This term.
This term, I have most, if not all, of the students between grades 3 and 6. I also have roughly 50 1st graders and 50 2nd graders in various classes. That's a lot of students! If my numbers are correct, it's more than 350 per week! While our schedule is just short of where we want it, it's a lot better than it once was!
My classes this term are a mixture of core classes as directed by Utah standards and Core Knowledge Curriculum classes that I am trying to tweak to fit our model of active students in our Engage! classes. So far, it seems that most students are enjoying what they get in Social Studies Engage! classes (or Social Studies and Literacy Engage! classes when we smash the two together).
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I start the day with 3rd/4th grade Medieval History. I love the Medieval Period. It's my favorite historical era! So far, our students have learned about castles (ask them about crennelations!) and illuminated text. This is a Core Knowledge course, though I have tweaked it quite a bit. We will get to the Hundred Years' War and the Black Death, among other topics; I'm really excited about this class!
After Medieval History, I have a 2nd grade class entitled "Self, School, and Community." This class is a basic map class, where students learn about mapping in their community. So far, they've learned which way is North, South, East, and West. These kids know which way is which, at least in my classroom! We've labeled the walls and love to play games with the directions! I'm considering switching them up and seeing if they notice. (Shhh! Don't tell them!)
After that, I have a 1st grade class entitled "Self, School, and Neighborhood." The gist of this class is fairly similar to the previous class, with a more defined base. Again, they've learned about cardinal directions, and are working on intermediate directions, too!
Once my first three classes are done, I begin working on my base classes. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have Groups 3 and 4. Group 3 is composed of high 2nd, middle 3rd, and low 4th grade students, as selected by their mentoring teachers. (Remember: Engage! classes don't replace the teaching that goes on upstairs. I tend not to think about whether a student is a high 2nd or a low 4th; what I think about is how to best engage that student in my class. Every student is awesome, and should be treated as such!) Our Group 3 work with both Mrs. Beckie Kenter and myself, often at the same time. Working with Mrs. Kenter allows us to cross curriculums and engage across the curriculum. In Group 3, we're teaching a pirate-based project where students will write facts about pirate life and learn about human geography. So far, students have learned how few pirates walked the plank and some landforms they might encounter on their journey. They've learned what happened to bad pirates (who got locked into the brig of the ship) and some about the animals they will encounter on their journey. They've written about their adventures so far in a pirate journal. They've learned some of how to speak like a pirate. They've begun swashbuckling. They've (hopefully) had fun. I know I have!
Mrs. Kenter and I also combine our efforts in our Group 4 class. Group 4 is made up of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. The goal of this class is to create a project that will help the state. The first day, they went into the mentoring classrooms and asked for ideas on how to help the state of Utah. (Much thanks to the mentoring teachers, who graciously invited our students into their classrooms.) Group 4 did a great job of collecting ideas for projects to help the state. They've also mapped Utah, which was quite the project! (...and not done yet!) We expect big things out of this class! These kids can improve their home state through this class, and we hope they'll shoot for the moon! They were introduced to their groups today, in fact, and will start working on their project proposals soon!
Finally, Mrs. Kenter and I have again combined our efforts for a class entitled "Shakespeare + History." We are tackling Shakespeare's histories by student request and are volunteering our time for it because we think the kids are more than worth it. The students have chosen MacBeth as their first play, and they love it! We watched a Lego version of MacBeth (remember, we don't show movies that are PG13 or TV shows that are TV-14), and they loved it. It seems the witches are their favorite characters, though they volunteer for any assignment. There is some language in any Shakespeare play, and we've warned students to have backup words if they choose not to use any of the Bard's language. Even when they choose to use alternative language, this class is going great, and several students report that they are choosing to read Shakespeare on their own time. Students for this class will get credit in both Literacy and Social Studies in this 5-day-a-week class.
Wow! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are LONG days! I'll be back later for Tuesday and Thursday.
Thanks for reading!
John Adams
My classes this term are a mixture of core classes as directed by Utah standards and Core Knowledge Curriculum classes that I am trying to tweak to fit our model of active students in our Engage! classes. So far, it seems that most students are enjoying what they get in Social Studies Engage! classes (or Social Studies and Literacy Engage! classes when we smash the two together).
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I start the day with 3rd/4th grade Medieval History. I love the Medieval Period. It's my favorite historical era! So far, our students have learned about castles (ask them about crennelations!) and illuminated text. This is a Core Knowledge course, though I have tweaked it quite a bit. We will get to the Hundred Years' War and the Black Death, among other topics; I'm really excited about this class!
After Medieval History, I have a 2nd grade class entitled "Self, School, and Community." This class is a basic map class, where students learn about mapping in their community. So far, they've learned which way is North, South, East, and West. These kids know which way is which, at least in my classroom! We've labeled the walls and love to play games with the directions! I'm considering switching them up and seeing if they notice. (Shhh! Don't tell them!)
After that, I have a 1st grade class entitled "Self, School, and Neighborhood." The gist of this class is fairly similar to the previous class, with a more defined base. Again, they've learned about cardinal directions, and are working on intermediate directions, too!
Once my first three classes are done, I begin working on my base classes. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have Groups 3 and 4. Group 3 is composed of high 2nd, middle 3rd, and low 4th grade students, as selected by their mentoring teachers. (Remember: Engage! classes don't replace the teaching that goes on upstairs. I tend not to think about whether a student is a high 2nd or a low 4th; what I think about is how to best engage that student in my class. Every student is awesome, and should be treated as such!) Our Group 3 work with both Mrs. Beckie Kenter and myself, often at the same time. Working with Mrs. Kenter allows us to cross curriculums and engage across the curriculum. In Group 3, we're teaching a pirate-based project where students will write facts about pirate life and learn about human geography. So far, students have learned how few pirates walked the plank and some landforms they might encounter on their journey. They've learned what happened to bad pirates (who got locked into the brig of the ship) and some about the animals they will encounter on their journey. They've written about their adventures so far in a pirate journal. They've learned some of how to speak like a pirate. They've begun swashbuckling. They've (hopefully) had fun. I know I have!
Mrs. Kenter and I also combine our efforts in our Group 4 class. Group 4 is made up of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. The goal of this class is to create a project that will help the state. The first day, they went into the mentoring classrooms and asked for ideas on how to help the state of Utah. (Much thanks to the mentoring teachers, who graciously invited our students into their classrooms.) Group 4 did a great job of collecting ideas for projects to help the state. They've also mapped Utah, which was quite the project! (...and not done yet!) We expect big things out of this class! These kids can improve their home state through this class, and we hope they'll shoot for the moon! They were introduced to their groups today, in fact, and will start working on their project proposals soon!
Finally, Mrs. Kenter and I have again combined our efforts for a class entitled "Shakespeare + History." We are tackling Shakespeare's histories by student request and are volunteering our time for it because we think the kids are more than worth it. The students have chosen MacBeth as their first play, and they love it! We watched a Lego version of MacBeth (remember, we don't show movies that are PG13 or TV shows that are TV-14), and they loved it. It seems the witches are their favorite characters, though they volunteer for any assignment. There is some language in any Shakespeare play, and we've warned students to have backup words if they choose not to use any of the Bard's language. Even when they choose to use alternative language, this class is going great, and several students report that they are choosing to read Shakespeare on their own time. Students for this class will get credit in both Literacy and Social Studies in this 5-day-a-week class.
Wow! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are LONG days! I'll be back later for Tuesday and Thursday.
Thanks for reading!
John Adams
