If A Shark Was On Your Raft... - 05/15/19

When I arrived in kindergarten today, the students were listening to a story called "Shadow of the Shark" from the Magic Treehouse series. It is so entertaining listening to stories with kindergarteners. Their teacher read with a lot of emotion, speaking softer or louder for more dramatic effect. When she read "and they saw a fin, and thought, it must be...A SHARK," all the kids grabbed their classmate next to them and hugged them for dear life. When she asked what the students would do if there was a shark on their raft, one little dude calmly raised his hand and said with great confidence, "I would kick him in the ass, then the booty, then the tushy." Touché.

After an eventful story time, we went out to recess. My friend from first grade asked me to play basketball with him, so we took turns shooting the ball into the hoop. I also walked around and played with the kindergarteners on the swings and the monkey bars. I'm really getting to channel my inner 6 year old. Nothing very notable happened during recess. We just played, ran around, all the good stuff. Whenever we go inside, they always ask me if I am going to have "hot lunch" or "cold lunch". When I explain to them that I in fact, will not be having lunch with them, they push out their bottom lips and make their eyes big at me. I only have one more day with the kindergarteners, so I'm excited to make the most out of tomorrow. I can proudly say that I know the names of all the students from grades 1-3, and am quickly learning the names of all the kindergarteners.

In first grade, we were working on counting money. We watched a bunch of youtube videos that were songs about how much all the different types of coins are worth. They were very cheesy songs, but the first graders got really into it. They started picking up the tunes and lyrics and began singing along to the videos. Then we split up into groups - Anna and I each took one group, and the two teachers each took one group. I was working with 6 students, and we had to count the amount displayed on various cards, and match them to amount cards. We got plastic coins and counted them physically too. After that, Ms Lane came to talk about emotions, and we played feelings Bingo. My partner was the same boy I played basketball with at recess. When that was over, my same friend asked me to read a few books to him during break/snack time.

In the afternoon, I went to third grade and ended up spending the time with Mr. Hubbard's class instead of Mrs. Peters' class, because her class had gone to technology. They had some more free time this afternoon after their writing test this morning. I hung out with the same students as yesterday, helping them read and edit their writing. I also got to help them draw illustrations for their stories. At the end of the day, I went to gym class with them. I supervised and joined in the games a little bit, but was mostly just watching the kids play the different games.


Finally, I had my Wednesday group for gymnastics today. It sort of just hit me that I only have one more gymnastics lesson to teach at AEMS and then senior project is over. My group was actually pretty well behaved today. Ms Slayton stopped by for a few minutes just to see what was going on, and everything went smoothly. There were no tears (not that that's the best standard to go by) and no frowns. I had one new student (she was absent last week) who did her one handed cartwheel for the very first time (watch the video!)! I had 3 students start practicing new skills, and the other 2 students have just about mastered their handstands. I also did some demonstrations for them (in the video too) and I definitely felt a little rusty having not tumbled for so long. Overall, it was a really good lesson. Afterwards, I walked one of my students back to Proctor to meet up with her parents.

Tomorrow is my last day with kindergarten and my last day of teaching gymnastics at both AEMS and the hub. It's going to be super bittersweet.

Time: 7:20
Hours: 7
Total Hours: 121