Teacher Mom

Sometimes being a teacher mom is hard...... but other days like today ..... it's easy! 

I wanted to take my daughter (who is my student this summer) to the Statue of Liberty.  I love being able to practice with her, and them implement these same lessons with my students.  We read a story in my class about immigrants who had to come through Ellis Island and I usually take this opportunity to teach my students a little about New York and I take them on a virtual field trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  

To get my daughter interested in the topic, I first allowed her to do something that she loves (art).  I found a kid friendly how to video for her to watch on how to draw the Statue of Liberty. She watched it several times, pausing along the way and eventually came up with a pencil sketch that she traced over with black sharpie.  Then we got the paint out and she painted her picture with blue skies and of course a light green Statue of Liberty (we had to talk about mixing paint to get the right color green)  

While the paint was drying, we read a short informational text passage about the Statue of Liberty together.  It was a little over her reading level, so we read it together.  She answered the comprehension questions by herself.  

We found a 360VR video on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYBAA23d85Y  She used the VR headset to take a virtual FT to the Statue of Liberty.  Her comments were "it's SOOO big!!!"  That was my exact same thought when I saw it in person in 2007.  I thought it was a really cool moment..... she said "Whoa there's a boat!"  In her reading passage they mentioned that people ride a "ferry" over to Liberty Island.  She has never been on a ferry and didn't understand what it meant.  I guess she thought they were talking about a "fairy."  Anyway, the VR experience helped her understand that vocabulary word.... which I think is awesome!  

I love how VR allows students to experience the world and see places they may never get the opportunity to see in person.  It is so much better than simply watching a video or seeing pictures.  Something about putting on the headset makes it feel like you can reach out and touch it.'

After the VR experience we ended the lesson with writing practice.  She had to write a paragraph about the Statue of Liberty using information from her reading passage.