What an amazing trip through Spain! With each country I visit it still surprises me how many new things there are to learn about different cultures. The possibilities are endless for incorporating all that I learned and experienced back into my classroom, but I have come up with a few favorites that are fool proof in getting students engaged and excited about learning. Student Treasures– After each trip when I return home I have students create a class book compiling all they have learned. These class books have come a long way from the word document pages gathered together with […]
I Biked Barcelona!
One of my all time favorite activities I did while in Spain last week was biking through Barcelona. Although I was exhausted from an early wake up call to travel from Madrid on the high speed train, I was excited to bike around. My recent experience biking in Copenhagen had me pumped to see the city in a different way. We started in the Gothic Quarter and walked down to our bike rental shop, Green Bikes. Our tour brought us down quaint, cobble stone ally ways down to the waterfront in the Olympic Park area. I loved when we reached […]
Olive Farm
Yesterday we broke up our long drive from Córdoba to Madrid by stopping at an olive oil factory and I loved it! Maybe it’s from growing up with my grandparents blueberry farm, but I just love visiting farms or other places that grow plants. I find it fascinating to see how different plants grow, and see where exactly food comes from. It doesn’t hurt either when there is a little snack at the end. Before I dive into this post I should probably admit something, I really don’t like olives. My mum loves them and I have tried them before, but […]
Spain School Visit
The absolute highlight of my trip so far has been the visit to the private school. There is just something about being in a school, and talking, or attempting to talk, to students and watching teachers in action that I love. After arriving at Colegio International Alminar, we started our visit with a mini presentation put on by one of the teachers, Mercedes. She explained the school mission, what a typical day looks like and answered our many questions about teaching and school life in Spain. Then it was off to the classroom. We broke up into small groups so […]
Cave Flamenco
What a night! Yesterday, after touring all morning in Toledo, and enduring a 5 hour bus ride, we finally made it to Granada. Toledo was such an amazing city but that post is for another day when I have time to do it justice. Back to Granada. After checking into our hotel and dropping out things off it was off to dinner. Never in a million years would I believe I could get use to eating dinner past 6 pm, but here I am, in Spain eating closer to what time the locals eat. It may not be 10 pm, […]
Mercado de San Miguel
This by far has been one of my favorite places in Spain. The Mercado de San Miguel is a small food market tucked behind the Plaza Mayor. After walking around the city all day it was great to take a little break in this lively market place. There was excellent people watching, and delicious foods and drinks to be had. What I loved best about the Marcado was the buzz of activity that surrounded you as soon as you walkedthrough the doors. I met up with a few friends from our group moments after entering. It didn’t take […]
Weary Traveler
Well we made it to Madrid safe and sound! It still surprises me that no matter how much I travel it never gets any easier. I worry right up until I sit down in my seat on the plane. Have I forgotten anything? Did I pack enough clothes? Did I charge all my electronics? Wait did I bring the adaptor so I can charge all my electronics? Where’s my passport (in my hand)? There it is! Put in my bag. Where’s my passport? You get the gist. Our overnight flight wasn’t too bad on Swiss Airline. I think I even […]
2 Days til Spain…Preparing for Substitutes
As I sit at home on another snow day, I can’t help but begin to feel slightly anxious about my trip to Spain, which is in just 2 DAYS! Eeek! I can’t believe it is almost here. While I am more than ready to hit the road (or runway as the case may be), there is still plenty to be done at school to make sure my substitutes will be ready to fill in for me for the two days I will miss. I have finished packing, repacking, double checking the packing here at home, which is nice. Wednesday afternoon […]
Learning About Spain, Easy As ABC
I can’t believe in less than a week I will traveling around Spain! It feels like I have been talking about and planning for this trip forever, I can’t wait to get there! With a bonus snow day today, I decided to take time to map out a few Spain activities students will do to show off all they have learned about this European country. They have already done a little bit of research and blogged about new things they have learned, but now it’s time to get down to business. Before Leaving For Spain I already have mini […]
STEAM: Designing Sledding Ramps
As a way to try out a STEAM project before diving into making windmills when I get back from Spain; my buddy 1st grade teacher and I decided to take on a smaller STEAM project with our classes, designing ramps for model sleds (bottle caps). Teaming up together to collaborate on this project could not have been better! The first grade teacher, Jess, and I worked together to find a easy first STEAM lesson we could do with our two classes. Jess found the perfect lesson that only required a few materials, and included a great graphic organizer for collecting data and […]