Below highlights on some of the things I did this week as an Educator in Residence at GSB.
Special Olympics with Lifeskills
I was so excited when I was asked to help with the Special Olympics program at GSB. On Monday mornings, a group of students go to the Wiscasset Community Center to practice swimming. This week was the first practice for the spring season. This program consists of students from grades 1 - 6. This week, I worked with one student in particular. I was surprised at how many laps she swam as a tiny little first grader! I was impressed and proud of each of the students for their hard work Monday morning. They will have a meet held at Bates and Bowdoin college in late April.
Outdoor Education - 1st grade at HVNC
The goal of the outdoor education program for the month of March is to teach students ways that they can help in the outdoors as well as to teach them the basic principles of Leave no trace.
On Tuesday, we took the 1st grade class to Hidden Valley Nature Center. Upon our arrival, we walked on the snowy footpath to the barn. At the barn, the students enjoyed their snack while Jill Davis, the guidance counselor, went over Leave No Trace principles. Afterwards, we had a special task. The first graders worked together while dispersing rotten wood that was stacked in a pile to the forest floor. HVNC could no longer use this wood for burning or building purposes, so they decided to have it spread around the woods to provide homes for the critters. The students worked so well together, helping each other carry logs. They also created forts and fairy homes. :)
YOGA - 7th & 8th grade elective
This week I led another yoga class at the YMCA during the 7th/8th grade study hall elective period. On Tuesday, I had many new faces and hope that the students are able to enjoy another session next week.
TLS curriculum with the 5th grade - WELDED ANKLES
This week for my TLS activity, I chose Welded Ankles. This activity is a lot like stepping stones and also quite a bit different. Once we were outside, I split them into two teams then explained the directions. The students were to stay in a line, with their feet connected to the person in front and behind them while moving towards their goal (an opening about 100 feet ahead). Both groups thought that the overall idea was simple and they would go far fast, but they quickly realized that it would take some creative thinking, communication, and teamwork.
For Ms. K's room, there was an obvious winner. We discussed why one team finished successfully and the other team did not. We talked about that we could do better and also what worked well.
In Ms. Jackson's room the win was not as apparent. It was less than an inch of difference and each student had his or her own idea of what happened. We discussed the goal of the game, competition, what worked well, what didnt, and how we could improve. With many students upset about who did or didnt win, I decided to take a vote on the winner. We all agreed to call it even and to move on because being successful was about how well we worked together not at being off by less than an inch!
Afterschool program - SLIME
With no school last Thursday, I only had my Tuesday afterschool group. This week we made slime. I had them get into groups of two and each group created their own type of slime. We made fluffy unicorn slime. It was a very messy project! Each groups slime came out differently, some better than others
Monday, March 12, 2018
Sunday, March 4, 2018
Week 8 (February 26 - March 2)
There is a never a dull moment here at GSB. I have been so honored to work in this position and thoroughly enjoy the flexibility in my work, the teachers and the students that I work with, from Kindergarten to the 8th grade from tutoring in math to climbing Kieve's rock wall. Below will highlight on my week here at GSB as well as a trip taken to Kieve before February break.
Mr. Hupp and Ms. K - 5th grade to Kieve (before February break)As with Ms. Jackson's 5th/6th grade class, the two other 5th grade classes made a trip to Kieve the Friday before February break. For this trip, I was fortunate to have three other staff members help out with facilitation. Rob, Nelson, and Noah helped facilitate the indoor rock climbing wall while I facilitated a team building activity called "Stepping Stones", the same activity Ms. Jackson's class did. Once the team building challenge was completed, we went on a walk around campus and had a hands on fire building lesson with the help of Mr. Hupp. We then enjoyed lunch in our beautiful dining hall. We then switched groups until it was time to get back on the bus.
It was interesting to see the difference between the two classes. Ironically enough, I work with Ms . K's class the most, however, Mr. Hupp's class worked together much better than Ms.K's. There was a lot of chaos (arguing, yelling, talking over each other, being unkind to one another, leaving people out, not participating). Due to time and other obligations, we ended the Stepping Stone's challenge before it was successfully completed, however, I believe that the students did learn many lessons along the way. We had a long discussion about what went wrong, what could be improved, how to make that happen, and how this happens in their day to day lives, and we came up with a plan for each student to take part in improving this.
Ms. K team building follow up - much improved!
This week working with Ms. K's class was amazing. I was thoroughly impressed by the improvements that had been made. When I entered their class, we reviewed our time at Kieve. Most students, of course, talked about the rock wall in detail, explaining how at first they were afraid, but glad they did it, about how they made it into the black box, and how they started to trust their classmates more than when they started out. This was amazing to hear and it was interesting that no one wanted to talk about the Stepping Stones activity. When they did talk, all I could hear was the word "BAD"! So we did a quick review of what we needed to work out, we thought about what we were going to do, individually, to make things better in a group. We then went outside to complete "Stargate". Stargate involves using a hula hoop, but rather than having it go around the circle (as in Hula Hoop pass), the students have to go through the hoop. It works like this: the students are in a circle, holding hands, the hula hoop is held on one side by the students right hand and on the other side by a students left a hand. The students then have to come up with a plan to have every student go through the hula hoop (with as few touches as they can) without disconnecting.
It was so nice to see the transformation. They stayed in a circle to strategize and had whomever was sharing their idea stand in the center of the circle to speak. When the students on the outside of the circle were talking other kids would help in getting everyone to listen. This may seem like a simple task, but to watch it play in action, so smoothly, was just absolutely beautiful. They worked together so well. Everyone fully participated, made it through the hoop, and completed the activity.
I hope that this will continue to improve and that they are taking it with them when they are not just with me.
Helping out in the resource room
This week I have helped in both the 5th and 6th grade resource room as well as the 7th and 8th grade resource room. The resource room provides one - on - one attention to students who need an extra boost with different subjects. It was great working with different students throughout the school and seeing things from a different perspective. We also played a few rounds of speed math which was a lot of fun :)
DRA with the 4th gradeOn Tuesday, myself and the 4th grade class were lucky enough to spend the morning at the DRA. It was such a beautiful, sunny day with clear fields and very little snow or ice on the ground. We were split into three groups rotating to stations that included: tracking animals, building shelters, and testing our knowledge of plants and wildlife facts. I couldn't have asked for a better day to go on a trip!
Coming up -
*Out outdoor education groups will be taking trips over to Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) for the month of March. Unfortunately, my time as an EIR will be ending before then and I will only be able to attend a few classes on their weekly outing!
*Yoga with the 5th grade Gym class
*Indoor climbing with the Kindergarten - using GSB's climbing wall
Mr. Hupp and Ms. K - 5th grade to Kieve (before February break)As with Ms. Jackson's 5th/6th grade class, the two other 5th grade classes made a trip to Kieve the Friday before February break. For this trip, I was fortunate to have three other staff members help out with facilitation. Rob, Nelson, and Noah helped facilitate the indoor rock climbing wall while I facilitated a team building activity called "Stepping Stones", the same activity Ms. Jackson's class did. Once the team building challenge was completed, we went on a walk around campus and had a hands on fire building lesson with the help of Mr. Hupp. We then enjoyed lunch in our beautiful dining hall. We then switched groups until it was time to get back on the bus.
It was interesting to see the difference between the two classes. Ironically enough, I work with Ms . K's class the most, however, Mr. Hupp's class worked together much better than Ms.K's. There was a lot of chaos (arguing, yelling, talking over each other, being unkind to one another, leaving people out, not participating). Due to time and other obligations, we ended the Stepping Stone's challenge before it was successfully completed, however, I believe that the students did learn many lessons along the way. We had a long discussion about what went wrong, what could be improved, how to make that happen, and how this happens in their day to day lives, and we came up with a plan for each student to take part in improving this.
Ms. K team building follow up - much improved!
This week working with Ms. K's class was amazing. I was thoroughly impressed by the improvements that had been made. When I entered their class, we reviewed our time at Kieve. Most students, of course, talked about the rock wall in detail, explaining how at first they were afraid, but glad they did it, about how they made it into the black box, and how they started to trust their classmates more than when they started out. This was amazing to hear and it was interesting that no one wanted to talk about the Stepping Stones activity. When they did talk, all I could hear was the word "BAD"! So we did a quick review of what we needed to work out, we thought about what we were going to do, individually, to make things better in a group. We then went outside to complete "Stargate". Stargate involves using a hula hoop, but rather than having it go around the circle (as in Hula Hoop pass), the students have to go through the hoop. It works like this: the students are in a circle, holding hands, the hula hoop is held on one side by the students right hand and on the other side by a students left a hand. The students then have to come up with a plan to have every student go through the hula hoop (with as few touches as they can) without disconnecting.
It was so nice to see the transformation. They stayed in a circle to strategize and had whomever was sharing their idea stand in the center of the circle to speak. When the students on the outside of the circle were talking other kids would help in getting everyone to listen. This may seem like a simple task, but to watch it play in action, so smoothly, was just absolutely beautiful. They worked together so well. Everyone fully participated, made it through the hoop, and completed the activity.
I hope that this will continue to improve and that they are taking it with them when they are not just with me.
Helping out in the resource room
This week I have helped in both the 5th and 6th grade resource room as well as the 7th and 8th grade resource room. The resource room provides one - on - one attention to students who need an extra boost with different subjects. It was great working with different students throughout the school and seeing things from a different perspective. We also played a few rounds of speed math which was a lot of fun :)
DRA with the 4th gradeOn Tuesday, myself and the 4th grade class were lucky enough to spend the morning at the DRA. It was such a beautiful, sunny day with clear fields and very little snow or ice on the ground. We were split into three groups rotating to stations that included: tracking animals, building shelters, and testing our knowledge of plants and wildlife facts. I couldn't have asked for a better day to go on a trip!
Coming up -
*Out outdoor education groups will be taking trips over to Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC) for the month of March. Unfortunately, my time as an EIR will be ending before then and I will only be able to attend a few classes on their weekly outing!
*Yoga with the 5th grade Gym class
*Indoor climbing with the Kindergarten - using GSB's climbing wall
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