February 20

This week has started off with a couple new topics in which the students have started and are enjoying. In language, we've moved from creative writing to poetry. My cooperating teacher and I didn't know how well the students in this class would grasp the idea of poetry but surprisingly they are loving it and couldn't get enough time to read and look for poems. Many of the students were in the mindset that poetry needs to rhyme but once they realized that a lot of it is just words and doesn't have to rhyme they had a better attitude towards it. I began the lesson today by looking at personification and had the kids come up with some sentences of their own. I was very impressed with many of them, especially when one of the more quiet boys made one up that read "My hair danced as the wind blew through it." I thought that was quite impressive. We then went to the computer suite and I introduced them to the story The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. They had never heard of the book and I used that to show various examples of personification. I then had them work in partners and they were to write their own stories using personification. Once the story was written they were able to either draw illustrations or use computer generated pictures that were really exaggerated and showed the personification. Following that, we began looking at actual poetry and I was introduced to the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. It was great and the children loved it! I think they were able to see that poetry can be fun and silly, making it more appealing to them. What we're going to be doing with this unit is having the kids make their own anthology of poetry. They will have to have a minimum of 10 poems, 4 they have to write on their own and the other 6 can be poems that they found that they really like. Each week we will be introducing different types and styles of poetry. For the rest of this week, we will be looking at the haiku along with the tanka, which is actually just a response to a haiku. Along with poetry, we started our Peru unit. Yesterday we brainstormed what we already knew about Peru and how we wanted to go about the unit. The students decided that they wanted to do individual projects, some making fact files, some making posters, and others compiling information and putting it in their jotters. Each child then came up with a list of various things about Peru that they wanted to find out. Throughout this unit, they will have opportunities to find out what they want to know about Peru and they will be assessed according to what information they chose to research and present. After that, we looked at the flag of Peru and the students were able to create their own flags and use them in their projects. Today, we talked about where Peru was in South America, what countries border it, what rivers run through it, and where the rainforest and mountains are located. We also looked at the capital city and other major cities. I then gave each child a blank map of Peru and they were to locate these things using atlases and other books that were provided. We are continuing doing perimeter and area in maths, and they are really coming along with that. Because they will be doing National Assessments soon, sometime next week I want to create a review game for them to play to get more practice on concepts before these tests. Along with this, we are still patiently awaiting replies from our pen pals back in Wisconsin. Neville is going to be coming this Thursday and Friday to observe me. I'm kind of nervous about it but I know it will go well. Thursday will also be hectic because half the girls are in a netball tournament in Galashiels and won't be back until the afternoon when they will be going to Street Jam. It's going to be a crazy, but fun end of the week!

This past weekend was spent in Edinburgh and Loch Ness. It is such a beautiful part of the country, however I didn't get a glimpse at Nessie. :) This coming weekend we will be travelling to Glasgow again. Because the weather was so rainy last time we went we didn't get to see a lot so hopefully it cooperates this weekend. I was thinking last night that I will be here for only 3 more weeks. Where has the time gone? I can't believe how fast it's gone. It's been a great time and I've learned and been challenged so much. I know the last 3 weeks will go as well as the first 6 weeks have!