Week 2
This week FLEW by! Last
weekend was so busy it feels like I was only at school for one week…however… it
was definitely two! So last weekend I spent most of Saturday in Souris while
Trevor had a Director cup workout and practice for this weekend’s trip to
Thompson – they left this morning from Brandon about 6:30… lucky them! Meanwhile Darren had his Atom hockey wind up
at Chain Lakes! Chain Lakes is just a
dip in the landscape south of town where lots of fun can be had in the winter
sledding as there is a fire pit and a picnic shelter there. The lake itself is nothing too spectacular,
but I believe some people do go there and boat in the summer. It is not deep and there are definitely no fish
there to catch, so we just occasionally go there in the winter. The kids had a fantastic time there as they
sledded for oh, about 6 hours! I am sure they stopped occasionally for a hot
dog or drink, but it doesn’t sound like they did that for long! When Darren came home, his face was burned…. Sunburn,
windburn… who knows…. A couple hours
after being in the house, he said his face felt like it was swelling… and so it
did! This is what he looked like in the
morning…
Not so good! He missed his
Steel practices that day as 1. He couldn’t see and 2. There is NO way he would
have been able to manage at all! I gave
him Benadryl and put tea bags, cold cloths, aloe vera on his face and I think
the only thing that worked was time!
This is what he looked like that evening.
Still not so good!
Monday he went to school and wore sunglasses all day as his eyes
were so sensitive! But by Tuesday, he
was pretty much back to looking like his old self! Thank goodness!
Other than a couple practices this week, student teaching and
editing papers kept me busy!
Student Teaching highlights
I am very thankful that I was able to sit in on some
parent-teacher interviews this week. My
CT is very good at relaying positive information to her parents about their
children’s academic or social learning skills.
As curriculum goals for kindergarten are quite simple, most children are
able to reach the goals set forth. Also,
some great teaching helps those kids who do struggle a bit!
My faculty supervisor came to watch me on Wednesday so I planned a
lesson for her observation pleasure – well, maybe pleasure! My topic was colour mixing so totally fun
stuff to teach as well as learn! I was
able to have a practice run on Tuesday to see if it would be successful in the
least before my supervisor watched me on Wednesday. I explained to both groups of kids beforehand
that my teacher was coming to watch me to see if I was going to be a good
teacher or not just so they were aware what was going to happen. My Tuesday group went really well! Some of them already had a good understanding
of colour mixing, but regardless, I feel like it was a successful run. Wednesday’s group went exceptionally
well! The kids were 100% attentive and
seemed to enjoy the lesson and ignored the fact that my teacher was there, so
that was good! It was so cute on
Thursday as one of the girls from Tuesday asked me how it went with my
teacher! Such a thoughtful kindergartener!
So for my lesson I first read a book called Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh (ISBN-0-15-256025-4) to check
their learning about colour mixing. This
book is so cute! It’s about 3 mice who
find paint and end up dancing in the puddles creating new colours. Then we did an experiment to see if the mice
were right.
I had the kids sit on the carpet and I did the experiment sitting
at a table so they could all see and to ensure that I didn’t spill on the
carpet! The table is one of those “rainbow”
tables so it worked quite well. I had all of my supplies ready in a bucket and
the transition between the two activities went well. For this part I had clear glasses, a jug of
water, food colouring in primary colours, some milk and black paint, and stir
sticks. I introduced the primary colours
first and then we made “predictions” as to what colour would be made when we
mixed two. The food colouring was very
concentrated so the yellow looked like it was actually orange. I introduced the words “concentrated” and “diluted”
to the kids and had them repeat the words after I said them. The kids all sat very well on the carpet
watching the “scientist” do “experiments” to see if they would work out. The black paint did not work really well to
show how colours darken, but I explained that that happens when scientists
experiment! Sometimes they need to try
again and again and again before it actually works.
After our colour experiment, I had them paint using water colour
blocks to assess their learning. As many
of them had not used the colour blocks before, I demonstrated how to get the
brush wet and smear around the block to create the colour and then how to clean
their brush after. I then set up 3
tables where the children shared one set of red, blue and yellow paint blocks
but each had their own water cup. As I
walked around the class answering questions and observing their successes, I was
able to see which students understood the concept of colour mixing. Also, I have their “pictures” so even though
I did not document their understanding, I have it on their picture. After their initial painting, they could
choose to go to morning center time or to continue to paint. Some did and some didn’t – which enabled another
smooth transition!
Definitely the success to my whole lesson was having all my
supplies ready to go and having them at my fingertips. Needing such an array of different supplies
for reading a story to painting pictures took a lot of pre-planning to ensure I
had everything ready. Overall, I feel
that my lesson was a success and that after spring break when I do “Canada” and
“Measurement and 2D/3D shapes” the kids should be attentive and willing to
listen to me! Here’s hoping!
And now some heaving duty planning is in order….
TTFN
Connie
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