Blog #2

 Read-alouds

Our first book was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. This is one of my all-time favorite books. It is so sweet, the message is amazing, and the illustrations are fabulous. This is another book that touches on self-esteem. Chrysanthemum loved her name until the other students made fun of her, but when their favorite teacher tells them shes also named after a lower their opinions change. You can use this book in writing to have the kids spell out their names just like she did, you could also do it in music where they can make their own name song, and in math, they can count the student’s pictures to see how many are in the class.

The second book we heard was called I’m Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis. It was another book that touched on Self-Esteem. Promoting a strong sense of self-esteem is such an important thing to start at such a young age. This book could also be used in math to count their teeth and also to show measuring when it talks about a ten-inch ruler. You could also do a PE lesson where the kids pick teams, and it could also be geography because the main character goes around town.

Our final book of the week was called How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills. It was such a cute book that showed the importance of wanting to learn and become a better student. You could do a writing and art lesson combined by making them write a story about the words in the book and make the pictures to go with it. You could also use this in science to talk about the seasons and how they change because they change in the book.

Learning Experiences

This week we finished up our puppet show. It was such a fun experience and a great way to teach a lesson. I got to work with new people that I didn’t know all that well and it was really fun. My favorite part had to be seeing what the other group created. It was so cool to see all the different ideas everyone came up with even though we were all discussing the same subject. As a teacher, it would be such a fun project to get little kids to do this because they would stay active and involved in this project because it was so fun.

Current Event

Does Teacher Diversity Matter? The short answer is yes. Studies have shown that boys especially learn and perform better when their teacher shares that same gender or race. Most teachers are white women so this could have an effect on children of a different race. This article will hopefully make more people want to be teachers other than white women. In the article, it says that African  American students who had an African American teacher 3-5 grade were three times less likely to drop out of school.

Quote of the week

This quote couldn’t be truer in relation to teaching. To be an amazing teacher you much really love what you do. You have to want to stand out in a child’s life. A teacher should care for all her students like they are their own. If a teacher is truly passionate about what they do it will come through in their lessons and the way they hold themselves in the classroom. If you have a strong teacher heart then you will inspire so many students.

Reflection

During the week of the hurricane, my mom brother and I went to do help the district hand out food. We went to Irmo high to make breakfast and lunch for the students the district provides food for. It was such a fun experience because we got to make the food but we also got to go o9ut and see all the children we were helping. I would defiantly do it again if I was given the chance.