Casper 2.0 - Last Week of Fall Teaching Practicum

Believe it or not, our Fall Semester with the Teton Science Schools is slowly coming to a close.  Can you believe that?!  I cannot!  I feel like we practically just started class, like yesterday.  Time has flown!

So, yesterday (at least for the Outreach Team) we completed our Fall classes, ending with our last week of our Fall Teaching Practicum.  The Field Education Teams will finish their practicums on Saturday morning when they send their students home.

For our last week of Fall Teaching Practicum, the Outreach Team went back to Casper to work and teach at a few different schools.  For me, I was team teaching with Hazel in a 4th Grade Sense of Place program for the first part of the week and then concluding my teaching practicum solo teaching 4th and 5th Grade in a Water and Ecosystems Program.

These two classes were phenomenal, awesome to work with, and inspiring on what connection they made on their own: it was a nice way to end on a great teaching high was a great conclusion to my first teaching practicum.

So, I definitely wanted to talk about the 4th graders that Hazel and I worked with - they were awesome: very engaged and determined.  I had never taught Sense of Place before as the main focus, so it was a a great opportunity to try something new, not to mention this whole 'place' concept was still fresh from Place-Based Education.

For our 2-day program, we wanted the class to get a better understanding of the place and space that encompassed their school, build a sense of community and team unity, and conduct a science inquiry field study that focused on and surrounded the area near their school.

4th Grade - Day One Event Path Map

Sense of Place KWL Chart

In order to get their minds wrapped around our project, we created a lesson plan where the class was to tackle the idea of using the scientific process to help them formulate a plan of action - starting with a mock-science investigation of determining which animal created a given plaster cast to each student team.

Together within their small groups, they performed each of the steps in the science circle from forming a question about 'What type of animal track was given to us?' to creating a hypothesis, developing a plan, collecting data about their track, and concluding a answer.

The students did a great job working together as a team, developing plans and steps, using pieces of equipment, and collaborating together to decipher which animal made the track.

The next step was to tie this idea of using the science circle and connect it with their place around their school.  We wanted to know what the students already knew about wanted to know about their neighborhood.  Having each student write down in a KWL (Know, Want to Know, and Learn) Chart, they were able to write down ideas or things they already knew about their neighborhood around their school and questions they wanted to learn more about.

Hypotheses for 4th Grade Sense of Place Science Inquiry
How much trash can be found in North Casper's Schoolyard or in the neighborhood park?

Based on the popular topics they students came up with after sharing as a class about what they wanted to know, we decided to let the students lead on this part of the project.  The topics of question were: animals, trash, and trees.  To narrow down the topics to one, we had a closed, private vote, where each student private voted on one of the topics.

After choosing the topic of trash, Hazel and I had the class have a silent conversation as a class on a huge piece of poster paper.  Each student wrote on this poster about ideas and questions that they had about trash in their community.

After a group consensus, the class chose to work together on determining whether there was more trash found at their school or if there was more trash at their public park.

The Design Plan

We wanted the class to feel like they had full ownership of this project, so we asked them to come up with some ideas on how they would be able to collect data on which area had more trash.  The students worked together as a team to create a plan on performing a trash collection and count at each location.  They devised what materials they would need, specific individual jobs and roles, where we would go, safety precautions, and how data would be collected.

4th Grade - Day Two Event Path Map

The next day, we went to both locations and performed the design plan and collection of data.  The students were incredibly enthusiastic about picking up trash (which was an awesome and surprising thing to see for fourth graders and a form of community service).

Caterpillar Walk in the Park

Cannot Use Your Sight...What Do You Notice?

Going back to the class, we analyzed the data and determined there was more pieces of trash and school, but there were much bigger pieces of trash found at the park.

We asked the students what they thought about this new discovery based on the data and they concluded that there were more, little pieces at school because people may not pick up the trash and will step on them, creating more smaller pieces of trash.


We then asked the students to create a skit about what they learned and what we could do after their time with TSS was done.  The students were incredibly creative and dedicated to these skits.  Some talked about how it is important to keep their neighborhood clean and respect it to others talking about how we have these public places that we all share and if they are destroyed (by trash), no one can enjoy them.  As a result the students stated there could be weekly trash pick-ups in their neighborhood around their school to help keep their school and park clean so everyone can enjoy them.


As a result, the their school teacher informed us that she is planning on continuing this project of a weekly trash pick-up around their school to help keep the idea of community and environmental respect in her student's minds.

We thought the 2-day lesson went really well.  This was a really inspiring teaching moment for Hazel and I.  Not only did we help connect our student's minds on a much deeper sense of place of their school and neighborhood, but also we tied in a sense of working together as team can help accomplish a goal with an environmental respect in mind.

Wonder Bar in Wyoming?
Pssshhhhht.  You Got Nothing on Asbury Park's Wonder Bar!

On a side note, that evening, we went to the Wonder Bar in Casper...totally made me chuckle and think of home.  Very skeptical on how the Wonder Bar in WY would or could compare to the Wonder Bar in NJ...definitely could not compare.  NJ all the way. ;)

Great End to my Fall TSS Semester.
Only 28 more days til I step foot on the East Coast! Boom!
TheChristyBel

Fall Teaching Practicum - Week Two: Casper

Before heading off to Casper, guess who decided to visit my cabin?!?! This family of two baby mule deer and mama just LOVE to nibble on the Wild Rose outside my cabin.  As you can see from past blog entries, I am beside myself in LOVE with my location for a cabin...I get LOTS of visitors.  Mule Deer and Moose galore!  One day, I hope to catch a bear or an elk visiting my cabin...while I am safely inside it of course!

Mule Deer Family Enjoying Breakfast

As you can see they get too close for comfort and sometimes I think they expect me to invite them in for tea and cookies! Haha.  They love being in my porch area - to the point where at times I cannot leave or enter my cabin.

 Baby Mule Deer Trying to Invite Themselves into my Cabin.

Anyways, so for this week, the Outreach Team headed to Casper, Wyoming for their second week of the Fall Teaching Practicum.  This week I will be teaching another round of Kindergarten and 3rd week for the second time!  I definitely had some high expectations for my Kinders and then since I had a very challenging group of 3rd Graders my first week, I was a little hesitant about teachign thsi age group again.

First Fish Dish Since I Left the East Coast - Fish Tacos!

When we first got into Casper, we got in around dinner time, so we went out for dinner...totally had my first fish dish since I have been out West.  Come on!  Being from the East Coast, I am very particular when it comes to my fish.  But I had to cave in and order some, I mean, I have not had fish since, let's see....MID-JULY!  So I ordered Fish Tacos for dinner.

And the Verdict is: well...it was pretty good, but no one's fish tacos can ever beat Dead President's back in DE. I can only dream, right!?!? Or at least wait until Dec. 20.

Christy in the Pika Outfit

Ok, so...the Jackson Campus has this huge adult Pika outfit that they use for when they do Pika lessons for the students.  So of course, we had to steal, I mean, borrow it for some Grad Fun!  Let me just say, if you have ever seen the Miley Cyrus 'Twerks' in a Unicorn Costume Video...well, it's gonna be upgraded to the Christy Twerks/Dances in a Pika Costume Video.  Previews Coming to a Blog Near You! TBA.

Team Banner!

On Monday and Tuesday, I was teaching Kindergarten again on Weather and Senses.  This was great because I was able to use the same lesson plan I had used for my first week of Kindergarten.  The students were great!  We were able to make a Team Banner, explore our senses, and Adopt a Tree that they could study and see the changes during their year!

My Kinder's Adopted Tree

On Wednesday and Thursday, I solo taught 3rd Grade again.  Let me just say, I was beyond terrified to teach this grade.  I had such a challenging class the week before that I was just thinking that this week would be the same.  Let me tell you, the phrase, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."  Really put my words in my mouth.  My 3rd graders were beyond PHENOMENAL.  My third graders were very well-behaved, respectful, and very, very intelligent.

Event Path Map of the Day

When I observed them for the first hour of my first day with them, I came in, and the room was quiet, only one child was talking while the rest of the class listened.  As I am watching the child pick a fellow student to answer a question and place something onto the board, I come to realize that there was no adult in sight.  She was sitting in the back at her desk.  I go up to her and say, "I don't mean to be rude, but don't you need to supervise them?"  She simply smiled and said, "They are in the middle of a student-self-taught math meeting.  The leader of the day instructs/leads the rest of the class in a lesson of math problems I have laid out on the board.  I usually step back and let them go through the lesson; I'll intervene if I need to, but they are usually pretty good with this."  I was beside myself amazed!  This was something else!  They were totally different from my last group of 3rd graders.

As we went through my Ecosystems and Energy lesson with them on the first day, they were very bright, engaged, and very active in participating and talking things out and going through my activities.  So on day two with them, I tried the Student Self Taught Lesson with them.  Creating questions on the board for a review of what we did the day before, I asked a student to be my leader and he succeeded in leading them in my "Student Led Review Science Meeting"!  So proud!

Student Led Science Meeting!

They were Brilliant!

Exploring their backyard at school, we found a Mule Deer Skeleton, still full intact!  The students were really excited to see this!

On our way home from Casper, we had to make a stop in Dubois, Wyoming due to a flat tire.  One of our vans ran over a deer carcass, and it caused a tired to deflate.  So when we were at a gas station trying to call AAA and TSS Faculty, we just so happened to stumble upon one of the biggest Jackalope's in the State!

Sarah & I on the Jackalope Outside!

Then we went inside and guess what we found, a Life-Size, REAL one...not really, just one with fur!

Sarah

Em-J

Dani

The gift shop in this gas station was so funny!  They had moose ear muffs!  I really wanted them, but refrained!

Moose Ear Muffs!!!! Love!

So yea....we made the best of it while we waited to hear what we needed to do with the Flat-Tire Van.  Turns out we had to leave it in town and travel the hour back home without it.  I went back the next day with a new tire to help one of our staff get it fixed in Dubois.  Such a process, but it's all good now!  Plus the vans got snow tired put on, so tis the season to prepare for some wintery risk-management weather and the occasional wildlife encounter!

Love,
TheChristyBel

Christy Rides a Jackalope!