Old Meets New

When you stop and consider that www.missmaggie.org has been serving our teachers and children on the internet since 1999, approximately four years prior to the launch of Facebook and six years before the first Tweet, you can only imagine just how much has changed.   And like smart phones, everything keeps shrinking, including our Weekly Activity Packet which is now a dainty but hearty two pages.  And though we never want to bring back the Motorola, 2 pound “Brick”, this week we are reprising a vintage WAP spanning over 7 pages long.  Where old meets new, I wanted to take this opportunity to model how to use these longer activities, one of many in our archives, to use with today’s SMART Board technology.  You can reduce the font of the folktale and then record it enabling younger students to follow along and see Concept of Print in action. Your students can hear a fluency model while older children can whisper read with the recording. Both help build fluency which is more important than speed because it emphasizes the key components of proper phrasing and expression.   So as we look to the future, embrace the past and while you’re at it, check out Maggie’s Treasure Trove.  For a throwback price of $15, you can enjoy all the oldie but goodie activities available in our archive section.