Saturday, October 8, 2011
Brain Based Curriculum - Help4Teachers.com
I found a very informative web site that has a wealth of knowledge about brain-based learning. The site offers teaching tips and ideas. It has sample curriculum lessons and how - to videos and articles. The site even includes a 15 min. tutorial on layered curriculum. The site is facilitated by Dr. Kathie Nunley and is linked to Brain.org. I hope you take a look at this site; I am very fascinated by the information that is available here.
Rejecting Instructional Level Theory by Tim Shanahan
In this article Dr. Shanahan shares his view on the Common Core Instructional Level Theory. The common core is moving toward teaching reading by using more difficult and complex texts. Dr. Shanahan feels that there is research that provides us with a evidence that contradicts this theory.
Becoming a successful reader is a combination of the learner interacting with the text and the teacher. The instructional level theory claims that text difficulty level is relative to the student reading level and this is the factor that makes everything "click". However, this totally ignores the teachers strategies, scaffolding, and support that is offered to the student on the basis of their individual needs.
Common Core denotes that students learn best when they receive the least teaching. This is contradictory to the studies that suggest that kids can learn from text written at very diverse levels, even when the text difficulty causes the teachers to give the students support of background knowledge among various other techniques.
Although, Shanahan claims that Lexile assessments have improved readability assessment. He still believes that students learning quality will depend on the amount and quality of instructional support from the teacher or parent.
Becoming a successful reader is a combination of the learner interacting with the text and the teacher. The instructional level theory claims that text difficulty level is relative to the student reading level and this is the factor that makes everything "click". However, this totally ignores the teachers strategies, scaffolding, and support that is offered to the student on the basis of their individual needs.
Common Core denotes that students learn best when they receive the least teaching. This is contradictory to the studies that suggest that kids can learn from text written at very diverse levels, even when the text difficulty causes the teachers to give the students support of background knowledge among various other techniques.
Although, Shanahan claims that Lexile assessments have improved readability assessment. He still believes that students learning quality will depend on the amount and quality of instructional support from the teacher or parent.
NBC News Today Interview with Dr. Sally Shaywitz
Dyslexia is one of the most widespread learning disabilities today. It affects one out of five children. Many children go undiagnosed or receive substandard support in overcoming reading difficulties. Dr. Shaywitz is a neuroscientist at Yale University School of Medicine and is one of the nation's leading researchers in the scientific study of dyslexia. Dr. Shaywitz is also the author of "Overcoming Dyslexia".
Dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. A person that has the intelligence, the motivation, and the proper schooling needed to be a successful reader, but cannot read, probably has dyslexia. People with dyslexia have trouble reading; it's not just letter reversals or reading things out of order. Dyslexics also tend to have problems sounding things out, they avoid reading things out loud because it takes forever.
Dr. Shaywitz recommends that parents intervene early in childhood. Children who have early intervention have higher rates of success. Brain scans of dyslexics before intervention and after intervention are considerably different. Waiting too long can cause the child to get further behind and risks the student becoming so frustrated that they stop trying and give up. Dr. Shaywitz also recommends scientific proven reading programs, good schools, effective teachers, and advocates educating parents in order to overcome the disability.
Dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. A person that has the intelligence, the motivation, and the proper schooling needed to be a successful reader, but cannot read, probably has dyslexia. People with dyslexia have trouble reading; it's not just letter reversals or reading things out of order. Dyslexics also tend to have problems sounding things out, they avoid reading things out loud because it takes forever.
Dr. Shaywitz recommends that parents intervene early in childhood. Children who have early intervention have higher rates of success. Brain scans of dyslexics before intervention and after intervention are considerably different. Waiting too long can cause the child to get further behind and risks the student becoming so frustrated that they stop trying and give up. Dr. Shaywitz also recommends scientific proven reading programs, good schools, effective teachers, and advocates educating parents in order to overcome the disability.
Reading in the Disciplines by Carol D. Lee and Anika Spratley
I chose this article because as a middle grades teacher, I see students who are struggling with the comprehension of the higher-level texts that they are required to read. On top of that, the quantity of material that is assigned makes it twice as difficult for the struggling reader to absorb the in-depth content of the text.
Students in middle school and high school are required to make inferences and predictions from the material that they are reading. Most students do not have adequate critical thinking skills to master comprehension of the text and transfer that knowledge to the activities, discussion, or evaluation in the classroom.
Cross curricular activities build on concepts gained in other disciplines and subjects. This enables students to develop critical thinking skills that assist in comprehension and problem solving. "The ability to comprehend written texts is not a static or fixed ability, but rather one involves a dynamic relationship between the demands of texts and the prior knowledge and goals of readers." A lack of content knowledge does affect comprehension and other approaches become necessary.
Good readers use the following strategies as they read:
1) Asking questions
2) Making predictions - middle school students have a lot of difficulty with this
3) Testing hypothesis
4) Summarizing
5) Monitoring understanding and deploying fix-it strategies as needed
Students in middle school and high school are required to make inferences and predictions from the material that they are reading. Most students do not have adequate critical thinking skills to master comprehension of the text and transfer that knowledge to the activities, discussion, or evaluation in the classroom.
Cross curricular activities build on concepts gained in other disciplines and subjects. This enables students to develop critical thinking skills that assist in comprehension and problem solving. "The ability to comprehend written texts is not a static or fixed ability, but rather one involves a dynamic relationship between the demands of texts and the prior knowledge and goals of readers." A lack of content knowledge does affect comprehension and other approaches become necessary.
Good readers use the following strategies as they read:
1) Asking questions
2) Making predictions - middle school students have a lot of difficulty with this
3) Testing hypothesis
4) Summarizing
5) Monitoring understanding and deploying fix-it strategies as needed
Reading in Science
Tables, diagrams, and maps make it difficult for emerging readers to comprehend scientific texts. Technical vocabulary of science often has Greek or Latin origin. It is necessary for cross curricular activities in order for students to comprehend the material. Support of students in a wide variety of scientific genres, text that emphasizes cause and effect, sequencing, and evaluating theories, and scientific reasoning are the skills for comprehending scientific text.
Reading in History
Primary sources in history include:
1) Political documents
2) legal documents
3) newspaper articles
4) letters
5) diaries.
Challenges:
1) Failure to make logical connections
2) Use of references that are indirect
3) Information that is irrelevant to main ideas
4) Density of ideas inside sentence structure.
Historical texts can be described as "inconsiderate texts" making it necessary for classroom routine to include deciphering text features, syntax, vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and background knowledge discussion and summarizing. Reading instruction must meet the needs of diverse student abilities and instruct students to reason.
1) Political documents
2) legal documents
3) newspaper articles
4) letters
5) diaries.
Challenges:
1) Failure to make logical connections
2) Use of references that are indirect
3) Information that is irrelevant to main ideas
4) Density of ideas inside sentence structure.
Historical texts can be described as "inconsiderate texts" making it necessary for classroom routine to include deciphering text features, syntax, vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and background knowledge discussion and summarizing. Reading instruction must meet the needs of diverse student abilities and instruct students to reason.
Reading in Literature
The Socioeconomic status of students has an impact on comprehension of literature. Symbolism in texts should be modeled so that students from diverse backgrounds are able to detect or reconstruct inferences that incorporate various points of view. Understanding and prior knowledge of literary works: 1) text structures - short story, novel, poetry, drama, realism, science fiction, allegory,
fable, myth, mystery, haiku, sonnet, ballad, and epic; human practices and behaviors that internal status trigger; 3) reconstruct a figurative message; and 4) ability to make inter-textual links. Works that capture human experience and dilemmas from the past can cause difficulty for the struggling reader due to syntax, pronouns, and vocabulary that are no longer common in language today. "Reading deeply complex literary texts offers unique opportunities for students to wrestle with some of the core ethical dilemmas that we face as human beings."
fable, myth, mystery, haiku, sonnet, ballad, and epic; human practices and behaviors that internal status trigger; 3) reconstruct a figurative message; and 4) ability to make inter-textual links. Works that capture human experience and dilemmas from the past can cause difficulty for the struggling reader due to syntax, pronouns, and vocabulary that are no longer common in language today. "Reading deeply complex literary texts offers unique opportunities for students to wrestle with some of the core ethical dilemmas that we face as human beings."
Reading in Math
Parents, teachers, and students do not expect reading problems to occur in math. However, most struggling math students lack the vocabulary that would enable success in the subject. It is important for students to be able to understand the language, logic (I"m sure this is where I fall short on the math spectrum - comprehension of logic and the vocabulary dealing with logic) of mathematics, and the mathematical text language.Advanced mathematics is not accessible without this comprehension. Math classrooms with inquiry-based instruction (cross-curricular instruction in science) with goals of assisting students to think mathematically and to value both the aesthetics and applicability of math, generate lifelong interest and support mathematical reasoning and encourage higher level thinking skills.
In conclusion, building for transfer across the curriculum is an effective tool to assist students in comprehension and critical thinking skills that are needed to be successful in reading and in life. Taking the approach from reading across the disciplines to the cross-curricular teaching of reading across the curriculum is a different way of looking at this material. However, I wonder if teachers looked outside of the box more often, if we could see that some of things that we have always done and are still not working, could be re-thought? I also wonder if the kinds of assessments that we offer have anything to do with the way students are reading textbooks....? When I was in school, we discussed the text in the classroom AND on evaluations. I do believe that multiple choice questions are not a true measure of comprehension. Cross curricular activities build on concepts gained in other disciplines and subjects. They enable students to develop critical thinking skills that build comprehension and trigger problem solving.
As a Fine Arts educator, I see the correlation between literacy and the arts. Arts curriculum offer learning opportunities in a wide-range of perspectives. Literacy can be taught through the arts and assist students to develop values and understandings in social and cultural contexts. Learning in each art-form caters to all students, regardless of physical, social, intellectual, developmental, or emotional needs. Focusing on arts content and pedagogy, literary is enhanced through creating, appreciating, and experiential learning. Literacy is about understanding the meaning of human codes. Meaning can be conveyed through words, signs, or symbols.
According to the National Art Education Association, "Literacy is more than being able to read and write. It is the ability to decode and encode in any form through which meaning is conveyed. What cannot be conveyed in words is often possible in the visual, auditory, or choreographic form."
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Picture Book Lessons
All of my articles that I read dealt with read alouds so, I chose read aloud picture books for each of my lessons. The books that I used were: When Marian Sang by: Pam Munoz Ryan; Moses - When Harriet Tubman Led her People to Freedom by: Carole Boston Weatherford; Martin's Big Words by: Doreen Rappaport; and Ella Fitzgerald -The Tale of a Vocal Virtuoso by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney. I used different strategies with each lesson and had a good deal of success with each lesson. I think the students really enjoyed looking at music from a different persepctive than performance. The following lesson was my favorite. We actually got to discuss a lot of social studies in this lesson. It's great for students to see what battles have been won so, that they can enjoy the liberties and freedom that they have.
Lesson #1
Read Aloud
Performance Standard: MMSIC.7 – Evaluating music and music performances
MMSIC.8 – Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
MMSIC.9 – Understanding music in relation to history and culture
Essential Question: What is the relationship between music, history, and visual arts?
Objectives: Identify and describe relationships between music, history, and visual arts.
Identify and comprehend new vocabulary used in the text.
Demonstrate literacy skills through reading and discussing musical settings of varied literature.
Supplies: When Marian Sang
By: Pam Munoz Ryan
Alpha Boxes worksheet
- Read the story aloud, showing the pictures after reading each page.
- During the read aloud, the teacher references many songs in the text by singing the lyrics. The students joined in singing “My Country ‘tis of Thee” during the reading of the text.
- Students discussed the new vocabulary notated in the alpha boxes and developed a definition of their own with a partner.
- The class discussed all of the new vocabulary words that they encountered in the reading of the text. Student-created definitions were shared and discussed and the book was summarized through student-led discussion.
- Vocabulary: opulent; trepidation; metropolitan; momentous; and contralto
Lesson Two
When Marian Sang
Performance Standard: MMSIC.7 – Evaluating music and music performances
MMSIC.8 – Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
MMSIC.9 – Understanding music in relation to history and culture
Essential Question: What are the stylist techniques in Marian's vocal performance?
Essential Question: What are the stylist techniques in Marian's vocal performance?
Objectives: Identify and describe relationships between music, dance arts, theatre arts, and visual arts.
Demonstrate literacy skills through reading and discussing musical settings of varied literature.
The students will study the correlation of reading phonemes and singing phonemes.
Discuss stylistic characteristics of a varied repertoire, including world music and analyze vocal performance.
Discuss the relationship between music, world events, history, and culture.
Supplies: When Marian Sang
Comprehension Worksheet
Recording of "Deep River"
Recording of "Deep River"
- The students will independently answer the questions on the worksheet.
- The class will discuss the answers to the questions.
Extension activity: Students will listen to a recording of Marian Anderson's "Deep River" to analyze the techniques used and observe the opulent range that is displayed in the song. The Students practiced the techniques using “My Country ‘tis of Thee” from the book. The vowels of singing were discussed and the syllables were broken down into phonemes. The students practiced these to develop correct singing diction. This method works very well for ESOL students as well as English speaking students. We use hand signals for the vowels and extended the vowels sounds into syllabic formation. This made it very easy for all my students to accomplish.
The next time I teach this lesson I will focus on the comprehension of the text and use a different worksheet for vocabulary. I feel that the KWL chart might be more helpful with the content that I want them to focus the most on. The alpha boxes were not as functional for the higher level vocabulary. Having some vocabulary in the beginning would have served as a great hook for the story (even though the students were enthralled in the story)!
Reflection: I loved seeing how the different methods of teaching vocabulary had an impact on how the students learned the material and responded to the material. Talking about prior knowledge and terms that students might encounter in the text, gives them a "heads-up" on what to look for when listening. Sometimes students have a hard time listening if they don't have something to listen for; listening should always have purpose (spoken like a true musician)!
Discussion of the content from this book led to many ideas about how history has a direct correlation with art and music. Students that did not have a American cultural background were able to grasp what it was like in the early nineteen hundreds and how things have changed over the course of a century. Students with different historical and cultural backgrounds were able to share about the similarities and differences between American history/culture and their own history/culture. This helped to encourage respect for other cultures. People who respect others and have the courage to stand up for their beliefs are the people who knock down barriers!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Revisiting Read-Aloud: Instructional Strategies that Encourage Students' Engagement with Text"
This article was very detailed and gave so much wonderful information that included activities that can be tried in the classroom. I found it very fascinating that the data collected from this research concluded that social activity and social collaboration are essential to cognitive development. I whole-heartily agree with this. I think that I should be teaching in a Montessori school somewhere, due to the fact that I think learning is "hand-on" not "hands-off-sit-behind-the-desk-and-be-quiet-and-never-say-a-word-to-another-kid". Many teachers buy into this philosophy and it is not a productive one. People are social creatures and we are designed to communicate.
This article relates the idea that reading is a transactional process. Meaning does not reside in the text alone or in the reader alone, but it occurs when the two transact. Readers draw from several knowledge sources in order to assimilate meaning. These include: comprehension strategies, prior knowledge, making connections, question answering, question generating, and presenting alternative perspectives.
Read Alouds increase literacy learning and significantly impact vocabulary development and comprehension growth. Read Alouds motivate students to read and builds knowledge that is essential in the development of successful writing skills. This strategy supports listening and speaking abilities, which enhances overall language development.
Strategy engagement fosters meaning. Alpha boxes, making connections, and discussion webs are great strategies that encourage comprehension development. These strategies paired with small group collaboration will promote motivation, interest, and retention of knowledge.
This article relates the idea that reading is a transactional process. Meaning does not reside in the text alone or in the reader alone, but it occurs when the two transact. Readers draw from several knowledge sources in order to assimilate meaning. These include: comprehension strategies, prior knowledge, making connections, question answering, question generating, and presenting alternative perspectives.
Read Alouds increase literacy learning and significantly impact vocabulary development and comprehension growth. Read Alouds motivate students to read and builds knowledge that is essential in the development of successful writing skills. This strategy supports listening and speaking abilities, which enhances overall language development.
Strategy engagement fosters meaning. Alpha boxes, making connections, and discussion webs are great strategies that encourage comprehension development. These strategies paired with small group collaboration will promote motivation, interest, and retention of knowledge.
"Vocabulary Development during Read-Alouds: Primary Practices"
For many children, books come to life when adults read aloud. In Doc's blog she stated how excited that she was that her high-school-aged students loved it when she read to them. From the article, I gleaned that reading aloud is a powerful motivator because students are engaged. This provides the context for extended vocabulary enrichment. That is probably why Doc's students were so motivated; because she engaged them!
In my assessment of the article, read-alouds could become the way to bridge the gap from everyday language to book language. Read-alouds introduce formal language to students in an informal context that extends beyond everyday conversation language to novel language. This activity is widely accepted for the development of vocabulary for obvious reasons.
Repetition and practice help students to move to a more critical level of word knowledge. However, only high quality read-alouds and adult mediation will assist students in obtaining the highest level of vocabulary comprehension. This is mastered by questioning, discussion, and conversation about the text.
In my assessment of the article, read-alouds could become the way to bridge the gap from everyday language to book language. Read-alouds introduce formal language to students in an informal context that extends beyond everyday conversation language to novel language. This activity is widely accepted for the development of vocabulary for obvious reasons.
Repetition and practice help students to move to a more critical level of word knowledge. However, only high quality read-alouds and adult mediation will assist students in obtaining the highest level of vocabulary comprehension. This is mastered by questioning, discussion, and conversation about the text.
Some Really Cool Sites
Here are some sites that I have enjoyed perusing:
http://more.starfall.com - I love the fact that this web site uses a variety of different methods for reading development and reading enjoyment. The use of the word machine is very clever and it even incorporates music into the learning activities......always a plus in my book!
www.readinga-z.com - This site features free downloads and is the greatest cheerleader for differentiated instruction strategies.
http://abcteach.com - This is a great site for reading comprehension strategies for middle and high school. These sites are hard to come by especially since they have free downloads.
www.funbrain.com - My son and I had so much fun playing the word games on this site.
www.readwritethink.org - I think this is my favorite site. Musicians analyze songs all of the time to better portray the character and mood of a piece. This web site helps teachers to write lesson plans that concentrate on the critical thinking skills that students will need to analyze texts.
www.smarttutor.com - This site is an individualized resource for parents and teachers with free games and downloads. I love the fact that it has links for special needs children and gifted children.
http://more.starfall.com - I love the fact that this web site uses a variety of different methods for reading development and reading enjoyment. The use of the word machine is very clever and it even incorporates music into the learning activities......always a plus in my book!
www.readinga-z.com - This site features free downloads and is the greatest cheerleader for differentiated instruction strategies.
http://abcteach.com - This is a great site for reading comprehension strategies for middle and high school. These sites are hard to come by especially since they have free downloads.
www.funbrain.com - My son and I had so much fun playing the word games on this site.
www.readwritethink.org - I think this is my favorite site. Musicians analyze songs all of the time to better portray the character and mood of a piece. This web site helps teachers to write lesson plans that concentrate on the critical thinking skills that students will need to analyze texts.
www.smarttutor.com - This site is an individualized resource for parents and teachers with free games and downloads. I love the fact that it has links for special needs children and gifted children.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Presentations
Wow! I don't know what else to say. I am so impressed by everyone's presentations. Our class has the most talented, well-versed, and hardest working teachers I have ever seen.What a privilege it is to be a part of this class!
I was very nervous to stand up in front of all of you knowing what vast amounts of knowledge you all have on the subject of reading. You made me feel very comfortable and in a few minutes I felt like I was in my classroom comfort-zone (not that y'all act like a bunch of kids).
I was happy to discover that one of my favorite ways to teach students how to sight-read music is one of the strategies that Stahl used in his research. I have used peer pals in sight-reading music for years. Several years ago, I paired students consistently through one semester to see which students had the most improvement. Some were grouped high to low abilities, some were grouped with equal abilities, some chose their group, and some groups used a combination of all the different groups. The groups that used a combination of groupings made the largest gains. I have used this strategy consistently since then and have gains every year. It was nice to relate successful music reading strategies to successful reading strategies.
I'm looking forward to use some of the vocabulary comprehension strategies with my music students. I think that using some of these will help the students to sing the texts with meaning and improve the emotional context of the musical performance. I can probably incorporate some of the games that were introduced.
Until next time,
T
I was very nervous to stand up in front of all of you knowing what vast amounts of knowledge you all have on the subject of reading. You made me feel very comfortable and in a few minutes I felt like I was in my classroom comfort-zone (not that y'all act like a bunch of kids).
I was happy to discover that one of my favorite ways to teach students how to sight-read music is one of the strategies that Stahl used in his research. I have used peer pals in sight-reading music for years. Several years ago, I paired students consistently through one semester to see which students had the most improvement. Some were grouped high to low abilities, some were grouped with equal abilities, some chose their group, and some groups used a combination of all the different groups. The groups that used a combination of groupings made the largest gains. I have used this strategy consistently since then and have gains every year. It was nice to relate successful music reading strategies to successful reading strategies.
I'm looking forward to use some of the vocabulary comprehension strategies with my music students. I think that using some of these will help the students to sing the texts with meaning and improve the emotional context of the musical performance. I can probably incorporate some of the games that were introduced.
Until next time,
T
"Assessing Adolescents' Motivation to Read"
I was very excited to read this article about motivating students to read. For my entire adult-life I have considered my children as unmotivated readers. My husband and I are avid readers; we love books of all kinds and read frequently. In fact, a book is like a movie to me. I read a book in one sitting rather than over the course of several days. I don't like to be interrupted. However, books of academic nature can be "chewed on" over the course of several days or even weeks.
I read to my children in the womb. I read to them everyday until they were able to read themselves. I still read to them from time to time, but not very often (especially with Thing #1). Thing #2 still loves it! It's probably because I do voices! However, my children do not like to read books. I have tried everything that I could think of to get them to read. I have been successful getting my son to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I think the reason he does is because they have drawings in them. He loves picture books!
This brings me to the article. I was thrilled when I read that reading magazines and information on the internet was actual reading. My daughter, of course spends lots of time on the computer chatting with friends, looking up things on the internet, and reading magazines. My son loves informational books with lots of pictures. I never thought that these things could be considered reading. I guess I thought that they should be using books as their entertainment rather than T.V., computers, or video games.
I love the Reading Profile that is defined in this article. Using the students input, not only gives insight on what the students are reading, but it helps us to figure out what reading materials they could be interested in and possibly what material could motivate them to read. According to Partin and Hendricks (2002) teachers should broaden their spectrum of materials that they use in their classrooms and their ideologies of "quality" reading material. This is a huge lesson for me personally; hopefully, I can find some way to incorporate some of my children's interests into wonderful reading materials. I'm already "Google-ing".
Later,
T
I read to my children in the womb. I read to them everyday until they were able to read themselves. I still read to them from time to time, but not very often (especially with Thing #1). Thing #2 still loves it! It's probably because I do voices! However, my children do not like to read books. I have tried everything that I could think of to get them to read. I have been successful getting my son to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I think the reason he does is because they have drawings in them. He loves picture books!
This brings me to the article. I was thrilled when I read that reading magazines and information on the internet was actual reading. My daughter, of course spends lots of time on the computer chatting with friends, looking up things on the internet, and reading magazines. My son loves informational books with lots of pictures. I never thought that these things could be considered reading. I guess I thought that they should be using books as their entertainment rather than T.V., computers, or video games.
I love the Reading Profile that is defined in this article. Using the students input, not only gives insight on what the students are reading, but it helps us to figure out what reading materials they could be interested in and possibly what material could motivate them to read. According to Partin and Hendricks (2002) teachers should broaden their spectrum of materials that they use in their classrooms and their ideologies of "quality" reading material. This is a huge lesson for me personally; hopefully, I can find some way to incorporate some of my children's interests into wonderful reading materials. I'm already "Google-ing".
Later,
T
Busy Summer
What a terrific, but busy summer! I have had a wonderful time starting a new class to obtain a reading endorsement. The classes have been very interesting and I would love to learn more about the brain research that was discussed in our first week of classes. That was totally fascinating. However, I will be honest; it has been very overwhelming. Since I have a music degree, I have felt most inadequate in the vocabulary and terminology of the course. On the other hand, I am a total "book freak" and have a passion for learning new things, so I think that what I learn will be totally valuable to my personal development and my professional development. I have already found many techniques that I can use in my chorus classes.
I've spent most of the summer at the pool with my son the fish! Each visit, I dove head-first into a pool-side lounge chair with a book in one hand and sunscreen in the other. Most visits to the pool were usually accompanied by a visit to get ice-cream (my favorite thing on earth besides my family and music) or a grape or cherry slush (my son's favorites). After swimming the entire summer and completing level five swimming lessons, my son announced that he would like to take Jr. Life Saving next year. Yeah! That means more reading time for me!
My son is addicted to television, so everyday I had to play "Meanie Mommie" and say turn it off and go outside! Read a book. Play a game. Being that it was the Sahara Desert this summer and temperatures were as hot as I remember in my Mississippi childhood, I think I played more board games this summer than I have in my entire life. I wouldn't trade a minute of that time with my son! We had a blast!
My daughter spent the majority of July on mission trips. She started with SPLASH Bartow (Show people love and share Him). This is a week-long event where children and adults flood the community with service projects. The last two weeks she has been in St. Vincent, which is a small island in the Caribbean. The people of this island are very poor and have very limited supplies. My daughter has a total new understanding of what luxuries that she has been offered. She also has many wonderful new stories about the provisions and grace of our wonderful God.
I worked a lot at school and home this summer getting ready for the coming school year. I really am excited about using the strategies that I learn in this class with my students at school. I already know I am going to use the (I'm not sure what it's called) vowel holding method with my chorus students to get them to sing their diction correctly. This method is where you draw the line under the vowel and you hold it out while you are tracing the line with your finger. I hope this will work in addition to our open-vowel sounds that we use with hand signals. It could help to apply this method using whole words. I will post how well it works.
School starts this week and I know how busy things will be. I hope to have a good bit to post next week-end!
Take care,
T
I've spent most of the summer at the pool with my son the fish! Each visit, I dove head-first into a pool-side lounge chair with a book in one hand and sunscreen in the other. Most visits to the pool were usually accompanied by a visit to get ice-cream (my favorite thing on earth besides my family and music) or a grape or cherry slush (my son's favorites). After swimming the entire summer and completing level five swimming lessons, my son announced that he would like to take Jr. Life Saving next year. Yeah! That means more reading time for me!
My son is addicted to television, so everyday I had to play "Meanie Mommie" and say turn it off and go outside! Read a book. Play a game. Being that it was the Sahara Desert this summer and temperatures were as hot as I remember in my Mississippi childhood, I think I played more board games this summer than I have in my entire life. I wouldn't trade a minute of that time with my son! We had a blast!
My daughter spent the majority of July on mission trips. She started with SPLASH Bartow (Show people love and share Him). This is a week-long event where children and adults flood the community with service projects. The last two weeks she has been in St. Vincent, which is a small island in the Caribbean. The people of this island are very poor and have very limited supplies. My daughter has a total new understanding of what luxuries that she has been offered. She also has many wonderful new stories about the provisions and grace of our wonderful God.
I worked a lot at school and home this summer getting ready for the coming school year. I really am excited about using the strategies that I learn in this class with my students at school. I already know I am going to use the (I'm not sure what it's called) vowel holding method with my chorus students to get them to sing their diction correctly. This method is where you draw the line under the vowel and you hold it out while you are tracing the line with your finger. I hope this will work in addition to our open-vowel sounds that we use with hand signals. It could help to apply this method using whole words. I will post how well it works.
School starts this week and I know how busy things will be. I hope to have a good bit to post next week-end!
Take care,
T
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)