Today, my grade 2 class went on a field trip. Since it was my practicum day, I got to abandon my lessons for a week and go along with them. It was one of the finer moments in the teaching experiences that I've had. It's moments like these that I feel inspired to become a teacher...
We went to what is called the Milne Outdoor Education Program, located within the York Region District School Board. Stepping into the classroom was an amazing sight. The two ladies that hosted us were absolutely fabulous and the one woman, Connie, is an AMAZING teacher. Just watching her gave me some ideas of what I want to do with my class and gave me insight to some strategies that I could use with students.
They talked a lot about the water cycle today - since that is part of the Grade 2 curriculum. Connie had a way of explaining fancy words like evaporation, condensation, and precipatation to the Grade 2s that enabled them to understand it, have fun and learn through bodily kinesthetic means. For example: When describing evaporation, she got the kids to flutter their fingers really fast and move their arms up. She explained that condensation is sorta like water molecules cuddling and asked the kids to cup their hands together...and then she got them to do the motion for precipatation by fluttering their fingers really fast back then. The kids had so much fun!
I was also really impresed with the diagrams and visuals around the class too. She explained how much water we use each time we flush the toilet, turn on the faucet, take a shower. Ex. A conventional toilet uses 20L of water each flush; the environmental ones use only 3L each flush. The school was also committed to being litter-free. There was this wonderful, wonderful visual display that encased real items about what items we should reduce, reuse and recycle. For example: chip bags, candy wrappers, ziplock bags were on the REDUCE section. Cans, plastic bottles, and plastic utensils were in the RECYCLE section. In the REUSE section, there were Tupperware items, metal utensils, fabric bags, etc. It was pretty cool cause these items were all glued onto a board to display. I think I'm going to do that when I teach. Needless to say, there were no garbage cans...only a recycling bin and a compost. As some of you know, I am a keen environmentalist and I believe that we should educate future generations to be the same.
And oh! We got to feed chickadee birds! They are these really tiny wildlife birds that are super friendly. A bird ate from my hand twice!
There were so many more interesting things and many more strategies/ideas that I gained from this field trip today. However, I don't want to bore my adoring fans with the minute details. I will say this though. It's moments like these that I’m glad to have grown up in Ontario. I feel like there’s such a nature-loving element in growing up and living in Ontario. Even though I was educated in the city, I was taught to appreciate nature and learned the valuable things as a kid that I still cherish today. I really hope that if and when I do become a teacher, I can instill these values onto my own students.
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