My Philosophy


I believe it is important to create a community where all learners feel safe, respected and have a sense of belonging. It is important to focus equally on the social, emotional and academic needs of students. I strive to meet children where they're at by differentiating instruction, choosing developmentally appropriate activities and providing a balance between teacher-directed and self-directed learning. I value play, the arts, movement, creativity and laughter as important and meaningful parts of the learning process for children.



Friday, December 9, 2011

Our Week With Tao Ye

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Tao Ye, a visiting 27 year old Chinese teacher from Lijiang, China spent 3 days with our class this week. She taught the class how to say chinese numbers from 1-10 and also taught them how to write some words in Chinese. Tao spoke to us about her hometown in China. Lijiang is located in the southeast part of China. It has an Old Town and a New Town. She talked about the Old Town which has 800 years of history. Some of the things she shared with us:
-people are protective of the Old Town
-there are 2 wheel wells at the entrance of the town (these are pictured in the slide show)
-there are lots of small rivers located throughout the Old Town
-Si Fang square is the center of the Old Town and at night visitors come and dance with the locals who dress up in costumes
-You can ski in the mountains but to access them you have to ride a Gondola and it's so high that some people need oxygen when they go to the top
-There are no cars allowed in the Old Town
-There are 3 wells located in the town and the 1st one is for drinking water, the second is to wash vegetables, and the third is to wash laundry (this is pictured in the slide show)
-January 23rd is the Chinese New Year and this year it is the Year of the Dragon.
Today we enjoyed Chinese dumplings that Tao, Mrs. Nakhleh and Mrs. KillKelley made last night at Mrs. KillKelley's house.  We had a great time with Tao and learned a lot about China from her visit.

Our new Math Unit is "Exploring Shapes, Symmetry, Area & Number".  We will be observing, describing, sorting and exploring the relationships among many different 3-dimensional shapes during the first part of this unit.  Our new Fundations Unit will focus on open syllables (has only one vowel and it does not have a consonant after it).  We will also be introduced to y as a vowel.

On Thurs., December 22nd the Firefly team will be enjoying a special Holiday snack.  Please email me if you would like to send in a snack for this event.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
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