2019 has come and gone. My, oh my, how!! We had the best time ever in Kirkwood’s Literacy Lab. Papa K and I engaged with our fourth-grade students, as we all explored and learned the difference between a country, state, and city. We used this knowledge to share a few facts about our travels this past summer. We then jumped right into the voting series. Soon after that, we made free time to talk about dreams. That was a lot of fun. We ended the year celebrating the students and reading one of my favorite holiday stories.
Did I hear, “Whoa slow down Mama K, you are going too fast —we want more details”? Sorry!
Before sharing our summer activities, the students were asked to complete a sheet entitled, “Where Have You Traveled and What Places do you Want to Visit? Some of the places the students had visited were Mississippi, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Memphis, and Gatlinburg. Sadly, a few responded with “Nowhere.”
The list of places the students hoped to visit was extensive: New York, Mexico, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, London, Africa, Paris, Hollywood, Australia, Spain, and Hong Kong. With this information, Papa K first asked the students to locate Tennessee on their maps. Some found Tennessee, while others could not. Papa K was shocked when one student pointed to Europe. We realized that we had to backtrack before we read another book. We needed to introduce a geography lesson that included defining and explaining the difference between a city, state, and country. Using the maps, the students had to list and write down examples. We will continue to assess their skills and knowledge.
OUR SUMMER TRAVELS We reluctantly visited a friend in Cleveland, Ohio, thinking there is nothing to do there. However, we promised that we would come. So, off we went. We were so wrong, what fun we had and could not wait to get back to Nashville to share what we learned and discovered. With our maps in hand, the mind travel began with a few fun facts about Cleveland, Ohio.
Our first stop on the Lolly Trolly was to see the Cuyahoga River, which runs through Cleveland and is known as the River that caught fire (14 times.)
“Hang on Sloopy is the city’s official rock song. The students thought it was a funny song, but they sang along with us.
Four-time gold medalist Jesse Owens was from Cleveland and he attended Ohio State University.
We visited Case Western Reserve University and stood on the grounds of one of the Underground Railroad sites.
We visited the Cleveland Museum of Art and toured the Medieval Monster exhibit. We brought the students a copy of, “A Field Guide to Medieval Monsters.” Once in hand, the students’ attention was focused on turning the pages and turned a deaf ear to Mama and Papa K.
We visited Little Italy and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We mentioned a few inductees: Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Elvis Presley, and BB King. However, the only name the students recognized was Janet Jackson.
MOVING ON DOWN THE ROAD San Antonio, Texas was our second summer trip. Oh, what fun we had, riding the trolley, searching for good books to read to our new class of fourth graders and learning more about the city, people and culture. Before sharing the fun facts that we learned with the class, I read Voices of the Alamo by Sherry Garland. It was both informative and heart-wrenching. The students had to use their maps to locate the State of Texas and the City of San Antonio. Several new vocabulary words were introduced such as, hacienda (a large farm); padre (a Catholic priest) and Tejas (the original spelling of Texas).
Now, for the fun facts that we shared with our fourth graders and some places we visited. Did you know that:
San Antonio is the seventh most populated U.S. city?
San Antonio is the most visited city in Texas and the 17th most visited city in the nation?
20,000 Mexican Free-tail bats consider the I-35 bridge over the River Walk home?
San Antonio holds the record for tamale making.
The Alamo is named after the Spanish word cotton wood.
Church’s Fried Chicken was founded in 1952, as Church’s Fried Chicken to Go in San Antonio.
We visited:
A portion of the River Walk. The depth range is two feet to 24 feet.
We went to the San Antonio Museum: the Men of Steel and Women of Wonder exhibitions. The students were in awe.
El Mercado shopping district- the largest Mexican market in the nation on the hottest day ever
Drove by the HUGE USAA bank compound
After the show and tell of San Antonio, we had a party to try some Church’s chicken and biscuits donated by Mr. Reeves, Mgr. We also traveled to Memphis to get some of Pop’s Tamales. They were some of the best that we ever had. The kiddos loved them. Dunkin Donut Munchkins was the sweet treat donated by Mr. Smith, Mgr. They also had to have a healthy veggie- CARROTS- Team Kirkwood
NEXT——2019 TEAM KIRKWOOD LITERACY LAB in Review Part 2:
The Voting Series