Showing posts with label Mental Images. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mental Images. Show all posts

Friday, April 6, 2012

Slowing Down Time...

...Here I thought if I put it on my Currently, that would make it real...guess not, because I'm trying SO dang hard to slow down time - this spring break is FLYING by...  Rats.

We had such a simple and sweet week.  My favorite part, by far, is each morning my boys crawl into bed with me making a "Momma Sandwich".  We lay there chatting, snuggling, and acting silly.  Those are the moments I will hold onto forever.

Another highlight?  I finished The Hunger Games and am in the middle of Catching Fire. Oh my gosh...why didn't you tell me to read these sooner?  Holy awesome!!!!!  You know that friend I sometimes talk about?  Barb?  She's into them too {I think I might of guilted her into it} so she and I are...GOING TO THE MOVIE TONIGHT!!!!!! We're meeting up with some other friends afterward for drinks.  Can you think of a better way to spend an evening!?!  So far, the characters remain in my mental images. I haven't paid attention to any commercials or anything, so I can't wait to see what everybody looks like! {ETA: I was supposed to post this yesterday - but a little snafu prevented that from happening.  You'll read about that later...}

Which leads to my freebie...we wrapped up our unit on mental images in reader's workshop right before break.  We have had such a wild and crazy month I just didn't have it in me to have much of a to-do so the kids all brought a flashlight.  Here's the note I sent home...it has my classroom information on it, but you could always just use the idea and tweak it for your classroom by making your own.

Here's another mental image poem paper.


I hope you can use one or both.  I took pictures of our celebration on my iPad, but I guess I need a cord or something to get them onto my computer {Since I don't have a Mac}.  It was a lot of fun and I got some really great pictures of the kids snuggled up with friends, in the dark, with a cool glow of the flashlight, reading}...I'll have to leave that to your OWN mental images!

SNAFU STORY:
Yesterday was a fun day - we went to the library, then off to an arcade with my oldest's good friend.  The boys had a blast and begged to have their friend {our neighbor} come back over to play because they won a disco ball and wanted to have a disco party in the basement. 

You would have gotten a chuckle out of their imaginations. Disco ball was all set up, 70's station turned on the t.v. and silly kids dancing their little hearts out.  Innocent enough.  <enter laser tag guns>. Somehow this sweet disco party turned ALL BOY. 

My oldest comes upstairs, relatively calm, not bawling or anything {which is SO not like him when he gets hurt} so I thought his disco ball was broken {said friend tends to break things...never on purpose...he's just a rough and tumble boy}.  So I say "Don't tell me - it broke".  He slowly nods his head no and opens his mouth.

HIS TOOTH WAS BROKEN IN HALF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness.  Not what I expected.  Apparently, those laser tag guns are hard and heavy and should never come in contact with a tooth.  I felt so bad, in a bit of a huff, I sent our neighbor home {poor guy felt SOOOOO bad}...found the other half of the tooth on the carpeted stair, got a baggy, filled it with milk, and stuck his tooth in there.  Where did I learn that?!?  I'm not sure, but it turns out it was the right thing to do because it made it possible to reattach it to his tooth that was still intact.

Yeah, would have been possible had I found all the pieces.

Turns out, I had the largest chunk of the tooth, but was missing several small pieces.  Darn.

The whole process was a bit traumatic for my man {and his momma - because it's so true that when our kids are hurting we, the parents, hurt TWICE as much}.  After a few shots, some grinding down, and bonding later he was as good as new.  It really does look very nice...but I'm still really bummed.  No more biting into apples for him...

And Hunger Games?  Soooooooooooo good!  If you haven't hopped on that bandwagon, you should!

Have a great weekend!!!!!!!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Happy Saturday!

I'm feeling pretty chipper right now - tiredly chipper - but chipper, nonetheless!  Loose ends are being tied up all over the place.  Pancakes were made by a super nice dad...BONUS!  Have I ever told you that I don't cook?  Not a thing. I burn water.  That's about all I have to say about that.

Report cards are completed.  Just have to look them over one final time and that'll be enough of that. 

All that's left are conferences and then it'll be smoooooth sailing! 

I keep hearing mention of these books...Hunger Games...ever heard of 'em?  I guess there's a movie out there too. I think I'm going to have to spend some time reading over Spring Break {which can't get here soon enough!}. 

I thought I'd share the activity I used for my observation with you. Hope you can use it.  We've been talking about Mental Images.  I teach the kids that mental images can be made using all of your senses. A great oldie but goodie for imagining what things might sound like {and look like if you don't show them the pictures until after you've read the page} is The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood.  That sweet book is FULL of glorious sounds.  The kids have fun sharing with one another the different sounds they were imagining in their minds: snoring, purring, yelping, sighing...



So, prior to my observation we had talked about making mental images for what we might see or hear.  The kids were pretty well versed on what visualizing is.  At the beginning of my lesson we decided under which Cafe' header "mental images" should go.  Great discussion and the kids knew right away COMPREHENSION! 

Then we read this poem....{love this happy little poem}...

Click the Picture to Download!
I always have the kids close their eyes or look up - yup, I tell them that looking up sometimes helps me see things in my "minds eye" a little better.  {Sometimes I wonder if sharing my little quirks is such a good idea - I also tell them to flush the toilet with their foot, and tape a white crayon to our classroom window when we want a snow day}So we closed our eyes and listened to the poem and imagined...

Great conversation happened after that about what other senses we might use when making mental images.  I told the kids since my science teacher husband wasn't able to create a contraption that would allow for me to see inside their heads they would have to draw their mental images for me again today. {The other day one of my kids thought she solved this problem for us by suggesting we draw our very first ones...she was BEAMING with pride!} 

In addition to drawing what was hiding inside their noggins they had to circle the senses they used when visualizing.  Most circled the obvious and a few circled "hear".  Now, in my mind there is nothing to hear when reading that poem, but I'm not deeming that answer "wrong" just yet.  I wrote on those papers "Tell me what you heard and return to me" so we'll see what they come up with.  Any thoughts on what they might have been thinking? 

Would it be wrong for me to go to bed at 8:00 on a Saturday night?

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Mental Images/Visualizing

Happy Heart Day!

I'm still twitching from our Valentine's Day Bash...good golly was it...ummm...active!?!  I'm not a light-turner-offer {Okay, yeah I am - but not a flicker  - like on, off, on, off, on} but today I was.  Mostly for the parents.  Love my parents, but clearly they forgot what "Give me five" means.  So, Mrs. W was doing a lot of light flicking today during the party.  The kids had fun, lots of smiles...so I'm okay with it all..but I am still twitchin'...

Did I tell you that I have next week off?  I think I forgot neglected to tell you because I thought some of you might feel sad, jealous, resentful envious of that.  Remember, though, I only had a week {and some change} off at Christmas...so I'm owed {is that a word?}. 

After break we'll be starting our unit on mental images/visualizing.  This is one of my ALL time favorites.  For lots of reasons...

1.  You can really talk up getting lost in a good book.
2.  March is reading month and what better month to really talk up getting lost in a good book?
3.  We are working on making our writing more FUN for others to read - which means including lots of details which means people will create mental images when they read our detailed writing.
4.  I love the celebration we have at the end...{You'll have to wait for details on that}...

When we talk about mental images we talk about what things might:
*Smell like...
*Taste like...
*Sound like...
*Feel like...
*Look like...

To kick off the whole unit we talk about how important it is to pay REALLY close attention to details.  When we listen closely and think hard about what we read we notice those details and imagine them in our heads.  Then we practice noticing things around the classroom/school with our Mental Image Makers.  In the past I've used mini-magnifying glasses.  We took a walk around the classroom and the school to really notice life around us - up close and personal. This year I decided to make these cute little creations out of toilet paper {or paper towel rolls cut in half} rolls.

So, when we return from our break {see how sensitive I am to your feelings?!?} we'll start this new unit by making our own Mental Image Makers and do some detective work...

I had my boys decorate them - my fourth grader wasn't too thrilled about pretending he was a girl - but he did it for YOU!


Click below to pick up your own!

Girls
Print on 1" x 2 5/8" Labels

Boys
Clipart: Scrappin' Doodles
Do you ever wish lunches would pack themselves?  Maybe if I make a mental image of that happening...it will!!?!

Holly





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