Wow! How time has flown by this winter at GSB! It seems like just the other day, I walked back into the halls of this school picking right where I left off last winter. Knowing the school much better than I did last January at this time, I have been able to maximize my schedule and make the difference that I want to see this winter.
Here is what I've been up too...
1. K- 4 Adventure DaysThis is a program that started in September. Each month grades K-4 rotate on Tuesdays and Thursday to go on a pre-planned adventure. This month, I had the privilege of helping to plan our January adventures. The theme of the month was tolerance which we simplified to excepting everyone for who they are and to not be judgmental. For grades K and 1st, we started with a winter themed reading, followed by hot chocolate, and then headed behind the school for some sledding. The kids took turns sharing sleds and enjoyed flying down the hill. Unfortunately, 3rd grade missed their January day to a delayed start, however, 2nd and 4th grades enjoyed a morning trip to Kieve. At Kieve, we started the day off as we do every morning, with a community meeting. We then headed towards Wescott point where we did a couple of team building activities. We split into different teams completing either a Classification study or Inch worm. The classification study consists of renaming a piece of nature (a stick, a rock, etc) and giving it a completely different name, purpose, and origin. They had to work together, coming up with one idea for the entire group. The inch worm activity required the students to work together moving from one location to another without losing links to a solid object. For an example, student A had to stay connected to a tree, while the student B walked towards another tree. Student A could not move until Student B was connected. Once student B was connected, Student A could then move towards another tree. The students in the middle had to stay connected to each other the entire time. All students needed to make it from one location to another. This required working well together by practicing and strengthening their communication skills. Once these activities were completed, students were able to hang out by the fire. We then ended our morning with some hot cocoa in our Pasquaney dining hall.
2. TLS Cirriculum
This winter I am still able to work with 2 of the 3 classes I worked with last year. Ms. Jackson's 5th and 6th grade class and Ms. K's 5th grade class. So far we have done Told by Fold and Squiggle Lines.
Told by Fold is an activity where students write a sentence or phrase and pass it to the person that is sitting next to them. The next student is to interpret the sentence into a drawing then fold the writing so that the next person can only see the drawing. This continues until we make it all the way around the room or until a certain about of time has passed. At the end, the students share what the first phrase was and what the last phrase is. Most of the time they come out completely different. This creates a good conversation about how people perceive and interpret things. Often discussion about text messages, social media, and tone of voice (or lack of through computer usage) comes up.
Squiggle lines is an activity where students are separated into groups of 4-5. They all receive a sheet of paper with the same squiggle line drawn by me. Each student is given a different colored marker that they are able to use for the duration of the activity. The goal is for them to work together to create a drawing while also using the squiggle line that has already been drawn for them. This requires students to work together by sharing ideas and compromising. Because each student has a different color marker, you can see how involved each student was. It is interesting to see the creativity among the students as well how well they work together.
It was interesting to watch one of the groups in Ms. K's room completely disagree at the beginning, but come together at the end, making everyone happy.
3. Continuation of Last Year Last year, I found that I did some things that I really enjoyed and others that I just didn't understand what I was doing. This year, I really wanted to make use of my time here, make a difference in specific kids lives, and to make my mark at GSB. Stay posted on changes I have made, but for now, here are some things I have continued to do...
-TLS cirriculum with Ms. Jackon and Mrs. K's class
-plan a trip to Kieve for the 5th grade classes
-helping with the Daily 5 and Writing with Mrs. Simon's Kindergarten class
-morning reading with Mrs. Verney's 1st grade class
-lunch with the Kindergarten's
-lunch groups with 1st/2nd graders and 3rd/4th graders
Please stay tuned to learn more about some changes I have made for the upcoming weeks here at GSB. I am super excited to share what I've planned and to see how it turns out.
Til next time,
Kasie
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