Community Building

This week we had a super special guest visit our classroom, Mr. Stewart's mom! The goal of her lesson plan was to build our community inside our classroom which would directly relate to how we worked together on the RHS farm! This class time helped us learn not only about our fellow classmates but about ourselves as well!

When we work together during class, we simply call our group members by their first names because that's just how we know them. However, the first activity Mrs. Stewart conducted with us allowed us to understand more about the names in which we are speaking to. Each student went around and went into depth on their first name, middle name, last name or even a nickname! Each student covered where their name came from, what ethnicities they root from, and what the name means to them. It was so interesting to hear about the unique stories that formed something so simple like a name.

The last activity that we took part in was very eye-opening! Mrs. Stewart cut out around 100 different images from magazines and spread them along the tables inside the classroom. Our goal was to pick 2 images, one of which we thought represented how we view ourselves, and one that we believed is how others viewed us. Some examples of the type of pictures we had available to us are attached below. When we shared what images we chose for the class, every single student seemed very engaged with what the other students were sharing. It was interesting to see how others interpreted themselves and how they thought others viewed them because sometimes it would be the exact opposite of what I saw!

Overall, this experience really brought our group of students together in a different way. We usually just know each other from talks on the farm, but we got to know our fellow classmates on a completely deeper level. On behalf of me and many other students, we hope Mrs. Stewart can come again! —Nina