third week at hawlemont and guest appearance at berkshire trails elementary

i'm writing this quite a few days after my last week at hawlemont. despite wintry weather reports and many, many canceled flights coming from the east coast over the weekend, my travels back to michigan for winter break were rather uneventful. i'm incredibly thankful!

TUESDAY

i began my day with the morning meeting with 1st grade. the class has been learning the 12 days of christmas to perform at an all school meeting (a responsive classroom method) on thursday. they have all of these cute actions to go along with the different days...it was quite adorable. after their singing adventures, i helped with a spelling pretest. the students can sound things out when they are trying to spell the words. my favorite words were ones that started with 'm' because having 15 "mmmmms" circulating around the room was quite adorable. those 1st graders sure are smart with spelling! once they finished the pretests, they broke out into reading rotations. i got to sit on the rug and listen to the students as they had free reading time. i learned all about emily's babysitter and how the family dog ran away and was found again.

after 1st grade, i met back up with caleb and went to 4th grade for an introduction lesson. for as much time as we've spent in that classroom, we haven't had a chance to really get to introducing ourselves. the lesson went superbly well! it might have to do with the fact that we've already done quite a few introduction lessons...and it also might have to do with the fact that the 4th graders are just fantastic students! very well behaved, attentive, and curious. after some basic introductions, we played a few games (they LOVED them) and then had an introductory discussion on water. it was great : )

caleb and i joined the 3rd and 4th graders for lunch. the 4th graders saved me a spot at one of their tables and by the end of lunch i had gained a pop star name (rockin' robin) and have a secret handshake with them! (some version of a flapping wing and a peace sign; i'm pretty excited).

the post-lunch hour found caleb and i helping with the 1st grade art class. going along with ther 12 days of christmas, they drew pictures to go along with the 12 days that they would use during their performance. it was fun, as most art classes are : ) i sat with one students who had the 3 french hens...this student also loves plow trucks, so he drew a plow truck with 3 hen beaks sticking out of the top. clever way to avoid the actual assignment. i must say it was a pretty good drawing of a plow truck...

caleb and i were slightly pooped after the busy day, so we spent the afternoon building this interactive water cycle game we'll use for lessons after break.

second week at hawlemont!

holy moly...it's already friday! where did the week go?

MONDAY

monday found caleb and i planning for our introduction lessons in 2nd grade and 6th grade.

TUESDAY

we were up bright and early for the caravan to school. caleb and i snuck into a morning staff meeting. it was good to see how the staff work together and discuss issues in a respectful manner. the rest of morning had us in 1st grade for the morning meeting, then off exploring some other nooks and crannies of the school.

our first adventure was to the basement which we discovered is a labyrinth of school supplies...some of them were quite ancient! the prize find was 3 huge boxes of yarn! hawlemont is collecting hats, scarves and gloves for needy family, so i made plans to raid the stash before the week's end to make some hats : ) we also explored the "science closet", which we found out is an amazing cranny in the school! any sort of tool for basic experimentation can be found in there. it might be one of my favorite spots in the school (with the exception of the art room and the library). i spent about an hour sifting through all of the fun items in the science closet...pulling out a stack of materials for potential lesson plans. so exciting!

next, we ventured to the lunchroom to catch lunch with the the 5th and 6th graders. we haven't worked much with either grade, but it was nice to meet them and learn more about their interests. after eating leftover lasagna from monday night's dinner, caleb and i headed to the art room to help the 1st graders attach their rainbow fish to a painted ocean of their creation. for as crazy as those 1st graders are, it wasn't too hectic! only one partial emotional meltdown and lots of cute ocean scenes by the end of class. i do think, however, that the kids had more fun mixing the paint thank actually painting. precious.

when our first full day at school was done, i walked around the pond back on site as thoughts of a snow day on wednesday danced around my head. the weather predictions had us expecting 4-8 inches of snow tuesday night-wednesday with a changeover to freezing rain on wednesday morning.

first week at hawlemont school...

i have been living and working in a rural western massachusetts town for almost 2 months now. boy has it been busy! i have had so much training and so many small projects...all while trying to get acquainted to a new home, new people, and new responsibilities. i keep a journal with my day-to-day reflections, but i thought it would be nice to have a place to collect my thoughts about teaching environmental education to elementary students ranging from kindergartners tripping all over themselves to sixth graders starting to gain their independence.

i am teaching at hawlemont regional school where students from the towns of hawley and charlemont gather together to learn in a very safe and supportive atmosphere. the school uses the responsive classroom technique, which i am trying to learn and incorporate into my personal teaching style. i'll write more about it as i learn!

my teaching partner, caleb, was a drama major in school, so i'm excited to see him tell stories with the kids and share his love for creative expression. he admits that he needs to spend some time getting used to interacting with kids, so it will be fun to watch him grow.

this week we spent three half-days observing the classrooms looking for various aspects: management styles, child behavior, and the non-human aspects of the classroom to name a few. i ended the week with lots of scattered notes and the start of a teaching schedule. our contact at the school, a 1st grade teacher, is really excited for us to be there and is enthusiastic about getting us actively participating at the school.

it was a lot to take in. every morning felt a lot longer than it actually was. after our half-days at the school, we still had more education training to finish. i enjoyed this afternoon's training since our contact came in to talk a bit more about the responsive classroom method. it was good to see her in a teaching capacity with folks older than 5 or 6 : )

from my observations this week, i think it should be a great teaching experience. definitely a time for learning. planning lessons, communication, teaching effectively and working with a teaching partner that i may or may not have much in common with are just the start of my learning objectives.

...to the start of a great adventure!