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Student: Mrs. Klein! Mrs. Klein! I cannot hear anything. My earphones aren’t working!
Mrs. Klein: They will probably work if you put them on your head.
Student: Oh! Now they are working!
*Note: You must read the students first part with absolute frustration and the second part with a bit of joy.
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One of the projects I’m working on this year is developing a wiki page for the elementary school. I’m using it more like a static webpage than a collaborative wiki, but it suits my purpose fairly well. It’s definitely a work in progress, but my goal is to have the links that each class needs to use in the lab, as well as in class, readily available to them. I like that with the wiki I can easily do seasonal pages (like Easter Fun) then hide them until next year. I’ve just added both Teacher Resource and Homework Helpers pages that I’m hoping will be helpful to everyone. Feel free to check it out, and if you have any sites that you think would be helpful, definitely let me know.
Each year the entire elementary school goes ice skating one day a week for about a month as part of their PE curriculum. It really is such a fun time. There are a lot of pictures of this here: Ice Skating Photos
This year I captured a few videos for you to enjoy.
Diana demonstrates skating grace:
Oenjdipa demonstrates skating rhythm (off the ice!):
and Miss Stevens, well Miss Stevens demonstrates some serious dancing skills:
This post is about a month overdue as Family Fun Night was February 20th. However, seeing as it is one of my favorite school events, it’s worth telling you about – even if it’s belated. 🙂
Family Fun Night is an annual event at VCS. Different families sign-up to host rooms that represent their country or continent. Each room has different activities meant to teach the visitors a little something about that country. This year we had Czech Republic, South America, Africa, Switzerland, and France. I was adopted by my friend Petra and her mother to be part of the Swiss contingent. (That’s why I have braids like Heidi!)
During the first half of the evening, families visit the various rooms and complete activities for a stamp in their passports. If they get all the stamps, they get a free book from the booksale. During the second half of the evening, different families perform with a variety of talents. This year we had poetry, singing, dancing, and a great skit about the saving grace of Jesus.
I love this night not only because of the cultural richness, but because it is one of the opportunities we have to spend extra time with the parents of our students. There are lots of pictures of this event here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gidgetz/sets
Here’s a video of the Africa club singing “Soon and Very Soon.” Enjoy!
This is Liz. Liz is the fifth grade teacher at VCS. She is wise, kind, talented, and one of the most spectacular teachers I’ve ever known. This year I’m appreciating her on a whole new level. We just finished a big cooperative project with her fifth graders. Each fifth grade student wrote a non-fiction book, but we published them using Power Point. That’s right – a completely digital project. I had a great time working with Liz on this project and I am so proud of the work the students did. I especially appreciate that Liz has been so willing to work with me on making technology something that is truly integrated with her curriculum. This is what being the computer teacher is all about!
This picture is from Liz’s birthday. I bought her a Lebkuchen (gingerbread) Herz that says, “Du bist echt cool!” (You are really cool!) It’s true. She is really cool. 🙂