Reading 9 Looping Sketchbook

I need to eat

But I want some treats

I want a pet

But I need to take it to the vet

I want a pretty doll

But I really want a ball

I need a shelter

To keep me safe from the weather

I really need water

To keep me hydrated when the days are hotter

I need sunny days

Because I like seeing the sun’s face.

I created this poem because it relates to the connection between needs and wants. Students can be able to identify what are some things that they would want and what are the things that they need. They can make connection to themselves and understanding the meaning of the important basic things they need. This can be good for kindergarten students to identify this concept of what they really need and something they would want. They can know the benefits of the needs the people need to live in this world.The students can also think about what are some other things they need and other things they might want and how that can impact our community.To make it more meaningful, pictures can be added to represent the needs and wants used and the students can write that in their science notebooks, so they can remember those images connecting to the personal poem. 

Reading 8 Looping Sketchbook

Activism is a topic that can sometimes be hard to teach in a classroom, but there can be different ways to teach in a proper way that won’t cause any conflict. The article mentions how having scenarios about how they portray certain things makes them think about certain situations such as recycling. “And you know it’s dumb to waste all those paper towels when you clean up the juice I spill. You should use a rag or a sponge, so you don’t kill all those trees.” (Learning through activism, pg. 11) I was able to connect to this idea in that I really don’t like wasting paper when it comes up with liquids because it can be just too much paper wasted that could be used for something else. In the classroom, it can be a little difficult to clean without paper since rugs are usually seen in the cafeteria. That’s why in the classroom I try to implement ways for students to not make a mess. For example, when the students are eating their breakfast in the classroom, I tell them to close their milks or juice to prevent someone spilling it and making a mess. Given all this, it is important to know how can we make a difference in the world we live in to make it better, and understand how things are done and why they are done. As a human being, we need to consider anything that can impact us humans or the environment to live a good life.

Reading 7 Looping Sketchbook

 When someone asks another person about a location, sometimes that person can tell you the exact details, but sometimes there is people who struggle to tell you exactly. Connecting this idea to the text, it makes me think of how much I know about my surroundings and the concept of what is going on around me. “A small world approach to teaching geography is achieved by engaging young learners in a series of “sense of place” activities related to their local environment.” (Walking and Talking Geography, pg. 15, 2007). Knowing at a young age what there is in our surroundings and understanding why our environment is like encourages kids to have a greater mind of what is out there. Being able to explore the geography and the environment we are surrounded with can help us think of ways to keep it clean and help the animals have a place to be. Constructing maps is not just about remembering the places, but actually seeing it in a map as how it is. If a store is in the right-hand corner, the store has to be in that position in the map, so it is easy to locate a location. The kids are able to use their five senses to understand what they see around. What do they hear? What do they see? What can they smell?  Personally, I enjoy observing my surroundings and always try to keep it clean. I enforce that to my students if they see trash on the floor, they should pick it up so our environment can look nice.

Reading 6 Looping Sketchbook

Primary sources are helpful for students to understand a concept especially when they have pictures such at it mentions in the article that talks about kindergartners. Personally, as I am student teacher in a kindergarten classroom, I find this really effective as it helps them know what they are investigating and looking at. When students are able to observe things and have things by hand, it helps them be more engaged in what they are doing as well as having crayons for them to use to label and circle. They work more effectively and their is no disruptions or having students be distracted talking about other things. As it mentions in the article, “In these activities, students engaged far more readily with historical artifacts when the objects were physically in their hands.” (Savage, A, Wesson, S. (2016) What makes you think that? Kindergarten Students analyze primary sources from the library of Congress.) In general, when I have readings in hand, it helps me to highlight the important words or phrases, take notes, etc. If children feel it useful and they feel they are learning from it, they are going to feel great of their achievement of understanding the concept.

Reading 5 Looping Sketchbook

As I went through my school years until high school, I had a different view of who Christopher Columbus was. “The aim was clear: slaves and gold.” (Zinn, H., & Stefoff, R. (2009). A young people’s history of the United States: Columbus to the War on Terror. New York: Seven Stories Press.) I was always told that he was the one that discovered America and he was looking for gold, but I did not know the fact that he was killing the Indians because he wanted them to find and give them the gold and eventually he took them as slaves. I was never told that he killed the people who he thought they were from India. A misconception I had before was that I thought he had landed in the United States, but it was at the Bahamas which is considered the Americas. A map would be useful to show students where exactly he landed, even though that doesn’t take away the fact of what he did to innocent people just for the greed of gold. Today, we are in a new world where everything is different. We did used to have slavery, but that’s something that changed with time with the help of people who wanted to change the world. Now is more of crimes that we see that it targets anyone. We can say that there might be people who are greedy and do the things the right way, or they just steal to make it easier for them.

Reading 4 Looping Sketchbook

 “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above. “- Langston Hughes, 1902 – 1967  

The reading of Black Ants and Buddhist had me thinking about ways to present the content of slavery that won’t hurt how the kids view it. I feel that this topic might be a little hard to teach given that we want them to know how slavery is, but for them to not have the right concept or view of it. Before teaching this content, it would be best as for the teacher to learn it as well and know how to make students learn. The quote above made me realize of how some people felt about the things going on in our country and how they wanted America to be. Even though slavery was abolished at the time this was written, things were not going well, and some people were having a hard time to survive and keep going with their lives without judging. Even until now, there is a lot going in the United States with our president as well as many crimes going on in the world.

(“12 Poems to Read for Black History Month.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, 3 Feb. 2017, www.poets.org/poetsorg/12-poems-read-black-history-month)

Reading 3 Looping Sketchbook

        Slavery is one of the topics that is sometimes hard to explain to students because the true detailed story is not told to them. Rosa Parks is an example of how misinterpretations occurred because of how books are written making students confused of what really happened. The information given is broad, making the important details be missing, making misunderstandings of what really happen in those events.  The least thing teachers would want to do is to have the concept of history about slavery loose it’s meaning about. Also, knowing how to deliver the lesson and not have students re-enact this type of settings because that can cause problems. A good role-play is the one that engages the mind, not making a setting where it can be damaging to students. As it mentions in the reading about Rosa Parks, “that we need a new story, one not only more in line with the truth but one that shows the organizational skills and determination.” (Herbert Kohl. (n.d.) The Politics of Children's Literature: What's Wrong with the Rosa Parks Myth.) Stating how things exactly were can be helpful for students to understand.