I spent time in three classrooms at Keowee Elementary School yesterday. It was a beautiful morning for the drive to the school.
My first stop was first grade. I walked in and the students were beginning a new activity. They were making words with “e” and “a.” The student helpers handed out slates, and they also handed out cups of dried beans. The dried beans contained letters written on them, and the students were to take a couple of spoon fulls of letters and form words. The students worked in groups, and I was assigned to work with one student. They divided their whiteboard into two segments to list words they formed. The student I worked with formed a total of 15 words: map, cap, hat, set, pet, etc. After forming the words, he wrote them carefully on his slate. Next came sharing. The students shared words they formed with the sound as the teacher wrote them on the SmartBoard. It was a great activity, and I appreciated the use of dried beans as manipulatives to form the words.
My next classroom visit was in second grade. The students were in a creative use of time at Keowee. When students are pulled out for various activities (speech, gifted and talented, etc.), the teacher has a small group remaining to work with. Students were using netbook computers and reading some creative stories (“Pig”asso and “Mo”tisse were two artists in one of the stories). Other students were reading in small groups as the teacher worked with students on adding two digit numbers. She reminded them that we read left to right, but solve math problems in math from right to left. A volunteer was working with three students on telling time; she wrote a time in digital format and asked the students to show the time on their analog clocks. I applaud Keowee teachers for this creative use of pullout time to reinforce skills.
My final classroom visit was in fourth grade. As I entered, students were working with verb tenses (past, present and future). They were asked to quickly stand up and provide a past tense of a verb. The teacher clocked their speed. The first go round the class did it in 40 seconds. They wanted to improve on the time, and they tried once more. This time it only took 35 seconds. The students quickly transitioned and reviewed editing symbols. They were now ready to edit a descriptive story related to Halloween they had written. Some were writing scary stories, and others were busy describing the best costume for the holiday.
I had a wonderful time at Keowee Elementary, and I appreciate the dedication of the teachers and staff members to support the students. It’s a great school!
