Saturday, June 16, 2012

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!!


It's hard to believe it's mid June already! Time is going fast and the kiddos are learning new things every day.  Today I wanted to take the time to thank Steve for being such a fantastic father to our three children.  

He's been my rock through everything!  He is the most compassionate and understanding man I know.  He is devoted to his God and his family.  I knew I was lucky to be dating such a stud 12 years ago! This year we will be celebrating 8 years of marriage! 

Thank you for being a great friend, husband, and father! Happy father's day! I hope you enjoy your day and your gift from the kiddos. Thanks for allowing me to be your partner in life. 










 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Literacy Strategy-Amy Miles




Environmental Print Mini Lesson

Background Information: 
     This lesson was taught in a preschool/daycare center where I used to work.  The students ranged in age from 4-6 years of age.  In the past when teaching environmental print in preschool and kindergarten I taught more informal lessons.  In preschool, I would ask them questions about the food items in the kitchen area when they were doing imaginative play.  In kindergarten,  environmental print was integrated into the morning message, social studies, and activities that were sent home with the students to complete with their parents. 




New Strategy:
    Published by International Reading Association

Justification:
    After researching various environmental print lessons and activities this lesson was short, simple and self contained.  The students that I worked with only had their previous experiences with them and very limited structured teaching content experience.  I needed a lesson that would stand alone and still provide the students with a learning opportunity and information they could take back and share with their families.  


Procedure:
   *Greet the children and introduce the lesson about EP. 
   *Lay out labels from different brands and products of food, toys, movies, and health care products so that all students can see. 
   *Ask each student to pick out one item that they recognize from the pile. 
   *Take turns asking the students the following questions:
          *How do you know what is in the bag/box/container?
          *What letter do you see at the beginning?
          *What sound does that letter make?
          *Do you see other letters that you know?
          *Do you see letters from your name in the words on the box? (for younger children)
          *Do you see any blends? (for children who can already read)
   *We went through the questions with three different EP items.  Then we talked about how we look for picture clues to tell us what things might be.  I asked them if you could tell a story with out knowing the words to the story.  Then we tried it with a book one of the children picked out. The children realized how many different stories could be told from pictures.  
   *We ended the mini lesson with a game of "I Spy" and a challenge to read labels in their pantry at home to their parents. 

Reflection:
    Looking back at teaching the lesson I would have created more opportunities for the students to extend their learning at home.  This could have been done with a list of games parents could play with their child, a check list or worksheet for the child to complete at home, or by creating a book with the group that they could then use in their classroom.  I also realized that if I had taught this lesson in a culturally diverse setting I would have needed to enlist the help of parents.  Each family could have brought in a bag of labels and logos from food items and health and beauty products used in their homes.  This would have been a great way to give the students a larger view of the world beyond themselves and ensure that all students could identify items from the pile.  
    The students all responded well to the questions.  Some of them needed confidence boosting as they kept saying, "But I can't read."  This is when we talked about using clues around us to figure out what the words might say. 

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Baby Steps

I was in 8th grade and feeling both nervous and excited about my first formal dance at school. 8th grade graduation culminated with an evening dance for all of the students at West Intermediate. I was very intimidated by dresses and everything girly. My mom and I went shopping and I found a pair of brown and yellow thinly striped dress pants that matched a button up sleeveless top.
The day of the dance my friends Meghan and Mel took me to the salon with them. I sat down in the big soft black chair and held onto the hard plastic arms for dear life. A man greeted me and asked, "What were you thinking of doing with your hair?" I froze in the moment.
I thought to myself, Me...this man is asking me what I want done with my hair. Didn't HE go to school for this, because I wear a pony tail EVERY day to school. I tried to gently let him know that I was in no way a girly girl and therefor I had no idea what I "wanted" done with my hair.
"Ummm...I like curls and I usually wear it up." I responded quietly.
He took his fingers and weaved them through my hair piling it on top of my head, combing here and there, then letting it fall again to my shoulders. He wrapped his large fingers around a can of hair spray and sprayed a thick cloud of sticky spray over my head. Then he took it section by section and sprayed it even MORE! I was holding in my breath so that I wouldn't offend him by coughing at his "masterpiece".
The male hairstylist then curled each piece of hair perfectly and pinned it into place. Some of the pins slid effortlessly into place while others jabbed into my scalp. As he neared my ears I requested that he leave two pieces down near my ears and curl them. After a few more pins, nips, and blasts of the hairspray my hair was complete. A beautiful pile of curls impeccably placed on the crown of my head. I let out an audible sigh, thanked him and went on my way to prepare for the dance.