Friday Favorites in June: Cecilia; Father's Day; Massachusetts; Line Leader Letters!

Happy Fabulous Friday!  Today I am linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything for:

 Cecilia
Every Monday and Friday, my husband and I take care of our almost 11 month old granddaughter, Cecilia:

She is the happiest and most pleasant baby I have ever known.  She wakes up from her nap with a smile on her face.  
Father's Day Boston Harbor Cruise
Several years ago on Father's Day, my family and I went on a sunset cruise of Boston Harbor.  Here are 2 highlights:

Here's a picture of Boston Light - the oldest lighthouse in North America.  It is also a lighthouse that is still manned.  Back in colonial days, the purpose of this lighthouse was to warm of the presence of enemy ships. 

Continuing on, here's a picture of the famous USS Constitution.  In the background to the left of the ship, you can see the Bunker Hill Monument.  Every evening at sunset, the crew of the USS Constitution holds a ceremony to retire the flag in which they play Taps and set off a cannon.  The sound of the cannon is really loud, and many other harbor cruise ships stay in the area to witness this nightly ritual.

Massachusetts History I always loved teaching about Massachusetts history.  Any time I go to another state, my heart does sing when I'm on my way home and see the "Massachusetts Welcomes You" sign.  Plus, in 3rd grade, we studied about Massachusetts all year so I'm always happy to add to my knowledge base.  
Now it's the 250th anniversary of the start  of the Revolutionary War, knowing history is even more relevant!

This picture shows the recent 250th anniversary of the first battles in Concord, MA!
Line Leader Letters/Acrostic Poems

Here is an idea to keep in your back pocket for next school year!  

Every week, there is a Line Leader for the class.  Besides, always being first in line, this person gets to lead the class in the Pledge of Allegiance and choose a song to sing in the morning.  Every Friday afternoon, the students and I write a Line Leader letter (for the first half of the year) or an acrostic poem (for the 2nd part of the year).  Then I staple all the pages together and share the pictures with the rest of the class on the rug.  The prior Line Leader and I read our letters/poems out loud, and then the Line Leader receives their book. 

Here's a sample of the acrostic I wrote to one of the students:

This Friday afternoon tradition was VERY important to me because it is a community and confidence building experience.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!  Make sure to visit this link up to check out other great blogs!

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Currently ~ Just January ~ Happy New Year!

Happy 2019!  Time sure flies where you're focused and keeping busy!  I'm delighted to link up today with Anne in Residence for:

Choosing 

I'm currently taking an online course about incorporating STEAM into my classroom.  I'm trying to spend time watching all the videos and reading all the articles so that I can learn more about this area.  STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.  The emphasis is one hands-on group work that solves a real life problem.  I really love this quote by John Dewey:

“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.”

Tidying 



I could spend endless time tidying everything and everywhere in my house.  After Christmas I spent an hour cleaning the top of my stove.  Then I had to clean the kitchen counters,...Tidying to infinity and beyond!

 
Resolving 






It's really fun to eat anything and everything you want until you step on the scale...which means I need to start eating better and more healthy food.  Eating gluttonously was fun while it lasted.  Now it's back to reality.

Exploring 

I've been having the best time researching STEAM resources in Massachusetts.  I knew there would be a lot because of the huge number of universities, but I still made some exciting discoveries. For example,

Massachusetts has an annual STEM conference in November.  The conference is in Worcester which is about an hour from where I live. The next STEM summit will take place on November 5, 2019.

In addition, I checked out science apps and web sites.  I was just playing this sorting game on Science Kids in which I needed to sort moving objects into birds, insects, mammals or plants.  It was quite challenging for me.  Click here to check out the home page.

Refreshing

I'm really finding Polar Seltzer water to be very refreshing.  Seltzer is now my everyday beverage of choice.  It has fizz like soda minus all the artificial flavorings and additives.  

Well, there's the current news for now!  Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for me about anything I write about!  

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Happiness is Visting the Commonwealth Museum!

Hello again!  Thanks for visiting to hear all about our most recent field trip and why there are at least:

Most states have a state museum or historical society that could provide free field trips or resources for you and your students ~ check this out to make sure you're not missing out on any opportunities!

 All Field Trips Are Free!

 In third grade, all we study is Massachusetts, and there is plenty to study.  The focus of the Commonwealth Museum is Massachusetts, and there are so many educational activities and games to reinforce what the kids learn.  Our first stop was a video about town meetings and an overview of Massachusetts history:

Several students mentioned that this video was their favorite part because there are three large screen TVs in the room ~ this gives a panoramic effect.  In addition, there are two small rectangular screen that hang in front of the TV screens.  On these small screens, individual colonists magically appear and talk about their lives and viewpoints.

Small Group Instruction!

After the video, we took a quick tour through the Treasure Room which contains Paul Revere's original engraving of the Boston Massacre (it's in the glass case in the below picture) as well as the original charter for the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the first Massachusetts state Constitution.

Click on picture for more information.

After the quick tour, the kids were divided into four small groups and visited four centers that focused on different eras of Massachusetts history, like the Salem Witch Trials as well as the American and Industrial Revolutions:

The Commonwealth Museum employs college interns in addition to their regular staff.  The young woman in the top right picture is a student at Northeastern University!

Archeological Dig Activities.

Between 1991 and 2006, Boston underwent a huge change called "The Big Dig" in which major highways went from above ground to underground tunnels.  If you've ever driven in Boston, it's not that easy or fun, but this "Big Dig" was meant to improve traffic.  In the digging process, many historical and colonial artifacts were unearthed and are now stored at the Commonwealth Museum.

To give the kids a feel for the whole process, they first donned construction vests and observed the historical objects which came from a colonist's privy or private trash/garbage/waste area.  After this, they changed into lab coats and investigated and made conclusions about the objects.  They has a tremendously fun time:

 Home of the Oldest Bowling Ball in the USA!


Every group's specimens included one of those sphere-like objects:

Click here or on the picture to read more at the Commonwealth Museum's web site.

We learned that this is a bowling bowl; this particular colonist loved to bowl.  Bowling was actually popular back in colonial days!  I learned something new about colonial life!  In addition, the oldest bowling bowl in the USA is at the Commonwealth Museum (just in case you're ever on "Jeopardy" or another game show,  you'll know the answer.)

"A Hidden Gem"

According to a Boston Globe article (click here to read the article),
the Commonwealth Museum is a place worth visiting if you want to learn more about Massachusetts or do research from their extensive collection of artifacts and historical documents.

Those are my five highlights from last week!  Be sure to link up with Doodle Bugs to check more!

Thanks for checking in today, and have a wonderful week!

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