Counting Rings of a Tree
If you walk through the woods, you may see trees that have been cut down. If you look at the stump of these trees, you will see many rings. They start out very small in the center of the tree and grow larger and larger as they get to the outer edge of the tree. You should count the rings. Each year a tree grows a new ring. So, if the tree has twenty rings, it is twenty years old. Next time you see the stump of a tree that has just been cut down, try to tell how old the tree was.
Source: Star reading 3
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Facts about snails
Snails are very unique animals. Did you know that snails can hide in their shells? Snails also eat with their foot. On the bottom of one foot is a mouth with little teeth. As it glides over leaves and grass, the snail chews on them and eats them. Snails also have a homing instict, just like pigeons. Even when they're far from home, they can always find their way back. How do they do it? It's hard to say.
Source: Star Reading 3
Source: Star Reading 3
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Teaching Strategy part II
Here's the continuation of my teaching strategy part 1
16. Prepare your lesson in advance, always. Just in case that you still have time, you can preview the next lesson.
17. Make your lesson plan. Students are not interested if they see that you are not prepared.
18. Don't go out during the class. Once the class was interrrupted, it's hard to get back student's interest.
19. Don't let the students go out like going to the bathroom or drink water. Once you allowed one, everyone wants to go out, too. In this case, students will go to the bathroom before the class starts or at the end of the class because they know that they are not allowed to go out once you started the lesson.
20. Be fair! No favoritism! It's hard to do this but you should.
21. When students asked you to buy something for them, don't buy or else you will be broke. They will always ask you to buy something for them. Just imagine how many students you have. hehe..
22. Make some flashcards if possible.
23. Make rules and let them follow your rules.
24. Make sure to check their assigment every meeting and let them know their mistakes.
25. Always give homework.
16. Prepare your lesson in advance, always. Just in case that you still have time, you can preview the next lesson.
17. Make your lesson plan. Students are not interested if they see that you are not prepared.
18. Don't go out during the class. Once the class was interrrupted, it's hard to get back student's interest.
19. Don't let the students go out like going to the bathroom or drink water. Once you allowed one, everyone wants to go out, too. In this case, students will go to the bathroom before the class starts or at the end of the class because they know that they are not allowed to go out once you started the lesson.
20. Be fair! No favoritism! It's hard to do this but you should.
21. When students asked you to buy something for them, don't buy or else you will be broke. They will always ask you to buy something for them. Just imagine how many students you have. hehe..
22. Make some flashcards if possible.
23. Make rules and let them follow your rules.
24. Make sure to check their assigment every meeting and let them know their mistakes.
25. Always give homework.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
My student wants to commit suicide
How would you react when you heard from your student's mom that her 4th grade daughter sometimes tells her that she wanted to commit suicide? My student's mom came in the office to pay for her daughter's monthly fee. My student's mom and her adviser were very serious talking at the counselling room. After their conversation and after the parent left, the director asked what they talked about. We were surprised when we heard that our student was thinking of committing suicide. I was shocked! How could a beautiful and smart 4th grade student thinks of committing suicide? I even always sees her smiling in the class and she deals well with her classmates. I dunno what supposed to be the problem is and her mom doesn't know the reason, either.
I need to pay more attention with this student. I have to save her but I don't know how. If I could just live with her and be always beside her. I'm always worried of her. I want to hug her whenever I see her to show that there's someone who loves her except from her family and friends.
I hope and pray that she will be fine and never think of that scary and stupid thing again.
I need to pay more attention with this student. I have to save her but I don't know how. If I could just live with her and be always beside her. I'm always worried of her. I want to hug her whenever I see her to show that there's someone who loves her except from her family and friends.
I hope and pray that she will be fine and never think of that scary and stupid thing again.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
How to train a goldfish
How do you know when goldfish are hungry? Once a man trained his goldfish to tell him when it was hugnry. He began by not feeding it for several days. Then he tied food to one of a rope and a bell to the other end. He dropped the food into the water. When the fish nibbled on the food, the bell outside the bowl rang loudly. He did this for several days. Then the string without food was put in the bowl. The fish bit at the end of the string just like it did with the food. When the bell rang, the man knew the fish was hungry and threw food into the bowl. After several days the fish learned to ring the bell whenever it was hungry.
Source: Star Reading 3
Source: Star Reading 3
Friday, October 10, 2008
What would you do if your student always swears in the class?
How can you deal with the student who always swears in the class? I couldn't stand him today. Everytime I enter the class, he always says something bad against his classmates. He teased, hit and swore the students who didn't do anything except studied. He's not a kid to act like that, so I told him to stay in the class and I talked to him. I asked if he knew what he did was wrong. He agreed and I asked him again what he should do next time. He said, he always acts like that in the class when he studies with his homeroom teacher. So I asked if he could change for the better. He said he doesn't know. So I said I don't know, either so I brought him in the office to let the director talk to him but he wasn't in. I called his homeroom teacher instead and told her what that student did. Here's what his homeroom teacher said--
"Did you do that to your teacher? It's okay in my class but not to teacher --- . You can do that 4 times a week but behave for one day, okay? Behave when you study with teacher --, okay?" and the student went home.
I was shocked to hear that. Is that right? I got angry not because I want this student to behave well in my class. I talked to him because I want to change his bad attitude not only during my class. Because of those words, the teacher isn't helping the student a lot. The student will think that it was okay to do that again and again in front of others except in front of me, don't you think so? And do you think he would really behave well in front me next time? This student will think it's okay with his homeroom teacher how come that he couldn't do it to me? My goodness!
I told my co-worker about that. I said, that's for the sake of the students and not for me. Students always hear bad words from him so they will also act like him. I told her to tell the director about that so that he can do something for him. She said she already did but the director didn't do anything.
When my boss came, I told him about the student. He said I should have sent the student to him. I said I did but he wasn't in. I also asked if teacher --- also told something about that. He said, "never". Oh, well!
"Did you do that to your teacher? It's okay in my class but not to teacher --- . You can do that 4 times a week but behave for one day, okay? Behave when you study with teacher --, okay?" and the student went home.
I was shocked to hear that. Is that right? I got angry not because I want this student to behave well in my class. I talked to him because I want to change his bad attitude not only during my class. Because of those words, the teacher isn't helping the student a lot. The student will think that it was okay to do that again and again in front of others except in front of me, don't you think so? And do you think he would really behave well in front me next time? This student will think it's okay with his homeroom teacher how come that he couldn't do it to me? My goodness!
I told my co-worker about that. I said, that's for the sake of the students and not for me. Students always hear bad words from him so they will also act like him. I told her to tell the director about that so that he can do something for him. She said she already did but the director didn't do anything.
When my boss came, I told him about the student. He said I should have sent the student to him. I said I did but he wasn't in. I also asked if teacher --- also told something about that. He said, "never". Oh, well!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
What's the connection of economy to school?
I saw my boss laminating some "dallant" (points that children collect and use as their money during the dallant day that is usually done during Children's Day and Christmas) when he said that Korea is now facing difficulties on its economy. It's true because the former rate of $1 was less than 1,000 won and now it's 1,328 won. Because i'm not aware of the economic growth and I don't care anything about the government and economy, I suddenly asked him what's the connection of the economy to his school business. He said some parents will not send their children to private institute if the economy is very low. Oh yeah, that makes sense. He has the right to be worried! hehehe...
Saturday, October 4, 2008
My teaching strategies
I don't know to you but these strategies work when I do them to my students.
1. Stop talking (discussing) and look at the noisy student. I assure you, he/she will stop talking and pay attention to you when he/she saw that you're looking at him/her.
2. When the student is playing with something, get the stuff and give it to him/her after the class if he promised that he would never played with that thing again.
3. Walk around the class when you do the listen and repeat part. You don't need to carry or look at your book. You can just look at their book while walking. I always do this thing and most students think that I memorized the book. They don't know that I only look at theirs.
4. Stand behind or beside the student who doesn't pay attention.
5. Look around and make sure that all of them are in the same page. The page of your topic for that day.
6. After the exam, let the students who make a mistake write the words at home 5 times. Give it as their homework and make sure to check it the next time you meet them. Do this when they had a words' test. Students who don't like writing always study before the come because they don't want to make mistakes and write several times.
7. I sometimes tell the noisiest students to go out but instead of going out, they just pay attention.
8. If you can't handle a very naughty student, tell the student to stay in the room after the class and talk to him/her. He/She might have a problem at home and needs your attention. If he doesn't say about it, just let him/her promise you to pay attention to you next time.
9. In Korea, it's possible to hit the students. Hit them rather than wait for their parents to complain for not teaching their kids well.
10. Give rewards to the students who did very well in the class.
11. Praise them when they did well or better than their former performance.
12. Make friends of them but don't forget that you are a teacher inside the class. They are not your friends when you are teaching the lesson.
13. I usually use visual aids and related games. My students always expect me to prepare games for them so they study hard during the lesson so that we can have spare time to play. They know that they can't play if they are slow in the lesson. So those who love games always lead the students and tell others not to make noise in order to finish the lesson earlier.
14. There are times that students are not in the mood for studying. Know the environment and change the lesson if it doesn't interest them.
15. Don't forget to break the ice to help everyone feel comfortable and be part of the discussion.
<--to be continued here-->
1. Stop talking (discussing) and look at the noisy student. I assure you, he/she will stop talking and pay attention to you when he/she saw that you're looking at him/her.
2. When the student is playing with something, get the stuff and give it to him/her after the class if he promised that he would never played with that thing again.
3. Walk around the class when you do the listen and repeat part. You don't need to carry or look at your book. You can just look at their book while walking. I always do this thing and most students think that I memorized the book. They don't know that I only look at theirs.
4. Stand behind or beside the student who doesn't pay attention.
5. Look around and make sure that all of them are in the same page. The page of your topic for that day.
6. After the exam, let the students who make a mistake write the words at home 5 times. Give it as their homework and make sure to check it the next time you meet them. Do this when they had a words' test. Students who don't like writing always study before the come because they don't want to make mistakes and write several times.
7. I sometimes tell the noisiest students to go out but instead of going out, they just pay attention.
8. If you can't handle a very naughty student, tell the student to stay in the room after the class and talk to him/her. He/She might have a problem at home and needs your attention. If he doesn't say about it, just let him/her promise you to pay attention to you next time.
9. In Korea, it's possible to hit the students. Hit them rather than wait for their parents to complain for not teaching their kids well.
10. Give rewards to the students who did very well in the class.
11. Praise them when they did well or better than their former performance.
12. Make friends of them but don't forget that you are a teacher inside the class. They are not your friends when you are teaching the lesson.
13. I usually use visual aids and related games. My students always expect me to prepare games for them so they study hard during the lesson so that we can have spare time to play. They know that they can't play if they are slow in the lesson. So those who love games always lead the students and tell others not to make noise in order to finish the lesson earlier.
14. There are times that students are not in the mood for studying. Know the environment and change the lesson if it doesn't interest them.
15. Don't forget to break the ice to help everyone feel comfortable and be part of the discussion.
<--to be continued here-->
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Amazing Animals
Most sharks in the ocean can't stop moving; if they do, they can't breathe. Sharks grow new teeth every eight days. Some sharks can have as many as 30,000 teeth in their lifetime!
Egyptian Plovers can live in mouths of crocodiles! They clean the crocodiles' teeth. Crocodiles never eat this bird!
Giraffes live on the plains. They are very tall, and so they can reach high into trees to eat the leaves. Male giraffes can clean their own ears with their 21-inch (53-cm) tongues!
Camels live in the desert. They can go without food or water for a lont time. They can live off the fat in their humps. Camels can't sweat, so they don't lose water from their bodies.
Kangaroos live on the plains. THey have strong legs and can jump as high as 9 feet (2.7 m). Kangaroos can run 40 miles (64 km) an hour, but they can't walk backwards! They can go without water for a long time. Female kangaroos keep their babies in their pouches.
Octopuses like the warm parts of the ocean. Some octopuses can squeeze fish with their long tentacles, and some of them kill with a poison bite. Octopuses can change colors any time they want, and they can squirt black ink when they want to hide from an enemy.
Source: Backpack Book 3
Egyptian Plovers can live in mouths of crocodiles! They clean the crocodiles' teeth. Crocodiles never eat this bird!
Giraffes live on the plains. They are very tall, and so they can reach high into trees to eat the leaves. Male giraffes can clean their own ears with their 21-inch (53-cm) tongues!
Camels live in the desert. They can go without food or water for a lont time. They can live off the fat in their humps. Camels can't sweat, so they don't lose water from their bodies.
Kangaroos live on the plains. THey have strong legs and can jump as high as 9 feet (2.7 m). Kangaroos can run 40 miles (64 km) an hour, but they can't walk backwards! They can go without water for a long time. Female kangaroos keep their babies in their pouches.
Octopuses like the warm parts of the ocean. Some octopuses can squeeze fish with their long tentacles, and some of them kill with a poison bite. Octopuses can change colors any time they want, and they can squirt black ink when they want to hide from an enemy.
Source: Backpack Book 3
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