Final Week of Student Teaching!

Space Night!

After all of the hard work the kids put into their space research projects they were finally able to present their multimedia presentations to their parents at Space Night! They chose between a few presentation options: a video, a Prezi (a fancy slideshow), and a Glogster (an online interactive poster). The students had plenty of class time to prepare and rehearse, and despite the technical difficulties we were experiencing during our final rehearsal, (Prezi's website was down... talk about bad luck) everything went off without a hitch that night. I was so proud of the kiddos, all of them did such an awesome job speaking in front of the crowd of parents and family (and I could tell the parents were impressed as well!) 

Farewell Party

Friday was my last day of student teaching EVER. Someone pinch me! It flew by and I really can't explain how surreal it feels to be finished with my portfolio and graduating in less than a week. On my last day, Mrs. MacInnes and the kids threw a goodbye party for me. We ate cookies, exchanged gifts, and I even got to teach the kids some of the games we play at my rec summer camp. Take a look at some of the cards they made me... so sweet!

 

(apparently I'm married ;)

Check out my gifts! Plenty of fun math books and my very first CD full of catchy educational songs (by Red Grammer)! My mentor teacher knows me well..

The game I taught them is called "Chief." Everyone sits in a circle. One person leaves the room and has to come back in and guess who the chief is. The chief leads the circle in movements, clapping, etc. The point is to trick the guesser by not looking directly at the chief when the movements change. (This game is pretty laid back and keeps the kids occupied--not to mention they absolutely love it! It's an awesome tool to have when you need to kill some time between transitions.)

Goodbye hugs!

It was so hard to say goodbye to these goobers, they really are a special group of kids. When I thanked them for being such great teachers to me, they looked at me like I had five heads. "But you're the teacher, Miss Meagher, we're the students." I explained to them that I learned so much about being a teacher from them; they were my teachers too! I'm so thankful to have had such an incredible student teaching experience. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me and my teaching career. Here's to new beginnings! Thanks for reading my blog... it has been real.

My mentor teacher, Cherrie and I! I adore her and can't thank her enough for all she has taught me  these past few weeks and the friendship we have shared.

And the obligatory group photo... what a bunch of knuckleheads! I love them all :)

Week 14

Multimedia Space Presentations

A lot of exciting things happened this past week in our class. A few weeks ago I started to teach my portion of the space unit: Multimedia Presentations. Students were placed in groups (or pairs) and each group was assigned a research topic involving space. I wanted the students to have a few different presentation options to choose from so they could either create a video, a Prezi (an interactive slide presentation), or a Glogster (a digital poster). They worked extremely hard on their research and were excited to get started on their presentations. The students will be presenting their multimedia creations with their parents and other family members next week. It's going to be a fun learning experience for everyone involved!

Researching!

The students gained so much by developing the research on their own. This type of project-based learning (that suits their interests and incorporates technology) gives the students the skill set and the desire it takes to become lifelong learners.

Week 13

Skyping with Elephants!

My favorite part about this past week in Mrs. MacInnes' classroom was our Skype session with Dr. Jim, a veterinarian from Hope, Maine. He started a program called "Hope Elephants" where he provides a home for injured and aging elephants. We had so much fun learning about the two elephants, Opal and Rosie, who are currently living in a beautiful facility (with heated sand and all) in Hope, Maine. We even got to see them up close and personal throughout the entire session! Some of the third grade students have been researching animals and zoos/the circus. They wrote argumentative essays either defending zoos or opposing them because of poor treatment of animals. Elephants were a hot topic in their essays, so what better way to expand their learning experience than by having a Skype chat with live elephants?

Dr. Jim met Rosie and Opal when they were babies. He and his brothers were jugglers in the circus and the elephants were part of the show. Now that both elephants are unable to perform tricks, they are retired. Thanks to Dr. Jim, they are now treated like princesses! The elephants and their facility are open to the public for visits; it would be so neat to take a field trip there sometime! To learn more about Hope Elephants, you can check out their website here. 

Week 12

Annoying Polygon Song

This past week in math we learned all about polygons! Since the kids were required to memorize a large amount of vocabulary, I decided a fun song was overdue... so (naturally) I found a song about polygons sung by a man with a quirky British accent. You can check it out below. Disclaimer: It will get stuck in your head and drive you crazy... you've been warned.

The end doesn't have a good moral, it's pretty terrible actually (getting plastic surgery so you're no longer "just a boring square" is not the message I meant to send to the kids) but it was funny and went right over their heads.

Daily 5

This week we also did "Daily 5" during our literacy block. During this, the kids always do such a great job staying quiet and on task (it's a relaxing time for everyone). Also, my mentor teacher has many fantastic Word Work activities and tools, it's impressive to say the least. I took some photos of the kids at each station. Daily 5 is definitely something I plan to implement in my own future classroom, and thanks to Mrs. MacInnes I have a few ideas to get me started!

Station 1: Read to Self, books from leveled book folders

Station 2: Read to Someone

Station 3: Work on Writing (these girls spent their time writing "Acts of kindness" which I later found out they were writing for me... I posted them below!) Their kind words really meant a lot to me.

:)

Station 4: Word Work (This kiddo is doing letter stamping)

Station 5: Listen to Reading 

Polygon/Line Segment Scavenger Hunt!

Earlier in the week, I created a scavenger hunt for the kids to do around the school. They were to find different objects that are polygons, line segments, parallel, etc. I wanted to get them out of their seats for a change and make things a bit more hands-on. I am also a firm believer that it is important for students to take the math they are learning in the classroom and apply it to the real world. They had a blast finding the different objects and, for many of them, their understanding of the concepts suddenly "clicked." Scavenger hunts are always an adventure! Luckily things didn't get too crazy since we had a few extra adults handy so we could split the kids up into groups to walk around separate areas of the school.

Happy hunting :)

Week 11

Fun with Line Segments

This past week I started a new unit/topic in math (we're finally finished with fractions!) and we're currently learning about 2-dimensional shapes... which is a cakewalk in comparison. I found some fun videos on Youtube that explained the concepts so I could differentiate the lesson for the more visual and auditory learners. My seminar instructor came in to observe me during the lesson and the kids did such a great job participating and being great listeners while she was there! I was happy with how everything went. My favorite part of the lesson (and I'm sure the kids would agree) was when we sang the Line Segment Song, which you can listen to here. The tune was really catchy and they were singing along and kept asking me to play it over again. My mentor teacher took a video of us, check it out! They're so funny.

The students learned about lines, rays, line segments, points, intersecting lines, and parallel lines. I gave the kids a worksheet in which they had to label the different pictures and one answer in particular made my mentor teacher and I laugh.

Those are "interesting lines" ...glad he thought so! ;) Oh, the hilarity of misspelled words. 

Humans in Space

We also had a few other Skype sessions this past week. We did a mystery Skype with Michigan, a mystery Skype with Nebraska, and then on Friday the entire third grade participated in the NASA Discovery Learning Network's program, Humans in Space. We Skyped with Mr. David Mazza from the John Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and he taught us about what it is like to live on the International Space Station. We got to watch a few videos, and the kids were able to ask questions. It was so great! If you are interested in seeing more pictures of Friday's video conference, you can check out my mentor teacher's class blog and follow the links. http://passionatelearners.blogspot.com/

Birthday Party Fiasco!

So, I was invited to one of my student's birthday parties this weekend, and let me tell you, it turned out to be an occasion for the books! I decided it would be fun to pop in for a bit and celebrate... when I showed up, the kids were off the wall! Hyped up on soda and snacks, they had a blast (to say the least) and it reminded me of why teachers have weekends off... haha, I can honestly say though that I'm glad I went. My students were pretty excited that myself and their old student teacher, Jessica Hall, showed up together. Anyway, one of my other students who was at the party accidentally locked herself in the bathroom and the door got stuck. We were trying to pry the door open, and even Jessica (who is a Umaine Hockey player) couldn't break down the door despite her efforts to body check it. We ended up calling the fire department, who came in and kicked the door down. Everyone was fine, nobody was hurt, and we all had a good laugh. The birthday boy was pumped to have a fire truck and firemen at his party!

 The birthday boy and I!

So excited to see Miss Hall :)

Locked in the bathroom...

 They had to kick the door down...

And she's free! The firemen saved the day :)