My first student teaching placement is such a blessing!
I am placed at a nature preschool where I am blessed to go outside every day and help plan in an emergent curriculum.
Many people end up student teaching in the spring semester and get to see how the teacher wraps up the end of the school year, but I am fortunate enough to see how teachers start the school year. Who knew how important building students' stamina and teaching rules and procedures are!
I love the opportunity to teach in a Lutheran school. It is an amazing blessing to teach children about what God has done for them. We are fortunate enough to have weekly chapels with the pastor of the congregation and a whole-group Jesus Time between the preschool and childcare rooms. [I'm lucky enough to be teaching everyone!]
Along with our regular Jesus Time, we also get to spend a lot of time outside. The school grounds are equipped with an outside classroom and many trails to walk through the woods. As an added bonus, the school uses trail cameras to keep track of what wild life is going on around them. There have been videos of hawks, owls, deer, opossums, raccoons and more!
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| God created the world! |
The school follows an emergent and integrative style curriculum. There is not an emphasis on letters, numbers, words, math, etc. because it is integrated as the interests of the children emerge. My lesson plans are not scripted out but I plan for what they could possibly want to learn about in every subject area. Everything links together and means more since the students create their own connections.
It is so rewarding to see the children figuring out patterns, playing with others, challenging themselves outside in risk-taking play, identifying wildlife, coming to me with adorable stories, writing their name and identifying letters, and more.
The unit I got to teach during this placement is on Monarch butterflies!We mostly worked on identifying the stages in the Monarch life cycle. I used a movement activity for the students to act out the stages (and this came in handy for transitions and dismissing students!). Outside during nature walks, we identified milkweed and then tried to chase the milkweed seeds flying away! We did a progressive art project - the students made caterpillars, a chrysalis, and then a butterfly. I then sent this home in a little "package" so the students could act out the stages with their parents and they could tell their parents everything they have been learning!
Our assessment was then done one-on-one where the students named the four stages when I showed them the pictures in a story on butterflies. Then we used noodles that resembled each stage for them to glue down.
I am saddened that I have to leave this school in just over a week! I have learned so much about how to remain flexible in my lesson planning and how to be creative with my unit. It is amazing to see how the students have been like sponges and soak up all there is to know about Monarchs and I'm excited to say that I have learned just as much alongside them.
Thank you Lord for teaching and challenging me so much! ❤
Check out my latest Pinterest board for the ideas I used to help form the unit!
