MCC Friday Reflections

Two subjects took precedence this week...Reading & Social Studies.  One theme wound through both of them.  This theme has been in the works for most of the year.  This theme is what I believe it means to "teach children".  This theme presents itself as a philosophy of teaching that I strive to fulfill each year. "Be a self-directed learner". By the time State Report time comes around the school year is almost at a close.  Routines and expectations have been clearly defined in terms of social and academic behaviors.  By this time the classroom ideally should "hum along" in harmony, thus opening the doors for learning to take place.  Learning can come in many forms, each form having its place within a school year, a school, a classroom, and each student.  There is rote memorization, modeling, guided practice, independent work, critical thinking, and abstract thought.  All of these are engaging to some degree, some more than other...

Trimester 3.  The last leg of the year.  The final few months that we have together.  My favorite trimester of the all.  Not because the end is in sight but quite the opposite...because we have spent about 6 months together and as we enter our 7th, 8th, and 9th months we have established a phenomenal students-teacher relationship.  Such relationship have been in the making and are based on mutual trust, respect, and good intentions.  It makes for a classroom that is a delight to teach in and hopefully, to learn in as well.  Trimester 3 is also my favorite trimester because we get to utilize much of what we learned in Trimesters 1 & 2.  We build on ideas, concepts, skills, and strategies.  We employ the knowledge we have gained and capitalize on the successes we have experienced.  We keep in mind the mistakes that have occurred; always learning from them.  It's almost as if Trimester 3 is a "culmination" of the p...

For the past eleven years I have taught the Science Curriculum Component known as "Biomes in Balance".  It is a general introduction to the 8 biomes of the world, covering the idea of adaptations of plants and animals in these biomes along with the concept of energy transfer between organisms via the food chain and food web as well as man's impact on the biome and earth as a whole. As of this week we had just completed the food chain/web part of the unit.  For two weeks we discussed food chains/webs, explored and studied graphic representations of food chains/webs, and saw videos as well.  The culminating activity was for students to construct a 3-D model of a food web (which is many food chains that are connected).  This culminating project is accomplished as a guided activity.  Two groups of 8 students each are the organisms in the food web.  One student is "Mother Nature" and another is "Father Time" for each group.  There is one board re...

This week in Science we learned about food chains.  We discussed the scientific purpose of food chains (transfer of energy) and named the participants (Sun > Producers > Consumers > Decomposers).  From there we began a hands-on experiment to further explore the decomposers. In short, each student has three baggies.  One baggie has a quarter of an apple in it, the second baggie has a piece of bread, and the third baggie has a piece of bread with a bite taken out it (by the student).  These three baggies will be left in the classroom on paper plates for 8 days.  Every other day or so we record our observations (touch through the baggie, sight, and smell).  The purpose is to gain a better understanding of how decomposers work on different foods. What I found rather interesting is that when we were hypothesizing about what would happen to the food within an 8-day period the kids naturally knew that the food would begin to rot (or d...

Returning back to school from a two week Winter Break is always interesting.  We pick up right where we left off yet there is a slight difference in the atmosphere of a classroom.  There seems to be a  more independent feeling amongst the students.  Despite the two week hiatus they remember the routines, the expectations, and the rules.  They recall the way things are done and where their responsibilities lie.   During the first few months of school a great deal of attention is placed upon modeling behaviors, reiterating expectations, reminders of rules, and praising for conformity.  It's set up that way on purpose so that the rest of the months of a school year can be more dedicated to the process of learning without having to worry about the logistics of group behaviors.  When a two-week Winter Break shows up each year a teacher naturally thinks, "What will they be like when they return?".  "Will they remember all that...

It's early morning.  The last day of school for 2012 is upon us as Winter Break will begin at 3:00 pm today.  The classroom is empty with the exception of the Christmas music playing in the background.  The students' desks are neatly waiting for their owners to arrive.  On each desk lay a Friday Reflection assignment, a candy cane, and two spearmint starlight mints.   I've spent 18 years working with children ranging from ages 5-12.  Beginning in 1994 in my hometown of Oak Park working with Hephzibah Children's Association until 2001 when I had my first 4th grade class here at Lincoln.  Over those many years I have witnessed the delight in hundreds of childrens' eyes at the mention of Christmastime and the Holiday Season.   Times have changed dramatically since my first experience working with kids.  Five Presidents have been elected, the millennium was ushered in under the cloak of Y2K, the Twin Towers fell and brought wi...

Our classroom calendar "sticks" to the whiteboard and has velcro on each day of the month in order to put up the actual date.  Each month's dates have a different kind of "shape" to represent it...during the month of December the dates are written on snowflake shapes.  Of course, this is because one would expect snow during the month of December living in a suburb of Chicago. Not the case this year.  It is December 14th and it has yet to snow.  I haven't seen one flake.  Yet the reminders of winter are all around us.  We even had a reading test last week where one of the stories was titled, "Snowflakes".  Many of the ties I wear around this time of year have snow somewhere on them.   As we were outside during a recess I had a short discussion with one student about the weather.  The conversation led to a small discussion about global warming.  We talked about pollution and the ozone layer and how it might affect the weather. ...