Summative Assessment: Clay/Sort on March 29th

What a sigh of relief to be done with the whole unit! My teaching teammate (TT) and I were kicking our heels on our way out of school with boxes of clay figurines and construction paper in our arms. I am really going to miss the kiddos in the class - we are still planning on one last visit to bring them back their clay art work and maybe some cookies or dessert for snack time.

So...back to the lesson. We had the kids in their language arts groups and took them into the teaching kitchen. We did a sort (we intended to do them individually but it took a long time so we did them in pairs with either my TT or I having two students sorting and talking about it) to pull together the symbol information as the end of the assessment - in conjunction with the President letter.

Then...my favorite! TT and I found a STEAL at Michael's (10 pounds of clay for $6 bucks!) and took our arts and crafts and kinesthetic ideas to a new level. We made models of the Washington monument and the Statue of Liberty (I did this one - and I got several compliments - ha!) and asked the students to pick one of the 4 models and create a "true" clay representation (with details and elements that are important to each - stars and stripes, the monument's shape, the torch and tablet for lady liberty, etc). I was really excited to do my own and knew the students would be too! (After all, Jen Pease always says "Don't ask your students to do anything without doing it yourself" which was pretty helpful because we got to see how easy the clay was to work with, what surfaces it stained, and if it was washable. We laid out plastic bags on the table, had kids roll up their sleeves and get to work. They molded, sculpted and scraped their hearts out and we got some really really good final products. The kids enjoyed it, and more than anything else, it was really special to have students who get frustrated by the reading and writing that many of our lessons require really get a chance to shine. Student M, a very girly girl, did a great job on her American flag, Student J (ESOL) had a fantastic sculpture and told me all about how he was doing it while we worked with the clay, and other kids really had to think about what their symbols looked like in order to make them come to life. SO SPECIAL!

So many things I am thinking about looking back on the whole experience:

-It is crazy to look back on all of the time we spent with the kids and how well I know them now, not even having been in for that much time total. The cute quirks, stories, the progress we saw their understanding take over the whole month and even thinking back to my first impressions and how they all changed (some for better, others for worse) and even how I view Ms. D and all of the respect I have for her successful chaos that she pulls off.

-I keep thinking about first grade and am so curious about where i'll be next year. I feel like I could have done a whole year of Ms. D's kiddos - but would also love to get a deep understanding for another age level just so i can get a developmental feel for lower elementary - kindergarten or 2nd grade will hopefully be my calling.

-I feel like (cheesy as it sounds) TT and I learned a lot about eachother and ourselves. How do we like to plan? What things do we feel we are good at or do we feel we need to improve on? How do we work well on our own and with others? What did we start off feeling confident about and then realized we could still improve on, and vice versa? How will next year be different or similar from this year? (in terms of time commitments, the longevity of the placement, our different host teachers, the school and the students?

Bottom line: I am so excited! :)