Long Practicum: Week 5

This week I started my fairytale, animal, and math unit. I am thoroughly enjoying my fairytale unit so far. I love incorporating stories into lessons because I believe it is a great hook, students are very engaged and stories come with great lessons and morals. For my fairytale unit we began comparing and contrasting Cinderella by reading different versions of Cinderella and picking out each stories fairytale elements. I incorporated class discussion after reading each Cinderella story of the fairytale elements within each story and how they compared to the original Cinderella. I think by having this whole-class conversation with students I am accessing diverse learning styles. Students then would independently or with a partner work to fill out their chart. After lesson one I realized that students were not filling out the chart completely so I adjusted my next lesson to incorporate more of a guided approach. I read the story and then we filled out the chart together where I asked for students input and ideas. In the next weeks to follow students will begin writing their own fairytale which I am excited to see what creative ideas they come up with.

The animal unit is exciting for the kids. Throughout the year they have gone to Burns Bog many times so for the animal unit they got to pick an animal from a list of animals to research. We started the unit by doing a carousel activity where each table group was given a piece of chart paper that said either land, air, or water. Together they had to think of all the Burns Bog animals that would fit into their category and then I would switch the chart paper with another group. This was a good first lesson to start thinking about Burns Bog animals. From there we talked about what we are going to include in our animal research (appearance, diet, and habitat) and what is included in an animal’s appearance (size, colour, weight). I then modelled how to take a proper note. I read from an animal book long sentences and then asked my students how to condense it into a good note. This entire process was very guided because researching is not an easy task especially for younger students. Overall, they are all very engaged and interested in learning more about their local animals.

I started my math graphing unit. Math has never been my strongest subject so it is intimidating. For my first lesson I started off by giving each student a sticky note upon which I asked, “What is your favourite fairytale?” Students wrote down their answers and then put them on a large piece of chart paper. I then told my students how I just asked everyone a question and collected all of this information/data, however, can anyone actually tell me what the favourite fairytale in the class is? It was difficult for students because the sticky notes were scattered everywhere. A discussion was then had about how graphs are used to represent data in an easy to read way. We looked at some of the graphs around the room and then together we graphed our results in the form of a bar graph. I think it was a fun, interactive lesson!

The highlight of my week is when we went on a field trip. This wasn’t just any ordinary fieldtrip but rather a trip that involved public transit. Our itinerary involved taking the bus, sky train, and the seabus which seemed daunting to me as a new teacher. Thankfully my SA has a lot of experience doing fieldtrips like this one and she thought it would be good if I got to experience one myself. We had 4 parent volunteers which was great because then each parent/ teacher had a group of four students to watch. Although watching only four students seems easy it really isn’t especially when students are tempted to run in all directions looking at all the new and cool things they see. The scariest moments for me were getting on and off the sky train and bus. There are so many kids to watch at all times and I can’t imagine leaving a student behind. That would be awful and terrifying! I was at the end of the line and had to make sure no students were behind me. Constantly scanning and counting students is exhausting but something that is necessary to ensure everyone is safe. This field trip was worth it! Seeing the students faces light up when they saw something they had never seen before was amazing. Although it was a tiring day, I believe a lot of life experiences were made that day for my students and to me that is so worth it.

Also, this week I have been incorporating more brain breaks! HOORAY!