As you know we started off the week attending the Johnson County Fair. Even though it was very hot, the kids had a great time. The kids were split into three groups and each group went with an adult. Thank you Liz and Laura for volunteering your time. Each group had a scavenger hunt to find different animals at the fair and to ask questions of fair participants. You should find the scavenger hunt in their folders.
The America's Farmers/Monsanto trailer was air conditioned. As much as I didn't want to go in, I was hot and so were the kids. My group was doing a great job of listening as the America's Farmers tour guide did a good job of painting a picture of them as heros. BJ was in my group and he read Omnivore's Dilemma last year. Half way through the movie, he turned to me and said, "Wait. Are these the bad guys?" So, BJ and I helped the rest of the kids see the other side of the story in class on Tuesday. It was a difficult concept to grasp without reading the book, but at least one student, Ella, was interested in reading Omnivore's Dilemma after we were done with our discussion! I am more than happy to loan out the children's version of Omnivore's Dilemma to anyone who wants to read it.
Also, this week we continued learning how to read maps. I set up a mini-treasure hunt in our classroom before heading to the fair. Once there they used the fair maps during the scavenger hunt. On Tuesday, the "bigs" set up a treasure hunt for the "tots" outside using a google map of our school grounds. Map reading is very fun for kids and I believe it is a very important skill. I am worried about this generation not undestanding maps due to our reliance on GPS systems.
We had a couple of friends of mine that visited this week which was very fun for the kids. Annie Stoessel is a gym teacher in Des Moines and she came on Tuesday with a garbage can full of PE toys. The kids went crazy with the scooters, rubber chickens and bean bags. She organized a few games for the kids to play which gave me ideas for the school year. On Wednesday, Ashley Berggren spent the day with us. She is a high school teacher in Chicago, but more importantly to the kids, she plays professional women's football for the Chicago Force. After lunch she talked about her experience playing football and showed us clips from a few of her games. It was fun for the kids to guess what her teammates did for their professions- teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and even a biologic anthropoligist! She will be playing in the league championship August 4th at Heinz Field vs. San Diego. Here is the website to find out more about the Chicago Force. http://www.chicagoforcefootball.com/
Judd taught an art lesson on Thursday that combined the last two weeks of drawing (Statue of Liberty) and watercolor (watermelons). To tie it into the fair, we drew and painted roosters. I think everyone had fun creating the roosters beautiful tails. Again, Judd was impressed with the students work and so was I.
The America's Farmers/Monsanto trailer was air conditioned. As much as I didn't want to go in, I was hot and so were the kids. My group was doing a great job of listening as the America's Farmers tour guide did a good job of painting a picture of them as heros. BJ was in my group and he read Omnivore's Dilemma last year. Half way through the movie, he turned to me and said, "Wait. Are these the bad guys?" So, BJ and I helped the rest of the kids see the other side of the story in class on Tuesday. It was a difficult concept to grasp without reading the book, but at least one student, Ella, was interested in reading Omnivore's Dilemma after we were done with our discussion! I am more than happy to loan out the children's version of Omnivore's Dilemma to anyone who wants to read it.
Also, this week we continued learning how to read maps. I set up a mini-treasure hunt in our classroom before heading to the fair. Once there they used the fair maps during the scavenger hunt. On Tuesday, the "bigs" set up a treasure hunt for the "tots" outside using a google map of our school grounds. Map reading is very fun for kids and I believe it is a very important skill. I am worried about this generation not undestanding maps due to our reliance on GPS systems.
We had a couple of friends of mine that visited this week which was very fun for the kids. Annie Stoessel is a gym teacher in Des Moines and she came on Tuesday with a garbage can full of PE toys. The kids went crazy with the scooters, rubber chickens and bean bags. She organized a few games for the kids to play which gave me ideas for the school year. On Wednesday, Ashley Berggren spent the day with us. She is a high school teacher in Chicago, but more importantly to the kids, she plays professional women's football for the Chicago Force. After lunch she talked about her experience playing football and showed us clips from a few of her games. It was fun for the kids to guess what her teammates did for their professions- teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and even a biologic anthropoligist! She will be playing in the league championship August 4th at Heinz Field vs. San Diego. Here is the website to find out more about the Chicago Force. http://www.chicagoforcefootball.com/
Judd taught an art lesson on Thursday that combined the last two weeks of drawing (Statue of Liberty) and watercolor (watermelons). To tie it into the fair, we drew and painted roosters. I think everyone had fun creating the roosters beautiful tails. Again, Judd was impressed with the students work and so was I.
RSS Feed