Thanksgiving, etc.-Nov. 15-19

This week I am switching gears and attending the afternoon classes since my work schedule will allow afternoons off this week. This is a welcome change, as it will allow me to observe and work with a whole new variety of classes in the third and fourth grade. The morning classes are mostly for the K-2 grades, so I am excited to see how things are similar or different with the older students.

One of the afternoon class activities involved the reading of How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting, along with a thorough discussion of the Thanksgiving holiday and what it represents. Summer discussed the pilgrims and early settlers and asked the class to think about comparisons as they were listening to the story. Also, at various points within the story, she would stop to ask questions relative to the story line at any given moment. I was extremely impressed with the attention span of these students and their ability to answer the questions so easily and with so much thought. It was fun to see their brains working and trying to reason Summer's questions and answers. Everyone loved this story, and I was proud of myself for recognizing the author. We learned about Eve Bunting in a previous course, so it was nice to make the connection for a change.

The other class activity involved research and collaboration to find out specific facts about three different cities-Raleigh, Charleston, and Seattle. The groups had to work together to find information from the Almanac and Encyclopedias to answer the following questions relative to their city:
1. What is the population?
2. What is the average temperature in January? July?
3. What is the average yearly precipitation?
4. What is the geography of the city?
5. Name an interesting fact about the city.

I worked with each group as they struggled with some of the facts, but all in all, they were pretty self-sufficient. Of course everyone was most interested in the information about Raleigh, and I was surprised to learn that none of the students I spoke with had ever been there before. Most of the students finished the assignment on time, so I will be anxious to see what the second part of this project is next week. Also, next week will be my last official week in the media center, as this portfolio will be turned in on Tuesday. Of course I plan to continue volunteering there until the end of the semester, but my blog entries will end as of next week. Where has this semester gone?