Goodbye Ag Science, Hello April

The end of my10th week shed both light and darkness onto my student teaching path -- April (and hopefully no more snow) is right around the corner, but I had to hand my ag science class back over to Mr. Abma.

It is unfortunate that I had to stop teaching this class that I have had since January because the material is so diverse, and the students in that class are good kids. It stinks because the weather never permitted us to go outside. They start their forestry chapter at the end of April, it would have been nice to teach that. I think overall I did my job in that class. We ate brownies on the last day of class, and the student that I have had issues with in the past came up to me and wished me good luck. He said something like "we've had our differences, but you taught me a lot". It was rewarding to hear this young man say that to me.

In environmental science we started our unit on "threatened and extinct species" last week. I covered some of the chapter, and we did a poster project where the students had to research an endangered species in Pennsylvania from the game commission website. They seemed to enjoy this, although they didn't necessarily work as hard as I wanted them to. I transitioned into two bird species that are declining in PA, bluebirds and kestrel hawks. We then walked on the school grounds and cleaned the bird boxes and even found a couple unwanted vermin living in the boxes. We also looked at the outdoor classroom that Mr. Abma started to build last year. It was good to actually get the class outside.

In hort, we just finished are unit on seeds and are in the process of planting plugs, and selling our hanging baskets soon. The kids really enjoy working with plants which is rewarding. This class is 8 kids -- 7 who want to be there. It is quite nice.

I am picking up small engines next week and am excited for it. I basically have all my lessons planned for it already which is nice. Hope this last month is a great one!