Day 10:
Location: Village of Stornoway, Scotland /Lewis Isle
Site Visited: Inverewe Gardens (1870) & Stones of Callinish (2500BC)
So today at the Intervene Gardens, a botanical garden in the Scottish highlands, I thought of a few more lesson ideas for my classroom. Ok, so what in the world does a reading teacher do with pictures from a garden? One idea came to me today; I could teach about adjectives. Trust me, I am not the only teacher that despises words like pretty and nice. There are many others. So my thought was to give them a picture of one of the many flowers I took pictures of in the gardens and have students brainstorm words/adjectives to describe it. Tree Cabbage and Moss: aggressive Lily: dainty
I also came with the idea to teach sequence of events. I found this flowering tree in various stages of development, so I took pictures of each one at a point. Yes, my creative juices are once again flowing. I feel like I haven’t been able to do what I usually do in the classroom, in part because I am not teaching social studies this year, and two because there is an emphasis on this upcoming PARCC test.
Anyhow, I am loving how this experience is changing the way I see the world in which I live and helping to give me a reason to think creatively an outside of the box like I did when I first started teaching.
This morning we went to go see the Stones of Callinish. Ok, I have never been so cold taking pictures. My fingers were freezing. So on the weather, it is so incredibly cold here. And it is May. Yes MAY, I mean just a few weeks from June. Where in the world is it cold in May near summer? Answer: The British & Irish Isles.
They say it warms up in June during their summer months. I am like, to what 60 degrees? That must be hot to them. And how do they spend their time at the beach? I mean freezing temperatures, I wouldn’t even venture to go into the water.
As for the stones and structure, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They are not as tall as Stonehenge, but they are still quite grand in size. The formation is quite facinating, two parellel rows with a ciricle in the middle. This must be for ritualistic purposes. The stones are quite old, and I do mean old-but then again it is a piece of rock and rocks were formed millions of years ago. One of the tour guides, an old Scottish gentleman pulled me aside and told me there was an age old legend about the stones that has been passed down through oral history. He said they were put up by Africans, well as he put it, “course hair dark skinned people…” as those who live here have come to know. Things that make you go hmmm..
Well I don’t know the truth, but it is well worth investigation, but then again, how much can you investigate oral history. As for the stones, I am still in awe. I can't help but to think and wonder, how did they get these stones up here? It just seems so impossible. But then again, it is the same way that the natives arrived on the island of Hawaii. It just all seems so unreal. Events like those are just simply mind boggling to say the least. They made it, it wasn't impossible, or else we would not studying them today.
This whole world holds so many wonders.
Location: Village of Stornoway, Scotland /Lewis Isle
Site Visited: Inverewe Gardens (1870) & Stones of Callinish (2500BC)
So today at the Intervene Gardens, a botanical garden in the Scottish highlands, I thought of a few more lesson ideas for my classroom. Ok, so what in the world does a reading teacher do with pictures from a garden? One idea came to me today; I could teach about adjectives. Trust me, I am not the only teacher that despises words like pretty and nice. There are many others. So my thought was to give them a picture of one of the many flowers I took pictures of in the gardens and have students brainstorm words/adjectives to describe it. Tree Cabbage and Moss: aggressive Lily: dainty
I also came with the idea to teach sequence of events. I found this flowering tree in various stages of development, so I took pictures of each one at a point. Yes, my creative juices are once again flowing. I feel like I haven’t been able to do what I usually do in the classroom, in part because I am not teaching social studies this year, and two because there is an emphasis on this upcoming PARCC test.
Anyhow, I am loving how this experience is changing the way I see the world in which I live and helping to give me a reason to think creatively an outside of the box like I did when I first started teaching.
This morning we went to go see the Stones of Callinish. Ok, I have never been so cold taking pictures. My fingers were freezing. So on the weather, it is so incredibly cold here. And it is May. Yes MAY, I mean just a few weeks from June. Where in the world is it cold in May near summer? Answer: The British & Irish Isles.
They say it warms up in June during their summer months. I am like, to what 60 degrees? That must be hot to them. And how do they spend their time at the beach? I mean freezing temperatures, I wouldn’t even venture to go into the water.
As for the stones and structure, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They are not as tall as Stonehenge, but they are still quite grand in size. The formation is quite facinating, two parellel rows with a ciricle in the middle. This must be for ritualistic purposes. The stones are quite old, and I do mean old-but then again it is a piece of rock and rocks were formed millions of years ago. One of the tour guides, an old Scottish gentleman pulled me aside and told me there was an age old legend about the stones that has been passed down through oral history. He said they were put up by Africans, well as he put it, “course hair dark skinned people…” as those who live here have come to know. Things that make you go hmmm..
Well I don’t know the truth, but it is well worth investigation, but then again, how much can you investigate oral history. As for the stones, I am still in awe. I can't help but to think and wonder, how did they get these stones up here? It just seems so impossible. But then again, it is the same way that the natives arrived on the island of Hawaii. It just all seems so unreal. Events like those are just simply mind boggling to say the least. They made it, it wasn't impossible, or else we would not studying them today.
This whole world holds so many wonders.
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