Only a week left?!?! Didn't we just get here yesterday?!

I can’t believe we are down to our final week in New York, and only 4 days left at Dwight with our students. I still remember our first day when we were late getting to school because of the shuttle, ferry and subway. My how times have changed since then! Now we are pros at the ferry and subway, and we can’t even imagine going back home and having a car again where we can get where we are going in 5-10 minutes if we want to. And we are even friends with a lot of our shuttle drivers. We all can’t believe how time has gone by so fast! We all have learned so much in our time here at Dwight. We are looking forward to our last couple days, teaching and spending more time with our students.

First 2 announcements:

First of all, I would like to congratulate Heidi on winning a VP position in Delta Phi Omega for the Spring! I know she is very excited, and I know she will do a great job!

Secondly, all of us girls in New York would like to congratulate Sam Broderius and her boyfriend David on their Engagement! So excited for them and wishing them all the best! We also all can’t wait to hear the details at seminar!

Recently in math, my fourth graders have been working in a unit of inquiry on measurement. As a part of this unit of inquiry, the students have been working on finding area and perimeter. Instead having a quiz or test on this information, for the student’s summative assessment the students have been creating their own club houses. They have to create an irregular shaped club house (so not just a rectangle or square), and then they have to find the area and perimeter of this club house while also following the guidelines they have been given.

After they draw out their club house and find the area and perimeter they can spend time on the design and adding things to their club houses. Some ideas that I have heard the students talk about is a pool, tennis court, a slide or playground, pets, pool tables (the list goes on and on). I think this project is such a great way for the students to get creative, while also showing what they know about area and perimeter. In a way this project also ties into their architectural unit of inquiry they just completed shortly after I got here. I really like how Dwight tries to cross connect subjects and content with each other. I think this helps the students really link with previous knowledge with new knowledge that they are learning about.

I’ll post pictures of the final products later this week!

Well that’s all for now.

Enjoy your evening, and check back tomorrow for another exciting blog about our adventures in NYC!

-Sarah