"M" Elementary

I really enjoyed my time at "M" Elementary, although it was definitely different than "P". The first half of the week I was in a first grade classroom, and the second half I was in fifth grade. The first graders were so cute! Each morning they would gather in a circle on the floor and greet each other. The first morning I was there they greeted each other using Hola and then on Wednesday it was Happy "Valentime's" Day. I thought this was a really nice way to begin the morning and make sure that everyone was acknowledged and felt included in the classroom. While I was there the students primarily worked on Math and Literacy although each morning they had a meteorologist report and record the weather which was part of their science lesson. In math they were working on creating a survey question, survey their class and then representing their information in a chart that included pictures, words, and numbers. They had some great questions such as "Would you rather have the chicken pox or the stomach flu?" and "Would you rather have a super brain or super strength?" As far as literacy went they had a literacy jobs each day that could include silent reading, reading with a partner or working on other tasks such as spelling. They also had writing workshop during which they would work on stories and drawings that were in various stages of the writing process. I had so much fun with the first graders, they were great.

The second half I was in the fifth grade, which was totally different. I don't think it helped that it was Valentine's day and they were about to start the party when I got there. The party consisted of a rousing game of pin the heart on the sad man, can you guess whose lips, and a bubble blowing contest. The next day was a little less crazy though. They were doing a cool project about the American colonists where they read from a book called The History of US, as well as primary source diaries of both colonists, indentured servants, and a Native American. As they were reading these they had to adopt a certain identity and then write a journal about their experiences from that particular point of view. They were interesting to read since the students had adopted some of the old vocab. of the time, and seemed to have really understood the experiences that different people would have had.