an eye opener

I really like this video...If you find yourself in a moment where in you feel like lost and don't know how to inspire your students to learn...this video is for you

Click 'n Read

This is a great phonics program that my dyad class uses.

New Horizons For Learning!

I found this website on line that I think would be a great tool for teachers. It is a large site that has many components such as articles, teaching and learning strategies, lifelong learning, student voices, special needs children, transforming education, as well as journals, links to handbooks (Cherry Banks handbook of research on multicultural education is here) and much more! It is a good resource from what I have explored so far and a helpful tool for new teachers!

Here's the link:          http://www.newhorizons.org/

Global economy and education

Yesterday, I was reading the newspaper and they have an article entitled,"Global trade puts kids astride 2 cultures". Talks about the pros and cons of having students migrate and adapt to a new academic envrionment. I was really intrigue how the article felt that American students are growing fast and students in foreign countries such as India do not. Is it because we keep on bombarding our young students advertisements of "stuff". I grew up in the Philippines, and whenever people ask me which place I would prefer, I still don't know. I mean I like the idea to raise my family with the Filipino values I have at the same time I want them to have the great opportunity I have here. One thing that I learn when I migrated her, and that is to be appreciative and thankful for what I have. It is really an eye opener when you see with your own eyes and expereince two different cultures. Seeing people who just accumulate "stuff" and see another group of people who do not enough really changes one's perspective in life.

Blogging in Classrooms

I love all of the reasons this video mentions for introducing blogging into the classroom! However, I wonder what the best grade(s) is for this?

The field trip that came to us!

Our second graders met the owner and operator of Bug Safari last Thursday. He brought live spiders, scorpions and beetles with him, as well as dead specimens of butterflies, mantises (or is it "manti"?) and more. The kids had a great time, it only took an hour, and each second grade class had a turn. It was great he was able to come to us, and we didn't have a long bus ride to Pike Place Market, where his zoo is located. The kids loved learning about these creatures from someone who truly respects and honors them. We have a pet turantula in the classroom, and the Bug Man was able to inform us that, despite our prediction that it was a she, the spider was a he.
Having this kind of visual is great, and it's something that the kids will remember! This is a tree turantula - when a preditor approaches, they can jump - eek! They are built to survive the fall, unlike squat, round turantulas, whose exoskeleton could shatter from a big fall.

so last week, the class went for a field trip to watch a play called Bluenose at the Seattle Children's theatre and i must say i also enjoyed it. The play talked how each of us is different from one another and that it is okay to different. I think this a good way of how we can discuss in class issues such as racism, discrimination and a good way to build communities within our classroom/