Climbing Mt Everest

The activity we did on climbing Mt Everest was a very creative way to help students learn social studies.  While in the classroom I had to do an Attitudinal Survey before teaching a lesson for Ms. Dosser.   I was integrating social studies into my lesson so one of the questions was "Do you like social studies?"  The data showed that not many students liked social studies.  This was due in part to the fact that social studies is rarely taught in this classroom.  Using story path, box city, and other interesting activities is a very good way to raise the interest level in your students.

Social Studies in the classroom

One thing I have noticed while working in the classroom with my mentoring teacher is, there is not much importance pertaining to social studies.  All the lessons I have observed have focused mainly on Math,  Language Arts, Science, and Reading.  The only time they have any instruction with social studies is when the counselor comes in, which is usually once or twice a month, and talks to them about behavior concepts.  The schools main concern seems to be focused on the TCAPS testing in the spring.  I understand that the schools are pressured into steering the students to do well on testing but I feel the students are missing out on key concepts they would learn if more emphasis was put on teaching social studies.

Observation

I had a wonderful experience yesterday while working with my mentoring teacher.  The students were collecting their backpacks to go home.  The teacher had purchased a large Magna Doodle board for her classroom.  During this time she was working with one of the special needs students assigned to her classroom.  He has Down's syndrome and is considered non verbal.  She wrote simple questions for him on the magna doodle board and it was amazing to see him answer them with yes and no answers.  She has been working with him on a daily basis, trying to get him to say words.  So far he says "yes", "no", and "mommy."  It is remarkable how just a simple game can promote learning. 

Google Earth

I became familiar with Google Earth when my husband was deployed overseas.  He told me about it so I downloaded it on my computer.  It was amazing.  I searched for his camp site and found it no problem.  It helped me become familiar with the area in which he worked.  But until we viewed it in class it never crossed my mind to use it as a learning tool in the classroom.  Now all sorts of ideas are popping into my head on how it could be incorporated into teaching geography.

Geocaching

I really enjoyed the day we went geocaching! Even though the weather was bad it was still exciting to find a cache.  This would be a great thing for the family tro do when on vacation.  They could find where the closest ones are to their vacation spot and really have a good time as a family.   This is also great for a classroom activity (depending on the age group) and teaching geography. Even if you can't actually geocache with your students, the concept would still work with something like a scavenger hunt around the school yard.

Geography

My memories of goegraphy consist of lecture, memorization, and tests.  Very boring!  The box city we are constructing in class is a very good manipulative to use to make geography fun.  Students will want to learn when teachers take a few minutes out of their time to construct lessons that are fun and interesting. 

Advocate

I had an experience in my classroom where I am doing my Field Experience.  A situation arose where a special needs student was in need of an advocate-someone to speak up on his behalf.  He is assigned an aide because of his disability.  But in this situation the aide did something that had a very negative affect on the special needs student and the whole class.  My mentoring teacher became that advocate. Even though she has only been a teacher for under three years she took control of the situation.  She was not afraid to use her voice and speak up on behalf of the students.  Kudos to her!