These two pictures were drawn by two very talented artists in my classroom, Jawahn and Emma. Our Social Studies lesson for the day was about the Great Lakes Ecosystem. We talked about the many different types of animals that live in the Great Lakes area. I love nature and sometimes when I am out walking, I find some interesting items. Currently my collection includes two deer skulls (male and female), turtle shell, snake skin, fish skeleton, large praying mantis and a walking stick. I had these items out of sight in a bag. As I pulled out each one, asking students to identify the animal, their eyes were as big as saucers. I guess you could say I had their full attention! The students then did their best drawing of the Great Lakes Ecosystem. I think they did a fabulous job!
Lindsey drew a beautiful picture wishing me luck teaching and reminding me that she thought I was a great teacher! She is so sweet. She also mentioned that she liked doing the assembly line. This was a lesson I taught when we were learning about Henry Ford. I divided the students into groups of seven. This made four individual "assembly lines." Each student had to draw one part of a picture. For example, the first student drew the ground with a green crayon. The next student drew and outline of a house. The third student drew a black roof on the house. The fourth student drew one door and two windows. The fifth student drew the trunk of a tree. The sixth student drew the leaves on the tree and a small bush. Finally the seventh student drew a bright yellow sun. I timed the students for three minutes. In that short amount of time, they were amazed at the number of pictures our class was able to draw. Ahhh, the genius of Henry Ford and the assembly line!
This beautiful picture was drawn by a very talented, Marissa. She was recalling a time when one of our spelling words reminded me of her! Marissa is a very talented and crafty girl. She loves sewing, knitting and crocheting. One day, she brought in a beret she crocheted for her American Girl doll to show me. I was very impressed, as I love to sew, I never learned the craft of crocheting. What a coincidence - a few weeks later, crochet showed up on our weekly spelling list. As I was introducing the new list to the class, I said, "I bet Marissa knows what this next word is!" And, of course she was the only one in class who knew what crochet meant. Because I was able to build a relationship with Marissa and talk about her crafting interests, I was able to pull that right into the classroom. Evidently, this was memorable for Marissa because she drew a picture and wrote about it several weeks later.
I wanted to bring in a memorable treat for my students on my last day of student teaching. Yes! I wanted them to know I will miss them and it's been a hoot!
(Click on the picture to make it larger.)
(Click on the picture to make it larger.)