I truly believe that some of the best experiences I've had in the classroom are when I embrace "teachable moments." Whether it is examining a spider you find in the room or watching and discussing the weather outside...my favorite part of teaching is enjoying the excitement of those everyday moments with my kids. (I'm getting deja vu about blogging this...so forgive me if I've said this before!)
Last week, I took the teachable moment a step further. It doesn't relate to any standards really, but I just couldn't help but discuss my winter vacation with my students. First, I let them all tell me the favorite gift they received and the favorite place they went. Though I heard a lot about video games, most of them enjoyed going to their grandmother's houses...which I thought was really sweet :) My husband and I went to London (a trip we've been wanting to take for a while), and I decided to bring London to my kids.
With the help of some BrainPop videos and my poorly (kid friendly) worded definition of a monarchy and how old the British Empire is, they were able to enjoy a little trip! We looked at photos, did some castle worksheets, and examined what exactly is in a tea bag. I'll have to admit that I've never opened up a tea bag so I was pretty excited! We also drank some yummy tea. Most of them had tried cold sweet tea, a staple in the South, but few had had hot tea. They actually like it...but they really liked the little sugar cubes I gave them! Needless to say, we all had fun. Here are a few pics...
Some of my boys are really into Harry Potter so they loved seeing the Knight Bus!
They also loved any picture of me making a fool of myself.
I went through this picture quickly (as well as a couple of us at pubs drinking "different kinds of soda"), but their eeew's and giggles were pretty funny!
They also loved the site seeing photos...though one of my boys said he recognized this from Grand Theft Auto...a little scary that he plays that game; but, it was also clever that he made a connection ;)
Their all time favorite picture was this one of a mummy from the British Museum. They couldn't believe it was an actual dead body in there! I had trouble sugar-coating the fact that it really is a decaying body...oh well, hopefully they'll understand that the spirit isn't. I just go with my old stand-by..."talk to your parents."
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