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For the Kindergarten Clan

Web site name: Mrs. Williamson's Kindergarten Page
Web site URL: http://www.fcsweb.net/teachers/mwilliamson/
Web site creator: Melissa Williamson, Friendship Christian School, Lebanon, Tennessee

Kindergarten teacher Melissa Williamson created Mrs. Williamson's Kindergarten Page to keep her students' parents informed about classroom activities and provide a source of teaching ideas for fellow educators.

"I was anxious to learn something new, and I was motivated by seeing the great sites created by other teachers," Williamson tells Education World. "I also wanted a place to archive my ideas and units for my own purposes."

Williamson currently has 22 themed units -- on topics from dental health to space to holidays -- posted on her site! Each unit includes a list of books, songs, and poems as well as many teaching ideas. Some units even provide recipes and photos of actual unit projects. Her Teaching Ideas pages contain suggestions for journal writing activities, poetry notebooks, and center time organization.

"When I started my Web site, I had trouble finding good sites just for my grade level," says Williamson. "I established The Kinder "Garden" Site Ring, a Web ring of sites strictly for kindergarten teachers to help those educators find one another."

In 2001, Williamson started the Literacy Centers Forum so kindergarten teachers could share insights about literacy centers. In the future, she hopes to add more instructional units to the site and to offer work sheets for teachers to download.

"My site has been great for our school admission representative; she can direct parents of prospective kindergarten students there to learn more about our program," Williamson shares. "Building a Web site is a lot of work, but it can be very rewarding. I've learned a lot about computers in general! I'd encourage anyone who is interested to give it a try."

Article by Cara Bafile
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