Geocaching

Okay learning that my GPS can do something cooler than leading me to my destination is awesome! So my husband and I went to Charleston, SC over Halloween weekend and we tried to Geocach. It was a little hard and we never found any but we tried!
I really want to get one of those dog tag things and use it in my classroom. I love the idea of tracking something on a map. I may have to start local but I would like think it would make it out of TN!

Block CITY!

I LOVE BLOCK CITY! I really can not wait to be a teacher just to use this in my classroom. You could really use this with any age group. I would like to expand on what we did in class and use more businesses and maybe some houses.

This is a great idea to get kids actively involved in learning about maps!

Social Studies in the Classroom

Flat Stanley...I have never read the book but the students in my field placement have and they love it. I am not sure if it has anything to do with social studies but I know that my mentor teacher turns it into a social studies lesson. It is really creative and any teacher could do it with a popular book. My mentor teacher takes Flat Stanley with her whenever she takes a vacation. There is also an aid in the classroom and she just got back from a cruise to Mexico and Flat Stanley went with her. Now what they do is take pictures of him at various places and write captions about the place. Flat Stanley brought back treat bags from Mexico for all the students. They discuss the items in the bag and the place Flat Stanley visited. I love this for my future classroom!

Critical Voice

My biggest shock in this article is the paragraph about John and Jenni. It sounds like John is a little insecure about his teaching style and does not want the kids to fail at the upcoming test. I guess John's view of teaching social studies is feeding the facts....no fun allowed! But can you blame him?
I understand the fear though, especially if you feel like your job is on the line. I feel like I have a strong voice for what I believe but I would like to see myself in a sticky situation dealing with test scores and my job...I doubt I would be voicing my opinion if I thought I would lose my job.

Words Can NOT Describe...But I Will Try

This weekend was WOW what a weekend. I am currently working on my Integrated Lesson Plan. My group picked Diary of a Worm and my job is connecting Social Studies and Math to the book. This is fun. I like doing projects like this. Please teachers assign projects not test! I'm sure everyone agrees.
Finishing the assessment with my child was difficult considering he can not read but I am still suppost to do something with him. So in my D2L question I addressed my conserns. Now I am trying to understand the response I got on my question??? Blah!
Taking the Praxis this weekend was a NIGHTMARE! I left at 2:00!! Why you may ask. Well considering I was allowed to wear my jacket in the first session but couldn't in the second made me extremely angry as some of you may have seen. So this took up so much time. They, the proctors, whispered to each other and decided that jackets are not allowed but the air conditioner on high is. So I can't wear my jacket because I may have a camera in my hood. No I do not want to video tape the Praxis test with a camera in my jacket hood and yes you can search my jacket, oh wait, you would rather me be extremely uncomfortable and cold during a test that is the BIGGEST deal in my life right now.Oh Okay Praxis proctors! THANKS! So I took off the jacket and shoved it under my desk...I was MAD.
I picked my book for the Social Studies read. I was excited, so I went to Barnes and Noble to buy it. They didn't have, so I went to the ETSU library and they didn't have it. I searched all the area libraries and no one had it. So I ordered it online through Barnes and Noble. Just another thing that didn't go my way.
I also finished the reading Black Ants and Buddhism. I love all the connections the teacher made and how she expanded on everything she did. This is great. I used the meditation exercise several times this weekend :) I'm not joking.
Last but not least. I went to the doctor on Friday and heard my tiny little lime's heartbeat and WOW! It's amazing. So during this whole stressful weekend I just kept telling my little cricket that mommy is doing all this crazy hard work for you! (side notes: bump.com told me that my baby is the size of a lime this week, and my husband and I call it baby cricket)

I'm Blogging!

So here I am! I am really excited about posting, but nothing is going on yet. All I am doing is watching Big Brother and thinking about what I want my midnight snack to be. Maybe something exciting will happen later or tomorrow?! By the way, the blogs are looking good guys! :)