Come one, come all: 2nd Annual #Kinderchat Chrismahannukwanzukah Festivities!

Hello friends!

You know what's coming up next on #kinderchat, don't you? That's right, its...

THE 2nd ANNUAL 

#KINDERCHAT 

ALL-INCLUSIVE, CULTURALLY SENSITIVE, POLITICALLY CORRECT,  

WINTER FESTIVE HOLIDAY PARTY!!!

And you are all invited! (Seriously. You are ALL invited. Even if you don't teach kindergarten, or you have never come to #kinderchat, or you have always wanted to come but were shy, or you have only lurked, or you have no clue what #kinderchat is but you just want to come to a party. YOU ARE ALL INVITED.)

The party will take place at our usual #Kinderchat day and times (next Monday, December 16th, 9pm EST for North America/8:30pm London time for Europe), on the Twitterz as always. 

And, boy, do we have some fun activities planned for you!

(Note that all activities are completely optional, and at no point will you be required to participate in any merry-making that exceeds your comfort zone. THIS IS A SAFE SPACE. Introverts, you're welcome.)

Pick and choose any or all of the following:

Holiday Sweater Parade: For the time of the chat (or the whole festive season, if you are into that sort of thing), change your twitter avatar to an image of the worst-best holiday sweater you can find.

White Elephant Gift Exchange: THIS IS THE ONE WE ARE MOST EXCITED ABOUT. Here are the rules:

1. Go out on the interwebz and find the best, most cheezy, tacky, over-the-top-ridiculous teacher-themed gift you can. Think apples and chalk and crayons and gingham and aprons and candles and coffee mugs, all rolled into one. The more useless, the better. Alternatively, take a picture of an ACTUAL teacher gift you have seen or received. The best part of a virtual gift exchange: THERE IS NO PRICE LIMIT.
2. That said, BE NICE about what you pick. Try to find links that go to the actual store or manufacturer, or somewhere fairly anonymous, and not to the personal blog or pinterest board of someone who legitimately thinks teachers love crayon wreaths. Example: Macy's will not have hurt feelings if you tweet a link to sparkly apple earrings, but the mommyblogger who lives down your block might get her feelings hurt if we mock her chalkboard coaster set. KINDERCHAT IS THE NICEST CHAT ON THE INTERWEBZ, and we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.
3. Once you have found something, come back here to this very page and fill out the form below, giving your twitter handle and a link to your gift.
4. On the night of the chat, we will reveal your gift, and the lucky recipient. You will also receive a gift from another kinderchatter. That's right, no one will know who is GETTING the gift they choose until the gift is "given" during the chat on Monday. FUN, RIGHT?!?

PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE GIFT EXCHANGE YOU PLAN TO ATTEND: 

Holiday Gift Exchange Signup: EUROPE/AFRICA 

Holiday Gift Exchange Signup: NORTH AMERICA/ASIA

Ok, ready? GO!

Connected Educators Month: Pub Crawl and Scavenger Hunt

Oh man has it been a blur! Last thing I remember I was watching the sunset in Maine on vacation, next thing I know I'm choosing my outfit for Halloween! What happened?! :D

One thing that has been going strong this October is Connected Educators Month. I'm really excited about this project this year, not only because I've had the opportunity to work on parts of this massive undertaking (hello, scale!) but also because it's forced me to begin the process of sharing with my own colleagues at school. (nope, hadn't seemed to ever gotten to that yet-since 2010).

This month we've just been buzzing with activity- already two FABULOUS webinars under the belt and three more knock-your-socks-off guests to come! Mardelle @learningmurd is a Blackboard genius and I have to say our webinars are the best I've seen on the interwebz, if I don't say so myself! You can see the FAB line-up right here! Ellen Galinsky! Ooey Gooey Lady! RAFFI! and Matt Gomez! Did you know Matt's famous now?! He is! :D

Our Monday chats are on the Connected Educators calendar and you can receive ACTUAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT BADGES given to YOU by the ACTUAL United States Department of Education. Please let us know if you need a badge for an event you already attended!

That said, next up is an awesome PUB CRAWL at the 8:30PM London time chat and a sure-to-be-crazy SCAVENGER HUNT at the 9PM New York time #Kinderchat! How on earth are we going to do all that?? Take a sneak peak right here:

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

... yup, that is right. The time has come for us to hang out the "help wanted" sign, because:

#KINDERCHAT IS HIRING! 

For the 2013-14 school year, we are recruiting chat moderators. The compensation is beyond price (this is a fancy way of saying that we have no money with which to pay you), and includes:

•  Involvement with something fresh and exciting
•  Input into our ideas and projects, 
• Practice with tech tools that may be new to you
• Stronger connections to the entire #kinderchat network. 
• Opportunities to grow your own PLN
• The FUN of being "behind the scenes" at #kinderchat 
• Depending on how progressive your administrators and/or school district are, your involvement could possibly count as PD hours. 

Ready to learn more?

(We have tweaked the topics and categories a little for next year, so even if you have moderated in the past, it is worth a look at the job description!)

The #kinderchat chat moderator job description is right here.
Ready to dive right in and apply?

The #kinderchat moderator job application is right here.

Looking forward to adding some friends to the backstage party!

Amy & Heidi

#Kinderblog13, Assignment 5: Fear

I bet you all thought I would forget about this week's prompt, right? Since I am up here in the woods, far away from civilization, where I have opened my laptop exactly twice in one week?

No such luck.

The last 2 weeks topics, while perhaps not EASY, have been, maybe, pretty comfortable for most of you, I think. This week, it's time to shake it up a little.

Your one-word prompt:

Fear.

Okay, there you go. Chew on that one for a while. I can't wait to read what you have to say!

Lots of love from the back of beyond;
Amy

#Kinderblog13, Assignment 4: Dream

Whoa, we are already up to week 4? Where did the time go?

I bet you all thought that I would not get this post up on time because I am roadtripping, but NO SUCH LUCK!

Your one word prompt for this week:

Dream.

As always, please share your link in the comments, and tweet it out using #kinderblog13.

(Also: wow, you guys are so awesome. I am so impressed with the caliber of the posts you all are writing, ON YOUR SUMMER VACATION.#Awesomesauce.)

Hope your travels are as happy as mine have been so far!

Amy

#Kinderblog13, Assignment 3: Change

Ok, folks, it's week 3 of the #kinderblog13 challenge. Your one-word prompt for this week:

Change.

As always, once you write your post, please link to it in the comments here, and tweet it out using the #kinderblog13 hashtag.

Just joining us now? The full instructions on how to do the challenge can be found here. Welcome aboard!

#Kinderblog13, Assignment 2: Brag

Wow, the response to the first #kinderblog2013 topic -- Confess -- was nothing short of amazing. If you haven't had a chance to read everyone's posts, please check out the comments for all the links. How great is to know that we are not alone with our quirks and flaws?

This weeks challenge is something teachers are notoriously BAD at doing:

Brag.

Go ahead, do it.

As always, when your post is done, please tweet it out using the #kinderblo2013 tag, and post a link in the comments right here.


(If you are new to the challenge, and missed the instructions from early this week, you can check them out here. Join us! You are welcome to jump in any time!)

Smiles & Sunshine;
Amy

#Kinderblog13, Assignment #1: Confessions

Ok, friends: #Kinderblog2013 officially begins TODAY. (If you missed the instructions from early this week, you can check them out here.) Huge thanks and kudos to those of you who jumpstarted things by writing the warm-up assignment. If you are just joining us now, you can go back and do the warm up first, or just dive right in with this first assignment.

As a challenge to myself this year, I'm going to try and give each assignment as a single word, which you can then interpret in a way that works for you. That said, the first assignment is:

Confess.

Come on, tell us all your secrets (but not anything that might get you fired, okay?)

Don't forget, when your post is done, please come back and link to it in the comments, and tweet it out using #kinderblog13.

#Kinderblog13: Pre-race packet and warm up exercise!

(Ok, this not really anything like a race, but it worked well with the warm-up metaphor, so stay with me, ok?)

HI! 
Amy here, friends, blogging from my little corner of The Canada. I am a little late getting the summer blog challenge going this year, and I blame this on having the World's Weirdest End-Of-Year. Seriously. Because of catastrophic flooding in my beautiful city, we did not have a last day of school. That's right. We just sent the kids home, business-as-usual, at the end of one day, and then... schools were closed and there were no more days. I'm still getting over it.

BUT! It is starting to feel like summer (847 degree temperatures help with that) and so THE TIME HAS COME...

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, take your seats, because:

THE 2013 #KINDERCHAT SUMMER BLOGGING CHALLENGE BEGINS NOW!

This is an annual tradition around these here parts, but if you are new to our happy little #kinderchat family, here is how it works:

• Who can join? The challenge is open to anyone. Most participants are teachers, but all are welcome. The questions/assignments usually relate to teaching and/or kids, but if you are a quantum physicist and can write a relevant post, you are welcome here.
• What happens? Every Saturday for 6 weeks, beginning this Saturday (July 6th), I will post a new blogging assignment right here. I'll probably tweet it, too, so make sure you are following me (@happycampergirl) as well as the kinderchat account (@kinderchat123).
• What do I need to do? Once the topic is posted:
1. Write your response and post it on your own blog
2. Leave the link to your response in the comments of the assignment.
3. Tweet out the link, using the #kinderblog13 hashtag.
4. Visit at least one other blogger's response, AND LEAVE THEM A COMMENT. (This is important, bloggers love comments. It's like having your glitter-covered clip moved to purple so you get to pick a coupon to exchange a sticker redeemable for treasure from the prize box. #snark.)

What I love very best about this challenge is how simple it is. You can do all 6 questions, or just the ones that float your boat. You can join in mid-way, or start from the beginning. You can miss a week and no one will reprimand you. It is SUMMER VACATION, so nothing should be stressful.

If you have never blogged before, this is a great reason to start. If your blog has been neglected due to the insanity of school, this is an opportunity to refresh it. If you are an avid blogger who is not sure what to write about when you do not have munchkins in your classroom, this will provide you with some inspiration. If you are not a blogger, but an avid blog reader, keep a twitter search running for #kinderblog12, because you are bound to make some awesome discoveries.

AND NOW, because I know some of you can't wait to get started, here is a (completely optional, but short and fun) warm up assignment (this is the ONLY assignment with a word count limit, I promise!):

In 250 words or less, tell us YOUR story. What do you do, why do you do it, how do you do it, for how long have you been doing it, where do you do it? What do you BELIEVE about what you do? How do you FEEL about what you do? You only have 250 words, so use them well.

Remember: it doesn't have to be prose. It can be a poem, a song, a series of pictures, even a video clip of you talking, but: ONLY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY WORDS.

Ok, that's it. If you write a warm up post, don't forget to link to it in the comments. If you have questions about how this whole thing works, you can post them as comments, too.

Aaannnnndddd..... we're off and running! The first official question gets posted on Saturday; don't forget to come back and check it out.

Smiles and sunshine;

Amy