First Teaching Day!

Now that I'm back from Christmas break and have turned in the proper documents, I am able to start posting on here about my amazing experience with the fourth graders in Ms. Wright's class. Woo hoo!

I showed up to my first day excited, and a little unsure of what to expect. So, to ease into things, we started out with a little rhythm/ name game. Sitting in a circle, we did a clap-pat-clap-pat beat pattern. I started out by saying (to the beat) "My name is Mrs. Ritter, and I like to sing!" The students chanted back, "Her name is Mrs. Ritter, and she likes to sing!" I still can't believe I get to be called that! I love teaching.

Anyway, we continued around in the circle with each kid chanting their name, and a little bit about themselves. It was a good, quick way for me to get in there with the kids and for us to become a little more familiar with each other.

For the arts-curriculum-integration section of the lesson, we sang the song "My Paddle". I put up the song and words on the document camera, and sang through it with the kids a few times. They picked up on it really quickly. This is a really sharp, musically inclined group of students!

We sat down and talked for a little bit about how the Utah Native Americans (Utes, Navajos, Shoshones etc.) may have gotten around Utah's waters using canoes. We talked about what waters those might be- Utah Lake, Great Salt Lake, Provo River, Jordan River, Bear Lake, etc. And then, I had them sit in lines of four and paddle to the beat of the song while we sang.

I was a little scared to try having the kids sing the round so soon after learning the melody, but they were beyond enthusiastic when I brought it up! And they THRIVED at singing it in this way. I had them first sing in two groups, then three, and then eventually four. They loved it. What a fun way to end a lesson!

I'm beyond pleased with how working with these kiddos has gone, and I'm looking forward to the future!

-Amanda (AKA MRS. RITTER!)