Reflections of a Third Grade Classroom

The first week in the school at Bremen (H.A. Jones Elementary) went very well. My first day in Mrs. Strickland’s classroom was very exciting, as the mayor of Bremen was coming in to speak to the entire third grade class and take questions from the students. Basically the entire third grade hall ended up in Mrs. Strickland’s room, where the mayor sat and began a small but interesting discussion. Some of the things that the children asked were very thought provoking, and tied into what they were already studying about local and city government. I liked the way they tied all this in to lessons that were currently being taught, it really seemed to bring what they were learning home in a real-world perspective. On a humorous note, the teachers went over a few things before the mayor got there, such as what questions were appropriate and which ones were not. They told them not to ask her age or whether she was married or had children. Naturally the first question asked by a young boy was, “Ms. Sewell, how old are you? Do you feel old?” All of the teachers simply smiled and glanced at each other, then down towards the ground. The boy was inquisitive, and it wasn’t done in any type of mean-spirited way. Kids certainly will be kids.

I really enjoyed going with the students when they changed classes to go to Science. Ms. Spake, the science teacher, had a big jar of clean, clear water at the front of the room. As they all walked in, they were all immediately interested in what “experiment” they would be doing today. Ms. Spake passed out a small vial or container to each child with writing on it, telling them not to open it, but to bring it to the front when they were called to. As she read them a story about pollution and its effects on the water supply, each student on cue would come to the front and dump their “chemical” into the large jar of water, while the rest of the class observed the reaction. They also answered questions about whether the water was still drinkable, if you could still swim in it in relative safety, or if it would contaminate surrounding areas. Everyone in the classroom seemed energized in this experiment, and I really liked how everyone was involved. Later in the day, I overheard the kids in the hall still talking about it. On the playground, some boys were even doing their own “experiments”.

On Wednesday I was able to help the students with their journal topics, answering questions, reading over them with the children or giving advice on their writing. One young girl was writing her paper on brown bats in Georgia, and asking me if I knew all of the places that they lived. I saw so much happening in third grade, I found it to be a really eclectic age. Boys were playing football one minute and writing stories and doing art the next. Girls straddle the fence at different times between being interested in fashion and clothing to clowning around, doing research, creating, and finding discoveries. Third grade, from what I have observed, may be a truly perfect age in so many ways.

Week 2 saw an introduction of the topic of natural disasters and volcanoes in the third grade science class. Ms. Spake asked if I would like to read through the topics with the class, as some of the students are still having a difficult time with reading, particularly out loud. The magazine that the children had to look over was a simple, three page student paper with various pictures about interesting subjects. As I read to them, I tried to pause after a few sentences to see if everyone understood what the article was trying to say. I also put in some interesting tidbits that I remember hearing about volcanoes, how the ash goes straight up in the air and makes living anywhere nearby very deadly. Everyone was jumping up, talking about things they had heard about volcanoes on television, especially some of the boys who seemed concentrated on the gruesomeness of the fate of some people caught by the raining lava, which I secretly found kind of cool. It was really a lively discussion, but soon I had to steer them back to what we were doing. The class also read up on giraffes, how much TV kids should be watching per night, and the world’s biggest meatball. I asked them how much spaghetti they thought we might need for a meatball as big as the one pictured in the magazine, which was probably the size of a big desk. Needless to say I got a variety of answers. One boy said, “spaghetti piled as tall as me!” A girl answered, “probably as big a plate as this whole classroom”. It was an enlightening discussion. All of the articles contained their vocabulary words, which I went over while reading each story. One young girl, who always makes sure to stand or sit near me wherever I go, has trouble remembering my name. She asked if she can just call me ‘Mr. Dude’.

Wednesday was a short day for the students, they were leaving at 12:00 noon, but the teachers had parent conferences for the rest of the day. Mrs. Strickland and Ms. Spake let me sit in on several of the conferences, which was extremely interesting. I noticed that the teachers would always say how much they enjoyed the students being in their room to each parent before getting to things that needed to be worked on. Children who were struggling in math had the option to take an after school special session, giving them extra help from 3:30-4:15, which parents were given the option of signing up for. Each conference was scheduled for fifteen minutes. I learned a great deal about many of the students and issues they had been having, about ones who were struggling and others that had improved by leaps and bounds. There were parents on the verge of tears because they didn’t know what to do with a child that had problems in certain subjects, and other parents clearly so proud of their children, some really didn't seem to care either way. Sitting there I kept wishing that I could help all of them, to tell them that anything is possible and that all children can be turned around and saved. When you finally see where a child is coming from, you begin to get a better sense of where they are in the classroom, who they are as a person, and what they one day might become. There’s less sense of just a blurry mass of kids, they become real people. As teachers we can provide them with limitless possibilities.