last week was my final week teaching at hawlemont. i've taken a while to write this post because i'm still trying to process everything from the week...
here's a rundown:
MONDAY
a planning day, except this day was more exciting because 8 more corps members moved in over the weekend to be joining us for the trail work portion of the internship. while we were planning our hearts out, they were getting orientation to the site. hooray new friends!
TUESDAY
it was a weird day. we started the morning in 6th grade. that went well! it was a good conclusion to our time with them. then we had a lot of downtime because our 4th grade lesson was rescheduled due to the massachusetts standardized exams. our only other lesson that day was with 5th grade. we ended up just playing a bunch of games with them. it was great!
WEDNESDAY
a crazy busy day! we began our morning in preschool. we did some water experiments...they were okay...but the highlight was getting hugs from all of the preschoolers. they are ADORABLE! then we rushed over to kindergarten for our final lesson on oobleck. it is amazing how amazed kids get over cornstarch and water mixed together. i mean, i love oobleck. i could play with it all day...it's fascinating!! a great lesson to end our time!
then, we rushed (yet again) over to 4th grade to finish working on the rain gauge guidebook. the guidebook came together SO well! i am still impressed with how great all of the pages look. also, it was great to see that the students are really excited to keep measuring all of the rain gauge data! i love service learning : )
we enjoyed lunch with 3rd and 4th grade and had fun at recess. i hung around with a kindergartner most of the time. we searched for lost toy monster trucks...which was basically and excuse to run around the playground and all over the structure. kids are amazing.
in the afternoon, we popped back into 4th grade to do some wrap up activities and then bounced over to 2nd grade to finish the river project. that, too, came together well! i feel like the class didn't really get much from our lessons, but they really loved us. we received a bunch of gifts and notes from them. it was great! also...caleb and i both received LOTS of hugs. that was awesome.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
"i wish today was tuesday".
that was a quote from a 4th grader today (thursday). we see that class on tuesday...that made me feel great! this week has just been great for kid quotes. here are some of the highlights in kid quotes...
"thanks for teaching us all of this cool stuff because before i didn't know what a water cycle was, but now i do" (3rd grader).
"i wish you could come over to my house" (whispered by a 1st grader).
"thermometer!" (shouted by a kindergartner).
"can you come over to my house on my birthday?" (preschooler).
so wonderful!
MONDAY
a planning day. i recall being rather tired...and it rained all day.
TUESDAY
a GORGEOUS day outside...6th grade lesson analyzing their transportation logs went well. 6th graders don't know percents very well...at least that's what i learned. i think they enjoyed it. then we work on the rain gauge guidebook with 4th grade. that went much more smoothly. some of the kids are making some great progress! the others are doing a very focused job.
after lunch we headed over to 3rd grade to work on their water cycle puppet shows since we didn't have much time last week. we gave them a graphic organizer so they could organize the plot, the characters and the types of puppets they would make. i don't know if it was that or just a better facilitation of the lesson, but every group wrote their show and completed their puppets in that time!
we rounded out the day with 5th grade science jeopardy! they loved it! i think they were almost too engaged. we had to remind them a few times to sit down in their seats. i was surprised at how much they retained over the past few months. very refreshing!
WEDNESDAY
another beautiful day. we started off in preschool. we had a slightly hectic activity where we traced their bodies on big paper and had them color in 7 of 10 spaces we put on them (to show that our body is 70% water). i forgot to explain the whole 70% thing when i was introducing the activity, whoops! live and learn...we also made a tornado maker from some plastic bottles and a tornado sleeve. one of the kids kept putting it in his cubby. it was hilarious. we then made our way to kindergarten...where we had to try to figure out why the sugar crystals didn't work...and then had them draw on a puzzle piece their favorite activity. some of them just drew squares. some of them drew bees (we didn't teach them about bees). but they seemed to have fun...
gym class with william (kids always cry in the class...), lunch, recess.
we finished the day with our 2nd grade river habitat projects. they just worked on decorating their river pieces with all of the things their animals need to survive. they are looking great! i'm so excited to see them completed.
"thanks for teaching us all of this cool stuff because before i didn't know what a water cycle was, but now i do" (3rd grader).
"i wish you could come over to my house" (whispered by a 1st grader).
"thermometer!" (shouted by a kindergartner).
"can you come over to my house on my birthday?" (preschooler).
so wonderful!
MONDAY
a planning day. i recall being rather tired...and it rained all day.
TUESDAY
a GORGEOUS day outside...6th grade lesson analyzing their transportation logs went well. 6th graders don't know percents very well...at least that's what i learned. i think they enjoyed it. then we work on the rain gauge guidebook with 4th grade. that went much more smoothly. some of the kids are making some great progress! the others are doing a very focused job.
after lunch we headed over to 3rd grade to work on their water cycle puppet shows since we didn't have much time last week. we gave them a graphic organizer so they could organize the plot, the characters and the types of puppets they would make. i don't know if it was that or just a better facilitation of the lesson, but every group wrote their show and completed their puppets in that time!
we rounded out the day with 5th grade science jeopardy! they loved it! i think they were almost too engaged. we had to remind them a few times to sit down in their seats. i was surprised at how much they retained over the past few months. very refreshing!
WEDNESDAY
another beautiful day. we started off in preschool. we had a slightly hectic activity where we traced their bodies on big paper and had them color in 7 of 10 spaces we put on them (to show that our body is 70% water). i forgot to explain the whole 70% thing when i was introducing the activity, whoops! live and learn...we also made a tornado maker from some plastic bottles and a tornado sleeve. one of the kids kept putting it in his cubby. it was hilarious. we then made our way to kindergarten...where we had to try to figure out why the sugar crystals didn't work...and then had them draw on a puzzle piece their favorite activity. some of them just drew squares. some of them drew bees (we didn't teach them about bees). but they seemed to have fun...
gym class with william (kids always cry in the class...), lunch, recess.
we finished the day with our 2nd grade river habitat projects. they just worked on decorating their river pieces with all of the things their animals need to survive. they are looking great! i'm so excited to see them completed.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
a kindergartner is better than me at basketball.
yup. true statement. one of the kindergartners kicked my tushy at basketball during recess this week. the kid is half my height, one quarter my age, but makes baskets like a pro. not fair!
he also invited me over to his house. that was adorable.
anyway, what a busy week. there was a mix of wonderful moments, stressful moments, tension-filled moments, and sad moments...
MONDAY
a planning day as usual. fairly uneventful.
TUESDAY
we arrived early as usual. last week i felt like we weren't organized the whole week, so i decided to finish the small bits of planning we had to do and print out all of our lesson plans for the week. my overachieving self is starting to make a comeback. we then headed to 6th grade. we discussed more about transportation and looked at transportation systems. we gave them all transportation logs to keep track of their use of transportation over the week. that should be interesting to look at.
then we had a break...i can't remember what we did...
next came our lesson with 4th grade. we continued learning about the rain gauge and had them form groups to start making a guidebook on how to use the rain gauge. the making of the guidebook will be interesting...i still don't know if i have a clear vision on what it's going to end up looking like (or whether we'll be able to complete it in our time left at the school).
after lunch, we enjoyed the craziness that is 1st grade art class. they painted self portraits that had sculpted out of clay a while back. then they proceeded to use WAY too much construction paper to make little cutout hearts. i swear...if the amount of hearts that class cuts out in one class period is an indicator of how much love they have for eachother...there is a LOT of love going on...
our 5th grade class brought episode 2 of who wants to be a meteorologist? again, a solid lesson. at the end there was some confusion over the greenhouse effect and global warming (kids were asking if greenhouses were really bad), so we'll have to clear that up next week...
after school, i helped with the drama club. that never ceases to be crazy.
he also invited me over to his house. that was adorable.
anyway, what a busy week. there was a mix of wonderful moments, stressful moments, tension-filled moments, and sad moments...
MONDAY
a planning day as usual. fairly uneventful.
TUESDAY
we arrived early as usual. last week i felt like we weren't organized the whole week, so i decided to finish the small bits of planning we had to do and print out all of our lesson plans for the week. my overachieving self is starting to make a comeback. we then headed to 6th grade. we discussed more about transportation and looked at transportation systems. we gave them all transportation logs to keep track of their use of transportation over the week. that should be interesting to look at.
then we had a break...i can't remember what we did...
next came our lesson with 4th grade. we continued learning about the rain gauge and had them form groups to start making a guidebook on how to use the rain gauge. the making of the guidebook will be interesting...i still don't know if i have a clear vision on what it's going to end up looking like (or whether we'll be able to complete it in our time left at the school).
after lunch, we enjoyed the craziness that is 1st grade art class. they painted self portraits that had sculpted out of clay a while back. then they proceeded to use WAY too much construction paper to make little cutout hearts. i swear...if the amount of hearts that class cuts out in one class period is an indicator of how much love they have for eachother...there is a LOT of love going on...
our 5th grade class brought episode 2 of who wants to be a meteorologist? again, a solid lesson. at the end there was some confusion over the greenhouse effect and global warming (kids were asking if greenhouses were really bad), so we'll have to clear that up next week...
after school, i helped with the drama club. that never ceases to be crazy.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
i've never felt so popular.
MONDAY
planning day. lots of planning. we're putting together a skit for one of the other school's "earth day" celebrations next week. the skit so far involves evil twins of the corps members who teach there teaching kids the wrong things about how to care for the earth...and then the real corps members (who have special powers including the ability to speak with animals, the skill to separate recycling faster than a speeding bullet, and the power to see litter from 3 miles away) come back and save the day. it should be great.
TUESDAY
it felt so nice to be back at school. i was really full of energy (one of the first times i've taught without feeling under the weather in about a month!). our 6th grade lesson on transportation went well. we taped pieces of a timeline to their back and had them come up one by one to read their fact and place it on the time line (a piece of yarn) where they thought it would go. the students did fairly well on the relative timing...but it was funny to see that after almost every response they would say "the 60s" or "the 70s".
we then had a bit of a break before introducing the rain gauge to our 4th graders. we first took them outside (kids love going outside) to look at the rain gauge and take a picture. we then gave them each a cup to collect snow (this would be melted, filtered and looked at with a hand scope). when we got back inside, half of the group went with caleb to practice writing directions. the other half came with me to learn how to take a measurement on the rain gauge. i learned the way NOT to teach it...but we still ended up alright.
lunch...
caleb helped with recess while i went up to 1st grade for art class. the kids drew weather patterns to submit to the local newspaper (the day had a weather theme). those kids are crazy...the imagination of a 1st grader is amazing.
then came the part of the day i had been looking forward to ever since we thought of the lesson: "who wants to be a meterologist?" (played with the same rules as who wants to be a millionaire...but reviewing weather). it was great. one of the best lessons we've taught. the students were so engaged, and in addition to learning about weather, they learned strategies to answering multiple choice questions. we told the students in the beginning of class that they were selected to be on a new TV show (a lie, but it was fun). about 5 minutes into the game, one of the students raised his hands and asked "are we going to be on tv?". i had to try really hard not to laugh. episode 2 of who wants to be a meterologist will air next week!
WEDNESDAY
i didn't really feel like i had everything together the whole day, but it was a great day. in the morning, we hung out with preschool doing some fun water activities. we essentially played a follow the leader game about ice, liquid water and clouds. it was fun. they are adorable.
then we went back to 4th grade to have them take a look at their melted snow samples. some of them didn't want to drink water after looking at what was in them...we had to tell them that water was okay to drink. they might want to rethink whether they eat snow again (i still do), but it was great to see them so curious.
we rushed down to kindergarten for our puppet show on properties of matter. scene: jello's first day of school...where will he fit in? the gases (balloons)? no. the liquids (mason jars with water)? no. the solids (wood blocks)? yes. all of the puppets had ridiculous faces drawn on them. the kids were so cute! we played the same follow the leader game from preschool with them...it went so well!
i then enjoyed gym class with william. halfway through the class he decided he didn't like me, but by the end of class he liked me again. he's so great.
lunch...(i feel so popular at lunch. i get asked to sit at so many tables now!). recess.
after a bit of a break, we headed down to 2nd grade. not the greatest lesson on the planet. we read them a book they read last year (whoops) and then struggled through the selection of animals for their next project. they were so talkative today...
the last installment of nature club was alright. i stayed inside doing some animal tracking stamps and origami frogs. the students really had fun using the stamps and identifying what they were : ) and not too many of them ended up with ink all over their faces. waahoo!
THURSDAY
what a day! we began with the 3rd grade morning meeting. what a goofy bunch. william decided he liked me today and sat near or on me for the entire meeting. i even helped wipe a booger off his finger.
our lesson with 1st grade on pollination...was...okay. they are such a talkative group with so much energy! they sort of retained some of the knowledge from our lessons on bees...which is good : )
5th grade art class. lunch (fun times!). i really feel popular now. kids keep asking if i'm going to go to recess. wow! i was never that cool in elementary school.
kindergarten art class. i helped a kid draw a castle. it was the sweetest castle ever. he drew a trampoline to jump on and we drew windows of all different shapes (his favorite shape is an octagon by far. he asked me how to draw a shape with 88 sides. hahaha.).
then...we made watersheds with 3rd grade! there is something about kids and color and water that makes them go crazy! they just loved seeing the water flow down and change colors. then we introduced some puppets to them and got them going on puppet shows of the water cycle. it's going to be awesome.
: )
FRIDAY
i worked at red gate farm! i did some shoveling around a gate, shoveling outside the sheep barn so a door could open, and shoveling along the goat path because it was covered in poo. we also moved (mooved, haha farm pun) a bunch of hay and rescued some eggs from the chicken coop. it was SO much fun : ) the weather was gorgeous so i enjoyed being outside all day. i hope i get to work on the farm again!
planning day. lots of planning. we're putting together a skit for one of the other school's "earth day" celebrations next week. the skit so far involves evil twins of the corps members who teach there teaching kids the wrong things about how to care for the earth...and then the real corps members (who have special powers including the ability to speak with animals, the skill to separate recycling faster than a speeding bullet, and the power to see litter from 3 miles away) come back and save the day. it should be great.
TUESDAY
it felt so nice to be back at school. i was really full of energy (one of the first times i've taught without feeling under the weather in about a month!). our 6th grade lesson on transportation went well. we taped pieces of a timeline to their back and had them come up one by one to read their fact and place it on the time line (a piece of yarn) where they thought it would go. the students did fairly well on the relative timing...but it was funny to see that after almost every response they would say "the 60s" or "the 70s".
we then had a bit of a break before introducing the rain gauge to our 4th graders. we first took them outside (kids love going outside) to look at the rain gauge and take a picture. we then gave them each a cup to collect snow (this would be melted, filtered and looked at with a hand scope). when we got back inside, half of the group went with caleb to practice writing directions. the other half came with me to learn how to take a measurement on the rain gauge. i learned the way NOT to teach it...but we still ended up alright.
lunch...
caleb helped with recess while i went up to 1st grade for art class. the kids drew weather patterns to submit to the local newspaper (the day had a weather theme). those kids are crazy...the imagination of a 1st grader is amazing.
then came the part of the day i had been looking forward to ever since we thought of the lesson: "who wants to be a meterologist?" (played with the same rules as who wants to be a millionaire...but reviewing weather). it was great. one of the best lessons we've taught. the students were so engaged, and in addition to learning about weather, they learned strategies to answering multiple choice questions. we told the students in the beginning of class that they were selected to be on a new TV show (a lie, but it was fun). about 5 minutes into the game, one of the students raised his hands and asked "are we going to be on tv?". i had to try really hard not to laugh. episode 2 of who wants to be a meterologist will air next week!
WEDNESDAY
i didn't really feel like i had everything together the whole day, but it was a great day. in the morning, we hung out with preschool doing some fun water activities. we essentially played a follow the leader game about ice, liquid water and clouds. it was fun. they are adorable.
then we went back to 4th grade to have them take a look at their melted snow samples. some of them didn't want to drink water after looking at what was in them...we had to tell them that water was okay to drink. they might want to rethink whether they eat snow again (i still do), but it was great to see them so curious.
we rushed down to kindergarten for our puppet show on properties of matter. scene: jello's first day of school...where will he fit in? the gases (balloons)? no. the liquids (mason jars with water)? no. the solids (wood blocks)? yes. all of the puppets had ridiculous faces drawn on them. the kids were so cute! we played the same follow the leader game from preschool with them...it went so well!
i then enjoyed gym class with william. halfway through the class he decided he didn't like me, but by the end of class he liked me again. he's so great.
lunch...(i feel so popular at lunch. i get asked to sit at so many tables now!). recess.
after a bit of a break, we headed down to 2nd grade. not the greatest lesson on the planet. we read them a book they read last year (whoops) and then struggled through the selection of animals for their next project. they were so talkative today...
the last installment of nature club was alright. i stayed inside doing some animal tracking stamps and origami frogs. the students really had fun using the stamps and identifying what they were : ) and not too many of them ended up with ink all over their faces. waahoo!
THURSDAY
what a day! we began with the 3rd grade morning meeting. what a goofy bunch. william decided he liked me today and sat near or on me for the entire meeting. i even helped wipe a booger off his finger.
our lesson with 1st grade on pollination...was...okay. they are such a talkative group with so much energy! they sort of retained some of the knowledge from our lessons on bees...which is good : )
5th grade art class. lunch (fun times!). i really feel popular now. kids keep asking if i'm going to go to recess. wow! i was never that cool in elementary school.
kindergarten art class. i helped a kid draw a castle. it was the sweetest castle ever. he drew a trampoline to jump on and we drew windows of all different shapes (his favorite shape is an octagon by far. he asked me how to draw a shape with 88 sides. hahaha.).
then...we made watersheds with 3rd grade! there is something about kids and color and water that makes them go crazy! they just loved seeing the water flow down and change colors. then we introduced some puppets to them and got them going on puppet shows of the water cycle. it's going to be awesome.
: )
FRIDAY
i worked at red gate farm! i did some shoveling around a gate, shoveling outside the sheep barn so a door could open, and shoveling along the goat path because it was covered in poo. we also moved (mooved, haha farm pun) a bunch of hay and rescued some eggs from the chicken coop. it was SO much fun : ) the weather was gorgeous so i enjoyed being outside all day. i hope i get to work on the farm again!
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