Tie-Dye Fun

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In class today we got to tie-dye shirts. It was so much fun!

I had never tie-dyed anything, so it was a learning process for me, from learning how to fold to get the pattern that I wanted to learning how to apply the dye. Funny enough, my classmates had not either! We made a huge mess (p.s. tie-dyeing is much safer done outdoors!). I dribbled blue dye on my table and my computer and one of my classmates had a small explosion with her bottle of red dye.

Image credit: Author's own

Pictured above is my shirt. I love how it turned out (now my son wants me to do one for him)! These would be great to use for a class of younger students to use on field trips. The students would easily stand out and if each class used a different color, then it would be easy for chaperones to identify which students belong in which class.

Until Next Time,
Ms. K

Fun With Geography

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Last week (I think) in Social Studies we played a couple geography games. We were given a blank map of the United States and 1 minute to name as many states as we could. While we all knew the states, the time limit made it really challenging to get them written down.

The other game we played was a ton of fun! We chose a state and then had to choose four cities or landmarks in that state to try to illustrate clues for.

Image credit: Author's own

Image credit: Author's own

Image credit: Author's own

These three images are the states that my classmates and I chose to create clues for. We then went around the room and tried to guess what the clues meant. We had a lot of laughs trying to decipher each other's drawings. 

Image credit: Author's own

Image credit: Author's own

Image credit: Author's own

I was surprised how well we actually did on our guesses. This would be so much fun to do in a classroom, particularly with older students!

Until Next Time, 

Ms. K

Making History Relatable

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In Social Studies last week we discussed how to make history relatable to kids. How do you get kids to care about something that happened long before they were born?

We talked quite a bit about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Most of the students who will come into our future classrooms will have no idea of the devastation caused by both events. My professor brought in several really interesting books on both topics.

Image credit: Author's own

"Children of the Great Depression" was one book that I found really fascinating. I recall being taught about the Great Depression as an elementary student, but I cannot recall the effects on the children ever being mentioned. Students are able to form empathetic links to other children easier than they are to random adults.

After our discussion. I decided to create a week-long unit on the Great Depression and the Stock Market Crash for my own field students. I will begin my unit next week and I really hope the kids have as much fun with it as I have!

Until Next Time,
Ms. K

Soap Carving

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A couple of weeks ago I posted about reading the book "Becoming Naomi Leon." In the story, the main character loves to make soap carvings. Carving is a talent that runs in this character's family.

For art, we tried our own hands at soap carvings.

Image credit: Author's own

My classmates and I  learned about Noche de Rabanos (The Night of the Radishes) which takes place in Oaxaca, Mexico through Naomi. This is a festival that we had not heard of before. For this festival, the residents of Oaxaca carve beautiful figures out of very large radishes.  

Image credit: Flickr

While the students in a typical class would not be able to carve the radishes (particularly with the amount of detail seen at Noche de Rabanos), the bars of soap could be a good alternative. Plastic knives make the carving a little more challenging, but it can still be done. What a fun little project!

Until Next Time,

Ms. K

Paperclip Project

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Last week in my social studies class we watched a video about the Paperclip Project. It was amazing. I had not heard about this project, which began in 1998 in Whitwell, TN. Students began to learn about the Holocaust and needed to visualize what 6 million of something would look like, as there were 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The student chose paperclips after learning that paperclips were worn by Norwegians in silent protest to the Nazis.

Image Credit: IMDb

This video was very inspiring. I highly recommend watching it. This project ended up in the creation of a Holocaust Memorial in Whitwell. 

This project shows what teachers can do when they are able to inspire their students. I was very moved by watching this video, also I find WWII and the Holocaust fascinating and horrific but I really enjoy learning about both.

Until Next Time,

Ms. K

Pinterest Saves My Sanity

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We finished our "crafting" art projects in my arts class about a month ago, and I have found myself really missing it. I loved coming to art class to work on my projects because it was a great form of stress relief and by the end of the day, I was in great need of it.

Due to the completion of our art projects in art class, I have taken to the great and wonderful Pinterest to find inspiring projects that a novice, such as myself, could create.

I have found many, many projects that even I can do! One of my favorites is a painting that I found.

Image Credit: Wholesome Mommy

Mine is still a work in progress, as I did not have all of the paint that I needed but as soon as I make it  over to Hobby Lobby I will complete mine. I made two of them as Christmas presents. Pinterest is inspiring my Christmas on a budget campaign for this year.

Image Credit: Author's own

My snowman in this painting is in need of a diet, but I still think he is pretty adorable. 

It is important to remember how useful are truly can be in the classroom. In a world where teachers have to push reading, writing, and mathematics on our students all day everyday, everything else tends to get pushed aside. Art is a great way to allow students to express themselves and get some stress relief in. I didn't realize how important it really was until this semester when we got to create projects for 4 weeks. Once it was over, I truly began to miss it. 

Until Next Time,

Ms. K

Artifacts

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A couple of weeks ago, we did an activity in our social studies class where we brought in 5 items that represented us. We each displayed our items and then had to choose one display to write about. We wrote about why the items were important to that particular person. Then we mixed all of the items up and discussed what those items said about our class as a whole.

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

One thing that we noticed right away, after mixing our items, was the absence of any electronic items. While we may all be on our computers and phones constantly, those items do not define us. We are defined by our accomplishments and items that are nostalgic. 

If this activity were to take place with younger students I would expect to find electronics though. My generation grew up playing outdoors and not having access to electronics unlike children of today.

Until Next Time,

Ms. K

Trade Fair

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A few weeks ago we held our own version of a trade fair. We discussed how pioneers would often trade goods to receive items that would be more useful. For instance, pioneers would trade glass beads, knives, and other items that they had easy access to for animal furs and hides. Fur trades were very profitable for the Europeans but the eventually began to lead to wars.

Our trade fair did not lead to any wars, and I am pretty sure everyone was happy with the results. I made coffee sugar scrubs. I had 2 jars of my scrub and they both went quickly. Below are pictures from the two posts from which I received items.

Image Credit: Author's own

Image Credit: Author's own

From Cayla's Post, I traded her 1 jar of my scrub for her painting (which I plan on displaying in my very own classroom in the very near future). My trade with Irish Hess was a little more complicated. I know that Emily does not like the smell of coffee and she had a bag that I wanted. One of my classmates really wanted the last jar of my scrub so I traded my scrub to her for cookies and then traded the cookies to get the bag that I had my eye on.

In the classroom, this could be a lot of fun for students as long as all rules and expectations are made very clear. I would recommend keeping parents in the loop so that no trades result in angry parent phone calls.

Until Next Time,
Ms. K

Becoming Naomi Leon

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I am really late on this one and I apologize, but about a month ago we read a really awesome book for my arts class called "Becoming Naomi Leon" by Pam Munoz Ryan. This book offers a great lesson in accepting yourself and finding your own voice in the world.

Image Credit: Scholastic

The main character in the book, Naomi, has a unique talent that she finds connects her to her estranged father and his heritage. She is a very talented carver and likes to carve soap. So as an art project, we carved bars of soap to tie into the book. This was a unique way to help bring the story to life. This approach would be very useful in the classroom, to allow students to develop a connection to the story.

Until Next Time,

Ms. K

Acting Lessons...

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A few weeks ago, we learned about the importance of bringing history to life to help engage our students. We were shown a famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River and we reenacted it (to the best of our very-limited) ability.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Image Credit: John Haggard

Our class had a great time with this activity. Although we were not exactly like the painting, it still brought the point home. This is an approach that I think that student would really enjoy.

Until Next Time,
Ms. K