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!