Residency - Whittier International School - Jane Swatosh - 6 hrs
Shadowing - Art Buddies - 1.5 hrs
A student's interpretation of me getting frightened by a spider
This week at Whittier was great. The day I come, Thursday, is also the kids' art day, which means I get to go with them to art class every week. This week, the kids did gestural drawings and even created their own paper mannequins to practice drawing from.
During Literacy, I read another chapter of The Birchbark House with a reading group. I still think it's really cool that this is the same book Ulla's class was reading. I'm doing my best to avoid spoiling the ending for them. :)
Fun with magna-tiles!
The kids had MCA tests this week. This took me back to my days in elementary school in Iowa taking the ITBS. Jane told me she'd rather be teaching kids than giving standardized tests, and I definitely agree. Standardized tests weren't difficult for me when I was young, but they were incredibly boring and tedious! I vividly remember finishing them early and taking a nap at my desk. Anyway, during the tests, I spent time with the kids whose parents opted them out of the MCAs. We did some fun stuff with magna-tiles and tegu blocks, and I talked to them a lot about their life and school. I really enjoyed it because I like getting to know kids one-on-one.
Speaking of getting to know kids one-on-one, after my day with Jane's class, I headed off to Art Buddies. Today was our first day meeting the kids we'd be mentoring. The goal of Art Buddies is to mentor a child and help them construct a handmade costume for them to wear during a parade on the last day. The kids picked our names out of a fishbowl. I got paired with a 9-year-old girl who is in 3rd grade. I adore her! I asked her if she knew what she wanted her costume to be, and she immediately told me she wanted to be a flower fairy. That is absolutely, 100% up my alley. I could not have picked a better kid if I tried! (Or, rather, she couldn't have picked a better mentor :) )
Overall, it was a really great day at Whittier, and I can't wait for next week!