We are so lucky to have two new faces on Mosaic this spring. Both third grade classrooms will be hosting an intern from St. Michael's College. These bright young ladies will have the opportunity to spend each day observing, learning, and practicing the craft of teaching. We look forward to working with them and helping them on their journey into their careers. Meet Sara and Kristyn:
Hello Everyone!
My name is Sara Monahan and I will be student teaching in
Mrs. Eaton’s classroom from January until the end of April. To get started I
would like to tell you a little bit about myself. Currently, I am a senior at
Saint Michael’s College majoring in Elementary Education and Sociology. My
family is from Hingham, Massachusetts and I have an older sister Alison, an
older brother Billy, and a Jack Russell Terrier named Riley. For the past three
summers I have taught swimming lessons to children and I have loved every
second of it. During my junior spring semester of college I studied abroad in
Florence, Italy and had the opportunity to volunteer in a fourth grade
classroom and to travel to a variety of countries. In my free time I enjoy
cooking meals, walking my dog, and spending time with family and friends. I
love working with children and I am very excited and looking forward to a great
experience teaching and learning with your children over the next couple of
months!
Hello all! My name is Kristyn Galligan, and I am Mrs.
Parker’s student teacher for this semester. I am a senior at Saint Michael’s
College and I am a double major in Elementary Education and Music. I am from
Canton, Massachusetts and I have been traveling to Vermont since I was about 8
years old. I immediately knew Vermont would be where I wanted to attend college
from the moment I started research on colleges. I am a very social and active
person, and I knew Saint Michael’s College would be the best fit for me. It is
hard to believe that in May I will be leaving a place I have called home for so
long, but I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life. I have been in
the teaching field since my freshman year at Saint Mike’s; my first placement
was actually helping Mrs. Karla Kennedy at Williston Central! I love working
with students and watching as their minds grow and seeing how they begin to
form opinions about our world. I am looking forward to getting to know the
third graders, and working with the rest of Mosaic house J. I am thankful for how
quickly I am fitting in with the students and teachers alike and I am excited
to learn alongside everyone. In my spare time I love to sing, act, as well as
spend time with my cousins and friends.
This week we began a literacy unit on reading informational text. We are using the books of Steve Jenkins to look closely at nonfiction text features and explore how they are used, their purpose and how they help us as readers. Jenkins' books are so accessible to young students because of his focus on animals and his unique way of presenting fascinating information. His artwork is also amazing and the students will work with Ms. Demas to create their next project with inspiration from his cut paper technique. Stay tuned for their creative creations!
In math we are working on developing efficient strategies for 3-digit and 4-digit addition and subtraction problems. The students are thinking flexibly around ideas about removing and finding the difference and will soon begin to understand how to use the standard algorithm (the procedure that many of us were taught as kids). This is one efficient way, but does not always lead to accurate answers if students have not developed a conceptual understanding of why they "borrow or carry." Our goal if for students to have a procedure that works for them that they are able to explain clearly.
Next week we will begin a new NGSS (Next Generation Science) unit around forces and motion. The students will be engaged in several inquiry tasks around balanced and unbalanced forces, static electricity and magnetism. I can't wait to see what they discover!
No comments:
Post a Comment