Class #28--6th Age Reading Class

Wednesday, December 15, 8:45 A.M. 6th Age Reading Class. Class #28 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. A group of 12 enthusiastic students bursts into Ms. Clark’s classroom on this chilly December morning. Ms. Clark knows this age group well and has activities planned that take advantage of the students’ natural energy and curiosity. For the next 45 minutes, her classroom will brim with vowel sounds, laughter, and learning! Ms. Clark takes her yardstick and points to specific letters on a large alphabet strip above the chalkboard. The students say the letters aloud, and then in the next round, say the sounds made by the letter. The class plays a game called “At the Table” to review vowel sounds. Ms. Clark says a sound, and the students have to act out the sound—after a “u” sound, the boys and girls sit under the table, while after a “o” sound, they (politely!) sit on the table. What fun! The students cut out consonant letters and then see how many “op” words they can make. The students choose letters to make different words, such as “chop,” “hop,” “cop,” “shop,” “stop,” and “flop.” While they are cutting, Ms. Clark reads “funny” sentences, and the class answers “yes” or “no” in unison. She asks, “Do your eyes chew? Can you save money? Does a tiger have stripes? Can a window stretch? Is a ribbon thirsty?” The students take a few minutes to read silently a small booklet called Mop. Ms. Clark reads it aloud, and then the class reads it aloud together in a choral fashion, followed by partner reading. Ms. Clark circulates to each pair of students to see if anyone needs assistance. She sits right on the floor with the children, and there is clearly a strong student-teacher rapport. The class ends with each pupil giving Ms. Clark a firm handshake (with good eye contact, of course!) and providing her an example of a “short o” word, such as “fox,” “mop,” “octopus,” “got”, “lop,” and “pop.” Again, the fundamentals were on full display today, in a very age-appropriate, interactive manner. Congratulations to Ms. Clark and her students for a great class!

An Amazing Decoration

I was walking down the hall today in the Lower School when I saw an amazing decoration hanging from the ceiling of Mrs. Delorbe's room. Mrs. Delorbe made two of these "snowflakes" herself. How did she do it? Please enjoy the picture below!

Class #27--8th Age Math Class

Wednesday, December 8, 12:50 P.M. 8th Age Math Class. Class #27 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” voyage. Fresh off reading 9th Age folders and a delicious lunch in our Lower School cafeteria of chicken pot pie and squash, I am in Mrs. Spadone’s math class. (Did you know Mrs. Spadone graduated from Calvert, in the Class of 1977?) Her eager pupils immediately begin exploring the number line and place value with a “count on” technique. They are mastering the “ones” and “tens” place and what happens to numbers when they are combined. For example, when 3 is added to 28, does the tens place change, the ones place change, or do both change? In this case, both places change and the sum is 31. Mrs. Spadone passes out a bowl of place value blocks to each student. The students place “tens” blocks and “ones” blocks onto a chart after listening to instructions, i.e. when Mrs. Spadone says that a great student received 26 stickers, the boys and girls place two tens rods and six ones blocks onto the correct sections of the paper. Next, Mrs. Spadone unrolls a large “10 x 10” hundreds chart with the numbers 1-100 each occupying an individual block. It serves as a very useful tool in seeing how numbers relate to each other. For example, the chart helps students literally see why and how 55 + 20 = 75. The students, in pairs, then play a game using a smaller, individual version of the hundreds chart. The boys and girls roll dice, and then move a small disk from number to number in accordance with the total shown on the pair of dice. Who will be the first to reach 99? It is interesting to see how some students move (or “count”) one block at a time while others understand how to advance ten spaces, for example, in one fell swoop. The students finish the period by working on a few workbook pages to reinforce the concepts covered in class. At Calvert, we pride ourselves on teaching the fundamentals of education, and today’s lesson was a clear example of the emphasis on two of the key building blocks of mathematics: place value and addition.

Class #26--5th Grade Science Class

Wednesday, December 8, 12:15 P.M. 5th Grade Science Class. Class #26 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” expedition. Room 217 in the Middle School is a whir of activity as the students come in from lunch recess and settle down in science class. Mrs. Merwin, who serves the Middle School so well as both counselor and science teacher, begins class by reminding the class what is needed for their preparation for exams, including the exam review sheet, past tests, and lesson summary sheets. The students work quietly for a few minutes labeling the parts of a cell. Can you name a few? For those rusty science students of yesteryear (myself included), I share the following: cytoplasm, chloroplast, mitochondria, and cell membrane, to name a few. Next, through a story about Dr. Martire’s broken laptop, the students review the scientific method, which incorporates the following steps: Problem, Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment, Conclusion, which creates the acronym POHEC. For the next activity, students are given slips of paper with characteristics or descriptors written on them, such as “harsh environments,” “amoeba,” and “found in pond water.” The young scientists then get out of their seats to put their slips under the correct “Kingdom” posted on the walls, e.g. Bacteria, Archaea, Protist, Virus, and Animal. For the final few minutes of class, Mrs. Merwin and her students review plant parts, types, and functions. I am very impressed with how much material has been covered in this one class. Mrs. Merwin knew just how fast to proceed, and the students eagerly and effectively responded to the design of the lesson. I am confident the students will do well on their upcoming science exam!

Class #25--8th Grade Science Class

Monday, December 6, 10:00 A.M., 8th Grade Science Class. Class #25 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. I have reached the halfway point of my 50 observations! It is really good to be back at Calvert and back in a classroom. Over the past week, my travels have taken me to New York City, San Diego, and San Francisco for a combination of Calvert alumni events and the National Association of Independent School (NAIS) People of Color Conference, at which I presented my dissertation findings. Although the trip was extremely worthwhile and productive, I am pleased to be back on campus. As today’s physical science class begins, Mr. Parker collects the lab assignments that are due and moves right into a discussion of mixtures and compounds. (Rust is literally falling out of my brain as the discussion revs up). Mr. Parker employs a “Brain Pop” video and quiz (which the class takes together orally) as an instructional aide. The biggest difference, the class discovers, is as follows: a mixture is created through a physical change, while a compound is created through a chemical change. Among many facts and nuances, the students learn how to discern between a heterogeneous mixture (cereal and milk, for example) and a homogeneous mixtures (salt water) and how to separate a mixture, including distillation and centrifuge. Mr. Parker’s visual aids are very helpful. After the Brain Pop quiz, Mr. Parker projects some fill-in-the blank slides on the screen, and the class works collaboratively to determine the correct answers and then uses the answers as the basis for their class notes. In small groups, the students work on a word scrabble handout in the final few minutes of class. Honestly, I learned a great deal in science class today, and I am confident the students did as well!

Class #24--Pilot Math Class

Monday, November 29, 10:55 A.M. Pilot Math Class. Class #24 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” voyage. As the cute students enter class, I receive several hugs, which is certainly a great way to come back from Thanksgiving break! Mrs. Chasney explains that the class will begin to explore all sorts of shapes. She has small cubes, cylinders, cones, spheres, and triangles to pass around. The seven students eagerly handle the objects, while making insightful comments about the objects. Mrs. Chasney patiently and skillfully describes the objects and answers questions (and a wide variety of remarks!) from the attentive pupils. The students then line up in front of Mrs. Chasney, who has small household objects in a brown paper bag. One by one, the boys and girls close their eyes, put their hands in the bag, take out an object, and then place it next to the objects the class had seen in the opening discussion. Some of the new objects include a Rubik’s Cube, a toilet paper cylinder, a tube of lip balm, a small plastic Christmas tree, and a marble, which keeps rolling away from the other objects! Mrs. Chasney explains, “These kinds of shapes are everywhere. You should look for them while driving, at home, in the kitchen, so keep an eye out for them.” After a quick number game, the students sit on the floor…and I have the pleasure of reading them a book aloud! The book was perfect for the occasion as it colorfully described a wide variety of shapes and how they interact with each other and with people on a daily basis. In what was a truly fitting end to class, one student noticed that I had small, multicolored squares on my tie. Congratulations to Mrs. Chasney and her bright, enthusiastic students for accomplishing so much today!

Class #23--9th Age French

Monday, November 22, 1:15 P.M. 9th Age French Class. Class #23 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” trek. Class has just begun as I walk into Madame Cooke’s bright, colorful French classroom. Eighteen attentive girls are already engrossed in the first activity, which is the sharing of homework. A number of girls walk to the front of the room and read aloud their homework, which was to cut out or draw a picture of a person and then describe, in French of course, what she is wearing. Madame encourages and praises the girls while correcting their pronunciation, when needed. For the second activity, the students come to the front and share items with French connections, such as cookies, books, and colored pencils. Quickly, the class is on to the next part of the lesson. Madame Cooke has six clothing items written on the board, in English. The girls attempt to translate the words into French; they each have a small white board at their desk and show the board to Madame Cooke after writing each term. For example, “red hat” is translated to “le chapeau rouge.” “White socks” becomes “les chaussettes blanches.” Madame reviews each phrase and makes sure the girls know the correct pronunciation. The students are soon working on a folder paper. Madame reminds the girls that “spelling counts” as they work to describe fully a picture of a woman. The students have to describe the subject’s name, nationality, place of residence, and clothing. The girls are working hard as Madame circulates through the rows answering questions and assisting students. I am impressed with how much the class has accomplished in 30 minutes. Bravo to Madame Cooke and her girls!

Class #22--6th Grade Spanish

Monday, November 22, 10:15 A.M. 6th Grade Spanish Class. Class #22 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” expedition. It has been almost two weeks since I have observed a class! It is amazing how busy the school day and my schedule can be, but, as the saying goes, “Busy is good.” I am going to attempt a rare two observations today, with both being foreign language classes. As I walk into Room 305, I hear the sounds of another language. Indeed, it is Senora Sachar giving opening instructions, I think, to her class. I say “I think” because I do not speak Spanish and do not understand the dialogue! Interestingly, the fact that I do not understand Spanish allows me to focus on the mechanics of the class rather than on the content being taught. I am impressed with how Senora Sachar orchestrates her class, which is conducted almost entirely in Spanish. She makes sure to involve every student on the class, by calling on them and/or having them come up to the SmartBoard and circle and then translate a verb in the story. “More hands up,” she exhorts in Spanish at one point, even though several hands are already in air. Senora wants all of the students to be engaged and actively participating, and they respond to her dynamic style. Frequently, Senora gesticulates to help explain her comments. About halfway through the period, the class listens to a Selena Gomez song (in Spanish), and the students have to write down all of the words they recognize. I am bouncing to the song’s upbeat tempo as I type this! At the end of the song, Senora states, "I don't expect you to recognize all of the words. She has a different accent than what you are used to. It is important that you hear different accents during the course of the year." In the final few minutes of class, the students take a quiz, which consists of 20 matching questions (verbs), and 10 English to Spanish vocabulary translations. For an enthusiastic, productive class, I say "Gracias" to Senora and her students!