Connecting With Students Through Instagram

The majority of my students have an Instagram account. I don't blame them! I love Instagram just as much as the next guy, I'm constantly sharing pictures of my daily happenings and putting my dog in weird clothing or strange scenarios. 

Exhibit A:

OR! Finding adorable pictures of my boyfriend at his parent's house and posting them for other people's enjoyment. 

Exhibit B:

Earlier this year, I wanted to try and connect with my students through Instagram. During our conversations about digital citizenship, I wanted to show my kids Instagram can be more than selfies and regramming weird pictures they find on the internet. I'm always encouraging them to follow noteworthy accounts (ex: National Geographic, NASA, etc.). 

We had to start somewhere, so I started an Instagram account for the 5th grade. I encouraged students to follow the account. When I originally began, we were in our weather unit. I challenged students to post pictures of the clouds and use the hashtag #sotoscience (note to teachers: check your hashtag FIRST, I learned this the hard way). 

Slowly but surely, students were taking pictures of the clouds, uploading the images to IG, and using the hashtag! We had a winner! I even had a parent come to me and say, "You made taking pictures of the clouds COOL, way to go!" I was excited to see students using their phones and tablets for science and connecting outside of school. For those students who don't have an IG account, I was able to pull up the images on my SmartBoard for students to look at during the day. We all benefited from it!

#sotoscience

Throughout our next unit, I utilized the video feature and posted 15-second videos of activities we were doing in science to spark interest. Plus, I hoped it may start a conversation at home. Perhaps they forgot after the bus ride home, but seeing it on Instagram may jolt a conversation with a family member. 

Since we've been back to school, we have completed our Animal Classification unit. Through the IG account, I issued a challenge for students to photograph examples of all five classes of vertebrates. I jump started the challenge with Chip as my model. Watch out David Beckham! 

Thanks to my PLN and Twitter, I stumbled upon another fantastic idea for Instagram! Challenge students to create a 15-second book trailer. I posted an example one for Origami Yoda a few weeks ago.  I haven't had many students jump on board, yet. Rome wasn't built in a day!

Click here to my book trailer!

Do you use Instagram to connect with your students? How have you used Instagram in the classroom? Share your ideas with me below! 

Year in Review

 Happy December 30, 2013 folks! It's hard to believe that 2013 is coming to a close so quickly. Since I've had some free time the past few days (bless you, Christmas break!) I have been having fun with social media tools.  Through #flipagram, Vizify, and Statigram, I have been reviewing my year through social media. If you're a Twitter and Instagram junkie (I mean that in the nicest way) like me, I encourage you to do the same. It's quite fun! 

Click here to watch my Vizify 2013 Twitter round up. 

Screenshot

#students #Chip #MIZ

My Top Tweets of 2013

Are you on Instagram, too? It's one of my favorite social media tools. I even started using it with my students! Here's a snapshot of my year on Instagram: 

#memostatigram 

Wishing you all a wonderful 2014! Here's to another great year!

InstaFriday - Christmas Edition

I hope everyone is having an excellent holiday vacation! I certainly am. Today, I have LOTS planned... just kidding. I have a book to read all afternoon. I think I may even find time to squeeze a nap in there. Here's a look at the past month through the eyes of my favorite app, Instagram.

Don't be fooled, my friends and I are in our 20's and we decorated these cookies. It may seem like children had a hand in these, but nope! 

Stacks upon stacks of snail mail to be sent out for Christmas! 

Homemade Italian Wedding Soup one chilly evening made just for me. I'm a lucky gal! 

Blessed to work in a school with such fun and uplifting elves... oh, I mean teachers. 

My bf and I tackled a TURKEY! Yes, yes we did! We successfully cooked our first turkey. It was ah-maze-ing. 

My sister and on I on Christmas Eve... we were trying to convince Santa to let us on his sleigh. 

Throughout this holiday season, I've felt extremely blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful family members. My bf and I celebrated our second Christmas together as well. My heart is full and happy happy. I hope you all feel the same!

InstaFriday!

If you live in Missouri, specifically central Missouri, I know you're loving the weather right now. I actually only know about the weather in my current location, so other parts of Missouri could be having great days, too. We've been in the triple digits for several days and we're finally getting a much needed break.

Next week, I'll be back to posting about fun classroom and back to school goodies. I am waiting until our back to school night until I post pictures of my room. I also have some fun community building ideas I plan on sharing. Stay tuned!

Until then, here's what fun things my phone and instagram captured this week...

A Precious Hand Delivered Thank You Card.

My Sweet Nephew With a Mouth Full of Cheese.

My "lost" Lesson Plans That Have Been Found.

The Best Gift Ever. 

My Roommate For the Week. 

Happy Friday! I'm off to a patio. (Well, when my date arrives..!)

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InstaFriday!

Happy Friday, folks! My DVR is set to record the oh-so-amazing Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. I'll be watching it a few days late (oops), but still watching! I can't wait to spend the next 12 days decorating my classroom (YES!) and watching the Olympics simultaneously. Sounds heavenly if you ask me. Now, here's a little peak at what I've been up to the past week or two via Instagram. 

I caught up with two lovely ladies at Pi Pizza at the Loop in St. Louis. It was lovely chatting about Emylie's recent engagement, Amy's new home, and our new school years approaching. 

On Sunday afternoon, my bf and I went to Bailey's Range for lunch. It's a yummy burger joint in downtown St. Louis. I stuffed my face with a buffalo chicken sandwich, french fries, and pretzels. All homemade! 

For lunch, I made myself a little pizza bagel. I topped an everything bagel with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and turkey pepperoni. I popped the bagel in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes. It was delicious. 

Yesterday, I met a friend at a local cupcakery in town. I gorged myself in a red velvet cupcake. I will definitely be visiting Mad Hatter Cupcakes again. 

Chip has been spending a few days at mi casa. He kept me company while I enjoyed my morning bagel on the front porch. Then, it rained for 10 minutes then spiked to 95 degrees. Gotta love Missouri! 

I snagged this swell little stamp for $1.00 at Michaels! I plan on using it on practically everything this year.

How adorable is this guy? BDE sure knows how to relax on the job, doesn't it? I'm a lucky aunt!

P.S. Have you seen the new Target commercials about school supplies? I'm obsessed with all of them. I'm considering having these play on a constant loop at Meet the Teacher night. (Just kidding...)

InstaFriday - USA Style

4th of July weekend/week was jam packed with fun this year. My festivities continued from the weekend by spending some quality time with my family. I watched my 3-year old nephew tackle swimming lessons and watch my sweet one week old niece snooze like a princess. I've said it many times, but I'm one lucky aunt!

Cuties

On Wednesday, I scooted over to the city of St. Louis for a little patriotic fun. First, my bf and I visited the Old Capital building to witness a local symphony and a live reading of the Declaration of Independence. Afterwards, we scoped out the capital and took in some Missouri history.

After our self-guided tour of the capital, we headed out into the heat for a photo in front of the arch. Fancy, eh?

Our next stop was on top of the Hilton Hotel. We had a bird's eye view of an air show over the muddy Mississippi and around the arch. After cooling off in the AC we headed over to Busch Stadium to watch the Cardinals beat the Rockies. We had club level seats, so we beat the 102 degree heat by staying indoors again. It was perfect! 

After the Cardinal W, we had a prime location to watch the fantastic firework show by the St. Louis Arch. It was the perfect ending to a great Independence Day! 

Last night, I couldn't help but continue with my red, white, and blue cooking obsession with a yummy mini fruit pizza as dessert. I'll be blogging about it soon.

Happy Friday, folks!

A Whole Pot of Coffee Does the Crafter Good

You're probably wondering - why is this crazy lady posting twice in one night? Well, I have a slight confession to make. Remember that wonderful neighbor of mine that taught me how to sew? Now, I'm using her computer. Be grateful you don't live near me because I'm appearing to be very needy.

Let's back up. On Tuesday, I informed my faithful followers that I became an aunt again. In the excitement of being home and swooning in my new aunty-hood (again), I left my computer there. It was a sad realization when I unzipped my overnight bag yesterday morning. After searching for useless apps to update through my iPad - I walked next door. Don't worry, I ate a piece of their cheesecake too.

Currently, I rent the house I live in. It's a lovely little spot... full of white walls. I wanted to add a little color and excitement to my bedroom so I tackled that idea today. Before tackling the idea, I had to get out of bed first.

I crawled out of bed to the disturbing news that Ann Curry is leaving the Today Show.  Yikes- don't get me started. It took me long enough to get over the fact that Meredith was leaving. Anywho, I made myself a pot of coffee and after drinking the entire thing (oops), I had started roughly four different craft projects. Clearly coffee is this crafters gasoline.

Do you enjoy Instagram as much as I do? Thanks to my new favorite blog, A Beautiful Mess, I was introduced to Postal Pix. Postal Pix is a delightful little app that prints out YOUR instagram photos and sends them right to you via snail mail. I took the advice of Elsie, and I order 9 4x4 prints to fit snuggly on my 12x12 canvas.

I arranged my favorite photos and modge podged them like crazy.  While the canvas was drying, I moved onto another blank canvas and began covering it with tape.  My plan was to create a striped pattern on two blank canvases to hang them over my dresser.

After what felt like an eternity (that's the coffee talking) I peeled away the tape. I was surprised to find a pretty cute design! I was quite pleased with my color and pattern.

See Ya Later White Walls

I added a couple of prints that have been sitting out around my house to the wall and snapped a few photos.  I still feel like the wall needs something, but my jitters got the best of me and I couldn't quite figure it out. My brain quickly switched off and went on to the next crafting adventure for the day.  I'll give you a hint - it involved chalkboard paint and it failed. I was bound to hit a road block eventually!