Yesterday I tried to start an art study on Chinese Calligraphy. As the turkey-butts would say, it was an epic fail. Middle school turkey butts are so very very literal, that they just weren’t getting the… the… zen of the whole thing (maybe because “zen” is Japanese in origin?). I knew that if I set…
A very smart, very talented lady gave me this idea this Summer (Thank You to Mrs. R!) as a way to develop vocabulary skills. She is a word-lover from way back, and was able to cultivate this same passion in her kiddos by using something as simple as vocabulary cards. “Vocabulary cards?!?” you say? Yes,…
When asked to list 5-10 things they would put into a city they created, the pumpkin-heads came up with this: A. –The Eclectic List 1. Skyscrapers 2. Trampoline for fun and to stay in shape. 3. Mexican food 4. A gym 5. Mall 6. Boxing arena 7. Houses 8. Garden 9. grocerie store 10. Buisnesses…
The Scene: Journal-writing time. The schmoopies are all writing. In fact, they all started writing early–before the bell rang (!!!). Schmoopie T. has a question. Typically, there is no question-asking or question-answering during writing time, but since they started early I oblige… T: Um, does the Tower of Pisa lean? Me: Well, yes. T: Okay……
I posted yesterday about my students and their journal writing. I asked permission to share some of the entries. I’ll show a series for each author to show the change over the last four weeks of writing. I’ll also transcribe exactly–including errors, run-ons, etc.: T. 8/18 Yesterday when i got home I watched my brother…
I re-learned something I think I knew once. Journal-writing is good. Systematic sustained writing on a daily basis improves writing. It just does. I’m not going to look up the proof for this, * I’m just going to state it as a fact–in order to improve your writing you must write. Over the last five…
There is a man that goes to my neighborhood coffee shop. He is quite elderly. He is either bilingual or has a difficult time speaking. I think it might be both–a mix of a stroke and stilted English. He is there nearly every weekday morning that I am. Lately, he has been at the counter…
Earlier this week I told you about something I was going to try in my classroom–Storybirds. Well my caped friends, the birds they are a-flyin’. As the lovies finish their stories I’ll add them to the Student Story Bird page on this blog. In the meantime, here are two that made me smile or laugh…
Earlier this summer I was struck by a piece of brilliance. No jokes please…. I was watching the new Green Lantern movie and learning, for the first time, about the story of the Green Lanterns. Have you heard it? I will ‘splain. No. There is too much. I will sum up… There are tons of Green Lanterns in…
I discovered this link today while on a teacher networking site called Edmodo (more on that later). I’m still playing around with it, but will absolutely be using it this week. I’m going to use it in art class though, and sneak the writing in. Bwahahahaha. From what I can tell so far, the site…
Wear The Cape 