Anyhoo, I have the day off guilt free as I didn't get called for subbing. I really enjoy teaching but subbing, not so much. I don't mind if I get called the night before but getting a phone call at 5:30 in the morning and having to figure out where your school is and how to get there... meh. I have to admit because I have a temporary three day a week job right now it's harder to get out there on the other two days.
I'll share with you an awesome day I had with my K/1s. I'm still new with the primary grades but it's getting better as I start to get to know the kids and figure out how they like to do things. We like to look at all the different ways you write (poems, stories, songs, scripts, lists, etc) and we made a camping list and I told them we were going to go pretend camping. We made a list, they drew all their things inside a backpack colouring page, and we discussed all our experiences camping.
The next day we got ready to go pretend camping (though I did have some concerned parents coming in and saying 'why did my son tell me he needed to bring a sleeping bag to school today?') and we packed our imaginary backpacks and talked about what we were going to see. Then I sent them out for recess and while they were gone I put all the tables in a circle and taped sheets to make a 'tent'. I stayed away from props and decoration because I did really want the students to use their imagination to see everything.
When the students came back in they were soooo excited. We first walked through the coatroom (the forest) and they told me what they could see in the wood. They were awesome, they saw salmon in creeks (though the salmon in the puddle was the best sight I thought), bald eagles, trees so tall you couldn't see the top, bears, deers, bunnies, and a cheetah so it was a pretty cool forest overall. We had to step over fallen logs and wind our way around big rocks. Super fun.
Then we climbed a mountain by going along the long outside part of the tent to get to the opening. We started out tall at the bottom, but slowed down and went to a crouched position at the middle, and then crawled our way at the top because we were soooo tired and exhausted from the climb. I had to go rescue a student who claimed 'he can't do it!' 'it's too far!' but holding my hand we made it to the top where we all drank from our imaginary water bottles.
Somehow I got all the students under the tent which they loved. This part was pretty chaotic but it was super fun. We unpacked our backpacks and told others what was in there. Lots of students brought imaginary books which they started to read out loud, some brought apples, some brought stuffed animals, and after sharing with our neighbours, we rolled out our imaginary sleeping bags and did a relaxation/mindfullness quiet activity.
Afterwards we packed up our bags, started down the hill, back through the woods (the cheetah was still there!), and then returned to our classroom. It was just the most fun. Afterwards they wrote in their journals about it and it was some of their most creative writing yet. I was soooo happy for them.
It was also great when the parents came and the first things they heard were things like 'we went camping!' 'We hiked up a mountain' and 'I saw a bear!'.
Okay, I'm off to be productive today. Though I think we all know I'll be spending the day like this.
Curled up next to the bubbles jar.
5 comments:
Ohmigosh I think love the kid who said he couldn't make it, it was to far. :-)
Those rug rats are very lucky to have you as a teacher.
omg I wish I could go back in time and have you as my kindergarten teacher :D That does sound like one awesome forest.
How do you think that up!! Wow!! Sounds like an awesome trip. You can take malcolm on that trip one day, too.
OMG Leone. That was like the best lesson ever. The kids are so lucky to have you as their teacher. What fun!Love Mom
You are an AWESOME teacher! I wish I could get my adult students to be even 1/10 that enthusiastic about creativity!
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