Historian For A Day

Have you ever wondered why teachers start every lesson with a 

Warm up/ Introduction/ Do now?

An activity such as a Do Now brings your students into focus and activates prior knowledge. Introductions prepare students for what they are about to learn in class, or simple stimulation of the brain. This is the time where students can write about current issues and discuss their opinion on 

Here is a creative and reliable website you may want to check out on Do Now's using twitter! It also gives you a tutorial on how to set up a twitter account, which is very helpful.

Artifact Bag Continued...

After reading an article on artifact bags and listing some facts that may help in making your own; as a class we had the opportunity to become a historian for the day. Our professor created two different bags for each of the groups. Inside the bags were four different artifacts. We were asked to identify the items and then eventually figure out who those objects belonged to. My group was given the following objects:

1. Birth Certificate
2. Khohloma (Russian wooden spoons)
3. Gzel-pronounced jel (white and blue porcelain) 
4. Diploma- AN award for someone who contributes to science education

Trying to figure out what each artifact is!

Birth Certificate

Khohloma

After careful research and common sense, my group was able to put all the items together and recognize what we were looking at. Everything just happened to be items from my professors past! The bottom of the porcelain bird said made in Russia. This allowed another one of my group members to look up Russian linguistics and figure out that the old piece of paper was a birth certificate. My professor is originally from Russia, and came to the US in 2000. Since she was born in Russia, her birth certificate was hand written in Russian with her maiden name on the top. The wooden spoon and fire bird symbolized apart of her culture and past, and the diploma was an award she received for her generous contributions. 

This activity was extremely rewarding. I was able to look at an object carefully and try and figure out by myself where it came from. This made me hungry for knowledge, because I wanted to know all the answers. Artifact bags are such a great way to open up the beginning of a unit or chapter. They inspire the children and make learning fun!

*The FireBird
Since I was three years old I have been in love with Ballet. For a large part of my life I would eat, sleep, and breathe ballet. Therefore, when I heard the firebird being referenced, I immediately knew the fable. It made me feel really good about myself because I was able to make that text to self connection. That connection will also help me remember the lesson for a long time too because it resonated with me. 

The FireBird Variation