England Culture Club

After school two days a week I tutor kids through the 21st Century Bridge to Success grant. One day a week I also sponsor an enrichment club. There are several clubs kids can choose from but for the past two years I have been the sponsor for the "Culture Club" where kids learn about different countries and cultures around the world.

I started this club partly to help my kids from other countries share their country's history and culture. I teach about each country for about three weeks. Sometimes we watch movies or documentaries about the country. Usually I try to get some type of food from the country we're studying for the kids to try. We also do some type of craft and learn about the history and if I can I teach them a little of the language. My Culture Club has just finished studying about England. Our art project was to make Robin Hood hats.



While making the Robin Hood hats wasn't exactly easy (it even required a call to my mom to find out how much material to buy) the kids were able to finish their hats in one session and wear their hats home.

Since we used fabric glue instead of sewing the hats we watched Disney's animated Robin Hood while we waited for the glue to dry. The following week we finished our movie and had a tea party with scones and clotted cream and Earl Grey tea with sugar cubes. I had bought the plastic coffee cups at Doll's Market (so the hot tea wouldn't melt the otherwise Styrofoam cups). All the kids wanted to take their cups home so I let them.

---Stephanie

Biztown Field Trip

Two years ago I went with my fifth grade students on a field trip to Biztown. Biztown is a grant sponsored program where students learn to write checks, and advertisements. They also learn a little of how the work world runs with breaks and lunches scheduled. Students are put into groups of five or six students into various businesses. As with my last trip to Biztown I was in the newspaper shop or as it is called in Biztown, the Courier Journal. We started to day with a town meeting where everyone sat in front of their jobs. The people who run Biztown gave us an overview of what we would be doing for the day.




Each business had written a newspaper advertisement before coming to Biztown. The newspaper employees got busy typing the advertisements and then collecting the money. With several students as "advertising executives" (including the student below that is an ESL graduate and his friend who I had in 21st Century culture club) there were some disputes over who had to type and who got to ask for money from the CPAs at the other businesses. We also had several reporters busy typing stories and interviewing Biztown citizens and even the mayor. Our photographer also was busy taking pictures of all the activities. Perry would have been proud.

The reporters had some trouble getting started with ideas for writing. They had about nine pages of newspaper to fill and the interviews were rather short in the beginning. For some of the students this was the first time they were under the gun to produce a typed piece of writing. Typos in the newspaper could be a big problem, especially with one of my ESL students as a reporter.

To get started with the interviews the students first made a list of all the CEOs and CPAs (and the mayor) as important citizens of Biztown. They divided the list into groups and each reporter went of to interview those students that were playing those roles. Because Fairmont is a small school (at least for the time being) we were at Biztown with Green Valley, another school from our school district. They were given several businesses that they were in charge of and this year that included City Hall and the mayor's position. The reporters at the newspaper were anxious to meet the mayor and the other students from Green Valley.

Each computer in the newspaper office had a different computer program on it with labels at the top of the computer screens for who was supposed to be where. The programs were simplified software to enter articles, advertisements, or as in the case of the CPA, documenting checks and deposits. The CPA even had to print payroll checks since the "employees" got paid twice during their workday at Biztown. My after school tutoring student worked hard to get everything right.

After checks were collected from other businesses for advertisements or after someone purchased a newspaper the CPA would have to enter the amounts received and hand it to the CEO to take to the bank for deposit. Part of the learning experience was remembering which checks had already been recorded and which bill had already been paid.

Our CEO was in charge of the layout of the newspaper. He decided where the advertisements and articles would be placed. He was pretty quick to figure the software out. (Did I mention he is one of my graduates?) Ironically at least four of the newspaper staff were ESL.

Biztown also had a radio station that played music upon request and did shout outs. They also had radio advertisements for the businesses. They ran the equipment and the music played through loud speakers throughout the day.

I had helped the radio station employees prepare for the day. We had named the radio station DownTown music and had come up with a jingle. The students were anxious about what kind of music they would be playing. I had to settle a dispute between the country music and the pop music groups.

All three of the following kiddos are in my READ 180 group. They were working in the environmental shop. They collected recycling and made things out of the materials that were recyclable. What they made they then sold for a profit. It was a very cute program.

These three kiddos are also in my READ 180 class. They were working at UPS delivering supplies, and packages that students sent to each other.

The bank was a busy place with students learning how to make deposits and withdrawals. I had several students in the bank that were either READ 180 or ESL or in some cases both! It was great practice of their soft skills.

The bank CEO is also a ESL graduate. He was very careful when loaning money and making sure the loan payments were properly distributed.

The international shop was sponsored by Churchill Downs and was a gift shop. The TV station was busy filming an ad when I stopped by.

Lots of kiddos enjoyed stopping by the TV station. It seemed to be a little chaotic at times but it went well eventually.

Some of my lower English speakers worked at Walmart, the supply center. Without them the other shops wouldn't have been able to open since Walmart had all the supplies. Hmm...a little like real life in some ways.

They enjoyed getting all the things together and being needed.

We even had a restaurant. It was sponsored by Papa John's. The students were very upset to realize that they only sold lemonade and popcorn. They all had wanted to eat pizza.

Utility workers came around and read our meters...and then billed us! All the students then started to be more aware of turning out lights and such.

After everyone got their initial supplies from Walmart, they started to get replenishment. The newspaper desperately needed pencils.

At the end of the day another town meeting was called. CEOs were called up to discuss the day and give a report of how they did. It reminded me of Market Place on NPR. This was also a great economy lesson.

I was very proud of one of my READ 180 students who did a great job of being a CEO.

Our newspaper CEO received an award for such a great job, even though like the real world we didn't make much of a profit.

My student that was bank CEO did a great job also.

All of our students in 5th grade and some 4th graders were involved in some form or another.

---- Stephanie

Grand Old Opry conference

This summer was a busy one. First Perry and I flew to Las Vegas for a Differentiated Instruction conference. When we returned we stayed with Grandpa in Marysville for a few days. When I returned to Louisville it was only for a few days till I was off again for another conference at the end of July/beginning of August. This time it was for a new program that our school is implementing, READ 180. So Laura (the ESL teacher at the middle school), Jodi (a special ed teacher at the middle school), and another Laura (another teacher at the middle school) drove off in the school district van to Nashville. When we arrived we realized that we were staying at the Grand Ol' Opry Resort. We had an inside room on the ground floor (which usually sounds bad...but in this case meant that we opened our french door window to a small balcony...5 inches off the ground...that faces into the conservatory/arboretum type area). Notice the french door open and one of the beds in the above picture.




When you stepped out onto the small balcony you could see the conservatory area with pathways and benches (and waterfalls, but they were further away). The restaurants were a little loud when Laura and I left the french door open but it was beautiful to see.

One part of the hotel actually had a small river/creek running through it. For $9 you could take a guided boat tour around the river/creek area. I wanted to do this while I was there but I was too busy. The topiary and orchids were also impressive. It was too bad Perry and I couldn't go to this hotel/conference together. While staying with Laura was fun, I'm sure Perry would have enjoyed this.

One nice surprise of the conference was the amount of free food and alcohol. After our welcoming session we had a buffet. The hotel had an island in the middle of the river/creek (with all the boats). When we walked to the island the hotel had closed it off for everyone but those attending the conference. We showed our name tags and were admitted. Buffet stations were spread all over the island. There was the southern style barbecued pork, cole slaw, deep fried pickles, and spinach salad at one station. The mashed potato bar with cheese, bacon, chives, butter, and sour cream as choice toppings was a super big hit with everyone. I was please to also find a southern style paella. The paella had scallops, shrimp, chicken sausage, chicken breasts, and smoked fish. While the Lauras, Jodi, and I discovered what other food items were around (there were deserts also but that was later) a live band started playing. While listening to live music, eating wonderful food, and drinking FREE corona (I'm not a wine drinker) we had a great time.

A crowd gathered on the balconies of the other hotel rooms to listen to the music. Even the pathways were crowded with people watching the band, but only the conference participants could get on the island where they played. You can get an idea of the plushness of the hotel by looking at the waterfall and balconies behind me.

Those are all real plants behind me. I know this because I watched a guy in hip high boots watering and pruning them the next morning on my way to my first workshop session. If the first night was impressive I just have to tell you the food and alcohol kept coming. After each session there would be a food station. The 10:00 am break brought us out to cookies, tea, coffee, and lemonade. The 1:30 pm break brought us out to peanut butter sandwiches (yuck), smoked cheese (yum), crackers of every variety, and the usual coffee, tea, lemonade, and water. I won't even mention the breakfasts and lunches that were brought to us by waiters in multiple courses (I do have to say the goat cheese on one of the lunch dishes left something to be desired...so stayed on my plate and not in my mouth). Oh, did I mention the 4:30 cocktails where the alcohol came out along with the meatballs, chicken wings, veggie plates, and fruit.

I learned more about READ 180 at the conference but I think I learned even more on how to woo/market a product to a captive audience. Take a listen to the music, look at the plants, think of the food and relax (OK I didn't really get to relax till I got home but you get the idea). Amazingly I lost weight after this trip (but I think that was because I didn't even want dinner after all the free snacks).

--- Stephanie