Community Connection

Interested? The second grade team embarked on an adventure on foot into our community - Randolph, NY. Our class filmed an impromptu video diary of the field trip.

innovative? Mrs. Freeman had a wonderful idea for a field trip to accomplish many goals:

1. Celebrate the 100th day by cashing in 100 pennies for a crisp $1 bill at Cattaraugus County Bank

2. Have the students utilize the local Randolph, New York US Post Office to mail Valentine's Day cards to their parents

3. Support a local business and order a special lunch from Oregano's restaurant

Well, obviously I fell in love with her idea! We had been talking about starting our communities unit in our classroom and I knew this would fit perfectly. Last year's class had made an ABC Book of Randolph and this trip would allow this year's class to visit some of those places. Plus, field trips are hard to get support for and this one was low-cost, but I knew it would prove to have a big-time effect! So, we shared our idea with PTA and they were happy to fund the trip for the second grade team.

The night before - my only quiet time in my life to really think - I lay in bed and realized that I never called the people to set up the interviews, hadn't charged the digital camera or camcorder's batteries, and didn't finalize the vision of what the objective for the whole project should be...............

Yet, the next morning I was distracted by cookie baking, penny counting, and envelope stuffing that was the organized chaos that is often found in Mrs. Griffith's classroom. Admist the commotion I tried to organize the supplies and before I knew it Ms. Giere's class was already out the door.

Have I said how thankful I am that I currently have a student teacher? Well, Mr. Inzana to the rescue. We made an excellent team on Friday! I think we finally reached that collaborative point that student teachers and cooperating teachers do when they share a similar vision and goal for the classroom in which they both lead together. He had the envelopes counted & stuffed his pockets with the videos cameras. Yes, I said video cameraS! It turns out as much as I plan ahead - things just happen. Like the fact that I never put a TAPE in the camcorder! So much for finding the mic spot on Mark Carls camera! But, Mr. Inzana had brought his too. As I was taking still shots and my extra batteries kept dying, I couldn't help from laughing at what a pain technology can really be. So, Mr. Inzana was put in charge of the video project and we are working through "technical difficulties" at this time. But here's the PhotoPeach slideshow I made for the students from the still shots. They really like PhotoPeach since they can comment without an account.

Making a Community Connection on PhotoPeach

Let me tell you - it was COLD! The students had a marvelous time. First, we went to Cattaraugus County Bank. I was surprised how shy they were with the bank tellers and could tell this may have been their first experience within a bank. Next, we put our postage on our Valentine's day envelopes to send to our someone special - their families. We went behind the scenes for a detailed tour of Randolph Post Office and the journey a letter takes once it goes into the mail slot where they mailed their holiday cards. After that, we walked down Jamestown Street to the Randolph Free Library. We walked through the children's section and plan to return for a more lengthy visit this spring. Last, the class ventured further down Main Street to see where our lunch was being made - Oregano's. By this time, we were quite chilly and started the trek back to our warm classroom.

IMPACT? Google Earth is a wonderful asset for classrooms, but experiencing the "road view" is another thing alltogether. I'm looking forward to the discussions we'll have this week about our community. Plus, I'm curious to see what questions they'll have for other students in other communities to add to our Google Presentation page for the What is a COMMUNITY? project. Also, I have the privilege to work with wonderful teachers and excellent people on my team in second grade. We each help each other out wherever and whenever it's needed. I'm so thankful for their organizational skills and support. We have a great community in our little cul-de-sac in the yellow wing - don't we!

Impressed? The members of our community are .... I'm looking for the right word.... kind, considerate, willing to help, good sports, appreciative, knowledgeable, ....I can't even express how impressed I am by the Randolph community! I'm so thankful to be a part of it.

Thank you to all of the people we interviewed & were able to talk with on our trip:

Denise - Bank Teller

Amy - Postmaster

Allison's Grama - Community Member

Tammy - Clerk

Mrs. Beck - Librarian

Tonja - Restaurant Owner

The video interviews will be.......coming soon!

I'm a planner. But, sometimes the best things happen when working on a whim.