Phew. What a long hiatus. However, the hiatus was only from this blog, not from my work with kids. That never stops and that's probably playing a large part in why blogging came to a standstill, but it's been fun nevertheless. Here's a quick update on what I've been doing:
-Once a week volunteering in kindergarten still. First year teacher who is doing an outstanding job with a pretty challenging group of kids. I'm excited because I'll be here to see them "graduate" this year! :o)
-Coaching. The usual, but my group has grown tremendously and it's very exciting!
-Sign language. I took a beginning sign language this semester to add some basics to my memory to be used in the classroom once I'm out and working.
-Applying for the credential program! This one is the most exciting, as it most directly relates to an eventual classroom of my own. I applied and was accepted to the program and I will be continuing to work with kindergarteners at Flory, but now as a student teacher! Woohoo! My part-time assignment will be with 5th graders, a whole new world for me, so I'm sure I'll get some good experience from that too.
So where am I at now? I graduated Magna Cum Laude with my degree in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Physical Education and a minor in Spanish. Before I even graduated, I was offered a position by my most favorite professor as a Graduate Assistant (G.A.), helping him with his school visits and writing reports about his studies and experiences under his ACT program, a self-created program that reaches out to local schools and teachers and instructs them on how to incorporate theatre arts into curriculum and in what ways it actually enriches learning. I'm so excited!!
So with that, we are doing mostly school visits until school gets out in the middle of June. The first one that I accompanied him on was today, to a kindergarten classroom. The goals for the day were:
1) Review the parts of the story of The Three Little Pigs
2) Count by 2s, 5s, 10s
3) Identify and relate pennies, nickels, dimes
Obviously, the goal is to do all of this with drama infused into the lessons. Dr. M. had taught them how to act out The Three Little Pigs the week before, so they did a review of it this morning. It was amazing because after a long weekend, the children were able to remember all the lines, characters, and plot from the story based on the "acting" they had done last week. And the little wolf was so cute! He tried his hardest to speak in a scary deep little voice and he was so proud of himself!
Counting by 5s and 10s involved a dance which was great. Counting by 2s was a little more challenging because the kindergarteners hadn't learned that yet. But we did a little bit of teaching on that based on using the children themselves as visuals and manipulatives. And the money part was fun because we used hand gestures to help the kids think about how many pennies were in a nickel or a dime; which is pretty much the beginnings of learning how to make change.
Some of them got it, some of them didn't quite get there...but every single one was engaged and putting forth an effort, which is what I think is the coolest part about the ACT program. It's so engaging and it really adds an element of fun to learning, something that changes the way a lot of children look at school.
Excited doesn't begin to describe how I feel about the potentials this summer job is offering me. I think euphoric is better. I drove home with a smile on my face and the wind in my hair, knowing this was going to be a fantastic summer and truly feeling that I am living out my dreams.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Sunday, May 13, 2012
I've Been a Terrible Blogger
And I fully acknowledge that. But sometimes being a busy undergraduate student takes priority over blogging...and sometimes you just need to have a little bit of a social life so you don't go crazy because of the academics. School is over for me now, and my last day in Room 3 for the school year is this coming Thursday. I can't believe the year is over; my, how time flies.
To catch you all up on what you've missed while I was absent (pictures to come later):
We went on a field trip to Albertsons to learn about healthy foods and unhealthy foods ("all-the-time food" vs. "sometimes-food") and to learn about different jobs in the community. It rained for the walk there and, although cold and a little soggy, all of the Room 3 students were very well behaved. They were so excited to be able to go off campus as a group, but most of them didn't even need reminders to behave responsibly. This was one of those activities that absolutely would not have been possible without willing parent volunteers. I left my camera at home on accident, so all my pictures were taken on my phone.
The last couple weeks have been dedicated to making a Mothers Day project with the kids - it's kind of been my last hurrah; a project that was completely my doing from start to finish. We spent two days paper-mache-ing canisters, two days painting, and one day on finishing touches, to create a pencil holder for them to gift to their moms today (Mothers Day). Very messy, very high energy, very tedious...but they all turned out pretty great in the end. :)
Last Thursday I did my last pacer test for Room 2 and Room 3 students. They were absolutely amazed at how many laps they are now able to do, and I was amazed at how first-grade-like they were behaved for the entire process. It went so smoothly, I almost couldn't believe it was the same group of kids that I tested last September. It was also teacher appreciation week, and I got a boatload of flowers and some fresh fruit.
I finished my final presentation for my Internship Class, and my professor couldn't stop raving about what a great opportunity I'd been given. I didn't know what else to say besides, "I know, I've been very lucky." Because it truly is just as simple as that. I'm preparing to fight the waterworks on Thursday...I can't possibly fathom saying goodbye to this group of 28 munchkins.
To catch you all up on what you've missed while I was absent (pictures to come later):
We went on a field trip to Albertsons to learn about healthy foods and unhealthy foods ("all-the-time food" vs. "sometimes-food") and to learn about different jobs in the community. It rained for the walk there and, although cold and a little soggy, all of the Room 3 students were very well behaved. They were so excited to be able to go off campus as a group, but most of them didn't even need reminders to behave responsibly. This was one of those activities that absolutely would not have been possible without willing parent volunteers. I left my camera at home on accident, so all my pictures were taken on my phone.
The last couple weeks have been dedicated to making a Mothers Day project with the kids - it's kind of been my last hurrah; a project that was completely my doing from start to finish. We spent two days paper-mache-ing canisters, two days painting, and one day on finishing touches, to create a pencil holder for them to gift to their moms today (Mothers Day). Very messy, very high energy, very tedious...but they all turned out pretty great in the end. :)
Last Thursday I did my last pacer test for Room 2 and Room 3 students. They were absolutely amazed at how many laps they are now able to do, and I was amazed at how first-grade-like they were behaved for the entire process. It went so smoothly, I almost couldn't believe it was the same group of kids that I tested last September. It was also teacher appreciation week, and I got a boatload of flowers and some fresh fruit.
I finished my final presentation for my Internship Class, and my professor couldn't stop raving about what a great opportunity I'd been given. I didn't know what else to say besides, "I know, I've been very lucky." Because it truly is just as simple as that. I'm preparing to fight the waterworks on Thursday...I can't possibly fathom saying goodbye to this group of 28 munchkins.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Thursday, April 12th
Academically? Easy day.
Behaviorally? Could have gone better.
Squirrelly kids today, I tell ya. Must be something in the water. Or the rain - I'm convinced the rain just makes living things a little wacky. Anyway, today was a pretty laid back day; but for some reason behavior failed to be in accordance with that. Owen got sent to the back of the room multiple times, two Room 4 students lost their recess because of poor behavior in their ELD class, and Drew and Nicholas both lost recess time for poor behavior with me during center rotation.
This morning we went through normal morning routine - the letter of the week is X and we have started a science unit on plants. After morning routine, the kids got to get out the Sparkies (hand held devices for taking digital quizzes) and practice some number and word recognition on the Promethean Board. Poor Mrs. Brasler, she is trying really hard to get up-to-date on all the technical innovations, but everything keeps giving her trouble. She's getting there though! The kids got scolded during this time for not taking it seriously. All it took was the threat of never doing Sparkies again to get them to get more serious and focused on the activity.
Today was Mrs. Magdalena's birthday! She is one of the yard duties, and she teaches the kids PE every week. She is a really sweet lady and Mrs. Brasler made a giant card for her that all of the students got to sign their names on. When she came out for recess they were all SO excited to tell her happy birthday; you could tell it really meant a lot to her. And I can relate...those were my favorite birthday wishes of the whole day when I was at Room 3 for my birthday.
During centers, we played High Frequency Word Bingo! Very fun and a good way for them to practice recognizing words that they can't sound out. It didn't require a whole lot of brain power for me either, which was a nice break after this week....
In a couple weeks, I get to go on my first ever kindergarten field trip! We'll be learning about different jobs in our community, so we are walking (yes, all 28 5-6 year olds are going to successfully walk together) down the street to the Albertson's. My first "chaperone" experience! I'm probably more excited for it than they are. Maybe I'll do some grocery shopping while I'm there...just kidding! :)
Still counting down the days until Room 3 transforms into a bunch of 1st graders! After today, they have just 34 more school days...
Behaviorally? Could have gone better.
Squirrelly kids today, I tell ya. Must be something in the water. Or the rain - I'm convinced the rain just makes living things a little wacky. Anyway, today was a pretty laid back day; but for some reason behavior failed to be in accordance with that. Owen got sent to the back of the room multiple times, two Room 4 students lost their recess because of poor behavior in their ELD class, and Drew and Nicholas both lost recess time for poor behavior with me during center rotation.
This morning we went through normal morning routine - the letter of the week is X and we have started a science unit on plants. After morning routine, the kids got to get out the Sparkies (hand held devices for taking digital quizzes) and practice some number and word recognition on the Promethean Board. Poor Mrs. Brasler, she is trying really hard to get up-to-date on all the technical innovations, but everything keeps giving her trouble. She's getting there though! The kids got scolded during this time for not taking it seriously. All it took was the threat of never doing Sparkies again to get them to get more serious and focused on the activity.
Today was Mrs. Magdalena's birthday! She is one of the yard duties, and she teaches the kids PE every week. She is a really sweet lady and Mrs. Brasler made a giant card for her that all of the students got to sign their names on. When she came out for recess they were all SO excited to tell her happy birthday; you could tell it really meant a lot to her. And I can relate...those were my favorite birthday wishes of the whole day when I was at Room 3 for my birthday.
During centers, we played High Frequency Word Bingo! Very fun and a good way for them to practice recognizing words that they can't sound out. It didn't require a whole lot of brain power for me either, which was a nice break after this week....
In a couple weeks, I get to go on my first ever kindergarten field trip! We'll be learning about different jobs in our community, so we are walking (yes, all 28 5-6 year olds are going to successfully walk together) down the street to the Albertson's. My first "chaperone" experience! I'm probably more excited for it than they are. Maybe I'll do some grocery shopping while I'm there...just kidding! :)
Still counting down the days until Room 3 transforms into a bunch of 1st graders! After today, they have just 34 more school days...
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Feelin' the Love
My friend and fellow teacher-in-training, Emily, observed in Room 3 this Monday (I wasn't there). She came back and told me that Fabian missed me. Of course, I asked what made her think that, and the following is the conversation she relayed to me:
Fabian: You're not Miss Downing.
Emily: No, she doesn't come on Mondays, I'm just here for today.
Fabian: Well is she coming back?
Emily: Yes...
Fabian: Okay good.
♥ I love my Room 3! I haven't seen them yet this week because I had to teach in 3rd grade again on Tuesday and then observe 1st grade later in the afternoon.
I do have to say, this 3rd grade lesson went a lot better than the first (even though we started a little bit later than planned). The kids were far more mellow and respectful, and it helped that the teacher was a little more participatory than in the last class. Emily and I were both sick from the craziness of the week before, but we got up there and we remembered our mistakes from the last time and we modified our lesson accordingly. It was pretty neat to see how even just teaching the same thing two times was enough to make drastic changes that really aided in the execution of the lesson. I imagine that to be a small scale illustration of the changes between the first year of teaching and the second year. Hmm. I guess I'll find out one day.
Four and a half weeks left with Room 3! :( Can't believe how fast the year has gone...
Fabian: You're not Miss Downing.
Emily: No, she doesn't come on Mondays, I'm just here for today.
Fabian: Well is she coming back?
Emily: Yes...
Fabian: Okay good.
♥ I love my Room 3! I haven't seen them yet this week because I had to teach in 3rd grade again on Tuesday and then observe 1st grade later in the afternoon.
I do have to say, this 3rd grade lesson went a lot better than the first (even though we started a little bit later than planned). The kids were far more mellow and respectful, and it helped that the teacher was a little more participatory than in the last class. Emily and I were both sick from the craziness of the week before, but we got up there and we remembered our mistakes from the last time and we modified our lesson accordingly. It was pretty neat to see how even just teaching the same thing two times was enough to make drastic changes that really aided in the execution of the lesson. I imagine that to be a small scale illustration of the changes between the first year of teaching and the second year. Hmm. I guess I'll find out one day.
Four and a half weeks left with Room 3! :( Can't believe how fast the year has gone...
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5th
Four days in a row of germy 7 and unders gave me what some may call an "unavoidable" cold. Boo. :( So yesterday was a rough day; I'm convinced that losing your voice or having a sore throat is the absolutely worst thing that could happen to a teacher. It just adds all kinds of new problems to your day.
In the morning I got to help kids one on one with math that they had a hard time with, and then finish reading the phonics book with the kids I hadn't read with on Tuesday. It's amazing how much you can pick up about what aspects of reading a student struggles with just by sitting and listening to them read for about 10 minutes. Kimberly sounds out consonants really well, but struggles with identifying the sounds that go with the vowels. Andrea can sound out words and put the sounds together into a real word, but she struggles with recognizing the same word multiple times. Lizzeth can sound out each letter, but when she tries to put them together, she works backwards. Angel also struggles with re-recognizing words he has just identified. We were late to the library today so it was all a little rushed; and we were missing two library books so I went on a hunt through alllllll the book bins in room 3. No luck.
For centers, we made bunny helicopters! Really fun, but also really hard to keep them quiet in the classroom setting. It was really cute though, and the kids took the job of cutting it out very seriously once they understood that if they cut it sloppy, it would be less likely to fly. After it was cut out, one ear was folded forward and the other was folded backward, like the propellors of a helicopter. The bottom was folded and a paper clip was placed on the bottom to make it more weighted. After that we got to take them outside to fly them; it was a perfect day for it too because there was a gentle breeze that could pick up the bunny-copter and keep it up in the air for longer. Nicholas let his go and the wind kept it up in the air for about 10 seconds!
After recess, I had the challenge of teaching it to all 10 of the ELD students at once. With the use of visuals (I modified the activity so that I was actually doing it with them, instead of just having an already completed example for them to look at), they all followed along pretty well! They all finished in time and got the chance to go out and fly them before computer lab. Ashley has been really focused in all the centers she's done with me lately, and let me tell you, that has been such a nice change. She's finally getting to level that most of the kids came in at; that is a huge relief.
For the students I'd worked with during normal center time, after we finished our bunny-copters, we talked about capacity. We had a bunch of different cups and bowls and small blocks to fill them with. We talked about how we were measuring how many blocks each container could carry and how more blocks meant that cup had a bigger capacity than one that held less blocks. We used vocabulary like "biggest" and "greatest" and "smallest" and "least." All words I've been listening to first graders use this week, but at a more advanced stage. I'm so excited for my kindergartners to move on to first grade and continue to grow. :)
In the morning I got to help kids one on one with math that they had a hard time with, and then finish reading the phonics book with the kids I hadn't read with on Tuesday. It's amazing how much you can pick up about what aspects of reading a student struggles with just by sitting and listening to them read for about 10 minutes. Kimberly sounds out consonants really well, but struggles with identifying the sounds that go with the vowels. Andrea can sound out words and put the sounds together into a real word, but she struggles with recognizing the same word multiple times. Lizzeth can sound out each letter, but when she tries to put them together, she works backwards. Angel also struggles with re-recognizing words he has just identified. We were late to the library today so it was all a little rushed; and we were missing two library books so I went on a hunt through alllllll the book bins in room 3. No luck.
For centers, we made bunny helicopters! Really fun, but also really hard to keep them quiet in the classroom setting. It was really cute though, and the kids took the job of cutting it out very seriously once they understood that if they cut it sloppy, it would be less likely to fly. After it was cut out, one ear was folded forward and the other was folded backward, like the propellors of a helicopter. The bottom was folded and a paper clip was placed on the bottom to make it more weighted. After that we got to take them outside to fly them; it was a perfect day for it too because there was a gentle breeze that could pick up the bunny-copter and keep it up in the air for longer. Nicholas let his go and the wind kept it up in the air for about 10 seconds!
After recess, I had the challenge of teaching it to all 10 of the ELD students at once. With the use of visuals (I modified the activity so that I was actually doing it with them, instead of just having an already completed example for them to look at), they all followed along pretty well! They all finished in time and got the chance to go out and fly them before computer lab. Ashley has been really focused in all the centers she's done with me lately, and let me tell you, that has been such a nice change. She's finally getting to level that most of the kids came in at; that is a huge relief.
For the students I'd worked with during normal center time, after we finished our bunny-copters, we talked about capacity. We had a bunch of different cups and bowls and small blocks to fill them with. We talked about how we were measuring how many blocks each container could carry and how more blocks meant that cup had a bigger capacity than one that held less blocks. We used vocabulary like "biggest" and "greatest" and "smallest" and "least." All words I've been listening to first graders use this week, but at a more advanced stage. I'm so excited for my kindergartners to move on to first grade and continue to grow. :)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Tuesday, April 3rd
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera today...we learned how to play jacks! Another reminder of how young they really are. The hand-to-eye coordination was just not there, haha. But it was so cute! And they would be so proud of themselves for catching the ball, no matter how awkwardly caught it was.
Before I even let them touch the jacks, they had to practice bouncing the ball once and catching it; a challenging task in itself for many who just could not seem to catch anything that was smaller than your average kickball. Then we started with one big plastic jack; making modifications to the process for the kids who struggled more than others. But it was never really the jack part that was the problem, it was all about trying to catch that tiny ball! After they practiced with plastic jacks, they got to start with metal ones, and as they mastered picking up one jack, they got to try doing two, then three, then four. No one really made it past 3 or 4. But every time they did something new (even if it was just catching that tricky ball), it would be echoed by "Miss Downing! I did it! Miss Downing! Watch me!"
Thankfully, we played this outside otherwise we would have been a total disturbance to all of the other centers. We had a sub for center time, while Mrs. Brasler was observing student teachers in other classes. She was nice and great with the kids; but I definitely saw how hard it can be to come into a classroom where you aren't familiar with the kids or the routine.
Our new motivation for ideal classroom behavior is, "I don't think that's how a first grader would act..." Man, does that sentence carry power! But...I can't believe they are so close to be first graders! It seems like they just walked into Room 3 as scared little five-year-olds not that long ago. Time flies.
Before I even let them touch the jacks, they had to practice bouncing the ball once and catching it; a challenging task in itself for many who just could not seem to catch anything that was smaller than your average kickball. Then we started with one big plastic jack; making modifications to the process for the kids who struggled more than others. But it was never really the jack part that was the problem, it was all about trying to catch that tiny ball! After they practiced with plastic jacks, they got to start with metal ones, and as they mastered picking up one jack, they got to try doing two, then three, then four. No one really made it past 3 or 4. But every time they did something new (even if it was just catching that tricky ball), it would be echoed by "Miss Downing! I did it! Miss Downing! Watch me!"
Thankfully, we played this outside otherwise we would have been a total disturbance to all of the other centers. We had a sub for center time, while Mrs. Brasler was observing student teachers in other classes. She was nice and great with the kids; but I definitely saw how hard it can be to come into a classroom where you aren't familiar with the kids or the routine.
Our new motivation for ideal classroom behavior is, "I don't think that's how a first grader would act..." Man, does that sentence carry power! But...I can't believe they are so close to be first graders! It seems like they just walked into Room 3 as scared little five-year-olds not that long ago. Time flies.
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