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September 2010

Rock me like a Hurricane

Submitted by Peggy on Sun, 2010-09-26 21:56


As a recent transplant from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to Northern California, I am fascinated by the science surrounding hurricanes. I suppose this interest in natural disasters will soon grow to include earthquakes and wild fires…more on that in a future post. Living in southern Mississippi, I saw the lingering aftermath of the powerful storms that can make landfall and devastate entire regions. The most interesting thing about hurricanes to me is the science behind the predictions of where the storm will make landfall and how strong it will be. Unlike many other weather events, people have a lot of warning before a hurricane reaches land. Meteorologists use all kinds of different skills and tools to make these predictions as accurate as possible.

Behave Yourself!

Submitted by Peggy on Mon, 2010-09-20 00:11


Your classroom is a unique space that you create and reinvent each year to best serve your students. Throughout my years of school as both a student and teacher, I have seen many different types of organization and systems of management. The main thing I have learned from seeing all these spaces is that the style that works best in each classroom is as unique as the teacher in charge. You might walk into one classroom that looks to be in a complete state of chaos while another room contains students quietly learning in their seats in organized rows. Your first impression might not necessarily be correct about which one is a better learning environment, since it is very dependent on the teaching and learning styles in each group.

Vocabulary Soup

Submitted by Peggy on Wed, 2010-09-15 10:38


Martha from “Martha Speaks!” learns new vocabulary words by eating alphabet soup. If it was only that easy, schools would probably be serving alphabet soup before first period every day, and there would be a huge alphabet soup dinner the night before the SAT! Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, but there are lots of ways you can sneak vocabulary education into your classroom and make learning new words fun.

Empower them with Literacy!

Submitted by Peggy on Wed, 2010-09-08 11:25


The theme of International Literacy Day this year, “Literacy and Empowerment,” reminds me of the scope of impact educators have on our students. We are not just teaching kids the basics of a particular grade level or subject; we are teaching them important life skills they will need throughout their lives. Giving our students the gift of literacy truly does empower them and opens up so many opportunities.