The lesson I have learned about Halloween parties . . .

Happy Halloween to you too!

I experienced my first school celebrated Halloween from the teachers perspective this past Thursday. The kids loved it, they were crazy most of the day, we had a party, a parade, games, and tons of treats and decoration. I was the only one who opted to eat the veggie platter.

The big lesson I learned here- this stuff can take it out of you! I have never been so tired and ready to go home and crash on the couch.

The students loved it so it is worth while. I'm thinking I should call up my old teachers and thank them for all the effort and energy.

Halloween

Haha I saw that last week as well LO. I thought that video was so funny! It is a great way for the kids to understand the issue, but still make it fun and light hearted as well. Lord knows how heavy this election is! I am so ready for those commercials to be off the air...ugh.

Anyway. Happy Halloween! I went into my main placement today to hang out and help with the party. I am so happy that my school celebrates Halloween. It makes me sad when they do a Harvest Festival or something like that. If parents have a problem with the celebration, I just do not see why their kids cannot just go home early. If they have a right to not celebrate it, don't we have a right to celebrate it? Who wins? My teacher had an awesome activity today during the party. One center was decorating frames. She had purple painted wood frames from the craft store and all kinds of stickers, paper, foam shapes, and other Halloween decor to bedazzle the frame. Then she called each child to get their picture in their costumes, and when they were at recess she printed them all and we put them in their frames. They turned out so cute and it is something they can pull out every year and enjoy! Just something fun I saw! Enjoy the night<3

Awesome student created election video

With elections just around the corner it's interesting to see how students are reacting. I think you all will really enjoy this video. It was created by a group of students from Atlanta. Take a look at how they present the election in such a meaningful and joyful way. You can really see that they learned a lot and it made a connection to their lives. Plus its just fun to watch!

Hannah Montana is off to China!

Well I am sad to say that one of my favorite little kiddos, I'll call her Hannah Montana, is going to be leaving in December for 6 months to move to China. She is incredibly excited to go and join a Chinese school. I asked her how she was feeling about it and she said she is going to be just like Gooney Bird Green (a story we read in class). She thinks she is going to come back with all these adventures and new experiences. She also thinks she will come back fluent in Chinese. I think this is so admirable for her because I would be scared out of my mind! Her parents are leaning toward total immersion in the schools. I asked her if she was scared and she said no because she knows how to say hi and thank you in Chinese already. Another interesting part of this story is that she said while in school she is going to be like K ad R (2 ELL students in our class). I asked her why she said this and she said because she is going to sit in class and not know a lot of the language like they do. I was so amazed that she is aware of what those students go through. It never occurred to me that the other english speaking students were even aware that the other kids were different because of their language. It was just yet another moment that proved kids are so much smarter than we usually give them credit for!

Salutations!!

Hello all, welcome to Teachers In Training!

What interesting/innovative/effective teaching have you seen lately that is worth passing on?