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Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Apple Antics

It was all things apples in first grade a few weeks ago.

Every year as we approach the end of September I have these visions of a study of the life and times of Johnny Appleseed complete with a hands on study of apples. It's been my goal for several years but for many reasons we rarely make it through this dream of a study in it's entirety.

One of those reasons being that I've moved my classroom four times in four years and I often find myself scrambling to find my "stuff." Another possibility is that the beginning of the school year is similar to a running with the bulls event where you just randomly, with very little warning take off in a dead sprint.  If you drop something along the way your only choices are to leave it behind or be trampled.

Still, I was determined to DO THIS STUDY.  Maybe not as grand and wonderful as I originally planned but we WERE going to learn a few things about Johnny Appleseed, we WERE going to work with real apples, and we WERE going to finish this before it got too late into October and we just had to forgo the remaining activities because we're already getting behind in all things Halloween and it's either let go of Johnny or be trampled by the fast progressing school year, much like you would with the running bulls.


So there we were, it was early September and for the first time in my teaching in my teaching career, and maybe my entire life, I was not feeling like I was already months behind. It's a weird feeling because I'm literally ALWAYS behind but never the less I was feeling on schedule for once. I think!

So I dug my heels in and committed.  I bought real life apples, grabbed my Johnny Appleseed file, and made the announcement to my class that we were on the brink of an amazing apple adventure.  I was slightly more excited about this than they were but that's not the most important part of this story right now.


We get to the day of our apple investigation and when my little minis laid their eyes on the real life apples I was finally able to get the mirrored excitement I had been waiting for.  The excitement quickly turned a little chaotic and resulted in me echo phrases like

"please stop touching the apples"

"please stop letting your apples roll on the floor"

"no we are not going to eat the apples right now"

and.. "you guys, seriously, we're never going to do this again," over and over again.

My hopes and dreams we're going up in smoke right before my eyes.

The initial excitement did die down as well as they're disappointment that the apple on each of their desks was not put for an early snack and we were able to continue on.

We cut the apples and saw the star shaped core, discovered that apples do in fact float in water, observed the decaying process, and took a mini field trip to the school garden to contribute to the compost pile at the end of our study.


The best part however, was the discovery of the many seeds inside each apple.  They left that day assuring me there were all going home to plant 5, 6, and even 7 apple trees in their backyards with their newly found seeds though the majority of them I believe were still sitting on the floor at the end of the day.

All in all I would say our study was a success.  We know a little about the life of Johnny Appleseed and the process it takes for an apple to grow.  We're still grasping the concept of how large the United States is so please don't ask my minis to tell you where the settlers moved to.  You may spend hours staring at a map in search for the state of "Mac and Cheez-its." 

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Back to the Beginning

A few years ago I started my adventures in teaching in a little town called Kindergarten.

Let me just tell you that teaching Kindergarten may or may not have been the most exhausting experience of my life but I LOVED teaching Kindergarten.

It's true.

I loved it.

I learned so many things while I was teaching Kindergarten.  I learned that what the rest of the world thinks is going on every day in Kindergarten (and every other K-12 classroom for that matter) and what actually happens are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS.

I also learned that tying shoes, negotiating who's turn it will be to go to the bathroom next, and answering the questions "how many more minutes until lunch," "do we have gym today,'' "are we going outside today," and "is it almost almost time to go home" on repeat are all important parts to a complete day in Kindergarten.

A couple a years ago I gave myself a promotion and transitioned from teaching Kindergarten to first grade.

I know.  A whole grade level!

Although I do a little less shoe tying and we struggle a little less with missing our "people" at home, what I've really noticed is that my classroom really and truly is a little mini society.

It's a crazy thought.  I know.  They're just kids right?  They are but the truth is their thoughts, opinions, interests, and friendship are so much more well established than we give them credit for.

You may have heard of the famous quote "All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten." It's basically a little poem about all the beginning life skills we learn in Kindergarten but what you might not know, is that there's actually an entire book dedicated to this topic.  It's called...you guessed it! All I Really Needed to Know I Learned In Kindergarten.  


Image result for everything i ever really needed to know i learned in kindergarten

If you know me relatively well you know that I'm the child of two educators and I've been pretty open about the fact that the LAST thing I ever wanted to be in life (or least close to last) was a teacher. 

Ever.

Someone how in stunning twist of fate that's exactly what I've ended up doing and even though there are MANY aspects of being a teacher that frustrate, stress, and all out infuriate me some days I LOVE my little mini society and the little people who function in it with me every day.  I love watching them learn something for the first time, interact and grow with their peers, and I love all of the things they teach me.

I'm excited to share life through the eyes of the smallest members of our educational society.  I hope you and enjoy and learn as much from them as I do.