I'm not sure exactly how long I've been teaching, but every year the first day of school brings with it a certain amount of anxiety and nervousness. I'm not going to lie... I was more than nervous about how things were going to go. So many changes. A new classroom for some. Masks. Plexiglass. Very few other people in the school building. Trying to keep kids 6 feet apart. Teaching a student at home with students in the classroom *at the same time*. What could possibly go wrong? Admittedly a few things did (and do) go wrong. This certainly isn't an ideal situation for teaching or learning, *but* the kids were certainly so happy to be back at school. The kids felt comfortable in their spaces and the relationships we'd developed during virtual learning have carried over into our in person teaching and learning.
0 Comments
When I got into teaching, I never anticipated this would involve me sitting in my basement for hours on end all day, but there we were!! Zoom teaching certainly had its share of challenges, but I feel like our little crew rose to the occasion and played the best hand we could with the cards we were dealt. I am thankful to our classroom staff, related service providers, specials teachers, and *families* for working with me in this unique situation. I apologize for all my bad jokes, songs sang while accidentally unmuted, and anything I might have said under my breath every time I pushed a button I didn't mean to.
This was the picture of the crew that showed up on 3/13/20 for the last half day before the shutdown for Covid-19. It was officially Day 120 by our very scientific count. The school year finished out with virtual learning activities and our two fifth graders moved on with the absence of the usual Wines traditions and celebrations. It's easy to dwell on all the things we missed out on (4th Wall production... 5th grade camp... 5th grade farewell...), but we did what we could in order to keep learning and carry on our classroom traditions and celebrations of our amazing kids and staff.
We've been so busy! I have quite a few pictures from the last couple weeks at school. We started our collaboration with 4th Wall Theater this week. We played some games and discussed our characters and setting for our play. We also started learning our dance number. We are excited to be working with Ms. Katie this year. She is one of the co-founders of 4th Wall and led such a fun first class. Other events going on around Wines include the River Residency- an annual event where kids learn about the water cycle and pollution, among other things. And then, there has just been lots of other learning happening as well. The kids are working on their individual goals every day. In math meeting we are talking about measurement and multiplication as we continue to learn about base 10, as we count the days of school. PLTW is ending for 3rd grade this week and 4th grade will start soon.
The past two weeks of school have held a few special events. We've had Parent Involvement Day, directly followed by the 100th day of school, and then a few days later was Valentines Day. Our 4th grade friends in Mrs. Puente's class who come in for games twice a week after lunch in addition to participating in Adapted P.E. with us as well, made all of the kids Valentines bags and some special valentines. The kids also received and made valentines for their general education classrooms as well. We've been studying holidays from around the world during social studies. In math meeting we did some fun activities with the number 100 and have also been decomposing numbers. How many ways can we make 8? (7 +1, 2 + 6 etc) . Our fourth graders had their vocal music and recorder concert. We have lots of learning opportunities every day! Enjoy some pictures from the last couple of weeks.
Hello! We had a great week at school! We finally had our art contest, based on the story Yasmin, the Painter. The kids were able to paint a picture on a canvas and then we had a special guest judge, Mrs. Shanteau, judge the paintings and hand out awards. The kids were so excited when their paintings were selected for an award. All conditions were finally perfect for a super fun Friday this week. We went sledding in the morning during our PE class with Ms. Wahl and swimming in the afternoon during our PE class with Ms. Powell. Friday is a day for physical fitness in our room! Everyone who participated had a blast! I don't know if the kids seemed tired but I was exhausted by the time I got home on Friday.
Hello! We've had a couple of great weeks in Room 114. If you scroll through the pictures below, you can see we've been busy reading, writing, playing hockey, games, and music, and making lots of art. We finished our second Yasmin story- Yasmin the Painter. Yasmin's class has a art contest and every student has to paint a picture. We have one more student who needs to complete their painting and then we will have a special guest judge to give out awards. We finished up our science unit and will be starting a new social studies unit learning about holidays around the world.
Hello! It has been a busy couple of weeks in Room 114 as we have been adjusting to being back from the long break. We have started a new science unit and are learning about different weather tools, and types of severe weather. We are also reading a new series of fiction books about a girl named Yasmin. One of the activities she does with her family is to go to the farmers market to buy naan. We did a cooking activity where we made our own naan. *Almost* everyone liked it and ate it- success!! The kids seemed to be excited about cooking so we will try and do it again soon!
Hello and welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed the break! I know that everyone at my house is ready for the return to structure and routine, and I'm sure you are too! I have a few pictures to share from the last week of December. Our third graders dissected owl pellets which they both found fascinating. Friday was a fun day. We had the annual 4th grade skating trip in the morning and our first swimming trip to Forsythe in the afternoon. Before the field trip, Margaret brought by a few gifts that the kids had helped wrap. She did a "how to wrap a present" theme throughout the week during her speech sessions. The kids were so excited to surprise all their teachers with gifts. She also bought a new Bingo game for the class that we played in the afternoon.
Hello! According to our daily counting, we have completed 69 days of school, and have just 5 to go until the winter break. We have all been busy adjusting to new schedules at school with PLTW ending for 5th grade and just beginning for 3rd grade. We also have a new classmate! December also means that the kids are busy doing gymnastics in PE class and we have the 4th grade ice skating trip coming up this week. Our focus during literacy group this month has been WH questions. We are practicing asking and answering WH questions using these key words: WHO (person), WHAT (thing), WHERE (place), WHEN (time) and WHY (reason).
|
AuthorWe are the grades 3-5 CI class at Wines Elementary in Ann Arbor MI! Archives
March 2020
Categories |