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Cute, beautiful
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Tag Archives: school
Griffin’s Week at School at Home
This week was pretty good. I did my human body systems work which is a project that I’ve been working on for a few months that is about the eleven human body systems and I’m on my final draft.
I also worked on my conference prep essay. This is an essay which we have to write about our year and work habits and big work and lessons and lots of that stuff. Normally we would have written this by March 19 (I’m pretty sure), but it’s different this year because of the coronavirus. We already had the conference but for some reason I still have to write this.
I also did a lot of TerraCycle work. We’re trying to create a presentation slideshow that will teach people about TerraCycle and how it will help save the Earth. Here’s a PDF of our current draft of the presentation:
It was hard to stay focused because Oliver and Maggie and Daddy and sometimes Mama were always loud somewhere. Especially Oliver because he’s always asking me to do stuff.
I also went to a few state parks and I learned a lot at them. We saw a garter snake at Lebanon Hills and Mama said that I could try to pick it up but it got all coiled up like it would try to bite me. We looked it up later and learned that it will poop and make it really stinky if you pick it up. Also they’re really fast. I’m adding this because I learned a lot of facts there, so it counts as school.
Maggie’s Week at School at Home
This week, I worked on grammar and mammoth math and I read a lot. For grammar I had to figure out what part of speech different words were. For math I did all types of math, like clock work, and pluses and minuses, and figuring out what numbers are even and odd. I read Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, I and II. I got online for about a half hour to an hour every day with my teachers and classmates. I liked sharing at the end of the week where you get to share something special. The first time I shared a rock. It reminded me of state parks. And the second time I shared a plastic polar bear that I made in a Mold-A-Rama at Como Zoo. I don’t get to go to the zoo a whole lot now and I like the zoo.
Distance Teaching
I’m starting my second week of distance teaching today. Not loving it thus far. Admittedly, there are some neat aspects to it. I thought I would dislike having to record all of my class meetings, but it’s actually pretty convenient. If I’m having a one-on-one discussion with a student during our “quiet study” period, I can share the video with them afterward so that they don’t have to worry about taking notes. Similarly, if a student misses a class meeting, the video of the class will be posted within about 15 minutes… so that can be useful.
But, and this is huge, the connections with students are so much weaker. I see all their tiny faces on my meeting grid, but I can’t really tell if they are with me or snoozing or confused. Normally I can walk around the room and read everyone’s body language. If the energy is sleepy, I rev things up or insert a quick oxygen break. If students seem confused, I slow down and go over things more carefully. All of this is much harder when mediated by a video conferencing app. Even doing a “whip share” where everybody shares something feels slower and less dynamic on the computer. I find myself losing focus before we make it around the circle (and when I’m zoning out, I know that most of the class is long gone!).
I’m confident that I’ll get better at this as I gain more experience. I hope to solicit plenty of feedback from my students, too, about what’s working for them. I haven’t been at it long enough to see how the quality of student work changes. I’m curious about that.
Below are two artifacts from my first week. First is the Welcome Back video that I sent to my eighth-grade social studies students before our first class. It took me forever to make and I have a million criticisms, but it’s safe to say that it was the best I could do in the time that I had. The second is a cartoon created by my good friend Nate. He’s a teacher on the east coast and used to draw illustrations of our high school D&D adventures. In my classes so far, I’ve seen all of his archetypes except the skateboarder.
First Day of School
Griffin is in fourth grade. Maggie is starting first. At a Montessori school, this means that they’re both in new classrooms with new teachers and a new mix of students. They couldn’t be more excited to go.
Not quite old enough for school, but may start preschool in January.
Last Days of School
Big transitions are afoot. Today is the last day of school for Griffin and Maggie at Cornerstone, and it is Andrew’s last work day at SPA. Not only are we all transitioning into summer mode, but Griffin and Maggie will be moving into new classrooms with new teachers next year. While this sounds entirely normal to those of us who attended regular schools, in the Montessori model, students work with the same teacher for three years.
Griffin has been in the same classroom since first grade, beginning as a neophyte being mentored by older students and ending, this year, as one of the third-grade leaders. Although Maggie first enrolled this year as a kindergartner, she was part of the top cohort in her classroom, working with younger pre-k students. In the fall, both of them, as fourth- and first-graders, will be entering a new world where they will grow for the next three years.
Maggie has been very excited about the transition, eagerly looking forward to her “Fly Up!” ceremony and the dance her class has been practicing. Griffin has more mixed feelings, leading to some conversations about the term “bittersweet.” He’s excited to continue learning and doing new work (in Montessori parlance), but he loved his teacher and will miss his many younger friends that he’s leaving behind.
The bus stop crew.
Maggie with her mentor at the “Fly Up!” ceremony.
Maggie with her mentor at the “Fly Up!” ceremony.
Maggie with her mentor at the “Fly Up!” ceremony.
No transition for this guy, but he celebrated at dinner.
Dungeon Fantasy In The Classroom
Two of my passions—teaching and roleplaying games—came together in this short piece. After running a gaming activity at school this year, the fine folks at Steve Jackson Games asked me to write up a blurb about the experience. It went live this morning.
The target audience is definitely gamers (who else ends up on the SJGames homepage?), but it shouldn’t cause Muggle eyes to glaze over too much.
(See also a PDF version in case the site goes down.)
Maggie’s First Day
It’s finally Maggie’s turn to have her first day of school! Off to Dodge Nature Preschool for her second (and final!!) year of preschool!
First Day of Second Grade
Thunderstorms all night and ominous gray skies in the morning didn’t diminish Griffin’s excitement for starting school again this year. (There was nervousness, too, but mostly he was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.)
Griffin’s Astronomy
While cleaning up the house over the weekend, we found a pile of work that Griffin created at school last year (first grade). This chart of the solar system reminded me of my recent post, Maggie’s Astronomy, so I thought I should add this here. Griffin is aware, by the way, that Pluto is no longer considered to be planet.
As part of his astronomy research in first grade, he also took notes on some of the facts he unearthed. I picked a few to share below.
Note the creative (and phonetically reasonable) spelling of explode: “iiczplod.”