Stockton Elementary…shout out for 202!
so, as you know, i am currently in my second year as a Master of Ed student…and along with that comes the opportunity to observe at different schools all over the city.
in chicago i have seen the full spectrum–from schools where every classroom has a Smartboard to schools that have to bring their own soap and toilet paper to the bathroom so their students will have some to use. i have been treated very respectfully and i have been treated very poorly by administration and staff. i have traveled up to two hours one way to observe in the suburbs, and i have walked 3 minutes down the block to my local school. and as it so happens, it is just this school that i’d like to talk about…
first off, Stockton Elementary’s Assistant Principal, Mr. Gutierrez, was warm, accommodating, and SO helpful to let me in to observe on very short notice (a different observation fell through for today.)
i was given a friendly and courteous welcome by Ms. Jugenitz and her fourth grade class, which was very impressive. this class got right to work at the beginning of the day, and went about individual, group, and whole class work with kindness, great listening skills, and respect to themselves and their teacher. i especially appreciated my kindly done introduction to the students by Ms. J, the many little projects she found for me to make my time authentic and productive, and how she let me do a quick demo on 3d snowflake making–so fun! also, pair reading with Kendall was a highlight, not to mention kirigami with Bryan (and the crew!)
at the end of the day, students really touched my heart by saying thank you on their own accord, and some even gave me hugs and asked when i’d be back…
Room 202, i wish with all my heart that my schedule allowed for me to come back soon…and if some time frees up, with Mr. Gutierrez and Ms. Jugenitz’s permission, i would be delighted. until then, thank you for being such a great place to visit–keep up the hard work and friendly atmosphere and know that in all of the schools i have seen in chicago, you get the A+ in my book!
did you vote for mrs. amy’s preschool press for Best NEW Blog 2007? no? ye gods and little fishes… click here to vote!
Graduate School and Student Teaching | Comment (0)why i simply adore preschool…
just take a look.
how can you NOT love this age?!
the new tornado machine i got was the hit of the day…
they crack me up.
more people should draw their moustaches on with pen.
my socks matched mark’s shoes…needless to say, we both thought this was hilarious and had to take a photo to commemorate this momentous event.
maybe i’m just easily amused…or maybe this is just the perfect age…
did you vote for mrs. amy’s preschool press for Best NEW Blog 2007? no? don’t wait for c.j.’s moustache to grow in…vote now! click here to vote!
miscellany and silliness! | Comment (0)dinosaurus MAXIMUS!
dinosaurus maximus found us discussing fossils as we did simulated fossil rubbings with crayons–we expanded on prior knowledge to redefine “fossil” as not just dinosaur bones, but also ancient insects, plants, prints from animals or plants, and sea life as well.
we colored an Apatosaurus as an introduction to carnivore/herbivore review…we also discussed the physical differences between meat-eaters and plant-eaters to help us predict and hypothesize in future classification activities.
free play included a fossil dig station where students could dig up “bones”, brush them off with soft brushes, examine them with hand lenses, and then try to rebuild the dinosaur–very fun.
our book today was “How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight” which features a variety of dinos and is very fun to act out together while we read, i.e. slam your tail and pout, wave your head from side to side, etc. most of our students are pretty familiar with this book (and some of the dino names) so they get to be “experts” as we read…for example, Triceratops has three horns for easy identification (which leads to the discussion of “tri” meaning “three”, tricycle, triangle, triad). Apatosaurus is featured again in this book, along with a number of others, including Dimetrodon, who isn’t really a “true” dinosaur at all!
needless to say, it was upROARiously fun!
key words included: carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, apatosaurus, triceratops, dimetrodon, extinct, and fossil
processes discussed: how fossils form, dinosaur extinction, the visual body differences between meat-eaters and plant-eaters, and what is paleontology
did you vote for mrs. amy’s preschool press for Best NEW Blog 2007? no? don’t wait for the next mass extinction…vote now! click here to vote!
science | Comment (0)…vote for mrs. amy!
very exciting…mrs. amy’s preschool press has been nominated for a Best NEW Blog Award! (this really is my first blog ever…apropos!)
please vote…and then ask ten more people to do the same…and thanks for being a part of our Old Town community! (take a few minutes to check out other blogs as well…so many amazing educators out there who are committed to a high standard of excellence…and are funny, or interesting, or witty, or just general teaching demi-gods!)
CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW! mrs. amy’s preschool press
Uncategorized | Comment (0)“Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge”
i’m always a little loathe to repeat holiday stuff at FUN CLUB…especially since schools usually do that stuff so well, and i’d rather reinforce in a different way.
so.
instead of the usual pilgrims and american indians and whatnot of thanksgiving, i opt for the following book:
this book is about a little boy with four names who isn’t very big…he lives next to an old folks’ home (good way to introduce a place that can sometimes be scary or confusing for little ones at the holidays) and is friends with a lady who also has four names…but sadly, she has lost her memories. so our hero sets out to discover what memories are…and to help his friend.
i love thinking of thanksgiving as a day for remembering all we are grateful for…and for creating new memories with our friends and family. our “turkey tree” project had children decorating a paper cut-out of their hand like a turkey, and then listing something they were thankful for. children also made “turkey tamborines” to take home–they could call everyone to the table with their crazy rattling turkey!
“I Stink!”
ahh…what pre-schooler doesn’t love a book about the garbage truck?
not only is this book a great lead-in for a discussion about sanitation, waste management, and recycling, it has amazing illustrations and cleverly designed fonts to keep little listeners engaged.
projects today included sorting “trash” from “recycle” and then putting trash into the garbage truck, and recycle into the recycle bin on our coloring pages. during storytime, we also used the book to review our ABC’s and discuss what happens to garbage in the city…as the book says, “Without me, you’re on Mount Trash-A-Rama, baby!”
art, language arts | Comment (0)around the watercooler, erm, chalkboard
overheard at work today…
“see, that’s davy jones…and that’s his whole crew.” charlie points at his pictures on the blackboard.
henry pipes up from the art table, “Don’t forget his octopus beard!”
me, to charlie, “don’t forget the octopus beard.”
charlie, to me, gesturing. “it’s right there. i did it already.” points to spikey, triangular lines attached to davy’s chin.
“i gotta give him a sword.” charlie draws a three-inch line attached to davy’s hand. he looks appraisingly at andrew, who has made some sort of circular-whirling thing under davy’s “feet”.
“oh, that’s good andrew, you made the ocean!”
andrew thinks about this then says, “yeah! that’s the ocean!”
and so it goes…
SO cute!!!
Pirate Adventure
avas, me hardies!pirates are a subject that have fascinated me since my very first “treasure hunt” with my Grandpa Ferd at age four. In honor of my Grandpa, and the little adventure-seeker that lives in every pre-schooler, Pirate Adventure Week is a must.
We start out making the classic newspaper pirate hats–note to parents/teachers–be careful what images/text are on your newspaper! Hats can be decorated a number of ways–for our time purposes, we colored with marker. Our art requirements were: your name, jewels, feathers, and a parrot medallion. Requirements keep the children on task while providing flexibility and choice–some students worked for ten minutes on their hats while others worked for thirty or more! (Students go to “choosing time” when they are finished.)
Our books this week included “How I Became A Pirate” for JK and “Roger, the Jolly Pirate” for SK. Senior Kindergartens also generated some excellent questions about pirates, for example, were pirates real? are there still pirates? did all pirates have eye patches? what did they eat? etc. I have an excellent book called “What If You Met A Pirate” that has a wealth of pirate facts and interesting tidbits. (The illustrations are a bit graphic though, so you may want to wait a few years before putting this one into your child’s library.)
After our storytime, children participated in a treasure hunt–I hide small paper clues all over the room, and then we become a clue-finding team, hunting high and low for clues. It is really important to prep the children to help others find clues if they find one first–a lot of really kind moments and sweet sharing takes place during this activity. Also, be sure to have more clues than children–they really like to be able to find one (sometimes I keep a couple in my pocket and check to see who hasn’t found one yet–I then quickly hide them and invite the remaining child/ren to help me look for the last few clues.) When clues are gathered, we put the words together in a circle, using our emerging reading skills to “sound out” each of the words, and then unscramble the message (intro to sentence structure). Invariably, the message reads, “TO FIND THE TREASURE, YOU MUST FIND THE X!”
Children begin to hunt for a large letter X…when they find it, they point to it, giving everyone a chance to “spy” it. (This year, the treasure box was in the freezer upstairs!) A teacher carries the treasure box to the table and when all are seated we open it and take turns choosing our treasure!
Closure for the day includes learning the Pirate Handshake (make a “hook” finger and shake your neighbor’s “hook” and say “ARGH!”) and the Pirate Song, which goes like this:
“When I was ONE I sucked my thumb (show one finger, show pretend sucking thumb)
Going over the sea (make wave motion with arm)
I JUMPED aboard a PIRATE SHIP (jump aboard, make a sneer and a fist for “pirate ship”)
and the CAPTAIN said to me (salute on “captain)
He said, “GO THIS WAY (lean left) and THAT WAY (lean right)
FORWARD (lean forward) and BACKWARD (lean back)
over the deep blue sea!” (make wave motion with arm)
When I was TWO I tied my shoe (show two fingers, show pretend tying shoes)
Going over the sea (make wave motion with arm)…
You can see where that is going. Just change the first line each time to the next number and an appropriate rhyme! Students love to help think of a good rhyme too…be prepared for some wacky ones though (”five” and “hive” come up a lot).
“Miss Nelson is Missing!”
I have loved this book since I was in grade school! It is so silly and clever…and teaches children an interesting, but not preachy, lesson.
I thought it would be fun to talk about being a “detective” this week–four and five year olds are just starting to become familiar with this word and what it means–Scooby Doo is a big help. Little ones love looking for clues and solving puzzles, so an intro to detective work and simple forensics fit in perfectly with this book.
We learned how to fingerprint ourselves and also that each fingerprint is different and unique, just as we all are. We looked at four common fingerprint patterns as well.
We also experimented with chromatography, or, as we put it, seeing what colors were hiding in our markers. Children are delighted to find yellow hidden amongst the green, purple hidden inside the black, etc. We teach them how to use eyedroppers with alcohol, explaining first about safety (keep away from eyes and mouth), and making sure our building is well-ventilated. We then color canvas pencil bags or canvas aprons with Sharpie permanent markers. The final step is to drip the rubbing alcohol onto the item–the alcohol immediately begins to separarte and evaporate out different color pigments “hiding” in the student’s art, creating a beautiful, magical watercolor tie-died effect.
Items are left to dry for about 30 minutes and then taken home at the end of the day. This lesson really helps to get students to use their “detective eyes” when looking for things–how often do teachers (and parents) hear, “I can’t find my (insert item name here)!!!” Being a “detective” empowers children to use their eyes and look for clues, to stop and think about what makes sense, and to begin to make inferences–all higher level thinking skills and crucial for becoming critical thinkers.
I do believe Miss Nelson and Miss Viola Swamp will be paying us another visit later in the year!
