FQR

I think the various comprehension and study strategies we learned in class are really beneficial. I think as an adult learner some of these seem a little tedious. We automatically make the connections and make responses in our minds, however, I think writing it down on paper, specifically on the paper you're reading makes it a lot more valuable. First, you have to stop and formulate what you're thinking and also, for future reference, you can just look back at the notes and get a quick synopsis of what the piece is about.
For elementary students I think the FQR strategy is a good way to get them to slow down and actually comprehend what they 're reading. Usually they might be in a rush and just try to get to the end, or they're just decoding words and not really following the thought process. This strategy ensures students "get" what they're reading.

soooo many things....

JOKE!! :)
Well, as the title implies, there are soo many things to update!! But, I'd like to start with a joke. I read this in one of the level readers in my 3rd grade placement, and I loved it! I loved it so much that I had to share it with my mentor teacher, and she loved it too! I pretty much told everyone I saw that day. But first, a disclaimer: I love corny jokes. So if this joke falls flat on it's face, know that I thought it was hilarious.... :D so.... drum rolllll please:
What did the chef say when the waffles all fell to the floor??

"Oh! How waffle!" hehehehehe!! I love it!

Anyways, if you've stopped laughing and have returned to your seat after doubling over and falling off your chair with laughter (don't worry, I didn't laugh that hard) we can continue.

Exit Ready...?
I took my exit exam on Friday! yayy! I'm ready to exit... that is, if I get this semester's work done AND student teaching! soo excited, but really kinda apprehensive at the same time. And just a note of reminder, in case people haven't seen the fliers yet, the student teaching meeting on December 16th is at 10am.

The Terrible, Horrible, Barely good Sunday... kind of.
FOOTBALL... I don't even know what to say. WHERE WERE THE GIANTS?!?! HOW did the cowboys beat them?!? I mean really?!? My only team that won yesterday was the Colts! and the Steelers-Patriots game was just painful, although I bet it's not as painful as what the Redskins are feeling right now, I mean they're just getting WALLOPED! But other than that my Sunday was wonderful! haha! But really, I made chili and ate it with frito's and all the fixings (cheese, sour cream, green onion, tomato, olives.... MMM! Delish!)

Social Studies Connection
Lastly, (what a good cue word, right? I bet our language teachers would be so proud ;) the booktalk! I'm so disappointed I'm going to be missing everyone's on Wednesday! You guys will have to tell me what books y'all read so I can get in on the info! But yeah, I think Language Arts is SUCH a good way to incorporate social studies! And we're in luck too! there's probably a quality book on practically any social studies topic, especially historical events. And there's so many activities you can pull into it. You could have the students write journal entries about what they think that time period would be like, or what they would do, or you could even do a storypath and the students would have background knowledge from the book they are reading!
And I really, really liked the book I read, Journey to Topaz, although I have to tell you, it was a tear jerker. Just imagining that happening to families is so horrible. I kept imagining what it would feel like, and I just don't understand why... However, it did teach the history well, and told it from a unique perspective. Overall, it really was a good book. I'd definitely recommend it. The author has excellent style, and even though it is an easy read, you never feel like you're reading a kid's book. Excellent for student and adult readers alike! :)

So... Everest? Anyone?

Once upon a long time ago I went to one of those dome IMAX theaters and watched Everest. It was so neat to see it on a giant dome screen, but because of that I had a little background knowledge of how dangerous, while at the same time exhilarating climbing Mt. Everest can be.
I personally have no wish to climb Mt. Everest, I definitely understand why people would want to, but I think at the very most, I'd have to climb other large icy mountains first to see if Everest is something I want to do, which there is a tiny tiny, slim to none chance of ;) But generally, I think ice climbing is really neat. My brother used to do it a lot, in fact he had the crampons, ice picks, helmet, all kinds of things. It was really neat to see his pictures of how challenging ice climbing can really be. I think one day I'd like to do ice climbing, just to say that I've done it, after that, if I go again depends on how the first attempt went ;)
Lastly, I kind of love storypath! I think it can be so much fun with your classroom! It's a way to actually get in to the learning rather than just reading about it and doing reports. Students actually transport themselves and take on a different viewpoint.

The Alphabet Game.... and a staring contest :)

Soooo! Last night I had to go look something up on the world map, and as I was looking at it, I thought of Lilly and how she knew where Turkmenistan was... (I was so impressed!) So I looked it up and tried to find it. It took me a while, but I got it! And then beside Turkmenistan I saw Kyrgyzstan and all these other countries that I never think of, and I was like wow, this is good ammo for the Alphabet game! -When I was younger, and even now sometimes ;) my dad and I played this game on long drives where someone starts with a country or a place and the next person either has to name a place with the letter that the first place ended with or one that starts with the next letter of the alphabet (ex: if the first person says Alabama, depending on the rules, the next person can either say Arizona or Barbados.) So anyways, after playing this game for a while, you start to run out of ideas, especially if you're strictly limited to countries. sooo bringing this back to Lilly ;) I bet when she gets a little older she would be soooo good at this game! haha! She could name every country in the world! I would not want to go up against her! :)
the staring contest
And now, to the funny story of the day. I was at Happy Valley today in my 3rd grade placement, and the students were doing centers and the teacher was putting emphasis on the students staying on task, and being quiet, so one of the students (a girl) came up to me and said they were done with their center and asked what should they do next. So I told her that they should look at each other and do this... and I stared at her. So we got into a staring contest. And can I just say, she was really good!! But I beat her in the end :D .... Now before you guys start thinking I was wasting time and being a bad example, in my defense, the students at my center were playing a game and regulating themselves, and this student was done with her center and honestly, there was nothing else for her to do until the teacher called time and they had to move to the next center :)

Ciao!
Imani

Top Secret Mission and a New Look

OOOO mannn!! Who is excited about the top secret activity we learned about in Social Studies on Wednesday?!? I think it's soo exciting! I came home and immediately looked up the *treasure* (muggles may read this so certain words have been changed ;) that is located near my house. There are soo many, and I sooo want to do this sometimes really soon. Apparently this *treasure hunting* is a huuuuuge thing to some people. When I think of going *hunting* I think of maybe trying to find 10 pieces per hunt, but I was reading comments on some of the treasure that other hunters had left and they said they were on a specific type of hunting trip and went to more than 100 different locations PER DAY!!! They said in 6 days they had gotten over 700 treasures!!! That is sooooo I don't even know what to say! I think it'd be really cool to go on a hike that has a lot of them along the trail and that way you're hiking, but also treasure hunting.
In the Classroom
I think this is a really neat idea to use in the classroom. The kids would love it. It seems so exciting to go on a treasure hunt, I mean I'm in college and I was just like  Let's Go! I think it'd be especially neat to do one of the ones that is a clue one, that each box leads you to the next one. It kind of reminds me of the amazing race. OO! I wonder if there is treasure that tells you to complete specific activities. It's like a world-wide amazing race! haha!

The New Look
so.... what do you guys think? do you like the new layout? I logged in and saw the background, and I was like it's time for a change! :) So I was looking at the other backgrounds and this one was under celebrations, and I was like YES! Let's celebrate!! I have soo much to do in the next week, that a little celebration and cheer on my blog is just the thing ;)

Cache you around! ;) (haha! *catch* you around... it's ok if you didn't laugh, I love corny jokes :D)
Imani

I need to find...

Does ANYONE know where I can find circle pretzels? I need ones that fit hershey kisses inside them! My cousin makes these little treats and they are sooo good and I soo wanna make them, but there are like no circle pretzels in the area!! I've looked and looked... has anybody seen them anywhere?
And I promise ;) as soon as I find them and (finally!) get to make them, I'll bring them to class to share :D

Confesssions of a Shopaholic Moment... about Maps

So I had a Confessions of a Shopaholic moment... no I am not a shopaholic, and no, that wasn't me being in denial :) The story goes like this... Once upon a time (I'm channeling Dr. Gann's class here) I wanted to find a different kind of map, so I typed into Google, Map of the World, but I didn't come up with anything worth noting, so I typed in "Interesting map of the world" :) Channel Confessions of a Shopaholic when she typed in "angle on (some finance topic)" and her boss catches her. haha! (sorry if that story did not make you laugh or smile at all... I'm infamous for my stories... apparently I tell them really badly. It's like crickets chirping at the end... someone once told me to fix my stories I should say "then I found five dollars" because that makes the story instantly more interesting... )
Anyways!! The map that I found that I thought was cool kind of ties in with the internet and how it's at the tip of our fingertips and we use it pretty much allllll the time. http://www.yugatech.com/blog/the-internet/world-internet-map/ This map shows the internet connections around the world, kind of like density of internet. As you can guess, some countries don't even have a dot. I'd be interested to see how many connections constitute one dot.
Another cool map I found also has to do with the internet, but more with social networking sites... http://lh3.ggpht.com/raj.m.rao/R8OELsb1BmI/AAAAAAAACDk/FiDiQkaTBeY/s800/untitled%5B4%5D This map didn't come with a key to tell you how they determined what color each country would be, but I think it's interesting to see the different sites that are dominant in each country... some of them I've never even heard of!

Connect ;) with you later!
Imani