A New World: Preparing for the Olympics in Rio!

This is our last summer country-learning extravaganza week! After this blog post, I will be delving deep into planning for the school year, getting my classroom decorated and organized, and attending my ever-so-exciting inservice workshops, so don't expect to hear again from me any time soon.

We decided to end our summer learning with a bang by focusing on the thing the whole world seems to be focused on right now: the Olympics! I invited my sons to choose to either study about Brazil, or the Olympics, or a combination of the two. Both of them decided to do a combination to get a good feeling for the country the Olympics will be taking place in, along with the many events taking place.

This is what Ethan wrote about the Olympics this week:

Olympics

By:Ethan

Men’s Basketball

U.S.A’s basketball team commonly known as the “Dream Team” is very good in the olympic games and is hopefully ready for some gold medals.They have LeBron,Steph Curry,Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green.

Rio De Janeiro

Has a beautiful city and one of their main attractions is the Copacabana beach.It is possibly the world’s most beautiful beach and is very crowded every year

Olympic Sports

There is 39 sports in the olympics this year and it will be intense the most popular sports are basketball,Wrestling,Weightlifting,synchronised swimming,Swimming,table tennis,tennis, beach volleyball,triathlon,gymnastics,hockey,soccer,and fencing.These are only some though.

His writing is improving, but he still has a ways to go. I asked Ethan why he chose to include the last names of all of the basketball players except for LeBron, and he told me that everyone knows LeBron, so he did not need to include his last name. :)

I kind of failed on the culinary part of our journey since I was a little crunched for time this week, so I didn't really prepare any Brazilian-type meals. I thought about going out to a Brazilian steakhouse, though, which is a delicious treat that everyone needs to do at least once a year. I have been to a few, and I am never disappointed since I am a pretty ravenous carnivore when it comes to scrumptious meats.

To wrap up our journey for the summer, here are a few of the slides that the boys created while doing their Google slide presentations over the summer:

This is one of Alex's slides from his England presentation. He enjoyed learning about all of the different dogs that came from England.

Here is one of Ethan's slides about Rome. He enjoyed learning about Julius Caesar, and he wanted to know more about Italy's pizza, of course!

I hope you all enjoyed taking this virtual journey around the world with us this summer! I am going to try to post some more blogs throughout the school year, related to everyday things you can do with your children/students/young people in your life. I have lots of little tips and tricks that make learning fun rather than just a boring chore that kids feel they have to do. I am super excited to get this school year started, and I hope you will stick by me throughout my journey this year. I have a new writing program I will be implementing this year and some new ideas about making math and science fun as well. I will probably only post about once a month since I tend to get fairly busy with school, but I look forward to you all coming back to check out my blog!

I also welcome any ideas, questions, or suggestions you may have for the blog. I have a few ideas already spinning around my head for next summer and for school breaks as well. Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the summer, and I will most likely post again in September!

USA! USA! USA!

Did you figure out which country the blog post is about this week? The U.S.A., of course! I am a little behind on my posting, but since it was my sons' birthday this week (yes, that is plural. My sons were born on the same day, exactly three years apart!), I decided to let them pick the country. They picked their favorite country of all, the United States of America!

It just so happens that we also planned a family outing to enjoy America's past time as well. We went to Globe Life Park in Arlington to watch our beloved Royals take on the Rangers. Sadly, the Royals were swept this series, but it was still a blast!

I also wanted the boys to learn a bit about the United States before the Europeans came over, so I had them study about Native American culture as well. I thought it was important for them to know some of the customs and cultural traditions of the natives of this land in addition to learning about some of their favorite states. Alex decided to focus specifically on the states of Kansas, Illinois, and Texas, since those are the states in which our family has lived.

For the food this week, I was pretty happy to do an all-American week, although my waistline probably wasn't too happy about it. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, and some hearty beef stew.

Just to give you an idea of the types of research projects the boys have been producing, here is Ethan's for this week:

U.S.A

Founding Fathers

George Washington,John Adams,Thomas Jefferson,James Madison,james Monroe,Alexander Hamilton,and Benjamin Franklin are our Founding Fathers.These guys made the government that is in our world today.They all have many key events in their lives and they improved our lives today.

Native Americans

There are too many Native American tribes to count but two big ones are the Seminole tribe and the Shoshone tribe but there are many more! Some speak different languages than us, and all of them have different cultures. Some believe in different gods but some believe in the one God. All Native American tribes are different and it’s hard for us Americans to see that.

America Today

The world is a bad place, even America, but some people try to fix that. America has all different types of people that immigrated from all over the world and there are people who believe that they don’t belong with us. Well they're wrong and anybody can come to America.This is what makes America beautiful and a proud place to be in.

The National Anthem

Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, Once o proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars thro the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets red glare,the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that the flag was still there.O, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land ofn the free and the home of the brave.Play Ball!

As you can see, he could use a little help in the writing department, but overall he did a great job researching the various countries this summer. In the next and final summer blog post, I will give you a little preview of the slide shows he has created.

Ni hao, China and Japan!

We are currently winding down our summer break here, so it is crunch time for our virtual country excursions! This week we crammed two different Asian countries into the mix, and had a blast learning about both! Ethan chose to do his report this week on China, and Alex chose to do his report over Japan.

Most of our cuisine this week was Chinese food, which also happens to be my second favorite kind of food out there. Our grocery store had plenty of options for us as well, which is nice, especially since I have picky eaters in my family who do not like vegetables or many things out of the ordinary. We enjoyed some orange chicken with white rice and pork egg rolls, broccoli beef with white rice, chicken stir fry with Asian seasonings, and teriyaki chicken stir fry with chicken egg rolls. Not much variety, I know, but I have a hard-to-please crowd of children.

For our mini-field trip this week, I was unable to find a town in Texas with a similar name to a city in either China or Japan, so we settled for going the religious route instead, which ended up being a very good choice. I did a little research and discovered that there is a Buddhist monastery only a few miles away from our house! I have noticed the top of the temple from the road before, but I have never been by to visit.

We did not go inside the temple because we were wearing tank tops and shorts (100-plus degree days here!), so I didn't think it would be appropriate. There was a nice lady who came by on a bicycle and asked us how we were doing that day and if we had any questions. My children were a little antsy to get home for lunch, so we kept our trip fairly short and just looked at the beautiful and majestic buildings on the grounds.

These little green signs were posted all over. Lots of good reminders about being kind to one another. I think this message is very fitting for circumstances happening in our world today.

The kids enjoyed seeing the beautiful buildings, but they are not as interested in architecture as I am, so they were bored pretty quickly. If I would have planned a little better, we would have dressed appropriately and taken a look inside. We did see two of the monks outside helping take care of the grounds, so that was a nice little glimpse into their lives.

Next week, the boys were able to choose what country they would like to research since it is their birthday week (they were born on the same day, three years apart). They decided to choose the United States of America. Granted, they already know quite a bit about the U.S., so I went a little different route to get them to learn a few things they maybe didn't already know about our country. Tune in next time to find out what we did...

Ciao Italia!

This week we learned all about Italy, which just happens to have my absolute favorite food in the world! I had the good fortune of being able to study abroad after my sophomore year of college, and I was able to travel all around Italy, including Venice, Florence, various cities in Tuscany, and Rome. Here is a picture of me at the Collosseum.

Some of the delicious food we enjoyed this week included gelato, pizzelles, lots of pasta, pizza, and Italian wedding soup. I also enjoyed enough wine for all of us!

There is actually a Rhome, Texas, but if any of you have ever been to Rhome, Texas, you know that there is really not much to do there. We also had math camp every morning this week, so there wasn't much time for extra Italy-related activities. The boys did take virtual field trips to both Rome and Venice, Italy, though. Alex decided to type a summary of what he learned this week about Rome, and Ethan did a PowerPoint presentation about the entire country of Italy.

In addition to the mini passports I purchased each of my children, I also was able to get some mini flags (as shown in the book picture) and some little buttons, which I put on our drawstring bags that we decorated for our summer adventures. I hope to reuse some of these items when we discuss different cultures in my third grade class this year.

We are starting to run out of summertime here lately, so next week we will be covering two countries at the same time, China and Japan. We will also have another little mini field trip in Texas, but you will have to tune in next week to find out where! Arrivederci!

Willkommen in Deutschland!

This week my children and I learned a lot about our German heritage. Ethan is really interested in World War II, so he decided to focus his project this week on that rather than just the country of Germany.

We enjoyed many delicious German foods this week, including streusel, bratwurst, strudel, sausage and potatoes, German beer, Riesling, and Muenster cheese.

We have a great little German town in Texas called Muenster in which we were really able to indulge our German sides. Muenster has both Germanfest and Oktoberfest celebrations every year. We decided to visit Fischer's Market to buy some delicious German delicacies, and we also found out that Fischer's claims to have the only known Glockenspiel in the state of Texas. The kids enjoyed listening to the music and watching the characters come out of the clock!

Muenster even has a little area of concrete buildings that are painted to look like a quaint little German town with German stores. My kids liked to pretend they were visiting the stores.

Next up is Italy, which I am really excited about since they have my favorite food on the planet! I also visited Italy when I was in college and long for the day I can go back!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Singing "O Canada!" as we "Walk Like an Egyptian"

This week was a little unorthodox for our weekly country study since we left on Thursday for a long road trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Since July 1st is Canada Day, and we also decided to stay the night on the way back in Alexandria, Louisiana, I gave my boys the option of studying either Canada or Egypt. Ethan chose to study Canada (for the sports, of course), and Alex chose to study Egypt.

For our study-related meals this week, we had some biscuits and gravy one night and "Kraft dinner" another night (I guess this is what Canadians call macaroni and cheese, as far as my research could uncover). We also had fish and couscous one night and Macarona Bechamel (an Egyptian-style lasagna) another night.

While we were in Louisiana, we made sure to stop by the visitor center on our way to Mississippi and found out a lot about the area, including a short history lesson from the nice lady working at the counter. I also made sure to fuel up with the free coffee, of course. :)

On the way back, we decided only to drive halfway home and spend some time in Alexandria, Louisiana. While there, we found a great safari place in the nearby suburb of Pineville called Gone Wild Safari. The kids loved it! We were able to take a short trip through the grounds on an open air bus and feed the animals along the way. Guests are also allowed to pet the animals since they are all very friendly to humans, and there was even a parakeet sanctuary that you could walk into and be surrounded by wall-to-wall parakeets! 

Here is our little bit of Canada. Juliet looking terrified of a stuffed moose.

And here is our little bit of Egypt. This is Pearly. She was a very pregnant camel who was known for being a feed cup thief.

While we were in Mississippi, we also enjoyed lots of fresh seafood and Cajun platters and visited the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, which the kids loved. 

We are now over halfway done with our summertime adventures and the kids have lots of stamps on their mini passports!

Next up is the land of my ancestors, Germany!

Vive La France!

Today we took a virtual trip to France and enjoyed some very yummy food along the way! I am a sucker for good French breakfast food and pastries, so I even started our culinary journey extra early to make sure we ate all of my favorites. Saturday morning we started out with some homemade crepes (my first time making them, so of course they were burned). For Father's Day Sunday morning, I made a Quiche Lorraine, and we also enjoyed some croissants, Beef Bourguignon, chicken cordon bleu, omelettes, French toast, brioche, and some delicious eclairs.

The boys watched one video about Paris and another about the entire country of France, and this week Alex decided to do a poster and Ethan decided to type up a summary of what they learned this week.

In addition to everything we learned, we also took a trip to Paris, Texas. While there, we made sure to visit their mini Eiffel tower (complete with cowboy hat), and we also saw their famous statue of Jesus in cowboy boots. We also discovered a veterans' memorial located right by the Eiffel tower replica in Paris. It was a bit of a drive to get there from where we live, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Look closely, Jesus has cowboy boots! Legend has it that the sculptor could not sculpt sandals, but he did know how to make cowboy boots, so he did those instead.

Next week is a short one for us since we are taking a long road trip, so I am changing it up a bit. Check back to see what is different!

Cherrio Jolly Olde England!

This week we spent our mornings in Argyle, Texas, so I researched exactly where the argyle pattern came from. It turns out that it is from Scotland, so what better place to study than all of the United Kingdom! My kids spent the week reading about the UK, trying different recipes from the region (fish and chips was probably their favorite), watching a video tour of the area, and then completing a PowerPoint project at the end of the week to show me what they learned.

On Tuesday, we dressed up and had a nice afternoon tea with some finger sandwiches and Scottish shortbread (the kids loved it!). My boys tried hot tea the English way (with milk and sugar, of course), but only one liked it. Juliet stuck with plain milk in her teacup.

On Thursday, we took a little trip up to Denton to the Abbey Inn and Restaurant, which is an English-style pub and restaurant. Ethan had the fish and chips, Alex enjoyed some bangers on a bun with homemade crisps (sausage sandwich with potato chips), and I had a club sandwich with homemade crisps and a Strongbow Cider (yum!). Juliet stuck with her usual chicken strips and fries.

Overall, the kids really enjoyed learning about the UK, especially all of the different inventions that are from there. We attempted our British accents throughout the week, but somehow the boys' voices came out Southern. :) That's all for this week, next we are off on our virtual trip to France!

Vamanos a Mexico!

I am trying something new with my children this summer to keep them engaged and learning throughout these few down months before school starts back up. This year, we are going to be studying a new country every week and completing different projects, doing activities, and eating various foods from that country as well.

Last week, my children stayed with their grandparents while my husband and I traveled to Mexico for a tenth anniversary celebration. Since we were spending time in Mexico, I thought a great country to start with for the children would be Mexico as well! They studied different books and took notes about Mexico and also learned about the Mayan culture, since my husband and I visited a Mayan archaeological site while on our trip.

This is my husband, Bruce, and I at the top of the pyramid in Coba. This is one of the tallest Mayan pyramids, and the only one left that you can actually climb. It was pretty scary, but I am proud that we were able to make it up. The hardest part was going back down with no kind of safety net or harness!

Since I was not able to guide them along as they were learning about Mexico, we celebrated at the end of the week with our own little Mexican fiesta when we got home.

They also received a stamp on their own little passport, and a pin on their summer travel bags.

The kids seemed excited about their first mini-journey of the summer, but they are in for a whole lot more! Stay tuned!

Getting crafty!

Most people who know me know that I love to do all sorts of crafts. One craft project that I am currently working on is a "beanbag" chair for my reading corner of my classroom. This chair will be filled with stuffed animals rather than polyform beans, so I will be able to take out the contents and wash both the contents and outer shell should the need arise (i.e., a lice outbreak in the school).

While working on this current project, I enlisted the help of my son Alex to help me do something creative with my leftover scraps. Alex is a very bright, resourceful, and creative child, so I knew he would come up with something good. Alex took one look at the scraps and decided that they looked like pizzas. He used fabric markers to decorate the scraps to look like pizza slices with toppings.

After decorating all of his pizza slices, I decided to teach Alex how to hand sew. He is now turning his leftover scrap "pizza slices" into a pizza pillow! We are very excited to find out the end result!

One of the things I try to do as a teacher is to make sure my students have the opportunity to indulge their creative sides. I do several projects in which they are drawing, coloring, or doodling something, usually to accompany a story or research paper of some sort. I also like to give them the opportunity to be a little more free with their creativity as well. I do this by having a writing center in which they can feel free to pick a writing prompt and make up their own story or write a story of their own. I also allow my students to free draw or color in coloring books when they are done with all of their written work. I am always amazed by the outcome when children are allowed to be free with their creativity. This really allows them to think outside the box and discover passions they didn't even know they had.

The importance of creativity in children is really coming to the forefront lately, and with good cause. Of course students need to know how to read, write, and do arithmetic, but with the way the society works today, you have to be a very creative person to really make an impact in this world. You need to be able to think of ways to solve problems that were not previously considered. Here are just a few articles I have found on the importance of creativity in children:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/Why-Creativity-Now%C2%A2-A-Conversation-with-Sir-Ken-Robinson.aspx

http://www.edudemic.com/creativity-in-the-classroom/

http://www.parenting.com/article/creative-play

In short, try to allow your child the time to be creative and discover new ways to make, create, and build. They will activate new areas of their brains, and you will be blown away by the results!

Get outside!

Today I took my third grade class on a field trip to Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center in Denton. I took my last year's class to this same place, but most of it was unfortunately flooded, so we were not able to see most of the grounds. I was very excited to see more today, even though there were a few wet spots throughout the way.

Clear Creek is a bit in the middle of nowhere in the town of Denton, Texas, which was just a quick ten-minute drive away from our school. Sadly, most people who live in Denton have no idea it is even there because it is in such a remote location. There is no admission charge to get in, and there is so much to see and do that you could easily spend an entire day exploring the grounds.

My class has been learning about types of plants, animal classification, rocks and minerals, and different types of soil in science throughout the year, so it was great to take them on a trip to give them a close-up view of the concepts they have been learning about.

Clear Creek provided us with the use of their building, which includes bathrooms, water, a small museum-type area that showcases plants and animals of the area, and various tools to use along your hike, such as flower identification cards, butterfly nets, and magnifying glasses.

Along the way, we discussed the types of plants and trees we were seeing, and I had them point out which trees they thought were deciduous and which ones were evergreen. We have also just started discussing types of soil, so they tried to find humus and silt along the way as well.

I had some nice discussions with my students along the way, and I was shocked to discover that many of them have never been on a hike before, and many of them have never even been to a wooded area! I know this is Texas, so most people don't think about Texas as having nice, lush, vegetation and natural areas, but there is such a good mix of plant and animal life at Clear Creek alone.

There has been much talk lately about the need to increase recess time for children, and I agree. If I could, I would allow for multiple recesses throughout the day for my students. I feel that they need to exercise their bodies, and I think recess is important for their social development as well.

However, I also think more emphasis needs to be placed on children being allowed to go outside and just enjoy nature in general. Many students go on field trips to pricey museums and spend the whole day looking at exhibits that they never even remember afterwards. I had my students take their science journals with them and just record their observations based on what we had learned in science this year. I think they had more fun just getting out and enjoying nature than they would going on yet another field trip to a museum.

Don't get me wrong. I love museums. I just feel there needs to be more time allowed for children to really be outside and appreciate all that the natural world has to offer them.

There have been various studies done and articles written on the importance of children being allowed to play outside, but here are just a few that I have found for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

http://childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/

http://www.eydcp.com/games-and-activities/7-reasons-your-children-should-be-outside-right-now/

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/16/childre-nature-outside-play-health

Purpose of Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to the Educate Every Day blog! The purpose of this blog is to give tips and tricks to both parents and teachers in order to help children develop a love of learning and find education in everyday activities. I hope that my experience as both an educator and parent will inspire you and help you to create new learning experiences for your own children or students. I am excited that you have decided to follow me on this journey!