Ugly Vegetables and Fruits 

Our story for the week is called The Ugly Vegetable by Grace Lin. It focuses on a family that grows Chinese vegetables in their garden rather than flowers like the rest of their neighbors. The little girl in the story wonders why her families garden is so different from everyone else’s and calls the vegetables they grow ugly.  This story prompted great discussion on diversity and how just because something is looks different doesn’t make it ugly or bad. There was a great lesson at the end when all the neighbors come to the house where the vegetables are cooked into […]

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Spain Day Round Two

Today felt like Spain Day all over again. Between the arrival of our class Spain book and pen pal letters from Spain, it was all Spain all the time in our room today. Yesterday afternoon the class book about Spain finally arrived. For several days/weeks now there have been inquiries of when the book would arrive, and low and behold here they are! Students anxiously awaiting their arrival were made very happy students. (Thanks Student Treasures!) They didn’t arrive until after students had left for the day yesterday, which of course meant a big surprise for this morning. Each student who had […]

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Pen Pals 

Since coming back from Spain students have had the chance to ask questions, see pictures, and learn more about all things Spain. Many of the questions have been centered around school, students and what life is like for kids growing up in Spain, which makes sense since students are kids. I tell students all about my observations from my school visits, but it’s just not the same as going yourself. The next best thing would be to learn about student life from actual students. Luckily there is a way I can make this happen. I contacted our tour guide from […]

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Return from Spain…So Now What?

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 […]

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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 […]

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