The reading this week was on Confidence, Humor and Common Sense.
As we have talked about before, building relationships with students is very important. The second section Humor first talked about how "when we laugh we connect with each other in ways that help us relate, understand each other, and feel comfortable in any situation." Ron Clark also talked later in the chapter about how appropriate humor is a tricky one for him and that he sometimes uses it when not appropriate. He also discussed examples of when he had embarrassed students with his humor and that he "learned to never use humor that could humiliate or make his students feel uncomfortable in any way."
Ron Clark later talked about how "Good teachers are always trying to find ways to spice up lessons and keep the learning process enjoyable and entertaining."
So the questions for the items discussed above are...
1. How do you use humor to build relationships but keep the healthy balance to ensure that students do not get embarrassed?
2. Tell about atleast one thing that you have done to try to "spice up" a lesson that you taught. How did you know that it worked and/or did not work.
Thanks for the great conversations on this blog. I know that people are getting a lot of new ideas and enjoying all that you have to say.
Have a Wonderful Week!
Vickie
Kindergarteners don't get humor most of the time. Often I will try to spice things up and they just don't get it...I use music and silly things at times to get the kids to understand and help them to laugh when appropriate. I have great books that are very funny, but again they don't always get the point. When I read the 3 Billy Goats Gruff story, I get really deep and scary voice for the troll and change my voice for each of the goats. The kindergarteners love that and when we act out the story, the kids mimic the voices I have used to say their part in the story. It is so much fun to hear them get into character. I really love to have them act out stories and see their creativity come out and their ability to recall and retell stories.
ReplyDeleteI use humor a lot in the classroom. We are always giggling about something. i make jokes during the day and tease students in a nice way where they feel special not picked on. Humor helps keep the classroom a lighthearted place to be. I used to give students nicknames and they loved it! To be honest I had to quit because it is hard for me to keep remembering their nicknames and I would feel like I would crush a kid by not remembering his name because that's what made them special to me. I had a student one year who could not warm up to me at all. Until I gave him the nickname of Lego cause he stepped on a Lego at home and hurt his foot. From the day I gave him the nickname he became at home and at ease with me as his techer. The transformation was amazing!
ReplyDeleteI have tried spicing up my math lessons on perimeter and srea using Cheese Its thinking it would help them to remember the two concepts better, but unfortunately it didin't help. Now when I used cheese balls to teach hemeishperes, equator, North and South Pole it did work very well.
How do you use humor to build relationships but keep the healthy balance to ensure that students do not get embarrassed?
ReplyDeleteThat is a tough question. It is a fine line. I think that the students need to see us having a sense of humor so that they can see that we are human as well and can have a fun side, not always so serious. But knowing the right time to use it and not embarrass the student can be so tricky. I think having kids of my own can help, just for the fact of you know what might embarrass your own kids, but at school unfortunately it might be trial and error. I think if you are nervous about saying something then it probably is a good idea not to say it, but have fun with the kids.
I like the idea of nicknames from Barb. This is a great way to make connections with the class. I also know that Hannah has certain way that she calls on the kids in a fun “singing” manner and the kids love it.
Tell about at least one thing that you have done to try to "spice up" a lesson that you taught. How did you know that it worked and/or did not work?
I have dressed up as a character to “spice” up a lesson before. We were doing a unit on Presidents and I dressed up as Abe Lincoln for second graders. The class thought it was funny, and it got them interested in a lesson that sometimes can be “not so interesting.” I knew it worked because I had their attention through the entire lesson and I also had some great writing responses to the project. I wanted them to tell me what they would do if they were a president back then and it really got their interest. I also started something that was hard to follow because each day we talked about someone new and it was hard to keep it up!
Humor:
ReplyDeleteI try to use humor as much as possible but like the others have said - it can be tricky. Plus, I feel you have to really know each child very well before you can use humor. Some students are used to humor at home so they relate well to humor in the classroom. Others may not understand humor and may take things to heart or too literally. I try and use humor by laughing at my own mistakes. Today was a day that I had butterfingers...it seemed like everything I touched either broke or fell to the floor. I laughed at myself and so did the others. We had fun because I chose not to get upset about dropping things or making a mess. The kids also know that it is okay to laugh at our mistakes sometimes.
Spicing it up:
I think anytime I can bring something tangible to the lesson, the more they will remember what you have taught them. First grade learns about past and present toys, transportation, and clothing. I recently found Jacob's ladder in Oriental Trading for a few bucks so I ordered that. This has always been a toy the students never quite understood how it worked just from looking at a picture. When I teach the lesson on toys past and present, now I have something tangible to show them and they can also play with it and learn about it. I also like to act with the children. We like to do Readers' Theater and perform. They love this so much and they get a lot of great reading/fluency practice.
I use humor A LOT in my classroom, partially for my own need to laugh and partially to help students not get to focused on the technical side of art but enjoy the creative process. Yes, as others have said it can be tricky to use humor and you need to know where the line is drawn, as do the students when they use humor in return. However, I have the pleasure of watching the kids grow up over six years and really getting to know them and the families. I think this gives me an advantage in knowing how far I can “push” on certain topics. It is also important to know when to apologize. If a student does take something personally or feels embarrassed I make sure to talk with the student and apologize for any misunderstanding or embarrassment I have caused.
ReplyDeleteSpice… I love spice, particularly cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper. Word of caution, do not sprinkle these spices on your students. So I don’t know how many of you have ever completed gesture drawings but it can really drag. “Draw Imapoop walking across the room in 20 seconds, now draw Fudidud walking the other way” and so forth and so forth. So I liven it up a bit by asking the kids to do things they may not typically get to do. For example I might ask RUkidding to pretend he is riding a horse while in a sword fight with Holycow. Or, a popular one with the boys, Mr. Meakandwhimpy may be using a broom handle as a sword while Mr. Imsotough has a toothpick. Getting the kids to be KIDS and letting them play a little can really liven up a lesson and it ends up being one they remember. How do I know that it works, kids end up having their parents and friends pose for gesture drawings outside the classroom. If we end up finishing a project early, the kids are asking to do gesture drawings. If they want to do it more, something must be right.
I agree with Jess, if students are asking to hear something again, or do something again, something must be right! And that is especially true whenever laughter is involved. I'm not a biological science major, but laughing releases some chemical that does something super, right?? So of course we need more of it. There are a lot of songs I use that kids connect to because of the humor in them: The Turkey Tango, The Littlest Worm, even the "gross" version of Baby Bumblebee. I also add motions/tidbits into songs that students can look forward to when singing the songs.
ReplyDeleteAs teachers, it is SO important to use humor with each other! I not only like to leave notes for teachers, but perhaps play a fun prank here or there. We need to not only keep our students laughing, but our coworkers, also!
I love to laugh!! At myself, with others, I am always cracking myself up, even if others aren't laughing with me. I certainly don't make fun of my students, but if they do something goofy and find humor in it, you can bet I will be laughing with them! I often make fun of myself in class, not trying to hide my mistakes, but accepting them and even finding joy in them. I do this a lot in class. I think the students realize I am human and its okay to laugh at yourself. Of course, I try to throw in a joke or make funny connections here and there and sometimes they get it and sometimes they don't!! I really love looking out at the students response-seeing some kids laugh, and some kids just staring at you. You learn something about their personalities and their level of humor at the same time! I am not the type to jump on tables or dance around, but just last week I was singing Taylor Swift songs in my classroom. She was the theme of our door decorating. I wanted the students to analyze some of her lyrics and write about them to post them on the door. If I just assigned lyrics and had my students write about them, it wouldn’t have been the same. Of course, I had to play her music and sing her songs and get them excited. Naturally, some of the boys groaned at the idea of Taylor Swift but at least found joy in laughing at me (I am sure some were embarrassed for me-I am a terrible singer). And by the way, the students wrote some pretty powerful responses to the deeper meaning of the words in her songs!
ReplyDeleteI love the age group I teach! We are always laughing about something. I think my students have a better sense of humor than I do at times. I have a couple that crack jokes all day, but are aware not to do this at someone's expense. I agree that laughing with your students creates a stronger bond. It allows them to get to know your personality, and theirs, a little better. At second grade, however, I think there is more laughing than joking. Some jokes still go way over their head. If I do try to joke during a lesson and no one laughs, I usually say haha, but that may be my joke too.
ReplyDeleteLike Jess, I love spice! I'm always looking for new ideas when teaching a
concept. I try to include music, crafts, songs, and crazy voices. The most recent lesson I tried to spice up was an activity on mapping. Instead of students
working on a worksheet to identify landforms and landmarks on a map, we
created salt dough maps of the United States, flagged the landmarks, and
painted them according to their landform regions. The had so much fun with this,
and not only did they have a hands-on experience learning the landmarks and
landform regions of the US, they also learned the components of a map.
I love to laugh too Brooke. I usually laugh at myself. I believe a teacher with a sense of humor has the ability to connect with students in ways that allows him or her to present memorable lessons. A teacher with a sense of humor sends an indirect message to students that he or she is enthusiastic about teaching; therefore, it becomes a positive force in my classroom for learning. Students remember a learning objective when the process of learning the curriculum is a pleasurable experience for them. As long as it is not over used, or used inappropriately, a sense of humor is only one of the resources I can use in my classroom because it makes learning fun and puts the nervous students at ease. I want
ReplyDeletestudents to see the fun-loving side of me that is not found in the curriculum or lesson plans. Humor needs to be spontaneous.It is meant to lighten the heart, create smiles, and go along with an overall sense of happiness. It is part of a teacher's charm. It is one of those important characteristics that students remember about a teacher. When teachers know how to make learning fun, students are more likely to remember learning it. A fun learning experience is a memorable one. Right now we are working on Ecosystems and building dioramas. One boy's project keeps falling apart. It really isn't funny but after the fifth time we all started to laugh with him. The positive is we came up with a solution to his problem and several other class mates ran to his rescue. We will see if it is still standing when we return to school.
I joke all the time with my class. Some students still aren't sure what to think.
Spice up a lesson- Fourth grade does salt dough maps of Ohio for landforms, major cities, state that surround Ohio. I try to spice up lessons using the smart board. Food Web using yarn really spiced up my lesson, especially since the kids were all tangled with one another. We laughed so hard.I feel they learned about producers,consumers,decomposers.I believe spicing up a lesson goes with the question on creativity. Comprehensive lessons in the fine arts would also help spicing up my lessons. I am not a great singer but if I come across a song that fits to what we are learning I always run to Bethany and see if she has time to sing it with my class.
Nancy, you did a fantastic job of expressing my sentiments. I agree that humor is really important in all areas of life. I find myself a little less willing to take time for a laugh since my time with each student is much less than when I had my students for the whole day, but I should work on that. I think using humor is actually a bonding activity. As some of the primary teachers mentioned the younger students don’t always get our humor, but there are humorous situations that present themselves. There is a little girl that I had last year who has mentioned to me several times, “I remember when you called me girlfriend.” She laughs when she says it to me. It was something she did well in a lesson and I responded with something like “Way to go girlfriend.” Sometimes I use little expressions to get them excited about something good someone in the group has done, or to get them motivated. When something funny happens I laugh out loud and I can never remember a time a student seemed offended by it because it is done in a way to include them not make fun of them.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago when the building was restructured into teams the team they put together for first grade really worried me because we were all so serious, but that team could really laugh at themselves. We went to workshops together and spent the night wherever the workshop was, and we would laugh and play games all night. I think we really learned alot from and about each other.
You are not welcome in my classroom when I am singing or dancing, but the kids are and they like it. I have had kids tell me I sound like a country singer, and believe me I can’t carry a tune so they must really get caught up in it or maybe they just hear that twang. It really shows the personality of the kids as some join in and some don’t move a muscle. Movement and actions are ways I spice up lessons. Allowing students to bring things from home that connect to lessons is also something that gets them involved. I always enjoyed the animal presentations and personal timelines we did in first grade, and the kids learned a lot about research. I know sharing is great for social skills, but I confined my show and tell to something related to learning. So if kids brought a stuffed animal they had to relate it or at least tell why it was special to them. They came up with some pretty cool things. The smart board and our computer access are also tools that spice up learning. You know if the lesson worked by the student responses and by how the learning is demonstrated in their work.
This is a great conversation! I also believe humor is needed and when you joke with the kids you do develop rapport with them. It can be tricky to know where to draw the lines so that you can keep the student/ techer relationship. I love teaching 5th graders because they get the humor in things and they love when the teacher can find humor in themself! There are some students I just can't help but laugh with them! I also agree that finding humor and laughing with your co-workers makes those connections with those you work with everyday and with your students. Humor helps your students see your a real person too! There is lots of laughing and pranks going on in the 5th grade hall (more the teachers than the kids and some teachers more than others!!!)!
ReplyDeleteKids really enjoy when you incorporate any sort of theatre production or singing into lessons no matter the age.
Education is not laughing matter! JUST KIDDING! I completely agree with all that I have read so far. Laughter is good for us all and it reminds us that learning is a fun and enjoyable process. As Ron Clark says "Once people laugh they are receptive."
ReplyDeleteSpice makes life and learning a little more interesting. This year I have a group of kids that I can't take some chances with. Try some things that I haven't done before and see what happens. That often means something with the smartboard or technology. Using Teachertube for math songs, video streamimg to show a tsunami, or trying to make an interactive activity for the smartboard. I am still not very good at that. My biggest challenge for adding spice is coming up with the ideas. I just don't have the time to look for them. I rely on my team to share ideas or techniques they have found and tried.
I agree that humor makes the day much more enjoyable for everyone. I have two reliable techniques for using humor in my classroom. The first strategy is that when I need a model for something, I ask for someone I can "pick on." The students are usually eager to volunteer because they know this will be something out of the ordinary & we'll all get to laugh. For example, when we discuss the solar system, I pick someone in yellow (or with red hair) to be the sun and someone with good balance to be the earth. I then revolve & rotate the earth around the outside of the room while the sun stands in the middle and shines. The "earth" usually gets pretty dizzy. I also make errands to other hallways into special missions that require brave volunteers who can weather unusual conditions. The other humorous technique reduces my annoyance. When the office calls for students leaving early, I make it into a guessing game. I say something like this person has two sisters, or rides a horse, or something personal about the person leaving. That way we all have a little fun with the disruption.
ReplyDeleteAs far as spice goes, I agree with Lindsey that tangible items make any lesson more interesting.
This has been so much fun to read and think about! After I read the quote at the beginning of the chapter on humor, I read it out loud to my husband: "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter". There is something about laughing together that makes a difference in relationships, whether the relationship is between adults or between adults and children. I love to laugh, it makes me feel good and somehow gives me energy and enthusiasm. Laughing together in class apprepriately does the same thing for the lesson being taught.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, I agree that anytime you use tangible items to make something more real, it enhances a lesson. I remember a time while I was using the Stevenson reading program, one of the "peanut butter and jelly words" studied was "beet". After realizing a lot of the kids had never tasted or even seen beets, I brought in a can and we had a "beet snack". After that, they knew what beets were, what they looked like, what they smelled like, what they tasted like, and whether they liked them or not. A long time ago when teaching a social studies lesson on cultural diffusion, I got a big glass bowl full of water and added red food coloring to it to show how the food coloring diffused into the water like different cultures diffuse into each other. Hands on activities really bring lessons to life.
Everyone needs humor and laughter to get through the day! It is great to see the students laughing and having a good time. I would much rather try to get them settled down a bit when they come in my room, then have them come in unmotivated! Like Nancy said, a teacher with a sense of humor sends an indirect message to students that he or she is enthusiastic about teaching! It is just as important to get to know your students on a personal level as it is knowing how they do academically. Developing a relationship with the students will be helpful on knowing how far you can joke around with them.
ReplyDeleteAs far as spicing up my lessons, any time I can teach with food is always great! I do a math lesson on fractions using m&m's and pretzel sticks. It seems anytime we use something the students can work with helps!
I agree Debbie! There is something about laughing that just makes you feel good! Brooke, I love that you laugh at yourself! I do the same thing!! :)
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ReplyDelete1. How do you use humor to build relationships but keep the healthy balance to ensure that students do not get embarrassed?
ReplyDeleteLike Many others- I also love this conversation! I think that laughter can be a great relationship builder. I will laugh with my students when they make mistakes, as long as I think it is an appropriate time. I love laughing with my students! However, if I ever laugh and get the feeling that they are embarrassed, I will apologize to them and tell them that I was laughing because I did the same thing when I was a child. :) I love to laugh at myself when I make mistakes. I think that my students really enjoy this too. I think that it makes them see us as "humans". We make mistakes, just like them. It helps our students to relate to us more, which fosters better relationships in the classroom.
2. Tell about at least one thing that you have done to try to "spice up" a lesson that you taught. How did you know that it worked and/or did not work.
Last year, Leah and I used a "cheer" in order to teach students the process of long division. The kids thought it was pretty cool. Even the boys in class would get into it! We tried to use the lyrics more like a song. It really seemed to help the students remember the process of "divide, multiply, subtract, and bring down." I wish I remembered the lyrics this year!
Isn't teaching so much more fun when you're laughing? That is one of the things I love about my job. I feel like I'm guaranteed at least one really good laugh each day with my students. I like that my fourth graders are old enough to "get it" when I joke around with them. Often times when something happens in my classroom, the kids will look to me to see how to respond. It puts everyone at ease when you can just laugh about a situation. I make sure that we laugh with a student, not at them, and I keep each student's personality in mind to ensure that students do not get embarrassed. Recent hilarious moments in my room: Having my students crop their faces with 80s hairstyles on the computer for Right to Read Week and watching my class perform the Evolution of Dance video during inside recess :)
ReplyDeleteThis year's group is very creative. I use this to my advantage whenever possible to spice up my lessons. They love anything where they have to make something. I incorporate this a lot into my social studies and language arts lessons. They also love music and singing. This comes in really handy for math lessons. Food is always a good motivator too and helps keep their attention. These students also love readers theater. I found this out at the beginning of the year when we were reading a readers theater about the Titanic. All of the students were really getting into it and reading with a lot of expression. Then one of the boys read his part with a British accent. I actually had to put my head down on my desk, I was laughing so hard. I told them it was, by far, the most entertaining readers theater I had ever heard! They loved it and I loved their enthusiasm. Needless to say, I look for readers theater parts whenever I can with this group to spice things up!
Spirit Week sometimes gives me an opportunity for humor. One time I wore a pig's nose (from Hoggy's) and added a curly tail. The nose got the attention but the humor came with the tail! I have no trouble with humor in my college prep classes, both from the students and from me. Sometimes mine is too subtle for most, but usually someone will "get it," explain, and then others laugh - or groan! It is a different story with the regular classes. They don't handle the distraction as well, and I have to be very careful it doesn't get out of control, that is so far off subject that it is just silliness.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally I add a mini-lab to a lesson. One that worked was with transparent tape, showing electric charge (like and unlike charges). One that didn't work was an in class atom model. Students did not seem to learn any more than just reading/talking/worksheets. I am still working on that one because I think it SHOULD work.
One thing I learned is students like it when I laugh. I am more than 4 times as old as they are, and connecting with humor is sometimes hard because of that experience gap. Another problem is vocabulary. Mrs. Crosthwaite and I have had the conversation several times about students complaining about our vocabulary. We both tell them they need to become more familiar with more words, not us using them less! But, what makes them laugh and where I find humor are sometimes far apart. I try to be indulgent when the humor is socially acceptable! That, too, can be a problem with teenagers.
How do you use humor to build relationships but keep the healthy balance to ensure that students do not get embarrassed?
ReplyDeleteI think that humor does build relationships between students and teachers. The students have to know where to draw the line with the humor though because I have seen students get hurt by jokes, but if they know what is appropriate and what is not the students can have a fun time while learning. I love the ideas that Barb had on giving the student’s nicknames, but I also agree with the fact that if you forget their nickname the student would be hurt. But this is away to get the students to feel at home, which is what we want our classroom to be like to an extent.
Tell about at least one thing that you have done to try to "spice up" a lesson that you taught. How did you know that it worked and/or did not work?
During one of my subbing experience here in third grade the students were working on their OAA test and the day before they were getting bored and not paying attention as we were working on the problems as a group. So the next day I thought about what I could do to “spice” this up. I thought about it and decided that we would play a game and have the students answer questions as a group. The students would raise their hand when everyone one in the group had answered it and once answered everyone would show their answers (but I knew who answered right before the team even gave the answer). The teams earned points for it and the winning time got a prize (candy). They loved this; it got the students motivated to pay attention and even work together as a group to get their answer correctly. Just making something into a game or a competition “spices” up the lesson.
I like to share connections to things we are reading. Many times they are humorous stories about my family. Of course, this always gets the students sharing their humorous experiences. Like others, I also laugh at my own mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI have trouble with "spicing" things up. I'm not normally very creative. I did find some math games for learning X facts at multiplication.com. I have been letting students play these during indoor recess. They love them and don't even realize they are educational!!!
I have a hard time with sarcasm, and it was especially hard to retrain myself as a second grade teacher, because they did have a higher level of understanding, but not a mature sense of humor. However, I do like to laugh and one of the joys I have as a preschool teacher is seeing a sense of humor develop. A lot depends on personality and of course, home environment. I truly noticed this when my neice was a toddler/preschooler. When she was about 2 1/2 I was sitting on the floor at her house and she was eating chips...now when I was sitting there was a little gap in the waist of my pants...as a toddler she was moving around a lot and I was playing with her and talking to my sister in law, it all seemed very normal, until I stood up. When I stood up there was something scratchy about my pants, as I reached back I discovered chips in my pants. So I asked, "Taylor Madison, did you put chips in my pants?" and she started laughing and said, "It's funny!" She planned it, kept it quiet and laughed as soon as I noticed. Now of course, I am biased but she's a bright little chica and comes from a very long line of jokesters...most especially her father. Even that young she could identify funny and make jokes. My favorite age is 4 because that's when I think the sense of humor really starts to take off...and I love to watch it in my class. The laugh is so pure, so full of joy~it's a gift. Humor in preschool is very silly, of course over the top, and even taught...through books and things I will identify funny or silly pictures and then tell my students, "that makes me laugh". Being from a long line of jokesters I like to joke with my kids...they learn pretty quickly what I'm doing and will often say, "oh, Mrs. Hawkins, you're kidding!" I'll tell them, "I think for snack today Mrs. Ridgeway and I will eat and you can watch..." or if they get a little paper cut I'll say "where does it hurt, okay, maybe we could take the scissors and I could just cut that part off, that way it won't hurt anymore" (we all know this our parents said it to us...) The first time they may get a little freaked, until I ask them if they really think Mrs. Hawkins would do that and do they know I am just joking. By the 2nd or 3rd year a kid is with me they know all my jokes:)
ReplyDelete1. How do you use humor to build relationships but keep the healthy balance to ensure that students do not get embarrassed?
ReplyDeleteI always start by making jokes about myself and encouraging the kids to laugh with me as I rag on myself about silly things I’ve done. Once we gain that bond, I slowly start to move that to the kids. I feel like the humor can take the pressure off a little bit so they don’t feel bad if they get a wrong answer or make a mistake in class. I also make sure to draw a clear line of what is not acceptable to tease or laugh about. For example, I tell the students we are not going to laugh at someone who says something might be hard. I am having a hard time explaining it but I just make sure students know the time and place for humor and the time and place to be serious and have empathy towards others.
2. Tell about at least one thing that you have done to try to "spice up" a lesson that you taught. How did you know that it worked and/or did not work.
Amy and I have done a lot of fun things to spice up lessons in math this year. When we began working on perimeter and area, we found a song for the kids. We knew it worked because they were all engaged and learned the words very quickly. When we took a quiz, some of them started singing the song to remind themselves the definitions. It was very cute!
Well, I am late on responding, I think! I can't keep track! But, Brooke is right about laughing at herself. She is funny!!!! The kids see the "real" me sometimes if I can laugh at something I did that was wrong. If I make a mistake, and can laugh at it, they can learn that it is okay to laugh at yourself and let others join in. As long as I am the first to laugh at me, it is okay to join in! Sometimes I have to coax them to laugh at themselves, but they lighten up on themselves too. Recently, in an assembly, a kindergartener kept turning around and staring at the fifth graders. I think she was just "looking at all the big kids". Well, for those of you who know Wes Cope, he can be a bit difficult at times and when he is down, it is WORK to bring him back up. Well, he was sitting behind me. I tapped him on the knee and asked if he knew that little girl. He said no. I told him that she kept turning around to look at him, that she thought he was cute! His face got SSSOOO red! It was fun. He let me "play" with him, even though he hadn't had a great day. It brought him out a bit and then he was fine. Every time she turned around, I tapped him and made sure he knew she was looking at him. It was fun to play with him and not walk on egg shells!
ReplyDeleteSpice it up
I tried to spice up a lesson today and it didn't work. I am not giving up. We were talking about doing a census of the ocean...LBD. One of the kids asked what a census was. So, I told them and then I thought about showing them. I logged into ancestry.com and went to my daughter's account. I had helped her put together a family tree a couple of summers ago and came across census papers from 1900 and 1910 under my Grandad's name. I couldn't pull them up today unless I rejoined for $20, so I couldn't show them, but they were really interested in seeing them. I think I have a print out of it from my last membership, so I told them I would bring it in tomorrow, but they really got interested! I SSOOO wish it had worked out, but maybe a paper copy will do. There was also a copy of my Grandad's draft papers and WWI and WWII draft cards, signed by him. It was pretty cool. Hoping I can still find them to show.
I don't do "spicer upper" things very well, so I have enjoyed reading all the ideas! Trying to change things up a bit...oh wait, Danae's coming back soon...she will help me! She usually does! =D
I forgot to mention, that staff meeting tonight was fun tonight! I haven't laughed in a while it seems, too serious lately, so that was nice!
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