Summary Post C4T Teacher #3

Mrs. Kreb's Blog

Comment #1
My World

August 18, 2014 by Denise Krebs | 7 Comments

my-world

I created a picture of my world today on The Open University Create Your World.
Roughly from left to right, here’s what my picture represents:
Good conversations with new friends here, and also faraway friends and online connections
Brain research, thinking, questioning and teaching the ABCs and more to five-year-old Arab children
Jesus, the Tree of Life, bringing shade to the world, as well as standing over the puzzle piece of my life
Wedding rings represent my husband and me
Two flowers for our two lovely daughters
Good books, fruit, creativity and art are some of my favorite things
Am I a Planet-protecting, probing motivator? I’d like to think so! :)
Sheri Edwards created a wonderful connected language lesson using this Inspiring Learning: My World app.
Read all about the picture of her world and her middle school lesson plan on her class blog post called: “#teach2blog About Me World Ms Edwards“
I said:
Hi my name is Ashley and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I love that you created “your world” and showed what means the most to you and best describes you through pictures and symbols. I think I could potentially use this in my future class. I think it could be a fun project for the first week or two of classes to allow the students to make their own and share with the class. I think it would be a great “get to know you” project. I want to make my own now! Thanks for sharing I would have never known about this app without reading this post!
-Ashley


Comment #2
Finding My Way in Kindergarten Genius Hour

November 6, 2014 by Denise Krebs | 2 Comments

After teaching grades 7 and 8 for seven years, it was a challenge for me to go down to Kindergarten. The first few months, the way was treacherous. Now looking back, after eight months or so, I can say overall it has been a delight, and I know it was a gift I didn’t even know I needed.
I find I can practice what I learned in my Master’s program; that is, teaching young children literacy. Most importantly, though, the children are “wonderful, marvelous, beautiful, magical, filled with curiosity and dreams.” (Lyrics by Debbie Clement) They are loving and open. They are learning sponges with big, growing brains.
But how can I do genius hour with them? I wondered. I loved the engaged ownership in junior highers when they were given a chance to learn what they wanted in what we call genius hour.
As Faige Meller has suggested, genius hour in kindergarten may look like a maker space. In this tweet, she says making is what kindergarteners do and, in fact, makers are who they are. (Be sure to read Krissy’s original post too.)
I believed in making, but I didn’t know much about Kindergarten. I had learned to trust Faige, though, so when I saw her tweet last March, I began to run with her ideas in Kindergarten. I began collecting supplies and asking families to do so, as well. We have quite a collection, and we go through a lot of materials.
When I learn something new about brain research, I share it with my Kindergarteners too. They are not too young, and even though I’m speaking a foreign language to them (they are native Arabic speakers), they understand enough. They know they are capable and creative, and as they create, they get smarter. And they know that as they learn two languages, they get bigger brains too!
So, we are definitely still making our way (pun intended), but we’ve had some huge successes. After we made a small couch for our reading center as a group project, one boy took on the task of making a very small chair with the ten juice bottles we had recently accumulated. He needed lots of help, but that’s where I came in handy, helping to wrestle the juice bottles and operate the hot glue gun and packaging tape. He was the maker. I was the sous maker taking my orders from him.
Genius hour in Kindergarten. It’s happening. We are calling it that, we are making and learning, but I am always open to suggestions you might have for helping us do it better!
Please leave a link in the comments to your primary genius hour projects and process. Or share on Twitter with the hashtag #PrimaryGH.
I said:
Hi, I am Ashley a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading this post. I definitely have taken notes for my future classroom. I like how the little boy decided on his own to make a chair after the class as a whole made the couch. Very helpful post for me being a future teacher!