But I guess this is a special surprise treat to anyone who happens to check.
There are only 13 more school days before summer! Of those, one is a half day, one is a planning day for my next-year team (more on that later), and I am taking off one more day (to visit Rebecca and see Mom in New Orleans for Rebecca's residency graduation thing and also to feel her baby bump and find out if I will have a little niece or a little nephew). So really its like 10 days. Lets call it 10. Yay!
So anyway! Next year, I will have my very own 2nd grade class!! This is what I have always really wanted. This year teaching science was just an interesting detour. There will be two 2nd grade classes and the other teacher, Ms. Christina, is one of my favorite people and we make such a great team! We have had a couple days to plan together so far. Our school has a new, very daunting curriculum that is very different from what I have seen before. However Christina and I are trying to be very creative and positive. For example, we are planning a class blog! Maybe thats what made me remember to post on this one...
I'm excited for summer and really excited for next year. However, this year has been interesting like I said, and while I didn't love it there were some great parts. I got to know all of the students and teachers at my school really well. I got to work on my classroom management skills and get to know more of who I am as a teacher. Also, I did get to take the 2nd grade classes on a field trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens during our Plant Diversity study. Here is a picture of them being little scientists:
(The cutest little scientists in the world! You can't see their faces because, privacy, but trust me they are so excited and interested and adorable and I love them and so do you.)
So anyway... I hate field trips where kids just play around and don't do or learn anything, but since I scheduled the trip too late to get a guided tour or activity, we had to do a self-guided tour.... Which usually means walking around, eating lunch, walking around more and then going back to school. But not these little scientists! I had them pick a favorite plant from each biome (desert, rain forrest, and temperate forrest) and write its name, describe it, and draw a quick sketch on little observation sheets in their science notebooks. They amazed me with their concentration and hard work!! They were so great. Now, with our few remaining classes, they are working in groups to make posters about their favorite biomes with the plants they sketched, including their scientific names, and facts about the biomes and plants.
This is the stuff I love and I can't want to do more of it next year!
