh Grass – Aboriginal Curriculum – (Kelowna, BC)

Cool Cat Teacher Blog – Vicki Davis – (USA)

CybraryMan – Jerry Blumengarten – (USA)

Teacher ReBootcamp – Shelly Terrell – (USA)

Work Hard, Be Courageous, Celebrate Growth – Ann and Celina – Multi-Age (Gr. 3, 4, 5) (USA)

Teaching With Soul – Lisa Dabbs – (USA)

This We Know. This We Do – Mike McKay – (SD#36)

Innovative Learning Designs – Elisa Carlson – (SD#36)

Culture of Yes – Chris Kennedy – (West Vancouver, BC)

If the above list wasn’t enough for you, or you are ready to increase your list of blogs you read, here is another list of blogs I found by Hilary Lewis. Take a look. It’s fabulous!

If you know of other great teacher bloggers that you think would be wonderful to add to a google reader to help get people started, please let me know and I will add them to this list.

As you can see from this list, these are mainly elementary school bloggers. If you’d like to see a list of secondary bloggers, let me know in the comment section and I may do that list as well.