PHOTOS: A day in the life of a local elementary teacher - East Idaho News
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PHOTOS: A day in the life of a local elementary teacher

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Editor’s note:Every semester, EastIdahoNews.com hosts a number of interns from area universities. At the end of their internships, they do a capstone project. This photo essay is the capstone project for Danielle Whitney, a Brigham Young University-Idaho student.

Tricia Galer is a second-grade teacher at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, and this is her typical day.

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She wants everyone in the class to feel comfortable, so every day, students hold hands in a circle and send a “pulse” to each other until it travels around the entire circle.

Galer always makes sure the children know the expectations for the day.

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Before they get started with their work, they do an activity. The students have to describe the word that is on the card without saying what it is. The student holding the card has to guess what it is based on the description. The students take turns playing this game. It makes the students excited to learn.

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The students learn how to work hard. They are asked to describe the shape of the object on the table because she was introducing them to geometry. The students seemed to like it.

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Students are taught to learn together and help each other out.

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She makes herself approachable so students aren’t afraid to ask questions.

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She goes over the geometry word problem with a student.

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Galer is moving on to the next subject, and now they are doing a vocabulary activity. She asks students to get a whiteboard and a dry erase marker.

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Galer writes down a word she thinks the kids would have difficulty with. She comes up with ways to help them remember how to spell it.

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The students are asked to write down the words that give them trouble.

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Galer wanted to go over a few more words with some students before lunch.

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The children have to read two versions of Little Red Riding Hood — one from Germany (popular in the United States) and the other from China. Her students compare and contrast the two stories.

After lunch, Galer reads a book to her students.

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The book’s story and artwork intrigue them.

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Galer is making sure that all the students are quiet before they go out into the hall. They have to go to the computer lab.

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Ms. Galer helps her students learn to code.

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Now the class moves onto science. The students write their hypotheses for a science project.

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They experiment is finding out what happens when pure acetone is applied to Styrofoam.

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When the children put the acetone on Styrofoam, the oxygen that is in Styrofoam is released, and it looks like it is dissolving into a liquid. They are amazed.

Galer thought that this experiment would go perfect with her lesson because they were learning about the difference between physical and chemical changes.

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The smell of the acetone is strong for some students.

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One girl shows off her science project. The Styrofoam goes into a liquid form after the acetone is poured on it. You are able to play with it and it will become like Silly Putty.

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Galer checks out how the science project went with her students. She tries to find new things that would be a fun project.

And above all, she says, “I want to make the classroom a safe place for the children.”

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