Changing Paradigms...

Dealing with 9 and 10 year olds is very tricky.  It is a challenging age and we hold a lot of responsibility, especially when they spend 9 hours a day at school.  Teachers loose the EDUCATOR ONLY label and become a source of reference in citizenship as a whole. Considering this, we are creating a new project to encourage the kids to be citizens that are more responsible.   

Today we decided, as a class, to add citizenship skills into our behavior/English Only project, now they will monitor each other on:

• Table manners;
• appropriate language;
• taking turns;
• voice volume;
• respecting curfews;
• Class maintenance.

Please cheers for us!!!

Our class from the beginning until now

When I started global I didn´t even know how to say ‘Hello’ but now I already know how to say many things.

 On my first day, I   do not understand anything, but on my second day, I started to understand but not much.

By the end of last year, I started to talk in English to others and now I can go to Miami without any problems.

Now I already know many things and now I can speak with anyone without problems but I still need to learn more.

Eduardo Spinelli 

My English

I think my English improved because I work hard in some activities and speak English with my friends.

When I enter the school, I already spoke English but it was Canadian English so I had some difficulties.

I speak English in global because I like English and because if I speak English I can live in the United States.

My English started 5 years ago but each day I speak more, which is cool and if I stay like that, I will be a good biker in United States. To be a good biker one needs two things: to live in the United States and to speak English.

In global, I like to speak English, but in other places, I do not like it because people might think I am self-assured so that makes me embarrassed.

Pedro Júdice Quintanilha 

Our A-Z learning book this week

               IN THE NAME OF DISCOVERY

In our class, we have groups of different English levels; I am in the highest group: TOP. All these groups had to write about a book, I wrote about IN THE NAME OF THE DISCOVERY and it´s very cool!!

The story starts when Miguel starts studying about the Spanish fleet that sailed across his social studies book. Miguel couldn´t believe that exploring the world in the old days could be exciting, but his friends thought that it could be more than exciting!!

When he came back home he was walking and found a key and a chest, he tried to open it with the key. He saw inside of the chest, and then he got closer and found a book called “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. He remembered that his father had already read the book to him.

He started reading the book. Then he fell asleep. When he opened his eyes and he was in the story. What´s going to happen... Read the book to know.

Commentaries: I love this book, it´s really good.

                                           Beatriz Maria Resende.

My English

                                       

      I am going to say how is my English

         I love Global and I think that my English improved a lot! I think this because now I understand when my dad talks only in English with me. Sometimes I go home knowing a new word. I love to speak in English and know that I am good because I am in TOP, the maximum level of English in my class.

    

          Misses Robs help me a lot! With my classmates, I speak in English during Global. We have a chart in class that shows how you behave and speak English. I am doing very well in this chart.

        My classmates are very good in English, too. I need to thank Global, because I love to speak English! My friends help me when I need it or when I forget some word.

        Global is very fun and I always go home very happy. My mom and dad are very proud of me. Last vacation I went to Europe, there I needed to speak in English. There, with my English, I solved some problems, and I am very happy because I know that I did it.

        English is like Portuguese, after you learn you never forget. In beginning of Global I was scared, I thought that I wouldn’t know how to do the exercises and the other things but after I saw that I can speak English, I just need to study and practice my English.

I love English!

The End!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Ísis Madeira

Back To The Future

We saw Back to the Future, I liked this movie a lot because I really would like to travel in the time. I would like to go to the future to see how the world is 40 years after.

In the movie, Marty goes to the past. His mom accidentally falls in love with him, with the confusion his brother start to disappear. He needs to go back to the future. He uses the electricity of a lightning bolt to produce the energy that he needs to come back to the future.

This movie relates to Benjamin Franklin´s story because Marty, the scientist and Benjamin Franklin use one lightning bolt to collect energy.

Benjamin Franklin story:

Benjamin Franklin wants to collect energy. He put a wire on the top of a kite, on a rainy day, he flies the kite. After he touches the kite string with his necklace and a spark occurs.

I think what he did is dangerous.

Cecilia Terena

A Change in Classroom Style

Nowadays if we do not find a way to integrate our lives with the use of computers we become obsolete and boring in the eyes of our children.  Unfortunately, the educational system still relies mostly on printed press.  Therefore, it is up to us, teachers, to integrate our children´s reality with our learning processes.

I have decided to introduce the use of computers and portable devices in our class.  If the students are allowed I asked them to bring their own devices to school on Wednesdays, if not they will use the school´s netbook.  Ideally, they´d have their own for them to take advantage of the familiarity of its use.

This week we have started a pilot project with the school computers.  Everyone is blogging simultaneously about four different topics:

-          Our Class From The Beginning Until Now

-          Has My English Improved?  I Will Tell You Why…

-          “Back To The Future” and Benjamin Franklin

-          Our A-Z Learning Book This Week

An Electrical Class

In Science, we have been learning about Electricity and its properties.  We experimented with Static Electricity; the kids brought many things to class for us to prove its existence.  It was a lot of fun.


Then we moved on to learning about Electric Currents. To enhance our learning experience we worked on a play using Benjamin Franklin´s lightening experiment.  The kids had a wonderful time preparing the play and it turned out to be so great that we invited the Pre-k Class to be our audience.

When we finished discussing, reading and working hard to learn about the things that we take for granted but are a great part of our everyday life, it was time to see our knowledge applied, so we set ourselves some time to learn and have fun while watching a movie relating to the topic of our studies.  We chose Back To The Future because of the way Doc and Martin capture the lightning to send the energy into the flux capacitor and send Martin back to 1985.

It was a wonderful afternoon with many delicious treats, drinks and lots of popcorn!