Week 1: June 6- June 10
I have completed my first week at my CFE placement. Thus far I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have been able to see what teaching looks like outside of the traditional classroom. It has been eye opening and educational for me. I have been able to visit the Langley school district which is a district that I am not too familiar with. The staff is great, the kids are enthusiastic and the schools are beautifully laid out and bright with vibrant colours; definitely a place I could see myself working in one day.
This organization I am working with for the 3 weeks goes into schools within Langley and puts on workshops surrounding topics such as the environment sustainability, household hazardous products, and the salmon lifecycle. The workshops that they put on are very hands on and educational for the students and they seem to really enjoy them. This organization often goes into the same classrooms regularly throughout the year so they do get to form those relationships with the students. This week I observed a workshop on hazardous products that could be found in the home. We went into two Kindergarten classrooms and taught them about different products they might see in their home and the different symbols that mean danger and that shouldn’t be touched. At the end, we made a safe cleaner for the class made out of vinegar, lemon, and water that the students can use within their classroom and that is 100% safe to touch! I also got to take part in a workshop which involved students making their own bird houses out of wood. Each student was given the necessary amounts of wood needed with a hammer, protective eye glasses, and some nails. I circulated the outside working area to ensure students were on task and completing the bird house correctly. I really enjoy the workshops that are being put on because it has students really involved in their learning. It often incorporates hands on activities and tasks and is often multimodal in its approaches for diverse learners. For example the workshop on hazardous products includes sorting different household products into rooms they could be found in, looking at the different symbols and then distributing different products to the students where they have to locate the symbols on their object, reading a poem with actions together as a class, and then creating an environmentally friendly cleaner. It’s a very enriching, educational experience for the students.
The rest of my week was spent in a forest and near a steam, as well as in a garden. We visited a beautiful park where we were met with three grade 3 classes.
There were stations set up where groups of students would rotate. One station looked at exploring how clean the stream water is. We tested the pH of the water, its temperature, and its turbidity. Overall we discovered that this parks water source is a good one!
The second station had students looking at different bugs that are found in the water. Students were given tools such as magnifying glasses to look at these bugs which included Stoneflys and Mayflys. It was very hands on and seeing the bugs up close was very cool for the students. The third station consisted of the students learning about the salmon lifecycle and the different stages. We talked about how many eggs are laid in the stream and how many actually survive, as well as students observed actual swimming salmon fry. The students were so engaged and motivated to learn because they were outside of their traditional classroom, they were getting to experience things that were new to them, and it was very hands on. Overall it was a great day full of learning; the kids learned so much and so did I!
The next day I was greeted by this little guy.
I was on a farm and in a garden.
Classes would come visit for a fieldtrip. The cool thing about this is that this organization has hosted these same classes ever since spring break for a total of 8 sessions every couple of weeks. The instructors really get to know the kids. This was the classes last session so it was more of a celebration of their learning. We first took a look at their plants they had been growing. Every class that visits this garden gets their own section on the land where they are growing different vegetables. The awesome part about this is as their plants grow they actually donate it to the food bank! I love how they are giving back to the community as well. After seeing the plants we then made some seed tape which was then followed by playing a game of Jeopardy. This acted as a review game where students had to work in groups to demonstrate their learning over the last couple of months. The students loved it.
Finally we finished the day off with having the students sample some local, healthy food choices. The arrangement consisted of vegetables with a healthy dip made out of yogurt and dill, rhubarb with yogurt and oats and a glass of mint/lemon water. It was a fun day!
Overall I have been enjoying my days working with this wonderful organization very much. This is definitely outside of my comfort zone so it is a challenge for me. I don’t necessarily have a “green thumb” however I am very aware of how to keep the environment healthy. It’s been very eye opening to learn about all these different subjects that I hadn’t thought about. It also is challenging to teach about topics that I don’t have very much knowledge on. It’s all very interesting, yet difficult for me to be confident in areas that don’t come natural to me. None the less I chose this partnership because I didn’t want to do something typical for me. I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone and this is forcing me to do so. It has been a great experience so far.
For next week I hope to be even more involved and to experience even more new things.
Week 2: June 13- June 17
My second week at my community field experience has come to an end. Wow that has gone by fast! This week we completed more workshops in schools within the Langley school district. We visited Kindergarten classes, a grade 2 class, and some intermediate classes. Last week we did a workshop outside in a creek where students got to look at some real live bugs up close. This week we actually brought this workshop into various Kindergarten classrooms. This was interesting to see because there are alive bugs, murky water, and quite a bit of set up. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out but it went great. The students loved looking at these bugs up close. We put a large plastic container on each round table with various tools such as magnifying glasses, spoons, and eye droppers on each table. We poured water with the bugs into each container and then students were sent back to their table group where they could explore the bugs.
I love this idea of bringing insects into the classroom. I believe students learn more from actually seeing these insects rather than just simply looking at a picture. I think I could bring this into the classroom or take my students outside to experience looking at nature and the insects that are within their environment. It’s a great way to learn! This workshop went great however in one classroom an entire container got flipped over and water and bugs went everywhere. This was an example of how we as teachers need to be prepared for anything. Thankfully the leader of the workshop retrieved most of the bugs back into the container. We would have had to think of a plan B if we had lost them all. Overall it was a successful day!
This week the other teacher candidate and I presented our own workshop on waste to two grade 7 classrooms. These topics are definitely outside of my comfort zone so I felt a little bit apprehensive at first. However once we had begun the workshop we felt a lot more comfortable and it was nice to have support from the other teacher candidate. We talked about our trash and where it goes once we throw it out into the garbage can. We discussed the landfill in Cache Creek and how it is completely full. We also discussed with the class why it’s important to put our trash into the right bins because if not our landfill is going to overflow with items that do not belong in there. We brought great discussion to these classes. We then talked about the 4 R’s (recycle, reduce, reuse, refuse) and put the students in groups where they had to create a skit based on the ‘R’ we assigned them. It was quite funny to see their skits being acted out. Finally, we finished the workshop by having students play a Kahoot. I personally love Kahoot and plan on bringing this game into the classroom. It is just like Timeplay at the movie theatres and is so interactive for kids. We asked them questions based on our workshop and had students answer. It was a great way to end. We received good feedback and felt confident that we could do more workshops in the future. It’s good to go outside of your comfort zone because that’s the only way you will truly learn.
A lot of the workshops are part of a 4 workshop series and a lot of them were wrapping up this week. We participated in a workshop called ‘From Seed to Plate’. Basically they were celebrating their learning by playing a Kahoot as well and then we had a huge display of locally grown food that the students could eat. Food items included fresh buns, ham, cheese, raspberries, pickles, beets, and a variety of vegetables. The students were really excited about it all and ate lots of delicious food!
Finally, this week we visited the garden again.
We brought the students over to their crops and had them see how much their crops had grown.
I love this idea of having classes grow their own vegetables. I definitely will bring this into any grade level classroom. With doing so, students got to experience taking care of vegetables while learning about what plants need to grow and their parts. As well, once the vegetables are full grown you can try them and experience eating locally grown, fresh food. It’s a win-win!
We also ran the Jeopardy game again for the students. They enjoyed this like usual and to end the day we have students get a taste of some fresh vegetables with a delicious dip consisting of yogurt and herbs, fruit compote, and mint water.
It was a great celebration of their learning. If I get my own class one day I would definitely bring this organization into my own classroom where they can deliver these hands on learning experiences to my students. Students are so engaged and motivated to learn because it is so hands on, connects them to the real world, and is fun!
Week 3: June 20- June 24
This is my last week at my community-based field experience! It has been a quick journey that has been filled with so many learning opportunities. I have enjoyed being able to experience so many different aspects of this non-profit organization. I have been put in different situations every week which has been great. For this week I got to be apart of the Water Wise conservation team.
What this means is that I was apart of a team that goes door-to-door explaining water restrictions for the summer. I did not know that we are in a stage 1 water restriction at the moment so I learnt so much about this topic. Thankfully it was a great day to walk the neighbourhood and the sun was shining the entire time. I got a good 5 km or more in that day! Honestly I was a little apprehensive when given this task because I know many people are so busy in their every day lives that they don’t want to listen to a stranger give a spiel on water. Going into it I was nervous because I know peoples apprehension towards it and people automatically just assume that we are trying to sell something. It became clear to me early on that many people had this attitude because at first no one came to the door! When someone doesn’t come to the door we put a hanger on their door and leave a brief pamphlet that lets them know the necessary information. We eventually had some people answer the door where we let them know about what times they can water their lawns and how to conserve their water. As well they offer septic seminars that are free so people can go to learn more about their septic tanks. Most people were super receptive to this information and conversation flowed well. Of course with some you could just tell they were done with the conversation and ready to close the door. Overall, it was a great day. I was apart of a team and it was a good feeling to provide people with necessary knowledge to make our planet a cleaner and safer place. It showed me that this organization that I was working with works so closely with the community. It was fantastic to see!
I had a blast during my community field experience. It opened my eyes to the many other educational opportunities that are available. I loved the diversity of this experience and seeing different classrooms and working with many students of varying grade levels. I learned about the environment (a topic that is unfamiliar to me) and can honestly say when I bring it into my own classroom one day I will feel a lot more confident because of this experience.
And that’s a wrap! I can’t believe I am saying that I have completed my CFE. I am so proud of every step I have taken. I have put myself in situations that are outside of my comfort zone and have conquered them. Every step you take is a journey worthwhile. Be proud of yourself and just take everyday as a new and exciting learning experience!
