Friday, May 20, 2011: 11:50-2:45
Friday was a short day of play. We started out with some inside recess to escape the pouring rain. Things got pretty messy, but were cleaned up quick. We moved swiftly into a quick snack before a 1:00 assembly. Today, a freestyle frisbeeist came to preform. Todays assembly was definitely more engaging than the musician that came last week. He was more hands on and interactive so he was more able to connect with the kids, especially the kindergarteners and 1st graders, and as a result the kids were all really happy. When the assembly ended, we walked quietly back to our classroom to paint the set for next week's play. Mrs. Fowler's class was presenting their play next door, so we left our door open in order to listen to them as we painted. This made for a very peaceful, calm, and quiet classroom and an enjoyable painting atmosphere. It also helped the students to focus on what they were painting.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Week 2: Thursday
Thursday, May 19, 2011: 11:50 - 2:45
Today started as a rainy wet day on the playground, but we ventured inside to get some work done. The day started with a sharing from one of the two star students this week. He shared some "baseball cards" of search and rescue dogs and a whistle. He told us how the dogs could find people and how the whistle can also help you get found if you get lost in the woods. We had a great time testing out how loud with whistle was from different distances. Next we heard some sharing from the second star student. He told us about playing football with his brothers. They even play tackle, not just tag. After sharing, we broke for snack. I took advantage of this time to go see my fourth grade teacher and observe another grade. This class was struggling with staying quiet and keeping their desks clean, and as a result had to do 5 minutes of silent reading to try to calm them down. It was interesting to see the teacher have to lay down the law because it is something I don't remember him having to do with my class very often. Although it seemed hectic, he made some comment about 4th grade being so much fun because all the kids are like mini adults, personally thats the thing I don't really like about the older grades. I rejoined the K class in time to split for centers. Again, I was in charge of the block center, but today the task was building 3d patterns and shapes, not just 2d. The other center started to learn how to subract using counters to help. We ended the day with a movie about subtraction giving examples and providing some good laughs.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Week 2: Wednesday
Wednesday, May 18, 2011: 7:50-11
Today was a bright and early morning in Springfield K. Lucky for me it was a nice simple day. The day started off with a trip next door to the library so that Librarian Steve could read us some stories. When he was finished each student picked out a new book to check out. After our time in the library the students ate snack while Mrs. James, Mr. B (the springfield helper) and I prepared for some craft time. Today was a special day because parents were invited to join us in making costumes for the play. As we cleaned up snack, the parents started arriving. When everything was picked up we did some showing off with the pledge, a quick moment of silence, some patriotic songs and geography. From here we broke into small groups by character. The birds made wings and beaks, the nights made shields, the princess made crowns, and I helped the fairies make magic wands and fairy dust purses. Our art projects took us the rest of the day and we didn't even have any time for recess!
Today was a bright and early morning in Springfield K. Lucky for me it was a nice simple day. The day started off with a trip next door to the library so that Librarian Steve could read us some stories. When he was finished each student picked out a new book to check out. After our time in the library the students ate snack while Mrs. James, Mr. B (the springfield helper) and I prepared for some craft time. Today was a special day because parents were invited to join us in making costumes for the play. As we cleaned up snack, the parents started arriving. When everything was picked up we did some showing off with the pledge, a quick moment of silence, some patriotic songs and geography. From here we broke into small groups by character. The birds made wings and beaks, the nights made shields, the princess made crowns, and I helped the fairies make magic wands and fairy dust purses. Our art projects took us the rest of the day and we didn't even have any time for recess!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Week 2: Tuesday
Tuesday, May 17, 2011: 11:50 - 2:45
My day at the New London Kindergarten started off with some swing pushing while other students ran around a slippery playground. Our day inside started with one student telling us all about the trip to Busch Gardens that his family and he just returned from. We heard all about the different animals he saw. We then continued yesterday's theme of families and read Mercer Mayer's book The New Baby. When the book was done we worked with a word family. Today the family we looked at was the -et family. Students took turns coming up with words that fit into the family, wet, met, net, set, jet, ect.. From here we broke for some snack time before a busy day. One boy in the classroom in particular has a hard time always being nice to others and did a few things at the end of snack that were disrespectful to another student. Mrs. James invited me to join the student and her on a walk up to Dr. Johnson's office for a discussion on ways we can work on being a good friend. Dr. J brought up a good point that it is easier to be a good friend than a bad friend because as a bad friend you have to spend time apologizing, writing letters, filling out plans, and in a thinking chair or on the fence. You have to compensate for bad behavior, but not for good behavior. We returned just in time for the end of Daily News before we started practice for the play. The kids marched in and back out, then in again. They did a full run through of the show for the first time, and picked up their dances and chants quickly. At the end of the runthrough there was a quick fast break outside before students came back in for centers. There were 3 centers today. One was word families and writing the words, one was writing the letter X, and mine was using the blocks again. Today in my center we didn't use the example cards but rather I made a pattern for the group to follow. We also used the blocks to write letters and spell our names. It was a breeze for some students but much harder for others.
My day at the New London Kindergarten started off with some swing pushing while other students ran around a slippery playground. Our day inside started with one student telling us all about the trip to Busch Gardens that his family and he just returned from. We heard all about the different animals he saw. We then continued yesterday's theme of families and read Mercer Mayer's book The New Baby. When the book was done we worked with a word family. Today the family we looked at was the -et family. Students took turns coming up with words that fit into the family, wet, met, net, set, jet, ect.. From here we broke for some snack time before a busy day. One boy in the classroom in particular has a hard time always being nice to others and did a few things at the end of snack that were disrespectful to another student. Mrs. James invited me to join the student and her on a walk up to Dr. Johnson's office for a discussion on ways we can work on being a good friend. Dr. J brought up a good point that it is easier to be a good friend than a bad friend because as a bad friend you have to spend time apologizing, writing letters, filling out plans, and in a thinking chair or on the fence. You have to compensate for bad behavior, but not for good behavior. We returned just in time for the end of Daily News before we started practice for the play. The kids marched in and back out, then in again. They did a full run through of the show for the first time, and picked up their dances and chants quickly. At the end of the runthrough there was a quick fast break outside before students came back in for centers. There were 3 centers today. One was word families and writing the words, one was writing the letter X, and mine was using the blocks again. Today in my center we didn't use the example cards but rather I made a pattern for the group to follow. We also used the blocks to write letters and spell our names. It was a breeze for some students but much harder for others.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Week 1: Wednesday
Wednesday, May 11, 2011; 7:50am - 11
It was a bright and early morning today. I had the nice little challenge of finding Springfield Kindergarden by 8am this morning but mapquest helped me out. In morning kindergarden students are welcomed into the classroom instead of starting the day with recess. Students watered their bean plants while they waited for everyone to arrive. Wednesday is library day in the kindergarden classrooms so the kids start their day with a trip to visit Librarian Steve next door in the Springfield Library. Durring this time, Mrs. James showed me her class webpage and I showed her my blog. When the students returned from the library they shared their books before a quick "fast break," a five minute recess. Today we played some baseball, and some of the kids could really hit! The break was followed by the pledge, a moment of silence, and some patriotic songs in preparation for Memorial Day and Graduation festivities which the kids will be performing in. This was followed by a snack and some reading of the new library books. I read through Dr. Suess' The Foot Book with a couple of students. It seems to be a favorite! This weeks "star student" showed us some toy cars of his, giving each student a chance to play with one as he showed them off. We followed his show and tell with some daily news. The classroom day ended with some stations. One was painting and the other was math. In math the students did more modeling of addition. I worked in the painting station where each kindergarden was to paint a picture of themselves in their upcoming play The Enchanted Egg. Since the day in Springfield does not begin with recess, naturally, it must end with some recess. The played on the playground till parents arrived to pickt hem up around 11.
It was an early morning, but over all a lot of fun.
It was a bright and early morning today. I had the nice little challenge of finding Springfield Kindergarden by 8am this morning but mapquest helped me out. In morning kindergarden students are welcomed into the classroom instead of starting the day with recess. Students watered their bean plants while they waited for everyone to arrive. Wednesday is library day in the kindergarden classrooms so the kids start their day with a trip to visit Librarian Steve next door in the Springfield Library. Durring this time, Mrs. James showed me her class webpage and I showed her my blog. When the students returned from the library they shared their books before a quick "fast break," a five minute recess. Today we played some baseball, and some of the kids could really hit! The break was followed by the pledge, a moment of silence, and some patriotic songs in preparation for Memorial Day and Graduation festivities which the kids will be performing in. This was followed by a snack and some reading of the new library books. I read through Dr. Suess' The Foot Book with a couple of students. It seems to be a favorite! This weeks "star student" showed us some toy cars of his, giving each student a chance to play with one as he showed them off. We followed his show and tell with some daily news. The classroom day ended with some stations. One was painting and the other was math. In math the students did more modeling of addition. I worked in the painting station where each kindergarden was to paint a picture of themselves in their upcoming play The Enchanted Egg. Since the day in Springfield does not begin with recess, naturally, it must end with some recess. The played on the playground till parents arrived to pickt hem up around 11.
It was an early morning, but over all a lot of fun.
Week 2: Monday
Monday, May 16, 2011: 11:50-2:45
Because of the stormy weather, week 2 in Mrs. James' kindergarden class started out with some inside recess at New London K. There was some dress up, grocery shopping, and coloring as the students waited for the day to start. Class began at noon with a milk run. Each Monday a number of students walk all the way up to the multi-purpose room (gym/cafeteria/theater/ect.) to get their milk for the week. This trip dovetailed nicely with snack. During snack, the kids took turns having their picture taken in a pop up theater for the upcoming play. After kids were finished eating, we sat down on friendship landing for some talk about family. We started by listening to Mrs. James read the Tommie dePaula book, Baby Sister. We then talked about how every family has something they all like to do, are good at, or makes them all look alike and each student shared what makes their family special. This was parleyed into a conversation about word families, specifically the -at family. We talked about how all the words that ended in -at belonged in the same house, and that they all rhymed. From here, we broke into stations. At one station, the kids continued to work with word families, this time with -ar. I was in charge of a station using colored blocks to recreate a structure or pattern on a card. They ranged from simple line patterns to standing structures with hidden blocks. Some students were able to jump to the hardest patterns and shapes quick, others required a little more time and found it beneficial to start with doing the flat patterns right on top of the card before moving on to more challenging cards. At the end of the day, one students grandfather joined us to read some books out loud.
Today, Mrs. James also gave me a lesson on symmetry that I will read through and develop over the next couple of days. I have the challenge of figuring out how I would like to teach the lesson keeping in mind different learning rates and styles.
Because of the stormy weather, week 2 in Mrs. James' kindergarden class started out with some inside recess at New London K. There was some dress up, grocery shopping, and coloring as the students waited for the day to start. Class began at noon with a milk run. Each Monday a number of students walk all the way up to the multi-purpose room (gym/cafeteria/theater/ect.) to get their milk for the week. This trip dovetailed nicely with snack. During snack, the kids took turns having their picture taken in a pop up theater for the upcoming play. After kids were finished eating, we sat down on friendship landing for some talk about family. We started by listening to Mrs. James read the Tommie dePaula book, Baby Sister. We then talked about how every family has something they all like to do, are good at, or makes them all look alike and each student shared what makes their family special. This was parleyed into a conversation about word families, specifically the -at family. We talked about how all the words that ended in -at belonged in the same house, and that they all rhymed. From here, we broke into stations. At one station, the kids continued to work with word families, this time with -ar. I was in charge of a station using colored blocks to recreate a structure or pattern on a card. They ranged from simple line patterns to standing structures with hidden blocks. Some students were able to jump to the hardest patterns and shapes quick, others required a little more time and found it beneficial to start with doing the flat patterns right on top of the card before moving on to more challenging cards. At the end of the day, one students grandfather joined us to read some books out loud.
Today, Mrs. James also gave me a lesson on symmetry that I will read through and develop over the next couple of days. I have the challenge of figuring out how I would like to teach the lesson keeping in mind different learning rates and styles.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Week 1 Reflection
This week, I spent time in two kindergarten classrooms, Springfield and New London, both taught by Mrs. James. At the beginning of the week, I spent most of my time observing Mrs. James' teaching techniques and the students in order to get to know them better. Activities this week included modeling addition problems with beans, working with the alphabet caterpillar and alphabet magnets, playing with pattern blocks, daily news and sharing, two concerts, and of course some recess.
The most significant thing I learned this week is that kids are learning at all different rates, especially when it comes to reading. During stations on day 1, I was helping with a math station while Mrs. James worked on sight words with a group of students. When we rotated stations, I went over to language arts and helped kids with saying the alphabet up to G and put together the alphabet caterpillar, which was quite a struggle. This group was having trouble determining which letter was which and which letter came next, while the group before was reading and spelling sightwords. In order to accommodate the different learning speeds stations are very important. Stations allow for groups to work on activities that will help them the most.
Another thing I learned about this week is what Mrs. James calls reality therapy. This involves posing questions about what good behavior looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Using these questions helps kids to understand what they should be doing. This technique also works when a student has done something wrong. In this case the student might be asked why they did what they did, how it made someone else feel, and how can they act differently next time.
Daily news and sharing, recess, and snack time were all very helpful in allowing me to get to know the students in the classroom in other ways beyond educational interactions with them. These activities allowed me to learn what is important to each student as well as things that each one enjoys doing.
I really enjoyed my time in Mrs. James' classroom this week. This week has been exactly what I had hoped it would be, a lot of fun, but I have also learned a ton. I have loved getting to know the students both personally and educationally. It is a lot of fun to be back in the building I went to elementary school in, and I am really looking forward to the next two weeks!
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