Trying to keep the kids busy on a rainy or even hot summer day? We all know that many books, such as the Twilight series, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games have recently been made into wildly popular movies. Keeping that in mind, I have decided that I may try to team up with other teachers in my school, especially our basic skills teacher, to create a book club aimed at reluctant readers. If they read the book, they get to watch the movie.
I just have to figure out exactly how it would work. I'm thinking we would start a chapter of the book together, either before school or after, and have the kids finish the chapter at home... I just have to figure out a time frame that will allow for the most kids to be able to participate and the logistics of the kids getting the books, plus activities we'd use to show comprehension (other than your typical t-chart or Venn diagram graphic organizers). I'm also thinking about writing a grant to be able to purchase multiple copies of the books.
I have these movie and book combos:
Madeline
(I still have the book my first grade teacher gave me!)
I know there are tons more that could be added (especially Dr. Seuss books), but these are probably the most appropriate for my students' age group. I myself will probably steer clear of the Dr. Seuss books as well as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory because most kids have seen the movie or read the books.
One of our guided reading groups read a book towards the end of the school year called Up, Up, and Away. We learned about the history of hot air balloons and students also made a connection to the Wright Brothers' attempts at flight, which we read about in another guided reading group.
I told them about a festival in July of every year called the NJ Festival of Ballooning. I'm not the only one who thinks you should do it - check out this NJ Monthly list of 52 things every New Jerseyan should do this year! It's #1 on the list! We'll see if we get any Flat Stanley or Oliver K. Woodman pictures back from the festival!
If you're interested, get your tickets fast! (Click on any of the pictures on this page for more info.)
If you can't get there, you can watch this video from last year!
It's been a couple of months since I last posted, and boy have I been busy! Don't worry, I'll blog about some fun stuff we did at the end of the year, but for now you get to see my fun adventure at Space Camp!
I was one of 170 teachers selected (out of thousands who applied) to attendEducator Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on scholarship from Honeywell.
Here are the 10 teachers from New Jersey. We outnumbered every other state!
Here we are withRobert "Hoot" Gibson, a retired astronaut. He is really awesome!
Team Kibo was tons of fun, and we definitely learned a lot from each other.
We simulated a water reentry to Earth (except at a MUCH lower G force) by ziplining backward off a 50 foot tower into water.
Here we are on Space Shot, learning how it feels to be shot toward the sky in a rocket...only 1 G of force...but it was still scary!
I made some awesome new teacher friends (here are my roommates from the UK/Japan, Arizona, and Vermont).
We completed a moon landing mission and a shuttle mission, completely gaining insight and respect into the precision required to be an astronaut.
I was a mission specialist who performed an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) - fixing a broken window on a capsule on the moon.
I didn't even have a complete pressurized suit (you can see my hands were exposed - that would kill an astronaut in space) and it was still difficult!
My job in the shuttle mission was under Mission Control - CATO (Communications and Tracking Officer).
We got to play around in different simulators and see real objects that were in space or used for tests.
Here's the MAT (Multi-Axis Trainer), the thing everyone thinks of when they hear of Space Camp. They tell you that you shouldn't get sick because your center of gravity doesn't change...
I got to wear an arm sleeve that was used for tests by...
Neil Armstrong!
We had a small graduation ceremony where my NJ teammate Emily Bengels won the Right Stuff Award!
