Week One at Cornerstone

This week was my first at Cornerstone Elementary. Vicki and I are both in Miss Dillon’s third grade class. We are there for writing, reading groups, and social studies, depending on the day.

Miss Dillon has asked me to create a four lesson unit on Geography. I spent some time on Wednesday looking through her notebook getting some ideas of what I am to teach. I’m planning to do a series of mini lessons regarding mapping, and end with a culminating activity where each student creates his or her own country and creates a map of it.

The first few days I mostly spent making observations and getting to know the students. There are 23 students in the class, so it’s a good thing the classroom is large. The room lacks a word wall. Miss Dillon explained that she chose to omit this from her room to give her students more accountability for their spelling abilities. Each student has a dictionary which they use quite often.

There are only three rules posted in the classroom. They are:

1) Be kind

2) Be safe

3) Be an active learner

There are many visiting teachers in and out of the classroom. The students seem to like the visitors. Reading groups are divided between Miss Dillon and two visiting teachers. There are three groups. One is a group of student who are all below grade level. They get intensive instruction to help them develop. The other two groups are mixed ability.

The discipline system used in the classroom is the same as was used at both Kean and Apple Creek. A four card system of different colors shows the students status that day.

On Miss Dillon’s desk is a wooden apple that says “The teacher is busy, take a number” and has small apples on it numbered 1-4. Although I get the feeling this is only for decoration, it is not a bad idea to have a system in place for students to indicate they need help when the teacher is doing something else.

She uses a “countdown to quite” method to get her classes quiet and ready for the next activity. She starts and five and by the time she gets to one, the students are waiting quietly in their seats.

Miss Dillon’s class does an activity called “reader’s notebook.” Miss Dillon reads the class a story, and then they each write a response to it. They are free to respond in any way they wish, whether it be poetry, a critique, or related fiction. For twenty minutes the lights are dimmed, music is played, and students are allowed to sit wherever they please about the room. They really seem to enjoy this freedom and get quite creative with their writing.

I expect that at least five students in the class have IEP’s. For the most part the students seem pretty bight, but perhaps not highly motivated. Many of them still write poorly with large or backwards letters, often not on the lines. This fine motor skill, however, develops differently for everybody.

So far I’m happy with my experience with third graders. Their prior knowledge makes communicating with them easy. For example, when you ask them “What needs to go at the end of the sentence?” they can answer you confidently. I like being able to speak to my students like young adults.

I look very much forward to further time at Cornerstone.