Fourth Grade Refresher

Can we say deja vu?

I subbed in one of our fourth grade classrooms (actually, it was my old room) this morning for writers' workshop and religion class. While the students were far from perfect (there are some little chatterboxes, I can tell you), they were eager to learn.

Writing was fun because the students were writing "I Am" poems as their last addition to their poetry portfolio packets. We used a model poem from my previous co-teacher, so that was pretty neat! With only a few exceptions, the kiddos set to work writing their own "I Am" poems for about 10 minutes. After that, I saw each one's writing stamina meeting its match, so I called them back together. They each shared one line from the poem they had written: "I am a big brother," "I am a sports player," and "I am a hockey player" were some of the lines they chose to share. It was a fun close to writing.

On to religion...(Well, we did a quick shake it out energizer first.) I believe I actually ended up teaching a religion lesson plan I had planned back in 2012 - go figure. It was about the Nicene Creed and the 4 Marks of the Church. It's some dry material (in comparison to some Church teaching or events surrounding Pope Francis - of whom we did speak briefly today!), but the fourth graders managed to focus and seemed to enjoy reading about and coming up with symbols for each of the Marks.

The time passed quickly, and soon their teachers returned, and it was time for me to go. It was so refreshing to be with younger children, even if it was just for that one hour. At the younger grade levels, there is more of a sense of love for learning, while many middle schoolers seem to have (at least outwardly) lost that sense of joy for school.

I am grateful for that hour today - it makes my 8th grade class (epic failure) not overshadow my whole day. :)



On a church-related note: Pope Francis spoke to Congress and visited with the homeless in DC today. While I wish I could have watched (in person or via livestream), I am glad I could read about these things tonight instead.