Woo Hoo - Giveaway! (With Chocolate)

I am so excited for my first Giveaway! I have been torn for the last week between doing a digital “gift” and an actual one.  I don’t know about you but I LOVE getting a letter or a package in the mail.  I thought there might be others out there that feel the same excitement at the thought of an unexpected gift arriving in the mailbox.

Once I decided on a real giveaway I had to find the perfect thing.  Since I live in Switzerland I wanted to give away something from here.  I also wanted it to be something a teacher would love.

Here it is.  (There is a choice of two books depending on the grade level you would prefer)

The two books are both classics from my childhood.

The first is A Bell For Ursli by Selina Chonz and Alois Carigiet.  It is a picture book from the Engadine region of Switzerland (the Alps). 

It has been translated into English and I still have the original version in German from my childhood.  I love this story!!!

The second book is a chapter book by Otfried Preussler. He was born in Czechoslovakia and the book has also been translated into English.  This is a GREAT book for ESL/ELL kids because it helps with English language acquisition. It has certain words bolded and includes definitions at the end of the chapter.   The story is lovely and I remember it fondly to this day.  

Both books are amazing!! They are brand new (new car smell) and ready for a home in your awesome class library.

Last, but certainly not least, the chocolate. I'm sending along a variety of swiss chocs including the two in the picture.  Just thought they were cute because they are wrapped like swiss army knives. =

So...how do you enter (WIN) this fabulous giveaway??

It's simple just pick an item below, each item is one entry to win. Please remember to post once per entry. My fabulous friend Maya, who is coming all the way to Switzerland to pick your name out of a hat, will select the winner on Monday March 19th. Ok, she's coming to visit me and we will use the random generator, but she may be your lucky charm.

1. Follow my blog

2. Follow my store

3. Post about this giveaway

4. Add me to your blogroll

5. Grab my button and place it on your blog

Once I've picked a winner I'll contact you to find out which of the two books you'd like. All you have to do after that is wait for your fabulous gift to arrive!

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Freebie Friday!!!

It is my first Freebie Friday and I am so excited!! =

I’ve mentioned my listening center previously and I thought I would put together some of my favorite worksheets that I made for my kids to use in response to listening during center time. I rotate these from week to week so my kids have a different comprehension or story element to focus on rather than always using the same response sheet.

I have primarily fiction books in my L.C. and as such these are primarily for fiction books.

You can download these forms from my TpT store here. Please take a minute to follow me on TPT and to leave me some feedback.  

Have a great Freebie Friday and enjoy!

Miss Pam

How We Learn

Our first Unit of Inquiry in Grade 3 is How we learn and more specifically an inquiry into how people learn differently depending on where they live. I'm so grateful that we picked this unit to teach first as it is a fantastic vehicle for my students, and myself, to be reflective about how each of us learns and analyze what that truly means for our classroom community.

In the first 4 weeks of school we discussed in detail what type of learning environment we wanted in our classroom as well as our school as a whole. Through this process we created our classroom agreements and the kids were able to take real ownership in decisions made. My partner teacher, Alma, guided our students in discovering our central idea by having each student write about who they are and where they come from. After this was completed we each sat with our own class in front of our world maps and had each child read what they had written. As each student came up I marked the world map with their home countries. I then guided the discussion with questions about school in their country of origin. Through the questions and answers the kids started to make the connection that school is different depending on where you live. From this we were able to discuss what we thought different learners needs are depending on where they live. The connections that my kids made through this lesson was amazing to watch. I am awestruck almost daily by the thinking that my students engage in by discovering knowledge on their own.

Here is the map that hangs in our classroom. Each student's picture and self written profile is hung around the map as well.

In our next unit lesson I read to my students about Hellen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan. I used the book Hellen Keller (her life in pictures) by George Sullivan. My students were fascinated by Hellen and her ability to learn to communicate through her hands. The cover of the book has a wrapper that is printed in braille. The kids passed it around and took turns trying to identify different letters. Later that day during Maths, two of my boys were done early and asked if they could get on the computer to look up braille and sign language. They spend several days going back to the internet to read as much as they could find. As part of the IB curriculum we look for evidence that students are applying what they learn and are taking ownership of their own knowledge. It was delightful to see the boys get so curious about Hellen Keller and different forms of communication. The next morning I found two students reading books about Hellen Keller, including one that I didn't even remember that I had. They had found it in our classroom library and were reading it to each other.

The great thing about the Hellen Keller lesson is that it led to another wonderful discussion about how we learn and what each of our individual needs are.

A few days after the H.K lesson I introduced my students to the different learner profiles. We talked about visual, auditory and kinesthetic leaners. As soon as we started talking about them one of my students raised his hand eagerly to tell me that he was certain that Hellen Keller was a kinesthetic learner. The connection between the two lessons was amazing to see. It feels so great to know that my students are taking in what we learn together and constructing their own knowledge. For the first time I think I understand exactly what Vygotsky really meant.

On that note...I know it was a long and boring one today, I'm off to sleep and eagerly await tomorrow with my amazing class!!!

But I'll post some more pictures of the classroom just to give you something to look at. =0)