This final week before Reading week break was a crazy week because we had lots of Olympics-themed activities planned on top of our already-hectic week of presentations, skating, Valentine's Day, and Jump Rope for Heart. I am looking forward to my reading week break simply to get a bit of rest, but also to start looking forward into the upcoming units and to get the chance to reflect more deeply on my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. I know that I need to wrap up my units that I am on and move forward into new units because we are quickly running out of time! I also recognize that I need to get better at doing every-day assessment practices to gather more grades as evidence for the upcoming report cards. I believe that my strengths as a teacher lay in my strong relationships that I have built, but also in ability to make creative and fun lessons, to engage the students, to discipline when necessary, and to manage the classroom and smoothly transition into new activities. When observing my PD goals that I made for this semester I would say that I have been doing a pretty good job of working towards those goals at this point in my practicum. I recognize that I need to work a bit harder now on developing my professional inquiry project and implementing games as a METHOD of teaching or practicing math rather than just as a sponge activity. Other things that I want to work on in this second half of my practicum involve more school involvement, better differentiation strategies, and more assessment measures. I am ready for my week off, but can't wait to continue learning when the break is done! Below are my weekly highlights from each class and an overview of activities we did.
Science
In our science unit "Vehicles and Devices that Move" we have moved on to defining vehicles and determining what are the crucial parts to make vehicles work. We defined vehicles as "any device that uses runners or wheels to carry people or goods from one place to another". I made a picture-list of potential "vehicles" and made kids debate whether each picture belonged in the "vehicle" or "not a vehicle" column based on their reasoning from the definition. It was interesting to hear how students were able to make logical arguments against each other by using scientific reasoning! One we had our definition for a vehicle sorted out, I introduced them to some "vehicles" and we had to decide what the most crucial parts are in a non-motorized vehicle. We were able to narrow it down to 4 parts: the chassis, the axles, the wheels, and the "axle holders". After having our parts labelled and defined we were able to have discussions about the similarities and differences between some non-motorized vehicles and could observe toy cars to find those parts and have educated discussions about why each car was effective. My goal was to have kids realize that there are different ways to secure an axle to a car, but some ways may be more effective than others. Although they got a glimpse at axle effectiveness, this is one thing that I think will come into play more concretely once we start building our vehicles.
Health
I decided to jazz-up health class this week by doing a little bit of drama integration (so that the kids could get all of the 'stage fright' out before performing their Olympic play!) I broke the kids up into groups, gave them a scenario relating to outdoor safety, and then had them decided roles such as actors, narrators, and "questioners". After each scenario had been acted out the group had to guide the class discussion in order to come up with good prevention strategies to avoid that scenario, as well as to brainstorm a potential course of action for each danger. I have composed each of the 4 scenarios into the video below, but didn't include all of the class discussions because they were hard to hear.
Physical Education
This week in PE was all about the Sochi Olympics! The activities that I set up included a torch run, Nordic combined skiing, slalom alpine skiing, biathalon skiing, skating, and bobsledding. The video below showcases our fun!
Social
To introduce "oral story telling" to the kids I decided that we would turn one oral story into our own classroom picture-book. I found one Blackfoot creation story about how the world was made, and had each kid choose one part of the story. They had to read their chunk, decide what the most crucial thing being explained or created was, and then reword their chunk and illustrate it using appropriate aboriginal diagrams. I created the first part of the story to act as a title page, and then the kids' parts will get added in order behind it to make a book. When we have the book done I will get the students to sit (in order) in a circle, and we will read our story parts and show our illustration as we each hold the talking stick. I think that it will be a very meaningful way for them to recognize the imagery in oral stories and to appreciate aboriginal creation stories.
Math
I decided that this week in math we would focus on developing more strength in multiplication instead of starting a new unit so close to a big break. I had the kids make multiplication tables so that they could practice their math facts, but also so that they would be able to have a copy to refer to sometimes during our upcoming division unit. Besides doing our multiplication facts, I also taught them "old-school multiplication" and the multiplication trick that uses all 10 fingers to multiply 6x6 to 10x10. When kids were done their daily work, I had them practice the "old school" method by attempting to solve "whiteboard challenge questions" through trial-and-error. I had questions posted around the room that increased in difficulty as you circled around. The questions had a product on them, and the students had to find out what 2 consecutive numbers multiplied together to get that answer. The amazing thing about doing those "extra" questions was that it was a way of challenging the students at their own zone of proximal development while still practicing the math skill they had just learned. I could TELL that those questions were actually a form of differentiation in themselves because kids were either working on the basics with me, or pushing themselves to solve harder questions on their own. I was really amazed at how well the kids did, and I was even MORE thrilled to see them strategizing with one another and using teamwork to try and effectively get to an answer more quickly! It was really great to see such a competitive and productive outcome for my "fast" students! Below are some pictures showing the "whiteboard challenge" and a YouTube video that showcases the "hands" strategy for multiplication facts.
Other fun stuff this week...
Olympics Assembly
I was in charge of one of the school "families" as we circulated around the school completing Olympic-themed challenges. Below is a video that I made to showcase the Olympics play, some of the activities that we did, as well as some of the awesome Olympic dioramas that my students made to inform visitors about each sport!!
I was in charge of one of the school "families" as we circulated around the school completing Olympic-themed challenges. Below is a video that I made to showcase the Olympics play, some of the activities that we did, as well as some of the awesome Olympic dioramas that my students made to inform visitors about each sport!!
Valentine's Day Party!
It was great to get to relax with the kids and get hyper on sugar. They expecially LOVED my minion Valentine's that I made but I was surprised at how many of them didn't know what a Twinkie was!
It was great to get to relax with the kids and get hyper on sugar. They expecially LOVED my minion Valentine's that I made but I was surprised at how many of them didn't know what a Twinkie was!
Jump Rope for Heart
I had a great time jumping with the kids and encouraging them to be active during this fundraiser for heart and stroke awareness. I really enjoyed getting to spin the double-Dutch rope and having to remember all of the old skipping chants! I think it is a great program with a great message!
I had a great time jumping with the kids and encouraging them to be active during this fundraiser for heart and stroke awareness. I really enjoyed getting to spin the double-Dutch rope and having to remember all of the old skipping chants! I think it is a great program with a great message!