Sketchbook

Wants and Needs Video I have attached a YouTube video about wants and needs, this video caught my students attention with the repeated chorus. It is a simple video that describes what a want and a need is and it provides examples as to what they are. After watching the video, my 2nd grade students had to do a matching activity in which they had to explain the reason why it was a need or a want. They had to work with partners and had to take a picture of their matching and also had to record their narration. Students were doing a great job identifying which product was a want or a need. I did see, that some students were placing a car and a tablet in the need section. Since cars have become a necessary now a days students need a few seconds to analyze it and ask themselves if they need it to survive. When it came to the tablets, I asked them to explain why it was a need. Their answer was because they need it to play games or to watch videos, after some prompting students under...

The way this quote was used in learning through activism, was from an activist point of view (Learning through Activism, Ch. 6 p. 100-121). Ms. Cowhey wanted her students and their families to think of ways in which they could reduce, reuse and recycle materials that were in their houses. Ms. Cowhey reminded herself that she did not accomplish her initial goal but she did get student to think about ways in which they could help out their community. By discussing and researching about recycling, students were conscious on the things they threw away. That was one example of how students were active in the community, there was also the voter registration drive. Ms. Cowhey makes her students be part of important issues that can help the community and have lasting effects. The most important thing to remember after reading about how Ms. Cowhey taught activism, is that I will have to plan and research accordingly based on the grade level I teach. I will also need to have activities and l...

Geography is an important discussion that should happen in classes. The article Walking and Talking Geography: A Small-World Approach highlights how children make sense of their world (Fertig G., Silverman R., Walking and Talking Geography: A Small-World Approach). We as teachers need to relate the concept of geography to their neighborhoods. Personally, when I started to teach the unit of geography I started with the seven continents and then the oceans. I assumed that my students knew their area and therefore did not need any discussion. The article also describes how starting to talk about geography with continents and oceans sends the wrong message to students. Students think that important things are far away. I can relate that to my past experiences, where students knew their geography and were constantly talking about it. My students knew their neighborhood and the places that were around them such as the University of Houston. I have attached a map with the important locatio...