Portfolio Assignment

This semester in Assessment & Management with Mrs. Hotchkiss, we were given the assignment of creating a Portfolio. We had the option of choosing to do it over a whole school year, or over a single unit. I chose 2nd grade Earth Science, a single unit involving Plants.

The GPS I chose for this unit was S2E3: Students will observe and record changes in their surroundings and infer the causes of the changes.
a) Recognize effects that occur in a specific area caused by weather, plants, animals, and/or people.

Each student will have their own 1inch binder to contain any previous classroom work or individual work that they chose. I will be of some assistance to choose some of the best work of the student.

Some of the student’s goals throughout this unit were:
· Be able to identify plant parts
· Know where seeds come from
· How seeds grow
· Determine what plants need to survive
· Recognize how plants are a benefit to our plants
· Know what plants do for humans & animals
· Recognize different types of plants and seeds

The classroom as a whole would do activities such as writing a poem about flowers or plants, singing songs to help better learn plant terms, investigate and describe different types of seeds, and read books about plants, flowers, and seeds.

The individual students would do activities such as making a collage of leaves, a matching worksheet with plant terms, coloring a flower and labeling its parts, and a writing activity.

now & the future..

This semester I have been placed in a 3rd grade classroom at Nevils Elementary School in Bulloch County. It's a different environment then what I've been placed in before. At first I was a little hesitant to be in 3rd grade, but now after having been a part of the classroom for a few weeks, I absolutely love it!


3rd graders are so different from Kindergarten-2nd Grade. They have a larger vocabulary and definately are not afraid to say what they are thinking or simply do what they please. The time while I am there, I observe their Math lesson..this is a subject that I lack personal strength in! For some reason Math just isn't my thing. However, in this 3rd grade Math class I feel like a genius! I have become more involved in Math as a whole and in general.

I have always been a fan of 2nd grade and that is where I hope to be when my time has to come to teach! 2nd grade is where my heart is, and that is all thanks to my cousin Ashley, who is a teacher at Grovetown Elementary in Columbia County. I have helped in her classroom so many times, that I simply fell in love with the whole school, teachers and even the principal. I wish so badly that I could teach her, but it is simply too far of a drive from my hometown of Waynesboro. However, I do love the school system in Burke County, and plan on teaching at Waynesboro Primary.