On Monday, we had a Remembrance Day assembly at school. It was the first time I have seen the entire school together. There is something very moving about 650 children singing the national anthem. Some classes sang songs, others put on plays, and all the presentations were very well done.
On Tuesday, I did my first formal observation with my SA. It was a lesson on sorting and since I have only witnessed two math lessons I was a little nervous. The lesson involved using manipulates and sorting them into shape, colour, and size. After the students understood the concept I got them to come up and describe an object while a classmate found the object in the container. Ex. A large red circle. Next, I put up a poster of a treasure chest and the students had to find the object I was describing. After, I got the students to describe an object and a partner had to find the object. I modeled the activity they would complete which was a worksheet with a treasure chest in the middle. The students had to think of an object, whisper it to me, then draw/colour it individually at their desk. Once they were finished they had to describe it to me using words, which I would scribe on the paper. For example, in my treasure chest I have an item that is red, a circle, you can eat it, and it is a fruit. I explained that another lesson we would get the students to describe their objects to their classmates and they would have to guess what it was. The feedback from my SA was all positive and mentioned that I did well at classroom management, modelling, choosing quieter children to participate, and the students enjoyed the lesson. Personally, I think my biggest weakness is classroom management so I was happy that she thought I handled them appropriately.
On Wednesday, I did my first formal observation with my FA. I read the book titled, “The Three Little Pigs”. After I modeled an activity, which was labeling the three houses in order of how they appeared in the story. They then had to decorate their three houses with straw, sticks, and bricks. I was confident in my lesson plan but very nervous while presenting it. My feedback was all positive indicating that I interacted well with the children, had an expressive voice, modeled the activity well, praised students for appropriate behavior, and was organized.
On Thursday, there was a curriculum planning implementation day. I spent the morning taking down old student work and replacing it with work they have completed within the last two weeks. In the afternoon, both my SA’s and myself went to a POPEI workshop that discussed the K-3 redesigned English Language Arts Curriculum. Throughout the session, we focused on meaningful reading and writing experiences that integrate the Curricular Competencies and Core Competencies into classroom instruction. It was a great workshop that gave us lots of hands-on activities and websites that we can use to find activities for our classrooms.
On Friday it was Remembrance Day so there was no school. I used the time to complete course readings and apply for the Emily Longworth Memorial Award. This award is given to teacher candidates to assist in offering projects to enrich the learning experiences of groups of less advantaged children during the extended practicum. Many of my students come from poor socioeconomic circumstances. This field trip will allow them a chance to experience something that they might otherwise never get the chance too. My proposed project is an educational field trip to Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. Here the students will participate in a full-filled day of learning and exploring the great outdoors. Students will explore the characteristics of plants and animals, and what different needs they have to survive. Next, they will interactively discover the ancient customs, legends, dances, and rich history of our First nation people, which is led by an elder of the Squamish Nation. Lastly, the students will experience a guided ecowalk where they will be able to interact with nature firsthand.
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