Archive for April, 2009
This weekend I visited Camino de Paz, a Montessori Farm School near Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of my best friends wanted to go because her son and daughter-in-law started this school several years ago for middle school students. The students do the farm chores including feeding the animals: chickens, turkeys, goats, angora goats, sheep, and draft horses. They have greenhouses where they grow salad greens throughout the year. They make goat’s milk soap and farmer’s and feta cheese. They have learned to spin and dye wool, crochet and knit. Everyday different students are on duty to cook lunch and clean the classrooms. Weekends, parents and their children sign up to come and take care of the animals. They take their eggs, vegetables, and other products to the local farmer’s market. Profits are used to take field trips. This year, they studied the history of agriculture in the south and traveled to Alabama to study about sustainability in farms. They are experts on natural farming, and still find time for their project based learning that takes place everyday. What a wonderful experience for these students. They have learned about responsibility and respect while learning to take care of the earth and the environment.
We attended a wonderful Earth Day Celebration. The food was prepared by a local chef, but the students provided the lamb, goat, cheese and eggs for quiches and cheese cake, vegetables for a fabulous salad. I applaud Patricia Pantano and Greg Nussbaum for their vision and the ability to make that dream a reality. They are certainly making a difference in the lives of the students they teach and the value system of their students, parents, and community. The world is a better place because of these teachers and their students.
Paired Reading is a great strategy for working with students who struggle with reading. It can be used when you want to assure that your students are reading orally. You will pair students up, one student needs to be able to read the material independently–he/she is the tutor. The other students will be called the “tutee”. The Paired Reading strategy can be taught to student tutors, parents, and volunteers. This should be done in advance of implementing the program. You can also pair up with a class of older students to be tutors for cross-age tutoring. Read the rest of this entry »
Many teachers have a concern about how to hold students accountable for silent reading time. If you give your students a substantial chunk of time–30-60 minutes–shouldn’t they be held accountable for that time? Can you give a grade? How do you hold them accountable, attach it to your grades, know they aren’t just turning pages. I am writing an extensive article about this topic. Be sure to sign up for the email updates to get this in your email box as soon as it is posted!
For information on staff development and in-service workshops, call Marsha at 806.655.0774 or email ConsiderThis@MarshaClements.com.
Over the years, I have used poetry in a number of ways throughout the year and on special occasions. I have found that poetry is a great way to give our struggling readers and writers a chance to be successful. Because poetry tends to be shorter–not always, but usually shorter than narrative passages, struggling readers have a better chance of finding a success.
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