For “Shadow a Middle Schooler Day” I shadowed fifth-grader Otillie Farrowe (left). In walk-to-Math, Otillie and Scarlett McDermott-Ray (right) worked on multiplication problems.
I looked forward to art class where Otillie Farrowe and Morgan Quinn learned about warm and cool colors. (Photos by Kim Brooks)
My alarm went off at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 27. I could barely sleep the night before…
Not because I was in for a busy, hectic workday, but because I was going to be a middle schooler for the day!
That day was “Shadow a Middle Schooler Day” at Monticello Middle School. I was fortunate enough to shadow fifth-grader Otillie Farrowe around the school that morning and afternoon.
(I’ll preface this article by noting that this day happened to be a 1 p.m., early-out dismissal.)
Fifth grade is the first year Monticello students move around from class to class for their various subjects, such as art, math, ELA (English Language Arts), etc. By 1 p.m., I was tired!
Otillie’s home-room is Mrs. Adams. The first half of the class was spent reviewing Walk-to-Math curriculum. The students were divided into pairs as they rolled dice and had to multiply the two numbers. They were given a sheet of paper with possible answers. The first to “connect four” answers in a row won.
I witnessed such kindness and assistance from Otillie’s classmate, Scarlett McDermott-Ray, as she helped her throughout the exercise.
The remaining time in Mrs. Adams’ class was spent using “Blooket,” a computer program that reviews math skills as students engage in gaming. Blooket offers math and reading games for all ages.
The fifth graders worked on rounding large numbers, writing and spelling out whole numbers, and verbally saying the numbers.
It was also a re-learning experience for me in rounding to the nearest thousandth or ten- thousandth.
Art class was next with Mrs. Oberbreckling. I was never, and still am not, an artist. I was traumatized in college when I had to take Life Drawing and draw someone’s face. Thankfully, though, this art class was something I could get behind…
Mrs. Oberbreckling had the students pencil out an image that had to do with fall, whether it be a pumpkin, a tree with leave falling, a bonfire scene, etc. Then, the students had to color the object either with a warm or cool color and the background using the opposite scheme.
I had to think to myself what a warm or cool color was.
Then it was back to Mrs. Adams’ class for science.
Did you know that fifth graders are doing science experiments? I don’t recall doing science labs until I was in high school!
Otillie and her classmates are learning about physical versus chemical changes in elements. (Again, more review for this almost 39-year-old!)
The kids headed into the lab room where they moved from station to station trying out different experiments. If you blow up a balloon, is that a physical or chemical change? Is straight milk from a carton versus curdled milk and physical or chemical change?
Mrs. Lundgren’s class was where we went for ELA. The project she introduced to the class was something I could see myself quite enjoying!
She had each student pick a foreign country and they had to research facts and tidbits about their country to put together a travel brochure.
Otillie picked Ecuador. When I asked her why she chose that country, she said because she saw a pretty picture of some seals on a beach in Ecuador and thought it was cool.
Mrs. Lundgren provided the students with several kid-friendly educational websites to use for their research before they just resorted to Googling their answers.
Just before lunch was Character Strong. This class was a whole new concept for me.
We headed back to Mrs. Oberbreckling’s for this class where the kids reviewed what “kindness” meant. They watched a short video about called “Have you filled a bucket today?” It was about filling people’s buckets with acts of kindness.
The kids then had to spend time reflecting on what’s they have done or will do to “fill someone’s bucket” and wrote compliment cards, saying something kind about someone.
We definitely didn’t have character reflection time in middle school 20-plus years ago! I thought this was a great idea!
Following lunch and recess was math with Mrs. Wennekamp. The kids are learning to use multiple strategies for solving math problems: area model, standard/traditional method, and partial products.
Now, for me, math was always my favorite class/subject in school, from elementary through high school. I loved solving huge math problems where it took the whole sheet of paper to “show my work.” Now, I couldn’t solve a math problem to save my life!
Otillie and I headed out in the common area to work on multiplication problems. She was a wiz! Me, I had to take my time working through each problem.
Walk-to-Read was the last class of the afternoon with Mrs. Hulett. Again, like most of the classes throughout the day, I was stumped and out-smarted by the fifth graders!
She split the class into groups and had them work on word ladder problems. They were given clues and had to change or add a letter to a word to come up with the correct answer.
All-in-all, Shadow a Middle Schooler Day was an eye-opening experience. It gave parents, grandparents, and friends of the middle schoolers a first-hand account of what the students are learning. For many of us, the curriculum of today is not like it used to be, but we all have to change with the times. The Monticello school district works hard to provide a top-notch education for the families of the community.