Photo Galleries
Friendship Center
These are photographs of my students and of me in the classroom. They illustrate the relationship I have with my students as well as some of the resources I have utilized in making my classrooms more inclusive, educational places.
Sciencenter
My students and I communicated with another second grade class before meeting for a fieldtrip to Ithaca's Sciencenter. Here are some photographs of the students enjoying all the Sciencenter has to offer.
Morning Messages
The morning message is an important part of every day in my class. I like to start the day with a cordial greeting, sharing, songs, the pledge, and a little task on the morning message. This serves to unite the class in a positive atmosphere as well as to give students something productive to do as their friends are entering the room.
Technology
Being able to reach children by way of the latest and most effective technology is important in my teaching. I use various technological materials such as the overhead projector, the ELMO, computers, graphic organizers, websites, webcams, and webquests.
Chinese New Year
These are photographs from our Chinese New Year celebration. In preparation, I put up a special "Happy Chinese New Year" sign with traditional Chinese celebratory colors on our Morning Meeting paper. We had a day of learning Chinese numbers and adding and subtracting them, we watched a performance of Chinese dance from one of our own students, we learned about the birth chart, read stories, and even made our own traditional dragons!
Events
These are photographs of school-related events to which I have been. I enjoy showing my students and their families that I care about their lives inside and outside of school. These events are great ways to get to know the community and to showcase student and faculty talent as well!
A Positive Classroom
This shows what I consider to be a positive classroom. Desks and chairs are low, materials are on low shelves, images on the walls are brightly colored, yet carefully chosen so as not to be distracting. The text is limited to necessary words and posters. There are a number of windows to let in the natural sunlight instead of relying so heavily upon fluorescent lights. Students can be successful here.
Magnetism
In this unit, I taught second graders the properties of magnets. In this picture, you can see me experimenting with and showing the students metal filings on a tray. Underneath the tray is a magnet, moving the filings around. We also observed what happens when the poles are reversed.