ELMO

As of today, I am the proud "owner" of an ELMO.

An ELMO is basically a camera attached to a projector that will allow me to project anything on a projector screen (which I have never used, because I did not have a projector!) like books, manipulatives, worksheets, student work, etc. No more walking around to every student to show them something, or having a student tell me they cannot see.

Unfortunately, my school is not fortunate to have some of the amazing technology that some other schools have. I have a teacher computer, 3 old computers for the kids (1 which never seems to work), a CD/cassette tape/radio player, and a TV. While I am certainly thankful for what I have, my students are not really able to experience technology like I wish they could. Some of the upper grades at my school have ELMOs, but this year we used our A+ money to purchase one for every classroom.

There she is, in all her glory! It appeared in my classroom today while I was walking my students to PE. I have no idea where I am going to put it, or even how to turn it on, but it's going to be great. Our learning will become so much more interactive, and for that I am so excited!

I finally got smart!

Today's photo is of my new phone.

I didn't realize how absolutely boring my life was until I noticed four days into this that I have nothing interesting to photograph. So far I have food, a dead tree, a bag, and a phone. I wanted my photos to be relevant to the day they are taken. I'm going to have to get more creative here.

Anyways, boring for you, exciting for me. I got a new phone today. Jon and I went to buy them last week but the store was sold out of black, so they were shipped. They offered to pay for one to be shipped overnight, and Jon graciously gave me that one because this is my first "smart" phone. His will come in a day or two. We have never had the same, or even similar, phones before. His are usually sleek, fast, and shiny and mine are chunky, made for one purpose: getting ahold of people.

I love the camera on my new phone (you can TAKE pictures with different effects... I'm fascinated!) and wanted to take today's photo of my phone with my phone. Alas, that is impossible. Maybe tomorrow will bring you a sepia-toned photo of my bathtub.