Monday, September 30, 2013

Squirt has a new home!

After squirt was in his little container for a week, he began to be an adventurous turtle! As I say he, I am just guessing... The turtles are too young to tell if they are a boy or girl yet. Squirt would climb on the side of the container and flip on his back! Well, all of the kids started to worry about him, so off to the BIG tank he goes! He absolutely loves it!

The first day he was climbing on rocks. The second day he tried to get out of the big tank, and by the third day I added water. Well, as soon as I added H2O to the tank, he was a happy camper!

Squirt MIGHT BE a red-bellied sliders, red-eared slider, or yellow-bellied slider. We won't know which kind we have until a couple more weeks! I am thinking that we have a red-bellied slider.

Until next time...


 

Friday, September 20, 2013

Turtle Eggs

WOW! We have made it through the first three weeks of school! Through all of the testing and getting to know the kids, we have a new member of our class this year! As a third grade team we were able to get our hands on turtle eggs from William and Mary. This week ours has steadily welcomed themselves into our classroom! It has been such an exhilarating experience.

The kids were excited when they first saw the eggs, but I think the real excitement was when they actually saw the turtle breaking out of the shell! The reality started to set in...

When we officially knew that we would have a turtle we started to vote on names! We started with twenty names, and narrowed it down to three... Yertle, Squirt, and Rockie. SQUIRT won the vote! We now have a turtle named squirt who will live with us for the remainder of the year. HOW COOL!

The process of the turtle that the kids were able to watch will be posted below. I am still in shock that I was able to witness and share with my students this part of nature that is so rare to see!

This is the cracking of Squirt our turtle!

This is Squirt with his legs sticking out, and Ms. Davis' turtle starting to hatch!

Squirt is trying his best to break loose of that egg!

This was the most magnificent experience! I watched both eggs pop out of their shells within seconds of each other! Surprisingly enough the other turtle did not like Squirt so much, so I had to separate them!  

Welcome to our class Squirt!

Monday, September 2, 2013

My Teaching Philosophy

      Every year with teaching, I know that I will develop a more comprehensive philosophy of teaching. I feel privileged to have an amazing career that allows me to touch the hearts of many.

My philosophy is as follows...
 
       Having an impact on a child’s life is the most important goal that I carry with me every day. Leaving a footprint in a child’s heart that they can look back on and remember something that I taught, said, or designed, gives me the ability to say that I have made a difference in someone’s life. I want my students to look back and remember what they learned, what activities they accomplished, and realize that they learned life lessons in my class.
 
       Anonymously said, "If the student fails to learn, the teacher fails to teach." I think it is imperative to make learning inventive and creative so that the students can learn to the best of their abilities, no matter how many teaching strategies it takes for them to understand.
 
       George Orwell said, “Never have ideas about children, and never have ideas for them.” Being positive, inspirational, encouraging, creative, and challenging, allows me to spread my gifts through my students so that they can apply those energies in the classroom and in the future. I will nurture, guide, create values, and develop skills for my students, and prepare them for the lives they have ahead of them. I want them to learn and be inspired with knowledge!
 
       Being an early education teacher, I want to develop a foundation for my students’ learning and help my students create a passion for learning. I want them to look back and apply what they have learned to their future years, and remember how I helped them, personally or psychologically. I want to be a visionary of teaching, and bring a completely different approach to the teaching curriculum.
 
       My strategies and outlooks on education have altered for the better while learning different approaches to teaching from the great educators in history. Learning and developing my own principles of teaching enables me to have an open mind for my young future learners. Changing young lives with my knowledge is my goal that I will live by, day to day.
 
LET THE YEAR BEGIN! :)