Underground Railroad Quilt

The literature connection project that third through sixth graders have been working on for several weeks will be on display on Friday, February 27th, at St. Therese's Black History Month Exhibition. We worked hard today to finish our quilt blocks incorporating symbols of our knowledge about the underground railroad. I hope our parents and other teachers will appreciate how each block is unique and offers the viewer a different window into history.

I found out today that students at St. Therese have a name for Mrs. Tarleton and me to describe our "team-teaching." We are "Mrs. Towen." I love it!

Also, I was honored to accompany Mrs. Misenar, the "art club," and St. Therese parents on a field trip to Brown's Fine Art and Framing in Fondren today. Here are my photos from the exciting, intimate, and engaging learning experience:

Visual Art and Drama in the Library

Fourth graders worked on their individual quilt blocks that must incorporate three symbols of the Underground Railroad. Next week, they will finish these projects and write paragraphs about their blocks, how they designed them, and the symbols they chose.

Students in Reader's Theater club consulted each other and worked together to design a story from three random nouns. We played a game called "Story Court," in which participants had only a few minutes to develop a story with a beginning, middle and end. The story was told (and acted out) to the jurors and the judge (Mrs. Owen, of course). If the story did not have the necessary parts, the students were given a sentence of guilty and were made to do something crazy and silly for their peers. The students enjoyed the guilty verdicts as much as the not-guilty verdicts!

I am continually amazed (and entertained) by the creative, talented, and energetic students at St. Therese. They keep me on my toes as a teacher, make me smile, and cause me to wonder who and what they will become in this life. I believe great things are in their futures.

Idea Webs

Second graders are writing and illustrating their own books! I will be collaborating with Ms. Kizer, second grade teacher, to help students through the processes of brainstorming, planning, pre-writing, editing, revising, sketching, etc., so that each student may enter a book in the MPB's Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrator Contest for 2009. Entries are due by March 31st.

We are using Loreen Leedy's book titled Look at My Book: How Kids Can Write and Illustrate Terrific Books.

Last Tuesday, we spent our time in literature connection looking at the overall process, practicing brainstorming and recording our ideas on a group "idea web, " and brainstorming and recording ideas for individual student projects.

An idea web starts with a main idea in the center. Then, students branch out from this main idea and write down everything they can think of around that main idea. They may not end up using everything, but it helps students get started with what can be the most difficult part of writing.

Ms. Kizer and I plan to focus on the process of writing and the importance of editing, and revising. I never write something perfectly the first time around! I frequently misspell words and may occasionally use incorrect grammar. There is always room for improvement and for saying something better. We hope that the students will learn some of these important lessons through this project.

Our History, Our Future

February is Black History Month (or African American History Month). In the library and during literature connection, all classes will be reading books about African Americans who have done things great and small to make a difference in our history as a nation.

Last Thursday, we focused our attention on Harriet Tubman-- what a courageous, giving, and amazing human being she was! We read Faith Ringgold's Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky and discussed how slaves communicated with each other about the underground railroad. Then, Mrs. Tarleton showed a power-point presentation she developed about the underground railroad with photographs of safe-houses, hiding places, and important people in the effort to free slaves.

In the coming weeks, classes will be making paper quilt blocks from the show-ways or symbols of the underground railroad. When the blocks are all put together, they will show us the way to our history. And, I believe this path also leads to our future.