Last Lesson of Block 3-Paperclip Measuring

My last lesson in block 3 was in math. Math is not my favorite subject let alone to teach it. However I was very pleased with out it turned out. The lesson was on measuring to the nearest inch and half inch. I had the students do an activity with me where we measured paperclips in inches and centimeters. The students were very interested and actually took me by surprise.The students usually have a tough time in math but today they were focused and involved in the lesson.They were so focused I was a little nervous if they were understanding it, but once I saw their workbook pages, that they worked on with a partner, I was able to see that they indeed understand the material. I did some one-on-one time with a few students that needed extra help. With that extra help they seemed to all at least get the basic understanding of how to measure. I really feel that hands on activities are the key to get students involved and focused on the material.

Lesson On {Wants and Needs}

I got to do a fun lesson on wants and needs this last week. It was one of the most effective lessons I did with my class. They loved the class activity.

First I reviewed what are wants and needs, how are they different, are there things that depend on situations, how to make choices, what is better to buy first, savings. After the review, I showed pictures of items that they might buy and they were supposed to tell me if it was a want or need and then I would stick, with magnets, the item in the right column. This created a lot of discussions. It got the students engaged, asking questions, doing deeper thinking. I was very pleased with how the students did. After the activity the student went back to their desk to do similar activity by themselves.

I was so pleased with how the students did. I will be for sure doing this lesson again :)

Salt Dough Maps

Salt dough maps can be a great way to study your state or country with a hands on activity. These maps can expand on geographic awareness.

Things you can look at after making the maps.
Trade
- how the land of a place can effect how countries or states import and export.
-Compare countries and how they interact with each other.
Topographical information
-location
-landforms
-water
Culture
-human interaction
-environment interaction
How to read a map
How countries change over time
-land
-government
-war
-politics

Students can put together powerpoints alone with their maps to assess and apply their learning. This also gives the other insight onto many other places as well as the one they researched.

Remaking Famous Art Works

Its good for students to see how much work and the techniques famous artist used. They can still have the liberties to create their own work. Students use the techniques that the artist used that you are studying however give the students the freedom to express themselves through their own art. This will bring understanding of the art but still give the students a creative outlet for themselves.

My version of "A Starry Night"

Developing Empathy Through an IMovie

Sometime for young people it is hard to have empathy for the people that lived through an event and what their experience were. They don't understand the people behind the stories, hardships people endured, or the emotions felt. Through pictures, clips, music, sounds bites students can start to understand what it is that people went through. Textbooks are a great tool to get a general start to the story, names, dates, places, however for people to understand what it was really like and how much others have gone through their needs to be a connection. Building this connection can come from comparing similar stories from the past to the present or having the students do an activity that makes them think more. Having actual pictures, music from the time, and even interviews of people that where there can also help students to begin to feel what it was like at that time in history. History isn't just names and dates its feeling and emotions. Creating your own educational IMovie can help bring history to life for these students. The movies we created in class brought out a lot of emotions for us even if we had seen those images a million times before. It puts you there in those peoples mind set and how would it feel if that was me on a ship at Pearl Harbor, or watching the first plane take off, or if i had been in NYC during 9/11 instead of my classroom in Rural Delphi, In. Even though I was alive and experienced 9/11 the movie that my classmates made brought it all back and it brought out more understanding of what really happened now that i'm older watching these things happen. Some times it takes time to young people to have empathy but as teachers we need to be able to help that process along and finding tools that can do this.

Trade Fair

< : Trade Fair : >

Today I got to learn more about Trade.

I thought at first a trade fair wouldnt be that much fun but it was a fun experience. You learn how people would have used things in the past to trade instread of using money. This would be great for students to learn and experience how it would have been and why some laws are in place now becuase of trading before.

My winnings from the day - The Red White and Blue Scarf for 2 candy bars.

Artifacts of Your Life

Artifacts. What would artifacts from your life say about you if someone where to see them. In class we got to see how it would feel. I had brought some money from Mexico, a paint brush, a ring with my birthstone in it, a cheer bow, and a jewelry box my sister gave me. However finding things that would describe me the best was actually a lot harder then I would have thought. I had to take a moment and think " Who am I?" . Its a hard question and its also hard to find objects that can describe that. The class got to go around and look at others artifacts and it really helped me see what is important to those people and learn a little more about them. However those things don't define the whole person and there is much more still to know about. Thinking about how researchers look back at accent artifacts its hard not to think of the things that aren't being seen, the stories no one will ever hear, and the lives that had come before. We only get to see an glimpse and the rest is and will mostly likely always be a mystery.
What would you want found to explain your life?