Last Day in the Schools

Although I am home now, there is so much that I still want to share about my trip now that I have the time. The first thing I want to share with you is about my last day in the schools -- last Wednesday, January 30th.

We decided as a group that we wanted to be able to see some of the other classes in the school that did not have any of the Whitewater teachers placed in their classrooms. We saw each class on one of the two days that we taught P.E., but other than that, they really only got to see us at lunch time. We decided to do an activity with as many classes as we could. We had teachers sign up for 20-minute time slots where their students could come to us. Unfortunately, not all of the classes were able to be fit in, but we got the majority of the school. We played a game with them that we decided to call Musical Squares, since we did it outside and didn't have any chairs to use.

To play the game, we drew 30 squares in a circle on the ground with chalk. We wrote the numbers 1-30 above random squares around the circle. We played some music (Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, One Direction, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus - turns out they knew more of the songs than we thought they would!) and the students walked around the circle. Sometimes we could have them hop or skip around the circle, and we always encouraged dancing and singing along! When the music stopped, the students found a square. There were always enough squares for each student to have one because no squares were removed, so students never got out! 

Instead of removing a student each round, we just drew a number out of a container. The student who was standing at that number got to go over and pick a prize, then return to the game. We did as many rounds as we were able, which was about 10 on average. We had a bunch of glue sticks and sharpeners and other supplies left, even donating some to our own classrooms and to all of the remaining classrooms in the school. We decided to hand the remaining supplies out as prizes, and used the bigger prizes (puzzles, a frisbee, bigger boxes of crayons, etc.) for 2 raffle prizes for each class. 

This all worked out great because the students loved the game and they were enjoying the music. On top of that, we kept them moving and they got to spend some time with us before we left. All of the supplies were handed out by the end of the day, and we really enjoyed getting to know some of the other students a little more. We danced around the circle, and sang Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars and some Michael Jackson with them. It was so great to connect with the students through similar music interests. 

My teacher asked if I could go into my classroom for a little while that day. At first I thought that maybe she wanted me to teach, so I asked what she would like for me to do. Then she said I would see when I got there, and I realized they had something to give me. This worked out because I had gifts for Mrs. Skeffery -- a UW-Whitewater College of Education bookmark, a College of Education travel coffee mug, and some chocolate-covered espresso beans. The students and Mrs. Skeffery gave me a Jamaica photo album, a coffee mug, and a bracelet. The students also thanked me for teaching them and bringing them supplies.

Here is a picture I took with them.

Then we took a silly one, of course!

For the last 20 minutes of the day, we were supposed to do our Musical Squares activity with some of the grade 4 students, but they were running late getting back from their field trip. Although we were sad to not have the time with them, my teacher friends and I were blessed with a little more time with our own classes before the day ended. I told my students that I would have a surprise for them if every single student completed their math homework, since many of them just don't do their homework. It turned out they all got their homework finished, so I let them use the skipping ropes for that last 20 minutes. It was a great way to incorporate physical activity into a reward system, especially because of how much they love to use the skipping ropes.

Some of the students wanted to perform a dance they had made for me, and they also sang me a song to the tune of "Someone Like You" by Adele - one of their favorite songs. Some of the students even started to cry, which made me cry. Other students drew me pictures or wrote me letters, and one student even gave me a book. On top of this, I got lots and lots of really great hugs. What a great class I had! Although we were sad to leave, it was the perfect day to end our time at the school.