Skulls and Ducks

 I have a remarkably large number of collaboration periods in my timetable this year, and I intend on using them to the fullest. I have three already booked for September - health with the Grade 5-6 teacher, language with the Grade 2-3 teacher, and science with the Grade 4-5 teacher. In today's blog post, I want to examine the Grade 4-5 partnership, as well as my Grade 3-4 STEM unit launch. The unifying thread between them is the use of personalized props to make the work hands-on and interactive.

Skulls (or More Accurately, Skeletons)

The Grade 4-5 class has a significantly larger percentage of Grade 4 students. There are only four Grade 5s in the class. Some may see this as a disadvantage; the Grade 5s have fewer grade partners to associate with for grade-specific topics. When I had a Grade 6-7 class in 2020-21, I only had five Grade 7s, and I used to worry that they'd be overlooked compared to the younger students in the cohort. The flip side is that this can become a tight-knit group and you can do special things for them that would be prohibitive with a larger team.

The introductory unit the classroom teacher has selected for science is the human body for Grade 5 and habitats for Grade 4s. In consultation with Ms. Paspalofski, the introduction of our partnering time ended up being an integrated language and science experience, as well as useful for student observations.

I wrapped our "surprises" in four large boxes and we placed them in the classroom before the students arrived. Who would notice? What would they say?

Victoria reported that there were a few questions and comments, but not a huge stir.

When I joined the classroom that Tuesday afternoon, we had a brief discussion on "educated guesses" (otherwise known as inferences). It turns out that many students already had theories about the contents of the boxes. The Grade 5s got to be the leaders and the "unboxers", while the Grade 4s gathered around in four equal groups (division - a math connection!) to record the big reveal. It was wonderful that those inferring conversations happened beforehand, so that any potential misunderstandings could be dispelled immediately. (For instance, students were adamant that there were no "real dead bodies" or "actual body parts" in the boxes, because they said they would smell.) (I should point out that, to align with trauma-informed teaching, I was very familiar with all the students and their backgrounds, so I was confident that no one was going to be triggered or upset by what was inside the box - plastic skeletons.)

The Grade 5s were absolutely delighted with their "presents". One student immediately added eyeballs to her skeleton. Another students accurately predicted that we would be adding other organs to the skeletons in the near future.

Even though these are dollar store skeletons, at $5 per body, it would have been a significant expense to purchase one for every child in Grade 5 in the school. Plus, if you recall, teacher-librarians don't qualify for the $750 school supply fee and we can only buy at Staples. I am excited to work with this small group to see what we come up with for our skeletons. (One student even started some linguistic contemplations, brainstorming what the skeleton names would be like if they used the first half of the word skeleton combined with the last half of their names!)

Ducks

Are you familiar with the concept of "rubber ducking"? I defined it on my blog in 2023. For my STEM programming this year, I was inspired by one of our York University TL AQ guest speakers, Larissa Aradj, who described some of her STEM and MakerSpace inquiries she does with her students. She 3D printed little ducks for each child and used them as part of their STEM provocations.

I don't own a 3D printer, but I loved the idea of having a duck of their own to use for different challenges, such as building a chair or constructing a house.

In our second class of the year, the Grade 3-4 students in Room 114 had to go on a "duck hunt". I hid 23 ducks in the library (one per child) and they had to find one that would become theirs for the school year. 

I still want their classroom teacher, Mrs. Commisso, to remain on good terms with me 😉 so the STEM rubber ducks will live in the STEM lab on the class-designated shelf, until they are required for service.

Thankfully, the ducks were just $1 each. I haven't decided if the students get to keep the ducks at the end of the school year - that's a June, rather than a September problem. 

My husband isn't surprised anymore by these personal purchases to boost my teaching program. He's just grateful that it doesn't get too out of hand.