A few of our multiage friends came with me, Mrs. Hardy-Gilson and Mrs. Smith to the board meeting to share our experience both on Hurricane Island and creating our field guide. They were all so brave to stand-up and present in that format and read. Below is the link to the presentation. Have you ever wondered what advice young learners have for new teachers? Well, we were curious, so the multiage students put their advice in a book for Mrs. Smith to put to use in her own classroom someday. They presented her with a book, Things a Good Teacher Should Know: Advice for Mrs. Smith. This book is FULL of helpful advice for Mrs. Smith. Students began by reflecting on teachers they appreciate, love and respect in our school. From there, students worked on identifying exactly why they felt that teacher was extraordinary! They used their knowledge on informational writing to layout some specific steps Mrs. Smith could take with her new students. We celebrated our time with Mrs. Smith by surprising her with a gathering in Mrs. Hardy-Gilson's room (they kept the secret from her for a more than a week!). We met on the rug so students could share favorite memories from their time with her in multiage. There were lots and lots of tears, as she has been a vital part of our classroom community this year. She is an amazing teacher and any school will be lucky to have her as a part of their school community. And while we said a tearful goodbye, we know it isn't really goodbye... as she will be a guest teacher in our building for the rest of the year. Classmates were quite excited at the thought of me being sick, so Mrs. Smith could return for a visit-I told them I wouldn't take it personally:) Students working on their writing for the bookOur goodbye gathering for Mrs. SmithIt has been strange being away from the classroom, but a silver lining has been that I spend time working with groups of students in different ways. For example, I got to spend time with our youngers in kindergarten math this morning. We focused on three skills: using smaller shapes to create bigger shapes, noticing number grid patterns, and creating patterns. These are three skills that we would like our kindergarteners to demonstrate by the end of the year. While some students are working on extending and challenging their knowledge, other students are working on mastering the basic concept. As I'm sure you've heard by now, we had a pretty incredible experience this morning. 'Tidepool Tim' was kind enough to volunteer his time and travel from Pembroke, Maine to pay us a visit and bring a few dozen coastal Maine animals and plants with him. This was an amazing opportunity for us to get to touch, inspect and learn about the plants and animals we have been talking about for the past 6 weeks. It was a whirlwind couple of hours with lots of 'oohs & ahhs' and squeals with the reveal of every new animal. When it was all said and done there was nothing but smiles, laughter, pruney hands, and some wet clothes (I'll blame the sea cucumber or the Moon Snail 'mucus' for that one!). I wish there was a way to bottle up the excitement and enthusiasm that was pulsating through the room this morning!
There has been an abundance of knowledge acquired from our visit to Hurricane Island (for olders and middles), Myra's Beach, and from 'Tide Pool' Tim, and they are putting that knowledge to good use and creating a Rocky Coast Field Guide. Each student chose an animal or plant that lives on the coast of Maine. Over the past week, each student has been busy gathering information and sketching their animal or plant. The pdf of our Field Guide is off to the printers next week, and we will be ready to reveal our work on October 20 at 1:00. With the exception of the coastal birds, 'Tidepool Tim' was able to bring all of the plants and animals (even the illusive razor clam!), and it was pretty powerful to see their faces when they were getting to hold and examine their animal. It is hard to believe that we are quickly approaching the month of June!
There are a list of activities below that we will be participating in over the next couple of weeks... We may add one or two more, so I will let you know if anything new comes up. *Imaginary Friends Collaborative Project with CHRHS graphic design students. Multiage students drew and wrote about their "Imaginary Friends". Since then the graphic design students at Camden Hills have been working with our stories and pictures using design software to bring our Friends to life on the computer. We'll be walking to CHRHS to meet with our high school partners on this project. Together we'll collaborate, make some changes together and explore the design program features. The high school students will bring their final products to our class before the end of the year. This has been a great collaboration for many years, and was actually initiated by Mr. Walker-Spencer when he was teaching graphic design at the high school. We can't wait to see what they've created. *Chewonki- Monday, May 22nd Vernal Pools habitat program. The Chewonki outreach program will explore this habitat within a habitat with our students on Monday. *Habitat Project-Open House for Families-June 7th from 12:30-1:30 in the multiage classrooms, students will present their habitat projects to demonstrate many of the concepts we've been learning about with this theme. I understand that some students also have projects they've been crafting at home, they should feel welcome to bring those along as well. You'll see mobiles, dioramas, posters and more. *Field day- Wednesday, June 14th- parents welcome, and we also love to have volunteers who may want to support students at stations and activities. This is another great family visiting day so feel free to stop by and spend some time with our group that morning. The main office sent out a formal volunteer request if you're interested in signing up in that way. *Sing-a-long with multiage and Mr. Dyer, June 19th, last day starting at 10:00 a.m., families welcome. We have a casual gathering on the playground after the program and parents can bring along picnic items to close out the last day of the year together with students and teachers. We are working on habitats, and more specifically, creating a zoo in small groups.
How can we, as biologists, recommend the best habitat for animals in our zoo? This is the driving question I presented to the class as they considered what animal they would like to include in their zoo. Each child has picked an animal that they would like to house in their zoo, and they are now working on understanding what the best habitat will be for their animal. When we get back from break, we will start creating an enclosure for their animal. If you have any of the following around your house, we would greatly appreciate any donations!
Thanks! Report cards are coming home tomorrow with your child in their folder. You will notice there are no personal comments, but rather more generic descriptions for math, literacy and writing. I'm saving my observations and thoughts for conferences next week. I look forward to meeting with families, and if you have not signed up there are plenty of spot left!
It’s time to sign up for conferences!
Conferences will be held in 20-minute blocks on Wednesday, March 15th from 2:00pm-7:00pm and Friday, March 17th from 8:00am-12:00pm. To sign up for conferences… Go to the following link: https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Camden_Rockport_Elementary_School You will sign up by creating an account through ptcfast.com. Once the account is created you will immediately be sent an email that will have a direct link to the CRES site. You will choose my name as the person you wish to conference with and then select a time. You will then receive an email with the date and time you selected. If you do not have Internet access please call the school to schedule a conference time at 236-7809. |