A student teacher's time with us...

This is the 5th time I have agreed to mentor a student teacher.  It has not always been an easy task; especially if the student teacher really should have made an alternative career choice!  Luckily, this time I ended up with a wonderful protege!
During the time that Desiree has been in our room, we have been doing a novel study on the children's book, Ribsy.  I love the book!  I expect it is because I love dogs and can relate to the heartache associated with having one get lost.  Anyway, here are some pictures of some of the things we did in our class as we read Ribsy.
The focus of our reading instruction was digital media.  One of the activities we did was to create a newspaper's front page.  The students were expected to report about major events in the book, write an advice column, and report on a local sporting event.

student created newspaper...

another newspaper...

 The students made reflective journals to use throughout the novel.  We made them before we had read any of the book, so the students really didn't have a mental image of what Ribsy looked like.  However, they all turned out super cute.

one of the reflective journals..

 Another activity we did was to analyze characters and identify character traits.  The students used a paper plate to make a mobile.  They had to draw a picture of their character and hang it in the middle of the plate.  After that, they used 3x5 cards to write the character traits that were exhibited.

character mobile

 Another form of digital media that they student had to generate was a flier.  One of the main events in the novel is when Ribsy is involved with a local high school football game. The students had to create a flier advertising the football game.

football game flier...

In addition to the novel study, we have been learning about physical features of plants and how they meet basic needs.  As a culminating activity, we made models of flowers, identified the parts, and listed how they meet basic needs. After looking at this one, I realize maybe I should have picked another one for my post!

model of a plant parts & functions...

 We set up an observation area in our classroom where we will add different types of plants.  So far, we are comparing how seeds will grow in test tubes with damp paper towel vs seeds planted in soil.  In addition, we are going to observe how various vegetables can grow new plants.  We have started with a sweet potato and will add a carrot top, a celery stalk, and a pineapple top.

observation station...

 In social studies, we have started our economics unit. We have discussed wants, needs, goods, services, consumers, producers, and income.  One of the things that the students had to do was complete a graphic organizer listing things we need money for.  This one cracked me up.

what we need $ for graphic organizer...

this makes me laugh...

I had to pull this little friend over and have a discussion in order to understand his entry.  I asked him to read it aloud to me, hoping he would see how confusing it was.  Instead, he just looked at me like I was supposed to understand what he meant.  I asked him to rephrase it.  He said, "You know, you need to buy the things you need if you are going to build something you need."  So, once again I asked him to rephrase but he looked at me like I had lost MY mind.  After giggling for a bit, I said, "Do you mean that we need money to buy raw materials to build a product that we could sell as a good to meet the needs of others?"And of course he said, "Yes; that's what I said." UGH!

And last but not least, my post wouldn't be complete without a picture of my student teacher; Mrs. Desiree H. If all student teachers were like this one, I would have one every semester!