Summary: Going To The State Fair

The event that I attended for the Civic Engagement Project was the Kansas State Fair and Same Hunt Concert. The Kansas State Fair took place from September 11, 2015 at 8:00 AM to September 20, 2015 as 5:00 PM in Hutchinson, Kansas. I attended both the Kansas State Fair and a concert for Same Hunt on September 13, 2015 at 7:30 PM in Hutchinson, Kansas. The purpose of the concert was entertainment and the purpose of the Kansas State Fair was to showcase agriculture, industry, and culture in Kansas. It is a great way for different diversities to share in common interests while also learning about Kansas cultures from all around the state.

Preceding the sharing of the text with students an explanation would occur as to why this particular text was being introduced. It would be stated that the text will be read primarily for enjoyment but also to use the opportunity to explore the themes, structure and features of different text genres. The title, cover and blurb would be used to encourage students to make predictions about the text and what it might be about (see appendix 1).

There are a few sights and sounds that an individual will experience at the Fair. When he or she first arrive, they will see the rides with their bright, colorful lights flashing and hear the rides creak and whiz by as they are walking through the gate. A person can hear the excitement in the screaming, laughter, and the crying little boy who is upset because he could not knock the milk bottles over. As he or she are walking, they can see a large crowd and while they are passing through, they can catch snippets of each conversation

The State Fair, for many years, has brought together people from statewide, even nationwide. Coming from Texas, I have been a part of the tradition of extravagant state fairs since I was as child, and have had the pleasure of meeting people from all over the nation. State fairs have many attractions that convey the beauty and culture of the state in events and contests which show the production of agriculture and, in the twentieth century, industrial gains. The fairs typically consist of things such as carnivals, which have numerous rides like we see in the film, State Fair, and contests that promote a culture of domesticity. The film, State Fair, is a perfect example which explains the importance of the state fair, but also American society and culture. Furthermore, State Fair being filmed after World War II truly captures the happiness of postwar America, as well as the importance of family life as the shadow of the Cold War looms.

The fair is a narrative poem that explores the sensual bombardment of a travelling circus by recreating the sights, sounds, and smells visitors experience. The poem is split into two parts. The first, an atmospheric description of the thrill and excitement of the rides and the effects on the senses. Whilst the second takes a dramatic turn to the worst when a horrible fate befalls a poor young girl in a field beyond the fair.

In order to involve our class, we decided to create a game. We will have paper that will run across the classroom, of which represents the river styx. There will be two teams and they will be asked to go out into the hallway for a certain amount of time. Once they come back in, they will create a group with their team. How the game works is that there will be a jar of questions. One person at a time will pull a question

Today marks the day where the state fair comes to town and they released a new ride called “Erikson’s ride”

The activity would be where Ms. Cherene started demonstrating that we were going on a boat out to the Farallon Islands, and all of a sudden our boat starts sinking, our feet are getting wet. Amongst the table groups they must decide what five items to bring from a list of twelve that Ms. Cherene had already pre-prepared. Then after the table groups had ample time to discuss we would reconvene as a group and share our ideas and then pick only five things as a whole class. After giving time for everyone to discuss his or her reasoning we would move onto the next activity. The next activity was a name game. Ms. Cherene would have them come sit on the floor and play a name game. The setting was that we were going on a picnic and everyone had to bring something, depending on what you said you were going to bring Ms. Cherene would decide whether to let you on the bus or not. Your challenge was to figure out the rule. Ms. Cherene started by saying, “ My name is Ms. Cherene and I am bring cherrios.” Then it would continue around the circle. I came shortly after her and I said, “My name is Miss Kristy and I am bringing kiwi.” She told me that I could get on the bus. After several rounds around the circle students begin figuring out the rule. The point of the two activities was to demonstrate that in science classes many times people will have different explanations for different experiments. Therefore you must be patient and willing to listen. Someone’s good explanation about why they want to bring the canvas sail instead of a bag of bow and arrows might change your mind. “You are always allowed to change your mind in science”, said Ms. Cherene. The name game was used to demonstrate that sometimes it takes people longer to understand things in science then others. Therefore, once again we have to be patient and

Arranging the five students by birth date order in desks from the front of the classroom to the back, I offered students the opportunity to earn bonus points on the next exam. At the head of the class were three folded notecards with zero, one-half, or one bonus point written inside. Aside from safety and anti-stealing provisions, the lone rule is that each student can have at most one notecard. Once the game starts, the students seated closer to the front get the cards. After we play a few rounds with points cumulating, a student seated toward the back becomes frustrated at the “unfair” nature of the game. I respond that they are all starting at the same time and to perhaps work harder to get ahead. Meanwhile, another student in the very back remains seated for the duration of the game, resigned to no bonus points. After a couple more rounds yield further inequality, we end the game. I ease their concerns that the bonus points were not real, but I reward them all for their participation by making the highest total (4 points) the value of the bonus question on the exam. In our follow-up discussion, the students quickly identified the random birth lottery as the key predictor of success. They noted that it was hard to get ahead when starting from behind. Moreover, the students applied concepts from a previous class meeting by observing both ascriptive and structural inequalities in the exercise – the assignment of birth day/month at birth and the arrangement of the desks,

For this lesson study, my group created an engaging lesson that would meet the needs of our very intelligent student. Our student for this lesson was Andrew, who is in the sixth grade. Before planning our lesson, we were informed that Andrew requested that our lesson be a three-egg drop. Immediately, I could tell that Andrew was a very intelligent young boy and we were going to have to design an engaging lesson that would be exciting and challenging for him at the same time. We knew this lesson had to involve higher-level thinking since Andrew has already completed an egg drop before. One way we made this lesson more challenging was by making it a three-egg drop instead of one and the second way was having Andrew compete with another person.

I usually take the book to my house. Whenever I get the chance I try to read it and get ahead. I place it on my nightstand, and some night I read a couple of pages. Just this past Sunday, I looked at the book and said to myself “ I haven’t picked it up in a couple of days, maybe I should take it with me.”

It was early, and dark that morning. The morning in which we were waiting for the busses, for our school trip. We were waiting to go to the Renaissance Fair. It took close to ten minutes since I had arrived there. It felt like an eternity.

So it's Friday, July 22, 2015 it's also show day at Madison County Fair. I’m very nervous because I don't know if I’ll do good or not showing today. it's like 6:30am so I only have about an hour and a half before everyone will start to show. I just got done washing one of my heifers all I have left is my steer. It doesn't take much to wash them all you need is the soap you prefer and water. This year I’m only showing two, last year I showed a couple more than this year. As I'm washing my steer i'm very nervous

Test your knowledge. The board game Tic Tac Toe does just that, test your skills at getting three objects in a row; and stop your opponent from getting three in a row, whether it is straight down, straight across or diagonally. You are to keep you opponent from getting three before you do. This game is to build students addition skills. There will only be single digit numbers used. The students must t be quick to answer. The object of the game is to get the students to think and be able to ad mentally. This game will also help students to learn their numbers. I will allow students to use paper and pencil to add the numbers if they are unable to give a correct response mentally. The number from each child will be what they are adding. Ex.

Next, the students played the Deal or No Deal game. Overall I think the activity went great. The students were having fun and engaged in the game. I was concerned the worksheet would be too complicated, but the students were able to catch on well after doing an example one together. However, it did not take long for the students who had the deepest understandings to quickly calculate the probability for their entire table. As a result, not all of the students got the practice of calculating and representing probability in different ways; unfortunately, this was especially true for the students who needed the most practice because they would be quick to copy what their other teammates had written. Next time I do this activity I will have them play the game in partners to discourage students from just depending on one or two people at their tables.