Field Journal (Part 1) by Stacey Wiberg

Monday, May 13, 2024.

Took 8-6 and 8-7 outside with my partner teacher for free-play at Glen Abbey Park – nice to see students interacting tech-free with frisbees, tennis balls, bubbles, and chalk.

Student Reflection Question: How do you feel when you are outside?

38 of 39 students responded: Happy, Fresh Air, 'I can breathe' – 1 of 39 responded: Too hot

Field study paperwork sent home.

Tuesday, May 14

Completed with both groups IEE #1 – 'house for a mouse' – students imagined small underground nests, a hole in a tree, or designed miniature condos complete with hot tub and patio swing set. This activity was idea-generation, think time, and discussion / planning for our writing activity next.

Upon our return to class, we attempted 20 minutes of Extreme Writing – students wrote between 68 and 570 words. Not one student wrote nothing.

Wednesday, May 15

Student surveys – made these, but decided to complete them at the end of the first two weeks

Thursday, May 16

Completed with both groups IEE#2 – 'living off the ground'

Designed tree houses to live in for a year – a few students asked if they could live in space or underground caves, or even deep in the ocean

Today we planned Garden A as a class x2

Discussion takeaways: both groups want to plant strawberries, mint, and radishes; many students want to help plant and water

Friday, May 17

Only 17 of my students have returned their field study permission slips – will email home / phone the remainder over the next few days

Soil arrived this morning from Nursery 1, along with some seed packets

We spent the afternoon filling the bins with new soil and fertilizer

2 students said the work was too hot, too sweaty – most others liked getting dirty, enjoyed dirty hands, and 'doing real work'

Dampened soil very well before the long weekend

Tuesday, May 21

Rainy today, perfect for planting the seedlings that arrived this morning from Nursery B

Planted in the rain – group 1 in first block, group 2 in second block – we got wet and dirty/muddy and laughed a lot – and did not need to water

Wednesday, May 22

IEE#3 today – 'sur-Faces walk' – students had all kinds of great ideas that I never would have thought of

Found faces in clouds, in rocks / rock walls, in plant flowers, made shapes with stones, etc.

Ran out of time for the writing with one group – asked them to make an artifact for next class*

Planted seeds in the afternoon – radish, lettuce, carrots

Still rainy-ish, but made water schedule (alternating turns for 8-6 and 8-7, students placed in groups of 3)

Thursday, May 23

* Artifacts included paper flowers bouquet, concrete poems in the shape of a face, very detailed (nearly lyrical) description of a face in a cloud

Writer's Workshop begins – daily mini-lessons / review of lessons from earlier in the year (Excellence in Writing, Said is Dead, Vivid Verbs, use of transitions, etc.) – will use these daily in a set of practice paragraphs, and then use them in own writing

Students choose an earlier prompt / writing exercise to start with, or develop their own (use of Story Cubes, Word Dominoes, Dixit Cards)

Still raining, so little watering to do

Friday, May 24

IEE#4 – 'motion walk' – super fun because it was very windy today – everything was moving

Student comments and descriptions I noted: trees 'like super heroes', blowing grasses 'talking to each other', birds on updrafts 'floating in the sky'

Tried a 10 min. Extreme Writing activity (shorter due to time) back in class – class goal: 50-100 words in that time, most students wrote more than 250 words

For next week:

Complete student surveys and tally results

Share Animoto 'What is your legacy?' video

Final Thoughts on Soil Day:

Soaring high in the clouds, I see a

Patchwork quilt spread below.

Figures scurrying like mice from one spot to another

Puffs of dirt, metal blades flashing,

What are they doing?

Field Journal (Part 2)

Saturday, May 25

Updated / revised my Animoto Legacy video – shown HERE.

Decided on class meeting structure / set-up / question prompts.

Typed and laminated class watering schedule.

Worked on reflections for PME 878 course.

Sunday, May 26

Found more of the field journals (small notebooks) at dollar store.

Bought enough for 2 classes – can use the rest next year.

Monday, May 27, 2024

Set up the rest of the field journals and clipboards for use.

Showed students the GMS Legacy video ('How will you leave your mark?)

Brainstormed possible ideas (notable ideas I heard included: build a bench, create a garden fund, make an outdoor learning space for the whole school to use, a garden plaque, pick up garbage, etc.

Hot today – doubled up on our water rotation.

Surveyed students – results, see below:

Group 8-7: 18 of 20 responded (2 absent) / Group 8-6: 21 of 24 responded (2 absent, 1 not handed in)

After tallying these results, I was feeling really positive about how things were going…

Tuesday – Thursday, May 28 through 30, 2024

…So positive that I immediately came down with a cold and was off sick for the next 3 days of work!

AARRGGH!!! We missed IEE #5 and #6, a free write, an exit ticket, and my Socials and French wrap-up. Now I am feeling the stress of being behind. However,

           The plants are still growing,

                          And the sun is still shining.

My students remembered to water! Hooray!

Friday, May 31, 2024

I was back to work today. My biggest takeaway this week is that – like with so many other planned things in life – sometimes I need to just let go…….

Before school today, we saw 'spider babies' and 'diamonds in the grass' –

During class, we listened to the wind and answered as best we could…

Final Thoughts:

Ate a radish today,

Picked mint to make tea.

Both taste of green and summer nights.

Memories of red licorice strings, a tomato sandwich on white bread.

Running through sprinklers barefoot until too dark to see and

Too tired to undress

Before sinking dreamless to

My childhood bed.

Reflective Journal – Update #3

Monday, June 3, 2024

After being away for 3-days, and taking work home for the weekend, I am still not caught up…CHAOS!!

We never caught up on the watering last week, so a few things were looking a little bedraggled today.

By the end of today, I felt almost caught up, but never really had a chance to come back to my Plan of Action…so, really, I feel now like I am about two weeks behind. AAAAARRRGGHH!

Question: Do I need to adjust my final Product? I am nowhere near where I thought I'd be….

Answer: Focus on the actual activities I did with the kids now; add in the 'project' / research part in the summer when the activities can no longer be done in class.

Tuesday, June 4, 2024.

A bunch of students were away last week when we saw the Legacy video, so I needed to show it again. (Attached to May 25, above.)

I have adjusted the proposal to be due on Friday. In retrospect, I think this part maybe needs to come first next time, so that students really have a chance to mull it over, think critically / creatively, and take their time to find the perfect idea.

We had no Writer's Workshop time today; no IEE either. Just watered multiple times.

Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

We did IEE #6 – 'What's Underfoot?' walk early today. Students liked thinking about the 'ghosts' of the people and creatures who came before us. The most notable student comment was, "What would the ancestors think of us?" I would like to come back to this next week, and asked all students to think about an answer.

We also watered lots, collected all the IEE handouts and Extreme Writing samples together to make a Portfolio of writing ideas. Students had time to pick one, set a goal, and had 35 minutes of free write time.

Note: I have not yet received any word about Garden B from the District, so it is a no-go for this year for sure.

Also, I will definitely need 2 more school days with both groups to wrap up Socials and French.

Thursday, June 6, 2024.

*Focus on SS / FR completion

We watered, completed IEE #7 – Bird's Eye View walk. (They liked this one because the perspective was so different.)

Friday, June 7, 2024.

Wrapped up SS / FR curriculum.

Writer's Workshop continues, and Group Legacy Proposal are now due Monday. (So behind.) The basis for this proposal is that my students have only one year left at this school. How will they leave their mark? How will they be remembered? What will they leave behind when they go off to high school?

Writing prompt for today: Select one of the quick writes (Extreme Writing) you liked best to develop further as your Term 3 Writing Project due June 14. In both groups, the top 3 picks overwhelmingly were: Living Off the Ground, House for a Mouse, and an earlier prompt we had done on the day of the Eclipse (April 8).

To do for Monday: need tech / computers (want to print some of their writing to do revisions/edit), need to do some weeding starting Monday…