Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I hope you all have been doing swell!

Here are some updates to what's been going on with my classroom and my life!

I am so proud of myself for facing my fears and presenting by myself at the ECET2 Conference!

I presented on blogging and social media for teachers! 

Mardi Gras at school:

Amy and I were comparing our hair color! lol

Kim (our principal), myself, Toni, and Val!

Celebrating Mardi Gras with my hubby:

Me being silly with some friends!

Our friends Hollie and Jim

Fun things we've been doing in the classroom:

Using our Kagan pyramids for group reading! I often talk about using Circle Talk, which is another similar strategy for group reading. This is a great one too! You can purchase these pyramids at our local teacher store or online at kaganonline.com! 

I decided to try something knew with my classroom! I have really liked this seating arrangement! 

We have now started something called WIN time, which is really RTI time for everyone. WIN stands for "What I need". This is a picture of one of my groups working on using main idea, details, and evidence. The students worked in groups to write an informative or narrative piece about a painting. I told the students the artist and the title of the painting. They had to use their imaginations to figure out what the artist was trying to say and use details/evidence from the painting in their writing. The students then presented their writing with the class. The other students had the opportunity to suggest different interpretations using evidence. The students really enjoyed this!

My students have been presenting their WWII and Holocaust projects. I will be doing a post specifically for that and how it ties into our novel, Number the Stars! 

Next week, we will be comparing the Holocaust to African American History in America. My students will be answering some higher order thinking questions and completing journal writings in relation to Black History Month videos! I'm very excited about this, because I love history. I sneak it into our literature and writings all the time! :D

Valentine's Day:

My hubby surprised me at work on Friday with these beautiful flowers!

So, I painted him this elephant picture! :)

We celebrated Valentine's weekend by going to our friends' wedding today! It was so much fun and so beautiful!

We also celebrated by going to dinner, shopping, and a movie! We ate sushi, per our favorite, bought an essential oil vaporizer at Earthbound, and watched Dead Pool. We ran into one of my students at Earthbound and we took a selfie! I'll have to get her to text it to me, so that I can share it with you all! She's so sweet! 

Well I hope you all have a very special Valentine's weekend! Spend time with all your loved ones: your family, friends, children, pets, and partner! 

Until next time!

Art for Critical Thinking

Good evening my beauties,

I just wanted to share a great idea that my coworker and I came up with! Glynis (3rd grade ELA) and I worked on our RTI/WIN plans today during our professional development. Our school is starting a new schedule next week to include time at the end of each day for RTI time. Our middle and high groups will be focusing on improving reading and writing skills to better prepare them for the upcoming standardized test. One thing we decided to do was use artwork to encourage critical thinking skills.

We are going to show student's Jan van Eyck's Portrait of Giovannia Arnolfini and his Wife (1434). As students are looking at the image we are going to probe them with questions. After having a class discussion on the piece, we will show a video of art historians discussing the work. The video is great because even historians don't know the exact meaning behind the painting. This leaves it open for interpretation--a great tool to allow students to think/imagine for themselves.

Students will also read Portrait with a Thousand Secrets: The Mystery Behind a Masterpiece by Carola Hicks. This article was published in Daily Mail. The students will discuss the article.

Then students will write an essay answering the following prompt: What story is being told in this painting? What details are used to tell the story? How does the artist capture the importance of the event? The students will have to use history (What they already know and learned from the article and video) and evidence to support their writing.

I think it is so important for students to be exposed to art, history, science, poetry, music, culture, etc. This is a great way to do something a little different with your students, open up their minds, allow them to imagine, and utilize their critical thinking skills!

I hope you have a wonderful night! Sleep well!