Over the past six weeks, our UNBC BEd cohort has been given the opportunity to teach small lessons to the students at Harwin Elementary. I was placed in such an amazing Grade 1/2 class with a fellow classmate and have loved every minute of it! We have been given different opportunities to have fun and “play” in the classroom with different lessons to allow us to dip our toes into the world of teaching before our first practicum that starts in a few weeks.
The first lesson I did with the students was a “get to know you” activity where students showed their creativity and understanding of expressing their values and interests. Students were so eager to share and were excited about the activity which made my teacher heart so happy. I loved that this activity allowed for students to share their uniqueness and give opportunities to use different ways of demonstrating their understanding of what was expected (such as drawing and colouring or writing our words, or both). I found this activity to be a great introduction to get to know the students better and create relationships and connections for the weeks to follow.
For the next two visits to Harwin, my fellow classmate and I decided to co teach the next 2 lessons as they were “linked lesson” and I love co-teaching! It is such a fun way to bounce ideas off of one another and learn from one another as well. For our linked lesson we decided to focus our lesson on “What it means to be a Bucket Filler vs. A Bucket Dipper” and the different ways we can fill other peoples buckets as well as our own. The class had a pretty good understanding of this topic as they had previously learned about this topic at the start of the year but they were still so excited and interested in the activities we had planned for them! We discussed some ideas as a class and had students put their ideas onto paper by showing their understanding through drawings or words on the concept for day 1. On day 2 we planned for a more hands on activity which we knew the students would be excited about. The students got to make their own buckets and got to decorate them using stickers and markers…how fun! Once their masterpieces were completed they each got a sheet of paper with memo cards that they could write a kind and meaningful message to their classmates to “fill their bucket”. I was so happy with how this lesson turned out and we continued to use this concept in our following days at Harwin.
During week 4 we continued to co teach as we ventured into small unit planning. This unit was centred around Indigenous Education and Art. Our theme was created around the idea of being kind to the land around us and ways we are able to show kindness to the environment, as well as the students learning about the various Indigenous animals that live locally to Prince George and Northern British Columbia. Day 1 we had a read aloud book to the class which focused on the importance of protecting the land to save the shelter of Indigenous animals. We then had circle time where students could share their thoughts and understanding of the topic, then finally we had a worksheet that students could draw and write about their favourite local Indigenous animal, as well as demonstrate their understanding of ways to be kind to the land. These activities were a great introduction to the topic and our three day unit. We are coming up to our second day of the unit and we have a lot of fun activities planned that will enrich the students understanding of what it means to be kind to the land and the various animals local to our home. I can’t wait to see how our next two days go at Harwin before we head off to practicum!
