Week Two at Cornerstone

This week was shortened by two days due to inclement weather.

On Wednesday kids worked on new “publications” to be on display for parent-teacher conferences.  They were each given illustrations of comic strips and wrote words to go along with them.  It was interesting to see how each of the students interpreted the pictures and came up with different story lines.  I had the opportunity to observe Miss Dillon’s reading group. They’re reading a book about immigrants coming to Ellis Island.  The students seemed really engaged in the book and asked a lot of questions regarding the topic.   It was nice to see students actively participating in their education.

Thursday was Valentine’s day.  The class did a citizenship type activity.  Each student had a heart with his or her name on it.  The hearts were then randomly distributed to the rest of the class. Students then wrote one nice things about the person whose valentine they had, and then passed it to the person next to them.  This continued until each student had written something nice about everyone else in the class.  I thought this was a nice way to promote healthy relationships within the class and show individuals what nice things their classmates saw in them.

Vicki, Miss Dillon, and I discussed dates for our units.  I will be teaching my lesson the week of April 7.

Although the week was shortened, it was a good example of how the class runs under very realistic circumstances. There is no way to predict or control the weather, and it can be hard to keep students on task when they know a holiday celebration is coming.  Miss Dillon seemed to acknowledge this challenge and engage them in a holiday-related activity that wasn’t just a waste of time.  These are the types of things that cannot be taught in a classroom, and that must be learned from experience.