Avengers

What I'm watching: I have never watched any of the Marvel or DC Comic superhero movies, so this year in 2015 I'm trying to catch up.  Captain America was the first movie I watched, and I loved it.  Last weekend I finished The Hulk and Thor.  I've been telling my students (all boys) about watching the movies.

from: here

Last week I used this article to model questioning and connecting to a piece of nonfiction text.  The boys loved the article and had so much to talk about while we were discussing.  It's about changing famous superheroes

I also created an example one-page-paper to show the boys using that article.

Today I went to school and one of the boys brought in a Marvel book that contained all the different heroes and villains.  I scrapped what I had planned to start the day with and used the book instead.  We compared Patriot to Captain America.  We looked at their costume, charts, stats, strengths, and weaknesses.  Next time I would have the boys make their own individually first, and then come together as a class.

Then I was going to have them write their own stories using a superhero.  Andrew had the awesome idea of randomly opening the page and writing about that person!  I gave them ten minutes.  Isaac wrote a whole story, Joseph wrote from his person's perspective, and Andrew summarized the stats.  I loved that they were writing so diligently for the time given.  I loved that they came up with the idea about how to pick their character.  HERE is the POWER of incorporating what they love into lessons.  

One of the families purchased comic books for the boys to read, but they haven't been using them very much.  I want to figure out how to incorporate them into our classwork.  In Writing Thief, Culham talks about using mentor texts.  She emphasizes they don't have to be the typical novels.  She uses hotel signs, brochures, etc.

I have also thought about having the boys create their own comic book as a project.  Need to think more about that.

How do you tie in connections to your student's interests?

Links I love

What I've been reading:  

This post by @HollyClarkEdu about how Orlando schools are taking away recess in order to spend more time on test prep.  I am planning on using this article from Bay News 9 or this article from FOX News to have the boys write something persuasive or argumentative about having recess.

This Huffington Post article about what MTV is doing for MLK day.  Showed this to the boys this morning, and we had a good conversation about the symbolism behind making TV black and white for a day.

This article about how to develop writers.  I really want and need to work on writing with the boys.  I am also reading Writing Thief by Ruth Culham with some ideas about how to teach writing.

I also just downloading Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller.  I read Book Whisperer this summer, and I LOVED her ideas and philosophy.  The boys are reading much more this year once I figured out what kind of books they enjoy.  Thank goodness these books have Kindle versions.  Much easier to access them.  :)

This awesome article contains the secret to a no-fail prewriting strategy that I cannot wait to try.  In a few weeks we are going to take a stab at writing a "theme paper" looking at what The Samurai's Tale teaches about life.

Here's another article I am going to use with the boys as a springboard for a persuasive or argumentative assignment.  Why should teachers use Minecraft in schools?

What have you been reading lately?

History Mystery Labs

What we've been doing:  Fall of 2014 I was Twitter stalking a Social Studies teacher who had an amazing picture teaching about the death of Julius Caesar.  She had caution tape sectioning off part of the classroom where she outlined the body with tape on the floor.  The best part is that the whole simulation is about looking at evidence and citing evidence.  Students must use evidence to prove, in this case, who killed Caesar.  I contacted her and she referred me to another teacher Mr. Roughton who loves planning, creating, and implementing these labs.

We are studying medieval times this week, and there was a History Mystery Lab about the cause of the Black Death.  I put more caution tape up on the classroom door and a sign that said "BEWARE."  I had CSI crime scene music playing as well.  I also recorded my voice and changed it to sound like someone else.  I told the boys I had a voice mail from the FBI asking for their help.  Here are my reflections about how I could have done this in an even more interactive way.

I wanted to find a costume and look like the doctors did back then.  I would need a big black cape, some goggles, and a big beak for my nose.  This would have tied the activity more into the past.  Or I could have had a guest come and dress in that costume and emerge when we were discussing that piece of evidence.  I could also have dressed up as a real FBI agent with a jacket, name badge, and heels.  That would have sold the premise a little better.

I also should have gotten a big manila envelope and marked it with TOP SECRET stamp.  I could have pulled the evidence we looked at out of the envelope.  Or the boys could have pulled it out of the envelope themselves.

Here's the link to my post about the original lab I did with the boys.  Much more decorated and authentic than this one.

This blog post is all about how to create simulations.

Here's the list of all of Mr. Roughton's History Mystery Labs.

This is a list of other activities he calls Choose Your Own Adventure.

Now I need to try and create my own simulation activity.  Time to dream big and teach like a pirate.

End of 2014

How we finished 2014: In week 16 two of the boys finished book #15 this week!  I am so proud of the reading they have accomplished.  The only struggle is getting books.  I only brought what would fit into my carry on suitcase.  Hopefully I can place an Amazon order and have more shipped here.

The boys finished two other videos before the end of the year.  One of them is about the prophet Elijah.  The other video is the story of the birth of Jesus as told through legos.

Miracle of a Prophet

LEGO Nativity

One Thursday I planned all of our Social Studies and Spanish lessons in the afternoon involving the internet.  I keep forgetting that Thursday's there is not internet or electricity at school.  I found the neatest online computer game about Vikings, and we were watching several videos about Christopher Columbus.  We ended up taking a field trip to my apartment to finish school for the day.  Thank goodness my internet wasn't down that day.

We started Beduin's Gazelle about a Muslim girl of the past.  I connected the lesson to Eman's TED Talk about being a Muslim photojournalist.  The only female Muslim photojournalist, which is pretty crazy.  We made connections to Islam that we studied in history.

In Spanish we finished the year by studying Christopher Columbus.  We looked at famous people that could be considered heroes or villains.  I created a slideshow with pictures of superman, the joker, Miley Cyrus, Bill Cosby, Trujillo, and more.  We talked about how most people have good and bad qualities.  We finished the semester with a field trip to Santo Domingo.  We went to Alcanzar de Colon, Museo de las Casas Reales, and Tres Ojos.  The boys and I had a great time learning and exploring.

One of the CCSS talks about showing character change over the course of a novel.  We read Murder for Her Majesty and the boys made characters in cans.  They looked at Master Kenton and how he changed throughout the story.  They filled the cans with 5 objects to represent 5 changes in the character.

The last week before break we did a service project.  We helped Joy write a letter asking people to donate food.  We filled over 40 boxes with a Christmas meal for the families in La Vega.  They got pasta, oatmeal, beans, rice, sugar, fruit, and more.  The boys and I folded all 40 boxes and stuffed them.  It was neat to leave for break knowing we impacted and helped others.

Time to start planning for 2 0 1 5.

Con mucho amor.

1st Week Back

What we did:  I wanted to have a New Year's party the first day back from school.  The idea came from @steph_frosch in a Twitter chat over winter break.  I create a cute sign, got donuts and sparkling cider.  The boys each wrote blog posts reflecting about 2014.  Here are the links if you want to read what they wrote:

Isaac's reflections
Joseph's reflections
Andrew's reflections

We also did a math game where they had to come up with the most ways to create a math equation that equaled 2015.  The person who got the most got to pick their Christmas present first.  My mom found these Minecraft figures that I gave them.

For Social Studies they "traveled" with their passports all over the world to read and learn about different New Year's Eve traditions.  They went to 12 different countries.  I made a little paragraph with a "stamp" that correlated with the tradition.  They glued in each stamp to their passport.  We talked about similarities and differences between the countries.  They picked which country they would like to actually travel to for New Years.

We did several art projects the first week back. I found this STEAM idea for pendulum art paintings.  The boys had so much fun putting it together and creating.

The boys also did artist research projects and created a piece in the same style of their person.  Isaac imitated Georgia O'Keef, Joseph researched Henri Matisse, and Andrew used the style of Jackson Pollack.

Good things are in store for 2015.  We are preparing for our first Mystery Skype, we are going on a whale watching field trip to Samana, we are collaborating with another homeschool class for a project about the Mirabal sisters, we are reading tons more books.  We are creating, exploring, writing, and discovering.

Christmas on the Island

What I did with my family: Mom, dad, and sis came to the DR from December 20-January 1st.  It was one of my favorite vacations with my family.  I loved showing them around and exploring new parts of the island.  Here is a collection of some pictures about our amazing trip.

Day 1: Santiago: We got our rental car, ate lunch at El Tablon, explored the Monument, and ate dinner overlooking the city at Camp David.

Day 4: Excursion to Playa Rincon: We went to a market in Samana, ate pan de coco, hiked to a beautiful viewpoint, at lunch at Playa Rincon, saw iguanas, sampled cacao, and ended our day in an infinity pool watching the sunset.

Day 5: Excursion to Los Haitises: We started the day with a rainy boat ride to an island where we got to play in the waves for an hour. We rode through mangroves, got to see lots of birds, and intricately twined branches on the many trees in the swamp-like area.  After lunch we stopped at two caves that had petroglyphs and cave drawings from the Taino natives, hundreds of years ago.

 Day 6: Christmas Eve: We relaxed by the pool and went shopping in the town.  For dinner we made reservations at a little restaurant that offered a Christmas dinner.  We walked in that night to find the table decorated.  My name was even on a rock.  We listened to Christmas music as we ate ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies, and a sweet pie for dessert.  We went home and spread our our plastic bag-wrapped presents under the little tree.  We opened stockings.  It was the perfect nontraditional Christmas.

Day 7: Christmas Day: We moved from las Terenas to Cabarete and stopped at Playa Bonita on our way.  Playa Bonita lived up to its name.  It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to.

Day 9: Puerto Plata: This little coastal town is only 25 minutes away from Cabarete.  We went up the cable car and got to see the most beautiful view of the country.  We also went to an old fort that had the neatest architecture.

Day 11: Monkey Jungle: I have done some pretty exciting things in my lifetime, but nothing as cool as Monkey Jungle.  The ziplining was fun, and I even went upside-down flying through the trees!  After the ziplining finished, we went into an enclosed area where we got to feed monkeys.  I had them all on my arms and head.  One of them tried to steal dad's glasses.  The other family I work for had us over to their beach house for a huge typical Dominican dinner.  I loved that my DR world and my OR world collided and interacted for a little bit, and I am so thankful I work for such wonderful families.

                                           

Day 13: New Years Eve: On the 31st we made it back to Santiago.  The restuarant we were going to go to for dinner was closed, so we ate at La Campanga and got ice cream at the grocery store for dessert.  We filled bags with presents for the New Hope girls (which I will hopefully write about in a blog post to come).  Mom and dad brought some home movies that we watched.  At midnight we ran to the porch to see all the fireworks going off around us.

It was one of my favorite vacations ever.  I loved having my mom and dad see a piece of my life here in the DR.  I loved showing them around and I am so thankful they got to meet the people I spend so much time with here in this country.  Come back and visit soon please.

Con mucho amor.