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.
WEDNESDAY
caleb and i both began again with 1st grade...again singing the 12 days of christmas and enjoying the rest of the morning meeting madness : ) afterward we took a break and got ourselves ready for fun time with the kindergartners. we just played some games with them and introduced ourselves. my, they are talktative little ones...but all in all it was fun. could have been better...but fun!
we then finished the water cycle game and enjoyed lunch with the 3/4 students and the 5/6 when they came in. it was fun to chat with some of them yet again : ) i really like lunchtime!
afterward we had a lesson with the 2nd grades on animal and human habitats. we tested their prior knowledge of animal habitats from last year's SCA crew, and they remembered a lot! we then had them start thinking about their own habitats (their homes) and taught them about drawing floor plans. we drew a floor plan of the classroom together. it was a precious moment! all those 2nd graders really excited about putting their classroom on the board! then we handed them graph paper and rulers and had them draw floor plans of their own homes. that's all we got to for this class, but i'm excited for the second half of the lesson!!
afterward we jumped over the 6th grade for our introduction lesson. we played some games and did some inital assessments to gauge their interest and knowledge levels with environmental education...this might be a difficult class to work with. there are definitely some behavioral challenges, but the 6th grade teacher is very supportive and has offered to provide suggestions and classroom management help if we need. i'm hoping that we'll be able to get them more interested in environmental issues.
THURSDAY
thursdays are our busy days! we began with the 3rd graders at their morning meeting and enjoyed some fun games and songs as well as greetings and sharing. then we did some reflections on our past lessons before joining kindergarten for art class. they were making snow flakes! the student i worked with and i made a bunch of them. i started cutting one out and then he decorated it. then he cut one out for me and i decorated it and put it in my locker : ) it's very sparkly! and adorable.
we enjoyed lunch with the 5/6 grades. fun times as always!! then we joined 5th grade for art class...they were continuing work on their bauhaus models, so much more exacto knives and glue! i tried to help some girls use math (trianges, midpoints, etc) to build a pyramid on the top of their house, but they really just wanted to cut the cardboard until it fit...oh my.
afterward, we had a bit of a break before heading to the all school meeting. what a joy that was!! they began the meeting with a story from the grinch (told by the dog's perspective), which everyone in the room seemed to enjoy. the 4th graders hosted the meeting and all had reindeer antlers and red noses : ) the 1st graders did their 12 days of christmas, the band played, the 6th graders played "jingle bells" on the piano, the 3rd graders did one of their new morning meeting activities. alll good fun!
the highlight of the day, by far, was giving a hat and scarf to a 3rd grade girl who didn't have one of her own. it doesn't take me that long to churn out hats these days, and i finished the scarf during the morning breaks in our schedule. she drew me a picture with a message that said, "no matter how tall or small a person is, you always make clothing the right size". it MADE my day! i put that up in my locker, too.
FRIDAY
we ended up going to berkshire trails elementary school, one of the other schools SCA folks are working at. first we were supposed to have the kids for 4 hours at hawley (where i live), then it was shortened to 2 hours because of the cold weather, then it was switched to their school because of the cold, cold weather. i will admit i wasn't entirely looking forward to the day. i was a few days away from break, more than a little tired, and just wanted to sit around not doing much. but...with an adjusted lesson plan and switch up of our partner pairs, all 16 interns hopped into vans to help the kiddos learn about nature!
my group was with the 1st and 2nd graders. my teaching partner for the day, rob, and i went to the 2nd grade class first to lead some nature games with them. it was a lot of fun, but didn't go as smoothly as we thought...after an hour, the kids had a snack break and we switched to the 1st graders (there was another set of teaching partners leading animal activities with the other classroom). they were a blast!! so well behaved and curious about the games. one of the students was in a wheelchair, but we played games that he could enjoy, too. he looked like he was having so much fun!! (as well as all of the other students). they all showed a great deal of respect for each other, which is an amazing thing to see with children!! it gives me hope for the next generation.
i am off to enjoy 2 weeks of wonderful winter vacation before returning to hawlemont and environmental education!!
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