Long busy week!!

   This week has been long, difficult, and different then most weeks. This week the students have state tests and the school is relying on these tests to keep the school open. This leaves the students and teachers in a panic and overly stressed. It is very noticeable because the students are not as willing to cooperate than they normally would. It is also difficult that all our schedules are changed around and many students are taken out of class for extra testing. This means I am working with classes that have only half their students present, and I have to teach classes of students I don't even know. It is very odd and I am still trying to adjust to the changes for the next week.

Kindergarten-In my K class's, the students and the schedules were the same for the most part. This week we did some science experiments and learned how to conduct some research. We had three containers of powder and we had to find out what they were. This was done with our 5 senses. We had to record what we saw, and smelt. When we mixed the powders with water we also got to taste them. The powders ended up being salt, sugar, and lemonade mix. The students really loved doing this because it is not often we get to taste things in art class. They learned how to create an experiment with a control while connecting the material to the ocean because the water in the ocean is mixed with salt. Therefor we kept adding salt to our cups to see how salty the ocean water is. Many of the students didn't mind tasting the ocean water while Ms.Helen and I were completely grossed out.

1st Grade- In our 1st grade classes it was slightly difficult to begin a new project. Some days have been make up days, some classes were not mine, and some of the classes just didn't show up! Right now I am introducing a totem pole lesson to the students and the schedule seems to be all over the place. I hope after next week things get back to normal again because it is hard to teach students you don't know, or classes with only 4 students there.
I just wish the teaching was being done the right way.


2nd Grade-Lastly, I have been helping teach the 2nd grade classes because their time slot is now at the end of the day. I do not know any of these students, while they all seem to think they know me. Everyone shouts "Oh, that's the Ms. Samantha!" It is comical that they are excited to work with me and make me feel as if I'm famous. I do really enjoy helping them though. They are in the process of making business in their classrooms, so in art they have to make a logo. Many of the students have had great ideas while others can not focus and get to work. Of course I like to help the students that are out of control because I like to see how proud they are of themselves when they actually accomplish something! Overall, it has been a good experience working with the 2nd graders.

Putting it all together!

   The ocean lessons have taken over a month now and finally the work has came together. Ms. Helen and I have harassed everyone in the school building to put a bar up so I could display the children's work. It took me two hours to complete the display and "oh my" isn't is soooo beautiful. Everyone in the building stops by and gazes at the swimming fish....even the older students! It is nice to see that kindergartens can make something so beautiful that everyone wants to spend their time looking at! I hear "wow", "that's so pretty", "isn't that beautiful", "did you make this yourself," or "can I touch the fish?" Even though I have to scold people from touching the art work, I am most happy with the engagement and how much others appreciate the work. I can really tell that the kindergarten students are really proud of their display as well.
   So this week we learned about larger animals in the ocean. The students favorite part was learning how each of these animals moves. We watched videos and made a dance to a song. We danced all around the class room and really got into the fishy spirit. It was so fun to move around. It really brightens my day seeing how fun these little guys are. After all the dancing we did a class critique in front of the big display. It was very hard to keep the students from being so excited and chatty, but they really wanted to tell me about their work! Many of the students told me that they loved how the fish camouflaged into the background, and how the back lit up. It was great getting the students to talk about their work. I don't think I would have done this lesson any other way. If was soooo fun!! 

 

Ocean Predators and Prey

   This week we are learning about the bigger animals that live in the ocean. We are learning about these animals because they prey on fish we have just learned about. We not only got to look at great pictures of these animals, but videos to see how some of these animals behave. We learned the importance of defense that the animals must have to defend themselves from whales or sharks. We also learned that some of these animals are mammals and others are cold blooded. Some animals like the turtle are born on land but live in the ocean. There really is a lot of predators in the ocean, and us humans can be one of them!
    This class we learned so much that we were able to choose which animal was our favorite and got to draw them. Next class we will be working in teams to paint these larger animals so we can display them with our fish.