travelteachlove

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, Travel

Let’s Explore South America

March 29, 2017 No Comments

My class continued their continent exploration by traveling south, from North America into South America. I was secretly thrilled to get to South America so I could share about the countries I visited there; Peru and Ecuador. Although, I’m sure my enthusiasm for the entire continent study is pretty evident in class. Geography/Travel nerd alert! The timing couldn’t have been better to travel south of the equator in our studies, as the setting of that weeks anthology read was Chile. Included in our reading program’s materials was a small vocabulary reader on Chile to provide students with more background knowledge. This […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, Travel

Explore North America

March 19, 2017 No Comments

To kick off our continent exploration unit students first got set up with some papers and a place to store them. Just like for Holidays Around the World from December, I gave students a manila folder so they could decorate it and use it for storage. Stowed inside to start were a blank world map and reading packet. With those things situated we were ready to begin! Love the look of this resource? Check out my blog post Seven Continent Exploration for a link to the TpT store where I found it. I thought it would be best to start with the continent […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, Travel

Seven Continent Exploration

March 14, 2017 1 Comment

We have finally reached the part of the social studies curriculum I have been dying to get to since my grade change to second grade, an in depth look at the seven continents, yay! The holidays around the world unit we did in December was a great intro to the seven continents, but now students will dive deeper into each continent. Not to mention they will get to listen to countless anecdotes of my travels (trust me they love these). My passion for travel and learning about countries could not have found a better fit. Now is the time to install a love and […]

Travel

Tourist at Home

February 27, 2017 No Comments

What a treat, weather in the 60s in February! We were spoiled for February Vacation, unless you like to ski that is. To take advantage of the gorgeous weather I planned a few local trips for vacation. First up, a day trip into Boston. I go into Boston all the time but sometimes it is fun to act like a tourist in your own city. My friend and I decided to make a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts. There was a special exhibit on the book, Make Way for Ducklings which happens to be one of my favorite children’s books. How could I […]

Travel

Travel Blues

February 16, 2017 No Comments

February Vacation is fast approaching. In fact with snow days and school delays, this week before break felt a bit like a mini vacation before the vacation. But this year February Vacation will be unlike any other I have experienced since teaching. Why? Well this year for the first time ever I will not be traveling anywhere. It is such a strange feeling, not to have a suitcase packed, passport at the ready and teachers to talk with in anticipation of a trip to somewhere new. At work teachers will stop and ask me, where are you headed for break? […]

Travel

Geysers, Puffins and Dunkin Donuts

February 9, 2017 No Comments

A few years ago my family and I took a Baltic Cruise out of Denmark. Before setting sail though we made a stop over in Iceland. Iceland in August, wonderful right?! Long, long days of sunlight, warm summer weather and the tail end of the puffin season, we were in for a real treat. Well, at least two of these facts were true. We had endless days of sunlight for our short stay and we were treated to puffin sightings not far off the coast by boat. The summer weather though, didn’t seem to get the memo that it was […]

Travel

The Sound of Silence

February 1, 2017 1 Comment

This week I continue down travel memory lane. My photo wanderings brought me to one of my favorite spots in Helsinki, the Kamppi Chapel of Silence. Believe it or not it took me a while to find this giant building. As I was trying to get my bearings of Helsinki, riding the tram up and down Mannerheimintie and surrounding streets, I found myself hoping off stops and wandering around. Map in hand (trying to be discrete, I didn’t want to look like a total tourist!) I would meander down streets, circle around, double back, all in search of must see highlights, […]

Travel

Mosaics Around Spain

January 25, 2017 No Comments

Recently I have been sifting through pictures of previous trips as I attempt to move all my pictures over to my new computer; you know 6 months after buying it, you don’t want to rush into things like that. It has been fun reminiscing over pictures of previous trips since I have found myself in a situation I haven’t experienced in a school year, a travel void. My next big trip isn’t until July. This has inspired me to take a look back at some of my travel experiences to share some of my favorite things from the places I have been […]

Classroom Connection

The Power of Reading

January 20, 2017 No Comments

This year a big initiative in our school is to promote more free reading time in school. The studies show that the more students read the better readers they will become. This seems like common sense but so many times as a teacher, I feel like instructional time during the day should be spent providing instruction or students practicing skills taught. If an administrator walked through my room and saw students just sitting and reading would they think I wasn’t doing me job? Well after reading The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, with a group of teachers at school the power […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, Travel

Schools Around the World

January 12, 2017 1 Comment

I couldn’t be more excited about the story in student’s anthology this past week called, Schools Around the World. I mean could there have been a more perfect story for me to talk about?! This week has given me a chance to share with students my travels and visits to schools around the world. Sharing my experiences went perfectly with the text. Students started the week by listening to the story online and answering a few questions on our classroom blog. Later in the day we talked about some of the things they learned in the story and how that connected to […]