Trade Fair

Last Thursday, our class brought in items to trade at a classroom trade fair. Since I had just recently cleaned out my closet, I decided to bring my old purses to trade (sorry, Andrew.) At first, I thought that having so many  items may be a disadvantage, but it actually worked in my favor. I traded for many things that I really liked, including a scarf and flower hair accessory made by Cassie, a cup of an assortment of fruit from Stephanie (thanks for my dinner at work! ;]), and the coveted item of the class, a four framed sayings about teaching made by Elizabeth.
Ultimately, the trade fair provided a platform of discussion for the class about if we would do a similar activity in our future classrooms. Because every student has access to different resources, I felt that it was risky. In order to do it in my classroom, I would want to have more control over what was brought in and make sure everyone had something to trade that was wanted.

The framed quotes made by Elizabeth.

Some of Andrew's trades, two out of three ended up in the ERC ;)

Some trades brought in by classmates. 

Cultural Artifacts

In class last Thursday, everyone brought five artifacts that represent them or their culture. It was very interesting to see what everyone brought, and even though we have all known each other for a while, we still learned new things about one another! Some people brought in pictures, some people brought in family heirlooms, and someone in the other section of our class brought their dog! We each chose one object that we were drawn to and wrote about what it may have meant to the person, and then the person that brought it told the story behind why they did.

Some of the artifacts from our class.

Bethany taking pictures of the artifacts.