Observation Journal Entry #5
Mar. 5th, 2013 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aelfieAnother cold and windy morning saw us outside jump roping. The nice thing about it, is that it warms us all up. No need to complain about the cold anymore. However, my shoulders with the repetitive strain injury are killing me. I am not liking this AT ALL. I wonder if they will get used to it, or if it will continue to be a royal pain the shoulders.
At the start of Morning Lesson, Ms. R introduced the paragraph note taking form for the second paragraph, the topic is geography. Three required questions on the form are:
1. What does the landscape of the state look like?
2. What are the major water features, cities and natural areas?
3. What is the climate? How does the weather affect the people of this state?
Ms. R also left an open space for a 4th question or other ideas for interesting tidbits the children find in their research. The students are given state books borrowed from the library and encouraged to go through the Table of Contents to find the section of the book that will help them answer those questions. Ms. R also encouraged children to write fragments (my words not hers) in the provided notes section. She told the children that just notes, a couple of words are enough, that full sentences not needed. Sentences could be developed later from their notes. The form also included a space for a summary/final sentence for the paragraph, and space for 2 vocabulary words.
Next up, the story. SHOW TIME, no pressure (ack!).
During our first meeting Ms. R asked me to prepare a 15-20 minute story of Tecumseh. Now I have to admit, I was a bit dismayed about this...I had read a quick kids version of the story in preparation for this block, but other than that, I did not know ANYTHING about this person's biography. So I had to do quite a bit of studying up. Telling a History story to a roomful of Fifth Graders is quite a bit more daunting that telling a Fairy Tale to a bunch of First Graders Oh dear. See, if you mess up the Fairy Tale...you can just keep going and work with the mistake. Make a mistake about telling History? Can't fix that without looking like a dope. But without a challenge, there's no room for growth. But overall I think it went fine.
I spent the week looking over different books, wikipedia articles, and various websites to find out information. And then spent the weekend writing notes and refining them. The biggest problem was figuring out what to tell them! Tecumseh had such a BIG life, it was difficult to figure out what to focus on, and what to gloss over just enough to give the children a flavor of the historical situation. I didn't veer too far off my ideas of what I wanted to say. I had a cheat sheet in my pocket that had the various treaties and the dates on them so I could remember to get them in proper order. Ms. R said to go ahead and use the board to mark these down. It's okay to go from notes in 5th grade instead of memorizing everything. But I had three pictures in my head of what I wanted the children to know, and I think I managed to do that. Only a couple of brain farts when trying to think of the proper descriptive words I wanted (as I didn't write a script), but I managed to keep moving, remember where I was, give the images I wanted to pass on, and bring my own enthusiasm about this person. In the end, I felt sorry for him. He tried so hard to unite the various tribes of the Native Americans, but they couldn't stop fighting amongst each other to fight together. I don't think they would have managed to keep their own lands safe, I think it would have made the US Army work for it a bit harder. God IS on the side with the most artillery factories...
So, scary, but good. I'm glad its over until the next story!
At the start of Morning Lesson, Ms. R introduced the paragraph note taking form for the second paragraph, the topic is geography. Three required questions on the form are:
1. What does the landscape of the state look like?
2. What are the major water features, cities and natural areas?
3. What is the climate? How does the weather affect the people of this state?
Ms. R also left an open space for a 4th question or other ideas for interesting tidbits the children find in their research. The students are given state books borrowed from the library and encouraged to go through the Table of Contents to find the section of the book that will help them answer those questions. Ms. R also encouraged children to write fragments (my words not hers) in the provided notes section. She told the children that just notes, a couple of words are enough, that full sentences not needed. Sentences could be developed later from their notes. The form also included a space for a summary/final sentence for the paragraph, and space for 2 vocabulary words.
Next up, the story. SHOW TIME, no pressure (ack!).
During our first meeting Ms. R asked me to prepare a 15-20 minute story of Tecumseh. Now I have to admit, I was a bit dismayed about this...I had read a quick kids version of the story in preparation for this block, but other than that, I did not know ANYTHING about this person's biography. So I had to do quite a bit of studying up. Telling a History story to a roomful of Fifth Graders is quite a bit more daunting that telling a Fairy Tale to a bunch of First Graders Oh dear. See, if you mess up the Fairy Tale...you can just keep going and work with the mistake. Make a mistake about telling History? Can't fix that without looking like a dope. But without a challenge, there's no room for growth. But overall I think it went fine.
I spent the week looking over different books, wikipedia articles, and various websites to find out information. And then spent the weekend writing notes and refining them. The biggest problem was figuring out what to tell them! Tecumseh had such a BIG life, it was difficult to figure out what to focus on, and what to gloss over just enough to give the children a flavor of the historical situation. I didn't veer too far off my ideas of what I wanted to say. I had a cheat sheet in my pocket that had the various treaties and the dates on them so I could remember to get them in proper order. Ms. R said to go ahead and use the board to mark these down. It's okay to go from notes in 5th grade instead of memorizing everything. But I had three pictures in my head of what I wanted the children to know, and I think I managed to do that. Only a couple of brain farts when trying to think of the proper descriptive words I wanted (as I didn't write a script), but I managed to keep moving, remember where I was, give the images I wanted to pass on, and bring my own enthusiasm about this person. In the end, I felt sorry for him. He tried so hard to unite the various tribes of the Native Americans, but they couldn't stop fighting amongst each other to fight together. I don't think they would have managed to keep their own lands safe, I think it would have made the US Army work for it a bit harder. God IS on the side with the most artillery factories...
So, scary, but good. I'm glad its over until the next story!