This week was very short seeing how it began on Wednesday, but it made me realize one thing: I need to go to bed earlier. On Wednesday, I was kind of nervous but Laura (my host teacher) soon eased my nerves (this was the first day I met her). It was a long day of meetings but it wasn't too bad. During the afternoon, I went and saw the presentation given by Dr. Daggett. At first, I was afraid that I might fall asleep but that did not happen. Dr. Daggett is an amazing speaker and the two hours flew by. I saw the gorilla but when I saw it I got distracted and missed a couple of the passes.
On Thursday, I went to another meeting about 3-Tier Literacy Instruction. The meeting introduced us to the new policy adopted by Mon county. The presentation went well and was interesting. Second grade lost their second recess time, they did not seem too happy about that. That afternoon was spent getting the room ready for the parent meeting on Friday.
Friday was the parent meeting. I think it went well. We were missing a lot more parents than expected. The parents who did come seemed very nice and excited. During the afternoon, I spent my time writing the students' names on name tags and other preparation things as well. Laura spent a lot of time calling parents about the home visits we will be doing this week. This is the first time I have ever heard of home visits, it seems kind of weird to me. Well, I will let you know how things go.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Week 2
This week went fast and slow at the same time. On Monday and Tuesday we did the majority of our home visits. Like I stated in my previous posting, I was unsure of how these would go. I do think now that the home visits are a valuable experience. These gave us the oppurtunity to see where the students were coming from. It was interesting to see the different ability levels of students and how it correlated with their living situations. In most cases it was true that the more affluent two parent homes had more advanced students where as the lower ses students weren't not on the same level. In the meetings we got to see what ability levels were coming in and how much support was offered at home. I also felt it was really good to get the chance to meet the students before school. On the first day we were able to greet all the students by name and I think it was good for the students to somewhat recognize us. I felt the students were more comfortable with being away from home and their parents.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we did a few more visits but spent most of the day preparing the classroom. We corrected misspelled names, changed nametags to prefered names, and other things such as that. I created the seating chart for the room. I had to figure out where each student should go; taking into account personalities and other factors to create a suitable learning environment.
Friday was the big day. I must admit I was very nervous. Up until this point I was a little apprehensive about kindergarten and all the challenges that would follow. At the beginning of the day, it was a little crazy. Parents were dropping off their children, some wanted their parents to leave whereas other wanted them to stay. Some of the parents didn't want to leave their kids. The parents left and the day did begin. Laura went over the rules and how we do things in the classroom. By the end of the day a lot of the students had gotten it down; though I am pretty sure we are going to have to reteach tomorrow.
In our room we have three children with autism, all with varying capabilities. Thus far in my classroom experiences, I have only worked with one child with autism back tutor year. I am very excited about gaining experience working with these students. From the home visits, I was very unsure about how things would go in the actual classroom. On Friday, only one of the students had some major difficulties. He got upset and threw a tantrum. When he came back into the classroom I was sitting near his seat and he put his hands around my throat like he was choking me. I just took his hands off my neck and then he sat in my lap. Oddly, it didn't really bother me or make me nervous. This may sound strange and I know we aren't supposed to have favorites, but he's up their on my list. I am really excited about all the experiences and challenges I am going to face working with these students.
Overall, kindergarten isn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. I actually really love it. I am so thankful that I am getting this chance to work with these young students.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we did a few more visits but spent most of the day preparing the classroom. We corrected misspelled names, changed nametags to prefered names, and other things such as that. I created the seating chart for the room. I had to figure out where each student should go; taking into account personalities and other factors to create a suitable learning environment.
Friday was the big day. I must admit I was very nervous. Up until this point I was a little apprehensive about kindergarten and all the challenges that would follow. At the beginning of the day, it was a little crazy. Parents were dropping off their children, some wanted their parents to leave whereas other wanted them to stay. Some of the parents didn't want to leave their kids. The parents left and the day did begin. Laura went over the rules and how we do things in the classroom. By the end of the day a lot of the students had gotten it down; though I am pretty sure we are going to have to reteach tomorrow.
In our room we have three children with autism, all with varying capabilities. Thus far in my classroom experiences, I have only worked with one child with autism back tutor year. I am very excited about gaining experience working with these students. From the home visits, I was very unsure about how things would go in the actual classroom. On Friday, only one of the students had some major difficulties. He got upset and threw a tantrum. When he came back into the classroom I was sitting near his seat and he put his hands around my throat like he was choking me. I just took his hands off my neck and then he sat in my lap. Oddly, it didn't really bother me or make me nervous. This may sound strange and I know we aren't supposed to have favorites, but he's up their on my list. I am really excited about all the experiences and challenges I am going to face working with these students.
Overall, kindergarten isn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. I actually really love it. I am so thankful that I am getting this chance to work with these young students.
Week 3
Well, Monday of course was Labor Day and we did not have school. It was nice having that three day weekend. This week I continued to observe. The majority of the time was spent teaching students procedures. During our schoool day we have to station times. We introduced a schedule for the afternoon stations on Thursday. I think this group of kids will get the hang of it soon. I am really amzed at watching calendar time in the morning. The 20 minutes spent is well spent. We cover a lot of things during this time like math and reading. I feel like the kids are able to stay focused during this time as well.
During morning stations, I have had my own table and worked with students. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we used dry erase boards and practice writing letters, names, and small words. On Thursday, we cut out alphabet strips and glued them together in order. Friday, we spent finishing our morning work and doing coloring pages because it is Fun Friday.
This time observing has been beneficial. I can observe the kids and find out some methods for working with them. I can see who needs extra help and what motivates them. I think this will help me out when I begin teaching.
This week was the longest so far, but I am sure this next one will be longer. I have also determined what stinks about kindergarten... 1. Having to push the swings instead of swinging. 2. Not being able to color (even though I have been sneaking it in).
During morning stations, I have had my own table and worked with students. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we used dry erase boards and practice writing letters, names, and small words. On Thursday, we cut out alphabet strips and glued them together in order. Friday, we spent finishing our morning work and doing coloring pages because it is Fun Friday.
This time observing has been beneficial. I can observe the kids and find out some methods for working with them. I can see who needs extra help and what motivates them. I think this will help me out when I begin teaching.
This week was the longest so far, but I am sure this next one will be longer. I have also determined what stinks about kindergarten... 1. Having to push the swings instead of swinging. 2. Not being able to color (even though I have been sneaking it in).
Week 4
This week I was told that I was going to do calendar on Thursday morning. So for the days prior, I observed calendar closely and took notes on all things that needed to be done during this time. As usual during morning stations, I worked with students on letter writing. The students traced letters in a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" ABC book. I told the students to take their time and do their best work. They did a very good job.
So this morning I taught calendar. I think it went well. The morale was low but I think it was because it's Thursday and the students weren't quite sure why I was teaching. I think the more I teach calendar the more I will be able to loosen up. And by loosen up I mean stop focusing on making sure I am doing everything correctly and in a specific order, I think this will help me notice things I was not noticing today. A student was standing right behind me and I did not notice because I was too focused on the teaching aspect and the student helper. Also the students are pretty well into the rouitine of calendar and will have no problem telling me if I miss something. In our kindergarten, we have an aid, another aid for our students with autism, and an observer on Tuesdays and Thursdays; it made me a little nervous teaching in front of 4 adults. The observer was the one who made me the most nervous, because everyone else had other responsibilities during this time and Laura is there to make sure I am doing what needs to be done and done right. Overall, I think the lesson went well and I will have plenty of time to get better and work out the kinks.
So this morning I taught calendar. I think it went well. The morale was low but I think it was because it's Thursday and the students weren't quite sure why I was teaching. I think the more I teach calendar the more I will be able to loosen up. And by loosen up I mean stop focusing on making sure I am doing everything correctly and in a specific order, I think this will help me notice things I was not noticing today. A student was standing right behind me and I did not notice because I was too focused on the teaching aspect and the student helper. Also the students are pretty well into the rouitine of calendar and will have no problem telling me if I miss something. In our kindergarten, we have an aid, another aid for our students with autism, and an observer on Tuesdays and Thursdays; it made me a little nervous teaching in front of 4 adults. The observer was the one who made me the most nervous, because everyone else had other responsibilities during this time and Laura is there to make sure I am doing what needs to be done and done right. Overall, I think the lesson went well and I will have plenty of time to get better and work out the kinks.
Week 5
Well I didn't reflect on last Friday's space lesson, so I'll do that now. It went not too good but not too bad. It was Friday afternoon and the kids were tired and anxious. It was also the first time we watch a video on the whiteboard. There are many factors why it was not the best lesson ever, but I will take this chance to learn from it.
So this week, I did calendar every morning. More so on Monday and Tuesday, I was dependent on my notes. As the week went on I became more independent, on Thursday I forgot to sing the Days of the Week song. The strange thing about that was that no student said so because they're pretty good at that. I think I am doing well with calendar each day I do it the more I feel comfortable. I also think I am becoming less robotic and a little more loose and expressive.
So this week I am adding math to my teaching. I am really excited and a little nervous. I found it a little harder in making these math lessons than others. The concepts seem so simple and aren't very deep. It was sort of difficult to think of what to do especially because there is not a lot of explanation needed ( ie counting). I am also doing storytime and meeting at the end of the day. This I am not worried about at all.
I am also beginning my action research this week. I am a little nervous about this. I have worked on the stories I am going to use and the guided questions. I feel like those are satisfactory. The implementing of it isn't really making me nervous, I feel confident in the ways I am approaching it. I guess the overall thing that makes me nervous is that my AR is dealing with ELL students but we only have 3 and they are higher level. I mean this will have no effect on the actual implementation just on the results. There is nothing I can do about it, I mean there is no way to predict what kind of diversity will be in the classroom. I am sure it will all work out even if I do not have amazing outcomes.
So this week, I did calendar every morning. More so on Monday and Tuesday, I was dependent on my notes. As the week went on I became more independent, on Thursday I forgot to sing the Days of the Week song. The strange thing about that was that no student said so because they're pretty good at that. I think I am doing well with calendar each day I do it the more I feel comfortable. I also think I am becoming less robotic and a little more loose and expressive.
So this week I am adding math to my teaching. I am really excited and a little nervous. I found it a little harder in making these math lessons than others. The concepts seem so simple and aren't very deep. It was sort of difficult to think of what to do especially because there is not a lot of explanation needed ( ie counting). I am also doing storytime and meeting at the end of the day. This I am not worried about at all.
I am also beginning my action research this week. I am a little nervous about this. I have worked on the stories I am going to use and the guided questions. I feel like those are satisfactory. The implementing of it isn't really making me nervous, I feel confident in the ways I am approaching it. I guess the overall thing that makes me nervous is that my AR is dealing with ELL students but we only have 3 and they are higher level. I mean this will have no effect on the actual implementation just on the results. There is nothing I can do about it, I mean there is no way to predict what kind of diversity will be in the classroom. I am sure it will all work out even if I do not have amazing outcomes.
Week 6
Monday and Tuesday
This week I added teaching math, story time, and began my action research. Monday, I did calendar as usual. I feel it went well. I also added a phonemic awareness activity. We did "one Potato, Two Potato"; one student would walk around the circle and bump a fist for every potato and when a fist got bumped it was out. When both fists were out, the student were out. The students all sang the song. This was a little difficult to get going but it got progressively better and I am doing it again on Wednesday, so we will see how it goes. My math lesson went alright. My transitions were kind of choppy and my closure was lacking. So I worked on my one for Tuesday. My action research started well. Things are going as I planned them and I have yet to make any alterations. Then I read aloud at the end of the day.
Tuesday morning Mrs. VanHorn did morning calendar. I sat back and observed. This gave me the opportunity to get a refresher and look at what I was doing in comparison to what I should be doing. I found that I am doing quite well and feel like I am getting better daily. It was kind of nice to have the morning off. I taught my math lesson this afternoon. I tried to focus more on my transitions and closure. I felt that my transitions got better from yesterday and I plan on working on that still. My students were all going at different paces and focused on Mrs. VanHorn and therefore my closure wasn't going to well. I decided it was better to move on to the next task at hand. That is this week thus far.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Wednesday morning things went well with calendar. My math lesson went alright. We were doing estimation in pairs. One of the difficulties with this lesson was keeping everyone on task. I continued to work on my opening, transitions, and closure. I feel that everyday I am getting better and learning more.
Thursday morning went as usual. The afternoon was a different story. Laura had left and we had a substitute. For math I introduced paper folding and then rotating groups. It probably wasn't the best day to introduce to new methods but its over with now. Most of the kids had no trouble folding the paper, there were a few glitches and well it probably would have been a lot worse had Maryann and Mrs. Shaw not been there. I think I did quite well explaining the directions for the moving stations. I demonstrated what I wanted them to do and tried to be as clear as possible. The stations were a little chaotic. Some students completed all with eas whereas others did not come close at all. Thinking back I think the next time I will use a timer and then everytime it dings the students will move to the next station in some order. Overall I thought it went ok. I believe the students have the idea of what i wanted them to do and the next time I will make sure to use a timer and be stern on the order of rotating. The kids were ok for the rest of the day. There were times when they got to loud but we got things back in order.
Friday is fun Friday. I tried to introduce the fun Friday dance, but it did not go over well. The kids were not nearly excited as I was. Shared reading was quite humorous. It was kind of difficult trying to find all the songs, so that is definitely something I need to practice. I also had the most difficult time singing "Willaby Wallaby Woo." Thank goodness for Maryann she helped me a whole lot. Seeing how it was Fun Friday, the rest of the day went well. There were just a few instances of being too noisy during stations but nothing too outrageous.
Well this week I am adding shared reading and I am a little nervous but we will see how it all pans out.
This week I added teaching math, story time, and began my action research. Monday, I did calendar as usual. I feel it went well. I also added a phonemic awareness activity. We did "one Potato, Two Potato"; one student would walk around the circle and bump a fist for every potato and when a fist got bumped it was out. When both fists were out, the student were out. The students all sang the song. This was a little difficult to get going but it got progressively better and I am doing it again on Wednesday, so we will see how it goes. My math lesson went alright. My transitions were kind of choppy and my closure was lacking. So I worked on my one for Tuesday. My action research started well. Things are going as I planned them and I have yet to make any alterations. Then I read aloud at the end of the day.
Tuesday morning Mrs. VanHorn did morning calendar. I sat back and observed. This gave me the opportunity to get a refresher and look at what I was doing in comparison to what I should be doing. I found that I am doing quite well and feel like I am getting better daily. It was kind of nice to have the morning off. I taught my math lesson this afternoon. I tried to focus more on my transitions and closure. I felt that my transitions got better from yesterday and I plan on working on that still. My students were all going at different paces and focused on Mrs. VanHorn and therefore my closure wasn't going to well. I decided it was better to move on to the next task at hand. That is this week thus far.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Wednesday morning things went well with calendar. My math lesson went alright. We were doing estimation in pairs. One of the difficulties with this lesson was keeping everyone on task. I continued to work on my opening, transitions, and closure. I feel that everyday I am getting better and learning more.
Thursday morning went as usual. The afternoon was a different story. Laura had left and we had a substitute. For math I introduced paper folding and then rotating groups. It probably wasn't the best day to introduce to new methods but its over with now. Most of the kids had no trouble folding the paper, there were a few glitches and well it probably would have been a lot worse had Maryann and Mrs. Shaw not been there. I think I did quite well explaining the directions for the moving stations. I demonstrated what I wanted them to do and tried to be as clear as possible. The stations were a little chaotic. Some students completed all with eas whereas others did not come close at all. Thinking back I think the next time I will use a timer and then everytime it dings the students will move to the next station in some order. Overall I thought it went ok. I believe the students have the idea of what i wanted them to do and the next time I will make sure to use a timer and be stern on the order of rotating. The kids were ok for the rest of the day. There were times when they got to loud but we got things back in order.
Friday is fun Friday. I tried to introduce the fun Friday dance, but it did not go over well. The kids were not nearly excited as I was. Shared reading was quite humorous. It was kind of difficult trying to find all the songs, so that is definitely something I need to practice. I also had the most difficult time singing "Willaby Wallaby Woo." Thank goodness for Maryann she helped me a whole lot. Seeing how it was Fun Friday, the rest of the day went well. There were just a few instances of being too noisy during stations but nothing too outrageous.
Well this week I am adding shared reading and I am a little nervous but we will see how it all pans out.
Week 7
The past week I added shared reading to my teaching list. At first, I was very nervous but I just went with the flow. I think one of the most diffcult tasks was the singing. I do not know all the songs and so at some points I just let Dr. Jean sing them and chimed in with the kids. In addition to the songs, I was also supposed to have done "Mary Wore a Red Dress." I don't know if it was me or what but there was never enough time to do it. I often found myself running over time without doing it. Well maybe this week, I will be more time efficient. As the week wore on, I think I improved and felt more confident with what I was doing. I think that is how this semester is going to go, everything will get easier and I will feel more comfortable with time.
This week in math for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; I did glyphs. On monday, we made our glyphs. We did this as a step by step process and I think it went well. It focused on identifying shapes and colors. It also worked with developing motor skills because they had to cut and glue. On Tuesday, we made graphs about the data represented on our glyphs. Wednesday, we studied and interpreted our graphs and talked about ordinate numbers. Also on Wednesday, I attempted to have students read the glyphs for information. An example of a question would be "Who was born in October? They have a red square nose." Some students had no trouble while others could not grasp the concept. I think that it would probably work better later in the year. Overall I felt that the three days of glyphs went extremely well. I really feel confident in how I approached doing it and also understand that there are areas that probably could have gone smoother. On my Thursday math lesson, we did patterns. Ashley had been doing patterns all week with her kindergarten and had mentioned that they were having difficulties, so I assumed the worst of my class. Well to my surprise almost all the children did a good job. I did not intend to introduce ABB patterns but because AB patterns went well I thought it would be ok and not too challenging for the students. I would be correct. I am sure it is not solid in their minds but I will be working with patterns for most of this week.
I started the second week of my action research this week as well. This week I introduced the paired discussion part of my AR. Currently there seems to be no significant difference in the student responses. It is only week two, so there is plenty more data to collect and evaluate.
Next week, I begin fulltime teaching. I feel a little nervous because I feel like not all the students look at me as a teacher or at least as the teacher in charge. I plan on trying to work this out this week. Be firm and gain control.
This week in math for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; I did glyphs. On monday, we made our glyphs. We did this as a step by step process and I think it went well. It focused on identifying shapes and colors. It also worked with developing motor skills because they had to cut and glue. On Tuesday, we made graphs about the data represented on our glyphs. Wednesday, we studied and interpreted our graphs and talked about ordinate numbers. Also on Wednesday, I attempted to have students read the glyphs for information. An example of a question would be "Who was born in October? They have a red square nose." Some students had no trouble while others could not grasp the concept. I think that it would probably work better later in the year. Overall I felt that the three days of glyphs went extremely well. I really feel confident in how I approached doing it and also understand that there are areas that probably could have gone smoother. On my Thursday math lesson, we did patterns. Ashley had been doing patterns all week with her kindergarten and had mentioned that they were having difficulties, so I assumed the worst of my class. Well to my surprise almost all the children did a good job. I did not intend to introduce ABB patterns but because AB patterns went well I thought it would be ok and not too challenging for the students. I would be correct. I am sure it is not solid in their minds but I will be working with patterns for most of this week.
I started the second week of my action research this week as well. This week I introduced the paired discussion part of my AR. Currently there seems to be no significant difference in the student responses. It is only week two, so there is plenty more data to collect and evaluate.
Next week, I begin fulltime teaching. I feel a little nervous because I feel like not all the students look at me as a teacher or at least as the teacher in charge. I plan on trying to work this out this week. Be firm and gain control.
Week 8
So I am getting to this a little late this week. As of this point in my fulltime teaching, it hasn't been very stressfull. I am very thankful for this because interns from the past always talked about how stressed out they were and some of my friends currently are going crazy. I think a lot of it has to do with Laura. She is a great resource and very helpful. Overall, I think things are going well. Each day I am a little more in tune with how things are going and how they should be going.
Week 9
This was my second week of fulltime teaching. I am really beginning to get nervous. I am waiting for things to go sour. Through talking with interns, things shouldn't be going so smoothly. This week in math we did lessons concerning attributes and sorting. I did a pre and post test on these lessons. I noticed improvement in most of the students but I definitely think this topic should be revisited. My higher level students progressed very well and it showed in their knowledge of the post test, while my lower achieving students didn't do as well but did make progress as well.
I am kind of unsure of how shared reading is going. I am not sure that I am up to par and it never seems like enough time. Stations are not as easy as they appear. It is hard to think up all the different things to do. This is probably my least favorite part of planning.
This week wa also read aloud week. This has proved to be more difficult for me. One would think that by not having to plan for that block of time, it would be easier, but it isn't. This time is usually dedicated to my AR, so now I am trying to squeeze in my AR in other areas and those areas are being neglected. It is going on next week as well, we'll see how that goes.
Next week is week three. I am kind of excited to be progressing through this semester so quickly or at least that is how it feels. All i can think of is 4 more weeks of full time and then a nice break before the calming end of the semester (fingers crossed).
I am kind of unsure of how shared reading is going. I am not sure that I am up to par and it never seems like enough time. Stations are not as easy as they appear. It is hard to think up all the different things to do. This is probably my least favorite part of planning.
This week wa also read aloud week. This has proved to be more difficult for me. One would think that by not having to plan for that block of time, it would be easier, but it isn't. This time is usually dedicated to my AR, so now I am trying to squeeze in my AR in other areas and those areas are being neglected. It is going on next week as well, we'll see how that goes.
Next week is week three. I am kind of excited to be progressing through this semester so quickly or at least that is how it feels. All i can think of is 4 more weeks of full time and then a nice break before the calming end of the semester (fingers crossed).
Week 10
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Well this week did not start off too well. I forgot my lesson plans and other resources at school this past weekend. Monday morning was a shamble. I was unprepared and unprofessional. I feel like it did not have that big of an effect on my teaching. It was the stations that were incomplete and having to prepare them especially when not all had been decided upon was ultra difficult. Luckily, I made it home before I shedded a tear. It was really quite stressful. Luckily for next week, I have already completed my stations and most of my lesson plans. That is definitely not going to happen again.
This week in math we have been working on shapes. We did a shape scavenger hunt today and it went ok. It was a little difficult, I do not know how effective it was. I do think we are making progress on our efforts with shapes, we will see as Laura tests them for the 9 weeks. I have been squeezing in my AR with math, and so far this week it hasn't been so bad. I have made my lessons short enough to accomodate my AR and we end just about on time.
Sylvia observed me today during shared reading. The observation went well, she made a few suggestions that I feel would have improved my lesson. I think my shared reading skills are getting better but now I am concerned with calendar, Calendar is appearing redundant and it is noticed by the students. I think I am going to start using the smart board for the morning message. The students are usually excited by it. I need to talk to Laura about what else I can do to spice it up to get the kids back into it.
Fingers crossed for the rest of the week.
Well this week did not start off too well. I forgot my lesson plans and other resources at school this past weekend. Monday morning was a shamble. I was unprepared and unprofessional. I feel like it did not have that big of an effect on my teaching. It was the stations that were incomplete and having to prepare them especially when not all had been decided upon was ultra difficult. Luckily, I made it home before I shedded a tear. It was really quite stressful. Luckily for next week, I have already completed my stations and most of my lesson plans. That is definitely not going to happen again.
This week in math we have been working on shapes. We did a shape scavenger hunt today and it went ok. It was a little difficult, I do not know how effective it was. I do think we are making progress on our efforts with shapes, we will see as Laura tests them for the 9 weeks. I have been squeezing in my AR with math, and so far this week it hasn't been so bad. I have made my lessons short enough to accomodate my AR and we end just about on time.
Sylvia observed me today during shared reading. The observation went well, she made a few suggestions that I feel would have improved my lesson. I think my shared reading skills are getting better but now I am concerned with calendar, Calendar is appearing redundant and it is noticed by the students. I think I am going to start using the smart board for the morning message. The students are usually excited by it. I need to talk to Laura about what else I can do to spice it up to get the kids back into it.
Fingers crossed for the rest of the week.
Week 11
This week was our Oktoberfest celebration. It was a really fun time. The kids were adorable.
This week we really started focusing on rhyming words. We also focused on the letter /t/.
This week, we estimated the measurements of a pumpkin and then measured to check our predictions. We looked a little more closely at pennies. We used magnifying glasses to inspect the pennies. We also described the penny and gave it identifiable characteristics. We practiced more with patterning too. We did a practice page and then we used ourselves to create patterns. We also discussed changing of the month by taking apart our calendar for October and putting up November.
This week we really started focusing on rhyming words. We also focused on the letter /t/.
This week, we estimated the measurements of a pumpkin and then measured to check our predictions. We looked a little more closely at pennies. We used magnifying glasses to inspect the pennies. We also described the penny and gave it identifiable characteristics. We practiced more with patterning too. We did a practice page and then we used ourselves to create patterns. We also discussed changing of the month by taking apart our calendar for October and putting up November.
Week 12
This past week was dinosaur week. I did as best I could to incorporate dinosaurs into everything. We read a lot of informational books about dinosaurs. We created notes about dinosaurs. The students decided what we would make the notes about. I think this helps the students take ownership of their work.
I also incorporated dinosaurs into math. We attempted to measure the length of dinosaurs outside but it was far too cold and the wind was blowing and it blew away our rulers and yardsticks. That attempt was unsuccsessful. We also compare the length of dinosaur footprints to those of our own.
I also incorporated dinosaurs into math. We attempted to measure the length of dinosaurs outside but it was far too cold and the wind was blowing and it blew away our rulers and yardsticks. That attempt was unsuccsessful. We also compare the length of dinosaur footprints to those of our own.
Week 13
This is my last week of full-time. I am excited to cut back on my workload, especially because I can actually relax on Thanksgiving Break. I am also done with my Action Research this week. It is going to be awesome coming back to no stress and less lesson plannning.
So this past week, I got to do something really fun! During shared reading, I read a bilingual book called Tortillas y Cancioncitas. The kids thought it was really cool. They like to ask me what certain words are in Spanish. I really love the language and I am glad that the kids were interested in it to.
In math, we did something new each day. On Tuesday, we did number identification. The kids cut out number cards and put them in order. Then we played around the world. Wednesday, we did activities with volume/capacity. At various stations, we determined how much or how little would fit in a variety of containers. We also determined if the containers could hold more, less, or the same as other containers. We experimented with square blocks, beans, teddy bears, sand, and water. Thursday, we compared weights with balances. We determined if things were heavier, lighter or equal weight. We also tried to make the weights balanced. One of the stations was the human balance. We held items in our hands and acted as a balance.
We made indian corn and turkey hats for our art projects.
So this past week, I got to do something really fun! During shared reading, I read a bilingual book called Tortillas y Cancioncitas. The kids thought it was really cool. They like to ask me what certain words are in Spanish. I really love the language and I am glad that the kids were interested in it to.
In math, we did something new each day. On Tuesday, we did number identification. The kids cut out number cards and put them in order. Then we played around the world. Wednesday, we did activities with volume/capacity. At various stations, we determined how much or how little would fit in a variety of containers. We also determined if the containers could hold more, less, or the same as other containers. We experimented with square blocks, beans, teddy bears, sand, and water. Thursday, we compared weights with balances. We determined if things were heavier, lighter or equal weight. We also tried to make the weights balanced. One of the stations was the human balance. We held items in our hands and acted as a balance.
We made indian corn and turkey hats for our art projects.
Week 14
This was my first week without teaching. It was kind of weird. I am used to being busy all day and doing things but now I don't have a lot of things to do. I am doing stations in the morning. I pull the kids who are not working in Mrs. VanHorn's reading groups that day. This is a great oppurtunity to work with the students and see how they are progressing and where they need extra help. It is also a good place for them to get the extra help they need. I really thing that small and guiding reading groups are a necessary item in classrooms. They provide students with more individualized attention.
For this next week, I plan on completeing all the things I need to finish on my rubric. Hopefully I am not missing anything on my list.
For this next week, I plan on completeing all the things I need to finish on my rubric. Hopefully I am not missing anything on my list.
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