November 19, 2015
I had a vision for the lesson I did today for quite a few weeks. I spent a decent amount of time preparing for it and was really looking forward to teaching it. We were learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I was incorporating a ton of technology into this lesson (Chromebooks and iPads) and the lesson relied heavily on all of the technology cooperating. After explaining the instructions, and passing out all of the necessary materials the students began their president investigation.
The concept was that the students would be giving a 3-4 sentence speech in place of one of the 2 presidents mentioned above. They each received a speech template to fill in. Using Google Drive I had placed in each students' folder a Google Slides presentation about one of the Presidents. I created them to be on a 1st grade reading level and have all of the information they were looking to use in their speech. Each student was to fill out their own speech paper as they went through the presentation on their Chromebook. At the end of each presentation I provided step by step picture directions on what to do next with the iPads.
The concept was that they would record their speech using the Animate Me! app. This app brings a still picture to life by adding mouth movements and a voice.
The students loved doing this and we all enjoyed showing their recordings to other teachers.
If this lesson would have went just like I planned, it would have most likely been my favorite lesson yet. However, that did not happen. Technology was not first grade's friend today.
Half of the Chromebooks wouldn't connect to WiFi.
...I fixed this by having the students work in pairs.
All except two of the iPads were unable to do the record feature in the Animate Me! app.
....I fixed this by having the myself and my co-op each use man one of the working iPads and we split the class in half to do the recording.
Some of the photos I uploaded to the iPads ahead of time of the Presidents got deleted.
...Luckily I anticipated this one and showed the students where the backup photos were saved.
Lastly, the app was a trial and only allowed you to record yourself for 10 seconds. I didn't anticipate this when I was testing it out. Unfortunately this wasn't something I had an easy fix for and the students just had to record as much of their speech as they could in 10 seconds.
Even with all of the complications that came from the lesson the students still really had fun during the lesson and most importantly learned a lot! During the review they were able to answer any question I asked and they have had more questions for me that we got to explore and answer as a class.
Even though this lesson didn't go as planned it was a great learning opportunity.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Day 35: Christmas Morning?
November 17, 2015
Well as you can see from the date above today was obviously not Christmas morning in the first grade classroom. However, based on the facial expressions and excitement the students had today they may have been able to make you think twice about that.
Yesterday I got everything set up on the Chromebooks that needed to be setup. Today we began the preparation for the roll out. I gave a mini-lesson to the students on how to start-up and use their Chromebooks. As of right now Google Drive is their "home base". This is where their folders are with their documents inside. I put a practice document in with a list of their spelling words. Step-by-step the students followed directions on how to access their folders and find the documents that would be inside. I was impressed with the usability of the Chromebooks and how easy the learning curve was. The students had little to no difficulty. They stayed on task the entire time and kept screeching "THIS IS SOOOO COOL!" The mini-lesson was concluded by numbering each student's Chromebook and iPad and informing them that this was going to be their's to use all year. Each student was individually shown where and how to plug in their devices. I made a big deal about how important charging them is and that is their responsibility to make sure it is charged and ready to be used for whenever we may need them.
I will be using the Chromebooks and iPads in my lesson this Thursday. The classroom teacher also had plans to use them Chromebooks this week. It is so exciting to get students involved with technology and see how much enjoyment it adds to their learning.
Well as you can see from the date above today was obviously not Christmas morning in the first grade classroom. However, based on the facial expressions and excitement the students had today they may have been able to make you think twice about that.
Yesterday I got everything set up on the Chromebooks that needed to be setup. Today we began the preparation for the roll out. I gave a mini-lesson to the students on how to start-up and use their Chromebooks. As of right now Google Drive is their "home base". This is where their folders are with their documents inside. I put a practice document in with a list of their spelling words. Step-by-step the students followed directions on how to access their folders and find the documents that would be inside. I was impressed with the usability of the Chromebooks and how easy the learning curve was. The students had little to no difficulty. They stayed on task the entire time and kept screeching "THIS IS SOOOO COOL!" The mini-lesson was concluded by numbering each student's Chromebook and iPad and informing them that this was going to be their's to use all year. Each student was individually shown where and how to plug in their devices. I made a big deal about how important charging them is and that is their responsibility to make sure it is charged and ready to be used for whenever we may need them.
I will be using the Chromebooks and iPads in my lesson this Thursday. The classroom teacher also had plans to use them Chromebooks this week. It is so exciting to get students involved with technology and see how much enjoyment it adds to their learning.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Day 34: Chromebooks
November 16, 2015
A few weeks ago I talked about getting the school's iPads set up and ready to be able to download apps. Today I decided to take on the task of setting up the new, unused school's Chromebooks. My co-op and I had talked about different ideas of integrating the Chromebooks but it never would be able to happen if they weren't set up. I brought enough Chromebook's into the classroom to have one for each student, charged them, connected them to the wifi (after going on a mission to unveil the wifi password) and began familiarizing myself with how they worked and what all they were capable of. On Google Drive I created a folder for each student to keep all of their documents and materials. My co-op and I also spent some time researching "apps" and ways to use them in the classroom. I think we were just as excited about beginning to use them as the students were about seeing them in the classroom. I set up a table in the room to use a holding/charging station for all of the Chromebooks and the iPads. We decided to number each device so each student would have their own to use/be responsible for charging. Tomorrow I will be doing a small lesson to teach the students how to use them, charge them and access the materials we (myself and my co-op) will add to their Google Drive folders.
The 7th and 8th grade English teacher heard about the integration of the Chromebooks and he wanted to begin using them too. He recruited me to come up to his room and set up a set of Chromebooks for his classes to use. The current lesson he was doing was perfectly primed for the Chromebooks. The 8th grade students were collaboratively writing a script. Using Google Drive, each student can access and contribute to one single word document containing the script. Each student had their own device and it was evident that the technology really enhanced the learning going on.
I don't have a strong opinion yet on the Chromebooks, I haven't used them enough to decide if I like them or not. However, I have made an interesting conclusion on how to classify them. They are more than a tablet, but lack all of the capabilities of a laptop. The best way for me to describe them would be tablets with keyboards. I'll share my thoughts in a later post after spending more time using them and observing the students use them during instruction.
A few weeks ago I talked about getting the school's iPads set up and ready to be able to download apps. Today I decided to take on the task of setting up the new, unused school's Chromebooks. My co-op and I had talked about different ideas of integrating the Chromebooks but it never would be able to happen if they weren't set up. I brought enough Chromebook's into the classroom to have one for each student, charged them, connected them to the wifi (after going on a mission to unveil the wifi password) and began familiarizing myself with how they worked and what all they were capable of. On Google Drive I created a folder for each student to keep all of their documents and materials. My co-op and I also spent some time researching "apps" and ways to use them in the classroom. I think we were just as excited about beginning to use them as the students were about seeing them in the classroom. I set up a table in the room to use a holding/charging station for all of the Chromebooks and the iPads. We decided to number each device so each student would have their own to use/be responsible for charging. Tomorrow I will be doing a small lesson to teach the students how to use them, charge them and access the materials we (myself and my co-op) will add to their Google Drive folders.
The 7th and 8th grade English teacher heard about the integration of the Chromebooks and he wanted to begin using them too. He recruited me to come up to his room and set up a set of Chromebooks for his classes to use. The current lesson he was doing was perfectly primed for the Chromebooks. The 8th grade students were collaboratively writing a script. Using Google Drive, each student can access and contribute to one single word document containing the script. Each student had their own device and it was evident that the technology really enhanced the learning going on.
I don't have a strong opinion yet on the Chromebooks, I haven't used them enough to decide if I like them or not. However, I have made an interesting conclusion on how to classify them. They are more than a tablet, but lack all of the capabilities of a laptop. The best way for me to describe them would be tablets with keyboards. I'll share my thoughts in a later post after spending more time using them and observing the students use them during instruction.
Day 33: Liberty Bell
November 12, 2015
I concluded my first unit today with a lesson on the American symbol, the Liberty Bell. I spent a great deal of time trying to find a "wow" activity for the Liberty Bell. Unfortunately I came out empty handed from my many online searches. My co-op shared the same past experiences and we decided to do more of a "mini-lesson". I lacked the same excitement for this lesson that I did for my others. However, my attitude quickly changed while the lesson was going on and after it was over. I ended up doing a cloze passage activity. I wrote up a 1st grade leveled summary of the story of the Liberty Bell. I had printouts for each student and I had a version on the SmartBoard. I called on students to come up and write the answers on the SmartBoard while the rest of the class filled in their answers on their own printouts. We concluded the lesson by looking at a picture of the Liberty Bell and each student drew a replica on their own paper. As students finished they each verbally told me some of their favorite American Symbols we learned about throughout the unit.
The next social studies unit won't begin until after Christmas break. Because of this next week I will be doing a stand alone lesson.
I concluded my first unit today with a lesson on the American symbol, the Liberty Bell. I spent a great deal of time trying to find a "wow" activity for the Liberty Bell. Unfortunately I came out empty handed from my many online searches. My co-op shared the same past experiences and we decided to do more of a "mini-lesson". I lacked the same excitement for this lesson that I did for my others. However, my attitude quickly changed while the lesson was going on and after it was over. I ended up doing a cloze passage activity. I wrote up a 1st grade leveled summary of the story of the Liberty Bell. I had printouts for each student and I had a version on the SmartBoard. I called on students to come up and write the answers on the SmartBoard while the rest of the class filled in their answers on their own printouts. We concluded the lesson by looking at a picture of the Liberty Bell and each student drew a replica on their own paper. As students finished they each verbally told me some of their favorite American Symbols we learned about throughout the unit.
The next social studies unit won't begin until after Christmas break. Because of this next week I will be doing a stand alone lesson.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Day 32: Math Night
November 10, 2015
Instead of posting about events during today's school day I am actually going to gear my lesson more towards an after school activity. Tonight was Math Night! Students from an upper level education class at Bloomsburg University pair up with another student to create an interactive math station for the St. Joseph's students to rotate through. When students arrived they were directed to their homerooms to wait before the event began. Students then moved with their peers from the class from station to station.
There was a decent turnout (approximately 50 students plus parents and siblings) The students that were there to got a lot of attention from the university students and a chance to experience all of the stations. Some of the activities included:
-Dice math (role two foam dice and add/subtract/multiply the numbers)
-Math fishing (pick an index card with a math problem and catch the fish with your answer on it)
-Math Jeopardy
-Place value stomp (lay out large number cards to create a number and then stomp on the correct place value when instructed)
-Math Basketball (Answer a math problem correct, get a shot with the basketball)
-Math twister
-Math bingo
-AND MORE!!!
Many of the games had incentives at the end (candy, pencils, etc.) for the students to take. A lot of the parents stayed and walked around with the kids. All of the teachers were there as well. I spent the evening taking pictures of the event for the school's yearbook as well as for the university students involved.
I participated in Math Night when I took that course last semester. I had a lot of fun creating my activity and executing it for the students who came. I created a jumbo connect four board. Students answered math problems to receive connect four chips. They competed against their peers to see who could get four in a row quickest. This was a huge success and I even saved the board to use in the future.
In the spring the school has a similar science night and I am looking forward to see if that will be as successful as tonight was!
Instead of posting about events during today's school day I am actually going to gear my lesson more towards an after school activity. Tonight was Math Night! Students from an upper level education class at Bloomsburg University pair up with another student to create an interactive math station for the St. Joseph's students to rotate through. When students arrived they were directed to their homerooms to wait before the event began. Students then moved with their peers from the class from station to station.
There was a decent turnout (approximately 50 students plus parents and siblings) The students that were there to got a lot of attention from the university students and a chance to experience all of the stations. Some of the activities included:
-Dice math (role two foam dice and add/subtract/multiply the numbers)
-Math fishing (pick an index card with a math problem and catch the fish with your answer on it)
-Math Jeopardy
-Place value stomp (lay out large number cards to create a number and then stomp on the correct place value when instructed)
-Math Basketball (Answer a math problem correct, get a shot with the basketball)
-Math twister
-Math bingo
-AND MORE!!!
Many of the games had incentives at the end (candy, pencils, etc.) for the students to take. A lot of the parents stayed and walked around with the kids. All of the teachers were there as well. I spent the evening taking pictures of the event for the school's yearbook as well as for the university students involved.
I participated in Math Night when I took that course last semester. I had a lot of fun creating my activity and executing it for the students who came. I created a jumbo connect four board. Students answered math problems to receive connect four chips. They competed against their peers to see who could get four in a row quickest. This was a huge success and I even saved the board to use in the future.
In the spring the school has a similar science night and I am looking forward to see if that will be as successful as tonight was!
Monday, November 9, 2015
Day 31: Conference Prep
November 9, 2015
Parent-Teacher conferences are only 2 weeks away. I will get the opportunity to sit in on conferences with my co-op and I am really looking forward to this. There are a few "assessments" she wants to get done before conferences to have to show to parents. Today she gave me the first one to begin administering. This assessment was to test students' counting abilities. I have them count by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s up to 120. Similarly to a running record in reading, I marked the numbers they got correct, the numbers they omitted, the numbers they said incorrectly and the self corrections they made.
I was surprised with how many students struggled with counting by 2s. A decent amount of them could only get to 12 and were lost after that. I was even more surprised with the challenges 5s and 10s presented. Money concepts are covered twice a day every single day in their classroom; during morning meeting and math warm up. Counting by 5s is obviously done when counting nickels, and counting by 10s is done when counting dimes. A lot of students seem to have little difficulty when counting their money. However, it was evident that they could not make the connection when rote counting for me during the assessment. An example of how one of the students counted to ten was; 10, 17, 16, 15, 88, 120. This student is one of our highest in reading but has shown signs of struggling in math all year. She is someone that if her struggles are not addressed early will most likely be pushed into higher math groups just because of how strong of a reader she is. The math difficulty will likely get overlooked. This definitely happens more often than it should. It is important to know that students can have strengths in one subject and weaknesses in another.
Tomorrow I will be finishing the assessments and I am curious to see how the rest of the class will perform.
Parent-Teacher conferences are only 2 weeks away. I will get the opportunity to sit in on conferences with my co-op and I am really looking forward to this. There are a few "assessments" she wants to get done before conferences to have to show to parents. Today she gave me the first one to begin administering. This assessment was to test students' counting abilities. I have them count by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s up to 120. Similarly to a running record in reading, I marked the numbers they got correct, the numbers they omitted, the numbers they said incorrectly and the self corrections they made.
I was surprised with how many students struggled with counting by 2s. A decent amount of them could only get to 12 and were lost after that. I was even more surprised with the challenges 5s and 10s presented. Money concepts are covered twice a day every single day in their classroom; during morning meeting and math warm up. Counting by 5s is obviously done when counting nickels, and counting by 10s is done when counting dimes. A lot of students seem to have little difficulty when counting their money. However, it was evident that they could not make the connection when rote counting for me during the assessment. An example of how one of the students counted to ten was; 10, 17, 16, 15, 88, 120. This student is one of our highest in reading but has shown signs of struggling in math all year. She is someone that if her struggles are not addressed early will most likely be pushed into higher math groups just because of how strong of a reader she is. The math difficulty will likely get overlooked. This definitely happens more often than it should. It is important to know that students can have strengths in one subject and weaknesses in another.
Tomorrow I will be finishing the assessments and I am curious to see how the rest of the class will perform.
Day 30: Lady Liberty
November 5, 2015
I taught my third lesson in my American Symbols lesson today. It was by far my favorite one yet! The students were so engaged throughout and everything flowed smoothly. As my motivational device I had one of my students come to the back of the room out of site of the other sites and put my Statue of Liberty crown on him. I told the students that Mike* and I went on a trip to borrow this crown for our lesson today. I prompted the class about who we borrowed the crown from in order for them to say "the Statue of Liberty". This really got all of the students focused on the task at hand. I made Statue of Liberty "puzzles". The pieces had a true or false facts next to a section of the statue. The students had to put the pieces in order. The false facts would not fit into the puzzle so that helped students determine what was true and what wasn't. I paired students up to help each other with reading the pieces. I had strong readers with weak readers and this seemed to really help. After each student had their puzzles completed I brought them over to the SmartBoard rug. Each student got an iPad and I used the website Kahoot! to check the students puzzles in quiz form. I discovered this website recently and I was so excited to try it in an actual classroom. You can make quizzes, discussions or surveys. You can also choose from quizzes that other users have made and allowed for public access. The quiz questions were up on the SmartBoard and the students answered on the iPads after entering the quiz using a game pin.
My co-op gave me great feedback and she asked for a copy of the activity to save for future use. We also discussed other ways we could use Kahoot! in the classroom. We had slight technology issues but for the most part it all went smoothly.
I taught my third lesson in my American Symbols lesson today. It was by far my favorite one yet! The students were so engaged throughout and everything flowed smoothly. As my motivational device I had one of my students come to the back of the room out of site of the other sites and put my Statue of Liberty crown on him. I told the students that Mike* and I went on a trip to borrow this crown for our lesson today. I prompted the class about who we borrowed the crown from in order for them to say "the Statue of Liberty". This really got all of the students focused on the task at hand. I made Statue of Liberty "puzzles". The pieces had a true or false facts next to a section of the statue. The students had to put the pieces in order. The false facts would not fit into the puzzle so that helped students determine what was true and what wasn't. I paired students up to help each other with reading the pieces. I had strong readers with weak readers and this seemed to really help. After each student had their puzzles completed I brought them over to the SmartBoard rug. Each student got an iPad and I used the website Kahoot! to check the students puzzles in quiz form. I discovered this website recently and I was so excited to try it in an actual classroom. You can make quizzes, discussions or surveys. You can also choose from quizzes that other users have made and allowed for public access. The quiz questions were up on the SmartBoard and the students answered on the iPads after entering the quiz using a game pin.My co-op gave me great feedback and she asked for a copy of the activity to save for future use. We also discussed other ways we could use Kahoot! in the classroom. We had slight technology issues but for the most part it all went smoothly.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Day 29: Substitute Teacher
November 3, 2015
Today my co-op was only at school for half the day. She left at 11 and I was going to be teaching the remainder of the day. I knew about this a few days in advance and I was excited the whole time leading up to it. So far I've just been doing Math Warm-Up daily and Social Studies. Today I got to teach Handwriting, Science, Math and do a read aloud for the class. I was surprised at how not nervous I was. I felt extremely confident going into the remainder of the day. Today was my 29th day in the classroom so I had 28 days of observing and helping out with the other subjects to know what I had to do.
The Handwriting and Math lessons were straight from their textbooks/teacher edition books. I created the Science lesson. My co-op received information a few weeks ago on a energy conservation poster contest. She asked me to get them started on this. I did a brief overview of what it means to save energy using a website a found that gave you a virtual tour of saving energy throughout your house. The class then went back to their desks to begin working on a rough draft of their posters which needed to display a way they can help save energy. This concept proved to be a little challenging for them. They were able to verbally talk about what they would do but they struggled when it came to representing that concept in picture form.
There was a substitute in the room with me the whole time I was there. She taught religion at the end of the day. It was interesting to see the class taught from a different person. Although the lesson was out of their books she put her own twist on it. The students were very engaged and did exceptionally well when answering review questions. The substitute asked them if they had any questions about what they learned about and a lot of the students had higher order thinking questions to ask. This really impressed me.
I really enjoyed getting to teach for half of the day today. It made me even more excited for student teaching to begin when I will be adding more and more subjects to my work load. Today was a great day!
Today my co-op was only at school for half the day. She left at 11 and I was going to be teaching the remainder of the day. I knew about this a few days in advance and I was excited the whole time leading up to it. So far I've just been doing Math Warm-Up daily and Social Studies. Today I got to teach Handwriting, Science, Math and do a read aloud for the class. I was surprised at how not nervous I was. I felt extremely confident going into the remainder of the day. Today was my 29th day in the classroom so I had 28 days of observing and helping out with the other subjects to know what I had to do.
The Handwriting and Math lessons were straight from their textbooks/teacher edition books. I created the Science lesson. My co-op received information a few weeks ago on a energy conservation poster contest. She asked me to get them started on this. I did a brief overview of what it means to save energy using a website a found that gave you a virtual tour of saving energy throughout your house. The class then went back to their desks to begin working on a rough draft of their posters which needed to display a way they can help save energy. This concept proved to be a little challenging for them. They were able to verbally talk about what they would do but they struggled when it came to representing that concept in picture form.
There was a substitute in the room with me the whole time I was there. She taught religion at the end of the day. It was interesting to see the class taught from a different person. Although the lesson was out of their books she put her own twist on it. The students were very engaged and did exceptionally well when answering review questions. The substitute asked them if they had any questions about what they learned about and a lot of the students had higher order thinking questions to ask. This really impressed me.
I really enjoyed getting to teach for half of the day today. It made me even more excited for student teaching to begin when I will be adding more and more subjects to my work load. Today was a great day!
Day 28: Schedules
November 2, 2015
I cannot believe it is already November!! I decided I wanted to focus today's post on the "scheduling" aspect in a 1st grade classroom. This was always something I wondered about coming into the room. I was curious if certain subjects were always at the same time, if some subjects were taught everyday or just some, if there was allotted time on the schedule for each subject, etc. What I have learned after being in the classroom for over 10 weeks now is that how you schedule your elementary classroom is up to you and each teacher has their own method. I like the schedule my co-op has. She has times for each subject, as I will show below. However, I have more importantly learned in my 10 weeks that this schedule is 100% flexible. I don't think there has been a single day where we begin each subject at the start time on the schedule. AND THAT IS OKAY!! The time frames give a rough estimate of when you should wrap one thing up to prepare for the next. Other teachers in the school don't even use times on their schedule, they just list the subjects in order that they will be completed. For some people they don't want to have the feeling of being done with something too early or running over time with one activity. Everyone has their own preference. Personally, I like the idea of having times. It allows me to gauge if we are on track to complete everything for the day or if we will have some catching up to do. Here is what a Monday looks like in first grade...
7:40- Unpack
8:00- Morning Meeting
8:15- Whole Group (Phonics, Spelling, English)
8:45- Technology
9:35- Snack
9:45- Reading Centers
10:10- Music
11:00- Reading Centers
11:30- Recess/Lunch
12:15- Drink/Bathroom
12:20- Read Aloud
12:45- Math (and Math Warm-up)
1:20- Kid-Writing
2:00- Religion
2:35- Pack Up
Each day's schedule is a little different. There is always Morning Meeting, Whole Group, Reading Centers, Math and Religion. There is at least one special each day (some days there are two). The three days without a second special the class does Handwriting. Kid- Writing is done Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Science is done on Tuesday and Social Studies is done on Thursdays. This gives the students and teacher a little change each day and it also allows for a variety of subjects to be covered.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Day 27: Happy Halloween!!
October 30, 2015
Today was the Halloween celebration at school! The students arrived and were ready to celebrate all day long. The teachers got to wear their costumes all day (myself and two other teachers were the witches from the movie Hocus Pocus). The students brought their costumes to school and changed after lunch. The whole class was not in the mood to focus and my co-op adjusted for that. First thing in the morning the class went to their Library special and when they got bock we had a morning meeting and did the weekly spelling test. After that the Halloween celebrating began. We went over to the 2nd grade classroom and did a Frankenstein craft. When that was done we moved down to 4th grade. Myself and the other intern planned an integrated lesson. Each 1st grader was paired with a 4th grader. The older students helped the younger students make a hand print painting of a witch or vampire (student's choice). When the painting was done the students worked together to collaborate on a story about their witch or vampire. The 4th grade students did the writing. When they were done the pair went to the front of the room to share their painting and their writing (pictures to come). This activity went really well. One thing that I really wanted my first graders to gain from this was practicing their descriptive story telling. A lot of their writing is very basic and lacks detail. The 4th grade students did a great job at prompting them with questions to make them think of materiel to add.
The students skipped recess and went to lunch early. After lunch was over parents began arriving to join in the Halloween fun, volunteer to run activities and to help students change into their costumes. After everyone was dressed we did a two-block parade around town as an entire school. We then made our way outside for carnival games where students won candy and treats. The day concluded with a Halloween snack in the cafeteria paired with a presentation from a theater group Popcorn Hat Players. Students had the opportunity to participate on stage and interact with the lady narrating. Overall, it was a great day and it was obvious how much fun the students had. Next week though its back to a full week of "classes".
Happy Halloween!!
The students skipped recess and went to lunch early. After lunch was over parents began arriving to join in the Halloween fun, volunteer to run activities and to help students change into their costumes. After everyone was dressed we did a two-block parade around town as an entire school. We then made our way outside for carnival games where students won candy and treats. The day concluded with a Halloween snack in the cafeteria paired with a presentation from a theater group Popcorn Hat Players. Students had the opportunity to participate on stage and interact with the lady narrating. Overall, it was a great day and it was obvious how much fun the students had. Next week though its back to a full week of "classes".
Happy Halloween!!
Day 26: Running Records
October 29,2015
Today while the class was doing their reading centers I pulled two students out (one at a time) to do running records. The classroom teacher was trying to decide on whether or not it was time to move those 2 students up a level in reading. She uses Reading A-Z. I've done running records with this program before so I was already familiar with how it worked. As much as I'd like to think running records provide a concrete answer on what level the student's reading is, after today my opinion has really changed.
Mike's* Running Record
95 word book
16 errors
4 self corrections
Accuracy- 83%....this would put him in the "Frustrational" category.
If a teacher saw this raw information she would move Mike* down a level and re-do a running record.
Insight: 8 of the 16 errors were exactly the same. Mike said "fast" instead of "faster" on every page in the book. If you only count this as 1 error and not 8, changes Mike's* Accuracy to a 91%. This would put this level text into an instructional level.
The book was about different animals. 2 of the animals used were not on a 1st grade reading level (in my and my co-op's opinion); tortoise and antelope. These also added on 4 more errors (both animal names were used twice).
My co-op decided that we would retest early next week on the same level just with another book. She had very similar views on the possible skewed results. I do find running records very helpful and for the most part fairly accurate; however, I do believe that you have to analyze the errors and recalculate based on that evaluation.
We also finally had our final production of the This is a Moose play that the class has been working on. They all did great!! We had a few parents that came and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade classes. Hopefully by next week it will be up online for all to see.
Today while the class was doing their reading centers I pulled two students out (one at a time) to do running records. The classroom teacher was trying to decide on whether or not it was time to move those 2 students up a level in reading. She uses Reading A-Z. I've done running records with this program before so I was already familiar with how it worked. As much as I'd like to think running records provide a concrete answer on what level the student's reading is, after today my opinion has really changed.
Mike's* Running Record
95 word book
16 errors
4 self corrections
Accuracy- 83%....this would put him in the "Frustrational" category.
If a teacher saw this raw information she would move Mike* down a level and re-do a running record.
Insight: 8 of the 16 errors were exactly the same. Mike said "fast" instead of "faster" on every page in the book. If you only count this as 1 error and not 8, changes Mike's* Accuracy to a 91%. This would put this level text into an instructional level.
The book was about different animals. 2 of the animals used were not on a 1st grade reading level (in my and my co-op's opinion); tortoise and antelope. These also added on 4 more errors (both animal names were used twice).
My co-op decided that we would retest early next week on the same level just with another book. She had very similar views on the possible skewed results. I do find running records very helpful and for the most part fairly accurate; however, I do believe that you have to analyze the errors and recalculate based on that evaluation.
We also finally had our final production of the This is a Moose play that the class has been working on. They all did great!! We had a few parents that came and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade classes. Hopefully by next week it will be up online for all to see.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Day 25: Pumpkin Day!
October 27, 2015
Today was Pumpkin Day in first grade!! The whole afternoon was filled with pumpkin stations. The students began by "picking" their own pumpkin (off of the carpet not from a patch). The class was then broke up into 3 groups. We made sure to mix up the groups up from their everyday reading groups. This gave the students the ability to work with a different set of peers. There were 3 stations the students rotated between. They were all math and science related.
At the first station there was a pumpkin cut open. Each student made a prediction of how many seeds were going to be inside. They as a class then counted all of the seeds. Each student counted seeds into groups of ten and put each group into a plastic cup. After all three groups went through we counted the cups by tens to get the total number.
At the second station students began by predicting if their pumpkin would sink or float. I thought that everyone would predict their pumpkin would sink, however there was a good mixture of answers. We had a container of water on the table and each student took a turn placing their pumpkin in. A lot of them were surprised when their "heavy" pumpkin floated on the top. The second portion of this station was weighing their pumpkin. Each kid weighed them self on the scale, then weighed them self again while holding their pumpkin. Using subtraction they found the weight of their pumpkins.
The final station was all about measurement. Students measured the height of their pumpkin using cubes, and measured the circumference using yarn and a yard stick. They then went into the hall and made a prediction about their pumpkin rolling in a straight line or not. Everyone then got the opportunity to roll their pumpkin and mark how far it went with masking tape. They were all very engaged in this and enjoyed the "competition" aspect of who's pumpkin rolled the furthest.
After all the stations were complete everyone got to paint their pumpkin. This was a great conclusion to Pumpkin Day and it was fun to see how each student's pumpkin was decorated differently.
Today was Pumpkin Day in first grade!! The whole afternoon was filled with pumpkin stations. The students began by "picking" their own pumpkin (off of the carpet not from a patch). The class was then broke up into 3 groups. We made sure to mix up the groups up from their everyday reading groups. This gave the students the ability to work with a different set of peers. There were 3 stations the students rotated between. They were all math and science related.
At the first station there was a pumpkin cut open. Each student made a prediction of how many seeds were going to be inside. They as a class then counted all of the seeds. Each student counted seeds into groups of ten and put each group into a plastic cup. After all three groups went through we counted the cups by tens to get the total number.
At the second station students began by predicting if their pumpkin would sink or float. I thought that everyone would predict their pumpkin would sink, however there was a good mixture of answers. We had a container of water on the table and each student took a turn placing their pumpkin in. A lot of them were surprised when their "heavy" pumpkin floated on the top. The second portion of this station was weighing their pumpkin. Each kid weighed them self on the scale, then weighed them self again while holding their pumpkin. Using subtraction they found the weight of their pumpkins.
The final station was all about measurement. Students measured the height of their pumpkin using cubes, and measured the circumference using yarn and a yard stick. They then went into the hall and made a prediction about their pumpkin rolling in a straight line or not. Everyone then got the opportunity to roll their pumpkin and mark how far it went with masking tape. They were all very engaged in this and enjoyed the "competition" aspect of who's pumpkin rolled the furthest.
After all the stations were complete everyone got to paint their pumpkin. This was a great conclusion to Pumpkin Day and it was fun to see how each student's pumpkin was decorated differently.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Day 24: Extended Excused Absences
October 26, 2015
Today was the first time in over 2 weeks that we had a full class of students. There have been kids out sick and 3 students had extended excused absences in the past month. One student spent a week in Disney, another spent a week in Boston and another spent 2 weeks in Hawaii. Students get absences of this length approved ahead of time. This allows them to also get their work in advance. This is nice because they don't get as far behind. However, it is challenging from the teacher's point of view to prepare work for a single student two weeks in advance. Two students returned from trips today and I spent the beginning of the day correcting their many packets of work. Each of them had an error here and there but there were no major issues with specific topics. This indicated to us that they are able to take the tests they missed while they were gone. Since there are multiple we will spread them out through the week so they are not overwhelmed with so many in one day.
It is definitely difficult when students miss school, for both the student and the teacher. You have to add in to your daily plans upon their return on how to get them back on track. Students also get out of their usual school routine.
We have an exciting week ahead of us. It may be challenging to keep the class' attention throughout some of the days because they have a lot to look forward to.
Tomorrow is Pumpkin Day.
Thursday is the This is a Moose Play
Friday is the Halloween Parade and Carnival
I'm excited for this week, I can't imagine how the students are feeling!
Today was the first time in over 2 weeks that we had a full class of students. There have been kids out sick and 3 students had extended excused absences in the past month. One student spent a week in Disney, another spent a week in Boston and another spent 2 weeks in Hawaii. Students get absences of this length approved ahead of time. This allows them to also get their work in advance. This is nice because they don't get as far behind. However, it is challenging from the teacher's point of view to prepare work for a single student two weeks in advance. Two students returned from trips today and I spent the beginning of the day correcting their many packets of work. Each of them had an error here and there but there were no major issues with specific topics. This indicated to us that they are able to take the tests they missed while they were gone. Since there are multiple we will spread them out through the week so they are not overwhelmed with so many in one day.
It is definitely difficult when students miss school, for both the student and the teacher. You have to add in to your daily plans upon their return on how to get them back on track. Students also get out of their usual school routine.
We have an exciting week ahead of us. It may be challenging to keep the class' attention throughout some of the days because they have a lot to look forward to.
Tomorrow is Pumpkin Day.
Thursday is the This is a Moose Play
Friday is the Halloween Parade and Carnival
I'm excited for this week, I can't imagine how the students are feeling!
Day 23: White House
October 22, 2015
Today I taught the second lesson in my American Symbols unit. We learned about the White House. I was very pleased with how everything went. The students were very engaged in the virtual tour we did. On the virtual tour the students looked at a colorful blueprint of the house and they each got to choose 3 rooms to explore as a whole class. It was interesting/surprising to see which rooms some students were interested in. For example, on the final floor of the tour there was one student left to pick his final room to visit. Some of the rooms left were the Music Room, the Workout Room, various bedrooms and the last room that student wanted to view was the Storage area. Out of all the rooms the class got to view there was one room that they were disappointed they couldn't get a look at; a White House bathroom. To conclude the section of the lesson using the SmartBoard, we used Google to look at what a White House bathroom looks like. When the class was done we completed White House graphic organizers as a class (see pictures below). As I was teaching I made some changes from my original lesson plan. For example, I originally allowed more time to work on the graphic organizers so that there would be time for the students to draw pictures to accompany the text on their graphic organizers. However, after seeing how engaged they were during the virtual tour I decided it was more beneficial to spend more time on that. Overall, I was pleased with how the lesson went. One suggestion I had from my co-op after my first lesson was to allow more "wait time/think time" for the students after asking a question. This was something I tried to be conscious of during this lesson.
We continued to practice our This is a Moose play. We set a final performance date of one week from today, October 29th. Letters are going to be sent home to the parents to invite them to come in, and the elementary grade classrooms are also invited to attend next week. We began practicing on the stage in the cafeteria. The students seemed to really enjoy this change of scenery and in my opinion they put more "life" into their lines and acting.
Next week we should finally have a full class. This has not happened in over 2 weeks due to illness and extended excused absences (I will discuss this in more detail in my next post).
Today I taught the second lesson in my American Symbols unit. We learned about the White House. I was very pleased with how everything went. The students were very engaged in the virtual tour we did. On the virtual tour the students looked at a colorful blueprint of the house and they each got to choose 3 rooms to explore as a whole class. It was interesting/surprising to see which rooms some students were interested in. For example, on the final floor of the tour there was one student left to pick his final room to visit. Some of the rooms left were the Music Room, the Workout Room, various bedrooms and the last room that student wanted to view was the Storage area. Out of all the rooms the class got to view there was one room that they were disappointed they couldn't get a look at; a White House bathroom. To conclude the section of the lesson using the SmartBoard, we used Google to look at what a White House bathroom looks like. When the class was done we completed White House graphic organizers as a class (see pictures below). As I was teaching I made some changes from my original lesson plan. For example, I originally allowed more time to work on the graphic organizers so that there would be time for the students to draw pictures to accompany the text on their graphic organizers. However, after seeing how engaged they were during the virtual tour I decided it was more beneficial to spend more time on that. Overall, I was pleased with how the lesson went. One suggestion I had from my co-op after my first lesson was to allow more "wait time/think time" for the students after asking a question. This was something I tried to be conscious of during this lesson.We continued to practice our This is a Moose play. We set a final performance date of one week from today, October 29th. Letters are going to be sent home to the parents to invite them to come in, and the elementary grade classrooms are also invited to attend next week. We began practicing on the stage in the cafeteria. The students seemed to really enjoy this change of scenery and in my opinion they put more "life" into their lines and acting.
Next week we should finally have a full class. This has not happened in over 2 weeks due to illness and extended excused absences (I will discuss this in more detail in my next post).
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Day 22: Early Dismissal
October 20, 2015
Yesterday construction started outside of the school to fix the water main. There was a lot of noise yesterday, and we knew today it wasn't going to be much better. The principal discussed the situation during the morning announcements and told students to try and tune out the noise and stay focused on what is going on in class. Around 10:45 the principal made another announcement that the water was going to be shut off for approximately an hour. Luckily, 10 minutes prior to that the secretary had come to our room and gave us a heads up. We sent the whole class to use the restrooms and get a drink before they wouldn't be able to. Being curious children, as soon as the announcement was made that there was no water, every student had to go to the bathroom, was in desperate need of a drink, or absolutely had to wash their hands because GermX would not do. Of course, none of this was actually true, all of the students just wanted to see that turning a faucet would not make water come out; flushing a toilet would not actually result in a flush; and pressing the water fountain bar would not result in a burst of water. Needless to say, the entire situation was a huge distraction for all students.
11:45 came around (an hour after the announcement) and we were not informed that there was water back in the building, students returned from lunch at 12:30 and still not water. We continued with our afternoon schedule and got through the daily read aloud and the math lesson. We had just began practicing the This is a Moose play we started yesterday when we got an announcement at 1:10 that we would be dismissing in 20 minutes since water still had not been restored. This wasn't much notice so we had to abruptly conclude the activity and get the students packed to go home.
Today was great practice for me in how to handle unforeseen, unavoidable distractions to the classroom instruction.
Yesterday construction started outside of the school to fix the water main. There was a lot of noise yesterday, and we knew today it wasn't going to be much better. The principal discussed the situation during the morning announcements and told students to try and tune out the noise and stay focused on what is going on in class. Around 10:45 the principal made another announcement that the water was going to be shut off for approximately an hour. Luckily, 10 minutes prior to that the secretary had come to our room and gave us a heads up. We sent the whole class to use the restrooms and get a drink before they wouldn't be able to. Being curious children, as soon as the announcement was made that there was no water, every student had to go to the bathroom, was in desperate need of a drink, or absolutely had to wash their hands because GermX would not do. Of course, none of this was actually true, all of the students just wanted to see that turning a faucet would not make water come out; flushing a toilet would not actually result in a flush; and pressing the water fountain bar would not result in a burst of water. Needless to say, the entire situation was a huge distraction for all students.
11:45 came around (an hour after the announcement) and we were not informed that there was water back in the building, students returned from lunch at 12:30 and still not water. We continued with our afternoon schedule and got through the daily read aloud and the math lesson. We had just began practicing the This is a Moose play we started yesterday when we got an announcement at 1:10 that we would be dismissing in 20 minutes since water still had not been restored. This wasn't much notice so we had to abruptly conclude the activity and get the students packed to go home.
Today was great practice for me in how to handle unforeseen, unavoidable distractions to the classroom instruction.
Day 21: This is a Moose
October 19, 2015
A few weeks ago at the end of the school day my co-op did a read aloud for the class of the book This is a Moose by Richard T. Morris. When we read the book I had mixed feelings about it. The plot was weak, and overall the book was hard to follow. However, the students loved it. Ever since then they have been quoting the book and requesting it to be read again. Today two of the girls in the class pulled the book from the class library and were reading it aloud together. They were taking turns reading the different characters' parts. My co-op and I both had the same idea at the same time, we should turn the book into a play and the students can act it out. I spent a good portion of the morning typing up the book into script from, finding clip art animals to attach to paper headbands to identify each character and highlighting lines on each script. We didn't tell the students the new plan for the afternoon but we were anxious all day to introduce our idea to the class.
After math concluded we shared what was about to happen next (the play) and the students were ecstatic. We assigned each student a character (see ** below) and presented them with their own script and fitted their character headband. This was the first time the class has read something in script form. We formed a circle on the carpet and read through the lines about 3 times to get the students used to following along so they know when it is their turn to read without being prompted. After the line reading was going smoothly we stood the class up and had them began adding "acting" and movements into the play. The first run through was rough but overall the students were really enjoying the concept. When the students were lined up and leaving for the day they were already asking if they would get to practice tomorrow. I can't wait to see their final result!
**As I was typing out the lines and pre-assigning roles to students I realized how easily and beneficially you can differentiate through this type of activity or similar reader's theater activities. I picked strong readers for roles with more and longer lines. I chose roles with repetitive style lines for students that "robot" read. Roles with lines that had fewer words per sentence were great for our lower level readers. It is so common for students to be broken apart into leveled reading groups. This is a great way to have mixed ability reading. You don't have to pick a text that will leave half the class frustrated and the other half bored. After seeing how much the class is enjoying this activity I'd like to find ways to implement similar activities throughout the year.
A few weeks ago at the end of the school day my co-op did a read aloud for the class of the book This is a Moose by Richard T. Morris. When we read the book I had mixed feelings about it. The plot was weak, and overall the book was hard to follow. However, the students loved it. Ever since then they have been quoting the book and requesting it to be read again. Today two of the girls in the class pulled the book from the class library and were reading it aloud together. They were taking turns reading the different characters' parts. My co-op and I both had the same idea at the same time, we should turn the book into a play and the students can act it out. I spent a good portion of the morning typing up the book into script from, finding clip art animals to attach to paper headbands to identify each character and highlighting lines on each script. We didn't tell the students the new plan for the afternoon but we were anxious all day to introduce our idea to the class.
After math concluded we shared what was about to happen next (the play) and the students were ecstatic. We assigned each student a character (see ** below) and presented them with their own script and fitted their character headband. This was the first time the class has read something in script form. We formed a circle on the carpet and read through the lines about 3 times to get the students used to following along so they know when it is their turn to read without being prompted. After the line reading was going smoothly we stood the class up and had them began adding "acting" and movements into the play. The first run through was rough but overall the students were really enjoying the concept. When the students were lined up and leaving for the day they were already asking if they would get to practice tomorrow. I can't wait to see their final result!**As I was typing out the lines and pre-assigning roles to students I realized how easily and beneficially you can differentiate through this type of activity or similar reader's theater activities. I picked strong readers for roles with more and longer lines. I chose roles with repetitive style lines for students that "robot" read. Roles with lines that had fewer words per sentence were great for our lower level readers. It is so common for students to be broken apart into leveled reading groups. This is a great way to have mixed ability reading. You don't have to pick a text that will leave half the class frustrated and the other half bored. After seeing how much the class is enjoying this activity I'd like to find ways to implement similar activities throughout the year.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Day 20: The American Flag
October 15, 2015
Today, I felt like a teacher. I taught my first lesson. I began my unit on American Symbols and for my first lesson we explored the American Flag. Overall, I was very happy with how smoothly the lesson went. I began by questioning my students on what symbols are, and I had them look around the room to see if they could find any American symbols. Many of them spotted the American Flag hanging in the corner. We talked about why there are 13 stripes and 50 stars. I created an interactive PowerPoint activity that displayed how the stars on the flag equal the number of states in our country. In this activity students got to see how many different times our flag has changed over time. To conclude the lesson students constructed their own American Flag. They were provided with construction paper, a blue rectangle, red and white stripes and white star stickers (I prepared everything and cut everything out in advance). Students got to chose whether they wanted to make the first United States flag with 13 stars or today's flag with 50 stars. After they constructed their flag they wrote 2 facts about the flag.
One positive of my lesson was that I managed my time very well and that all of the students finished right before it was time for their Health teacher to take them to their special.
One thing I was unhappy with was that my SmartBoard PowerPoint activity was having some technical difficulties. I think next time I create something I will try to use the computer program designed for SmartBoard rather than using Powerpoint.
Next week I will be continuing my unit by teaching a lesson on the White House.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Day 19: Math Apps
October 13, 2015
In previous posts I have talked about the classroom iPads and my task of finding apps to use during class time. During my search I came across a math app that really appealed to me. The name of it is "Math Bingo Games- A Racing Game for Kids". I don't care for the title but beyond that I really like what it has to offer. You can set up accounts for each of your students using their name, an e-mail (I used the same class g-mail account for each e-mail) and their grade level. They can design their own avatar and chose their own race car. Students play math games to collect stars. They then use their stars to complete races. Students high scores are displayed on a leader board so they can compete against their classmates. I like that the leader board aspect did not compare students based on their math skills, rather just a regular racing game which is within the app. Students have 2 options to earn stars. The first one is Math Race. During this there is a race car at the bottom driving towards a math problem (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division sentence). Before your car reaches the problem you have to determine if the math problem is right or wrong. You have 3 lives, or 10 problems. Which ever comes first is how the game ends. The other way to earn stars is through Math Bingo. This is fairly self-explanatory. Students see a math problem at the top of the screen and they chose the number on the bingo board that is the answer to the problem. The objective is to get bingo. After students chose their game they get to select if they want addition, subtraction, multiplication or division problems and the level of difficulty they want (easy, medium or hard).
I was pleased with how much students enjoyed this app. They were engaged the entire time and really like the games that were offered. This was great practice for them with their math facts. I mentioned in a previous post that the students began doing timed math facts. The Math Race game is great practice for this because they have a short amount of time to solve the problem. During their timed math facts they are given 36 problems to complete in 2 minutes. This does not allot for a ton of time on each problem.
I attached a link to view a description and images of the app. I also attached pictures of on of the students using the app during their centers today.
Click here to view app.
In previous posts I have talked about the classroom iPads and my task of finding apps to use during class time. During my search I came across a math app that really appealed to me. The name of it is "Math Bingo Games- A Racing Game for Kids". I don't care for the title but beyond that I really like what it has to offer. You can set up accounts for each of your students using their name, an e-mail (I used the same class g-mail account for each e-mail) and their grade level. They can design their own avatar and chose their own race car. Students play math games to collect stars. They then use their stars to complete races. Students high scores are displayed on a leader board so they can compete against their classmates. I like that the leader board aspect did not compare students based on their math skills, rather just a regular racing game which is within the app. Students have 2 options to earn stars. The first one is Math Race. During this there is a race car at the bottom driving towards a math problem (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division sentence). Before your car reaches the problem you have to determine if the math problem is right or wrong. You have 3 lives, or 10 problems. Which ever comes first is how the game ends. The other way to earn stars is through Math Bingo. This is fairly self-explanatory. Students see a math problem at the top of the screen and they chose the number on the bingo board that is the answer to the problem. The objective is to get bingo. After students chose their game they get to select if they want addition, subtraction, multiplication or division problems and the level of difficulty they want (easy, medium or hard).I was pleased with how much students enjoyed this app. They were engaged the entire time and really like the games that were offered. This was great practice for them with their math facts. I mentioned in a previous post that the students began doing timed math facts. The Math Race game is great practice for this because they have a short amount of time to solve the problem. During their timed math facts they are given 36 problems to complete in 2 minutes. This does not allot for a ton of time on each problem.
I attached a link to view a description and images of the app. I also attached pictures of on of the students using the app during their centers today.Click here to view app.
Day 18: Book Fair
October 12, 2015
Last Thursday I was supposed to teach my first lesson. Last Thursday I had to call off of school because I was sick. I was very upset and I felt like I was letting my co-op down. I've always hated missing school as a student and it is no different as a teacher. I spent part of the day communicating with my co-op and figuring out the new plan. She was very understanding and accommodating. She realized there were some previous miscellaneous activities from social studies that needed completed and she was able to spend the time on Thursday getting everyone caught up. My lesson is moved to this coming Thursday now.
The book fair started today! It will be set up all week in the library. Since today was the first day each teacher took up their entire class to browse and make a wishlist. I'm not going to lie, I think I enjoyed exploring all of the books just as much as the kids did. I got so excited thinking about my future classroom library. Like the students, I even wrote down my own list of books that I'll want to buy eventually. Tomorrow students will likely begin to bring money into school to make purchases during the school day. I think it is great for students to get excited about reading and book fairs definitely seem like an effective way to accomplish that.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Day 17: Free Field Trips
October 6, 2015
In all of my education classes we seem to talk about ways to give our students experiences beyond the classroom on a budget. Two common topics are walking field trips and virtual field trips. Today first grade got to take a "field trip" to tour the church. The church is approximately an entire 25 steps from the school and we were back into the classroom within 30 minutes. We walked over to the church and met the priest there. He gave the class an excellent tour of all the different areas of the church. For a good majority of our time there he brought the class up on the altar and allowed them to touch some different items and get a closer look. I was surprised how engaged all of the students were. In their religion lesson the day prior we looked at things that are found in all Catholic churches. This gave the students some certain things to look for.
3 weeks ago the students began doing timed math facts. Twice a week they are given a paper that has 36 addition problems. The students are timed for 2 minutes to see how many they can get done. After each set I go through and date their papers and write their score down. It then goes in a folder that keeps all of their completed timed papers. Today I decided to create a log to track their scores. I created a word document and printed one off for each student. This was a much easier way to visualize the students progress and see whether or not they are improving or going backwards. There were only 2 students that seemed to make some progress each time. The other students have "roller coaster scores". By this I mean one timing they're high, the next they're lower and then they may go back up. The goal is to begin to see an improvement from the 1st set in the week to the 2nd set in the same week. Once students complete the entire paper in 2 minutes or less, 3 times in a row, we will decrease the time they have to complete the problems.
In all of my education classes we seem to talk about ways to give our students experiences beyond the classroom on a budget. Two common topics are walking field trips and virtual field trips. Today first grade got to take a "field trip" to tour the church. The church is approximately an entire 25 steps from the school and we were back into the classroom within 30 minutes. We walked over to the church and met the priest there. He gave the class an excellent tour of all the different areas of the church. For a good majority of our time there he brought the class up on the altar and allowed them to touch some different items and get a closer look. I was surprised how engaged all of the students were. In their religion lesson the day prior we looked at things that are found in all Catholic churches. This gave the students some certain things to look for.
3 weeks ago the students began doing timed math facts. Twice a week they are given a paper that has 36 addition problems. The students are timed for 2 minutes to see how many they can get done. After each set I go through and date their papers and write their score down. It then goes in a folder that keeps all of their completed timed papers. Today I decided to create a log to track their scores. I created a word document and printed one off for each student. This was a much easier way to visualize the students progress and see whether or not they are improving or going backwards. There were only 2 students that seemed to make some progress each time. The other students have "roller coaster scores". By this I mean one timing they're high, the next they're lower and then they may go back up. The goal is to begin to see an improvement from the 1st set in the week to the 2nd set in the same week. Once students complete the entire paper in 2 minutes or less, 3 times in a row, we will decrease the time they have to complete the problems.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Day 16: Teaching
October 5, 2015
Today is Monday. On Thursday I will be teaching my first lesson. Over the weekend I finalized my lesson plan and the specifics for the lesson. Today I reviewed my plan with the classroom teacher. She showed me some additional things to include and some ways to cut down on time in the lesson. Part of the lesson includes using technology. I tested out how this part of the lesson worked and luckily there were no issues. I'm so excited to begin teaching actual lessons on a regular basis. I am starting with Social Studies.
Without warning today I began doing the math warm up with the class today. My co-op told me right as it was time to begin but luckily I have observed this enough times that I knew exactly what to do. Even though it was a basic task, and not a lesson I created, it was still a great feeling being in front of the class. I really got the feeling today that I'm so close to being an actual teacher.
Today is Monday. On Thursday I will be teaching my first lesson. Over the weekend I finalized my lesson plan and the specifics for the lesson. Today I reviewed my plan with the classroom teacher. She showed me some additional things to include and some ways to cut down on time in the lesson. Part of the lesson includes using technology. I tested out how this part of the lesson worked and luckily there were no issues. I'm so excited to begin teaching actual lessons on a regular basis. I am starting with Social Studies.
Without warning today I began doing the math warm up with the class today. My co-op told me right as it was time to begin but luckily I have observed this enough times that I knew exactly what to do. Even though it was a basic task, and not a lesson I created, it was still a great feeling being in front of the class. I really got the feeling today that I'm so close to being an actual teacher.
Day 15: Books Books Books
September 29, 2015
Today the students' first Scholastic book order arrived. Only 2 students ordered books this month. This made me sad actually. When I was in elementary school my parents always had me pick out one book per month ($5 limit). This made me excited about reading, especially since I got to pick out the books. The students that had not ordered were noticeably upset that they weren't receiving something. I'm hoping that because of this next month students will be able to talk to their parents about ordering books.
My co-op showed me the special teacher book order form that came. The books are at such great prices and I even picked some out to order myself. I learned that depending on how many books your students purchase the teacher receives free book vouchers. I think this a great incentive for teachers to motivate their classroom parents to order books.
In October, students will begin the BOOKIT! program. This is through a partnership with Pizza Hut. Students had a reading goal each night (Monday-Friday). If they complete their goal their record it on a log. If students complete their goal everyday for an entire month they receive a voucher for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. I was not overly familiar with this program. I have heard of it before but I have never seen it in action. I'm curious to see how it works out.
Today the students' first Scholastic book order arrived. Only 2 students ordered books this month. This made me sad actually. When I was in elementary school my parents always had me pick out one book per month ($5 limit). This made me excited about reading, especially since I got to pick out the books. The students that had not ordered were noticeably upset that they weren't receiving something. I'm hoping that because of this next month students will be able to talk to their parents about ordering books.
My co-op showed me the special teacher book order form that came. The books are at such great prices and I even picked some out to order myself. I learned that depending on how many books your students purchase the teacher receives free book vouchers. I think this a great incentive for teachers to motivate their classroom parents to order books.
In October, students will begin the BOOKIT! program. This is through a partnership with Pizza Hut. Students had a reading goal each night (Monday-Friday). If they complete their goal their record it on a log. If students complete their goal everyday for an entire month they receive a voucher for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. I was not overly familiar with this program. I have heard of it before but I have never seen it in action. I'm curious to see how it works out.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Day 14: Differentiation
September 28, 2015
In just about every single one of my college classes related to my major we have learned over and over about differentiation. We've read about it, watched videos on it, and developed hypothetical scenarios of how we would differentiate. Well, I've finally been able to witness real life differentiation for the last few weeks. For this post I am going to limit the discussion to reading groups.
There are 8 students in my class, they are broken into 4 groups of 2 based on their reading level. The students range from the lowest group struggling to decode CVC words to the highest group breezing through Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones chapter books. The students have a reading textbook series, leveled readers, sight word lists and vocabulary words that are all differentiated for their level. Some students start right at the beginning of the reading textbook series, while others skip ahead many stories. Although that the text may be a lower level for the higher groups, there are important comprehension skills and strategies that need to be taught. The students have a hard time understanding that and just want to read more challenging books. The leveled readers are assigned to the students based on the "level" they are on. There are different assessments used to determine the level such as DIBELS and DRA's.
The vocabulary words are assigned by story. So naturally whichever textbook story the students are on determines their vocabulary words for the week. Lastly, their sight words come from the Dolch list. The lists are numbered and each contain ten of the 220 words. List one contains 10 words from the pre-primer list, while list 22 contains words from the third grade list. Students are given a sight word assessment to determine which list they will begin on.
Have students on so many different levels could definitely get confusing. My co-op however does an excellent job at keeping everything organized in binders, folders and plastic bin organizers. I definitely wouldn't categorize differentiation as an easy task yet but I feel much more confident about doing so in my own classroom after seeing it work so well in real life.
In just about every single one of my college classes related to my major we have learned over and over about differentiation. We've read about it, watched videos on it, and developed hypothetical scenarios of how we would differentiate. Well, I've finally been able to witness real life differentiation for the last few weeks. For this post I am going to limit the discussion to reading groups.
There are 8 students in my class, they are broken into 4 groups of 2 based on their reading level. The students range from the lowest group struggling to decode CVC words to the highest group breezing through Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones chapter books. The students have a reading textbook series, leveled readers, sight word lists and vocabulary words that are all differentiated for their level. Some students start right at the beginning of the reading textbook series, while others skip ahead many stories. Although that the text may be a lower level for the higher groups, there are important comprehension skills and strategies that need to be taught. The students have a hard time understanding that and just want to read more challenging books. The leveled readers are assigned to the students based on the "level" they are on. There are different assessments used to determine the level such as DIBELS and DRA's.
The vocabulary words are assigned by story. So naturally whichever textbook story the students are on determines their vocabulary words for the week. Lastly, their sight words come from the Dolch list. The lists are numbered and each contain ten of the 220 words. List one contains 10 words from the pre-primer list, while list 22 contains words from the third grade list. Students are given a sight word assessment to determine which list they will begin on.
Have students on so many different levels could definitely get confusing. My co-op however does an excellent job at keeping everything organized in binders, folders and plastic bin organizers. I definitely wouldn't categorize differentiation as an easy task yet but I feel much more confident about doing so in my own classroom after seeing it work so well in real life.
Day 13: DRA's
September 24, 2015
Today we started DRA testing. DRA stands for Developmental Reading Assessment. DRA's assess three different things; Reading Engagement, Oral Reading Fluency. The student gets a score in each category. The goal is to have the students score on an independent level. We have students on all different ranges; from a 4 to a 30. This is what drives the need for differentiation.
The DRA began by asking the student reading engagement questions. Some of these include, who reads with you at home, do you prefer listening to a story being read or reading a story yourself, what is your favorite book and why, etc. Then my teacher handed the student their book and told them to look at the pictures and predict what the book was going to be about. After this she preformed a timed running record of them reading the book. The concluded with a retell of the story and some opinion based questions like, what was your favorite part of the book?
You may need to complete a few DRA's on a student until you find the correct level for them. For 2 students the first level we tried was the one that was right for them. Other students we had to re-assess a few times.
I found DRA's to be fairly subjective. One teacher could score a student pretty differently than another teacher. We saw this when comparing the DRA scores the reading specialist had of our students from the week prior. She tested 4 of our students to see if they qualified for reading support.
Lastly: I attached a picture of my fall bulletin board that I mentioned in an earlier post. Two of the students have been absent so their writing pieces are yet to be added. Overall, I was pleased with my first classroom bulletin
board and I have already been looking for some future ideas.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Day 12: Technology
September, 22 2015
Today is all about technology!! (My favorite!)
As I may have mentioned previously I have a minor in Educational Technology. I am a firm believer in students reaping the benefits of such a tool. There are so many different ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. In the first grade classroom I am currently in there is a set of iPads. I was excited when I found this out and I began looking into 'apps' to use with the class. When I began showing them to my co-op she told me that they haven't been able to download any apps onto the iPads and only use the internet browser and websites. This puzzled me. She told me that she didn't have access to the password necessary to complete the downloads. Today I decided to talk to the principal about it and asked him if he would be willing to enter the required username and password when apps needed downloaded. Through this conversation we discovered that there was never an account set up on the iPads. He asked me if I would take care of this. I spent some of the afternoon then creating an e-mail for the iPad account and setting up an account on all of the iPads. I began to search for some apps that could be used throughout the year. After talking with my co-op we decided that I would generate a list of apps for students to use. This is something I will be working on throughout my internship and I will share it to my blog when it is completed. I even set up the entire set of iPads to automatically download the app on all of the devices once it is added to one. I'm so excited that the students will be able to take their learning to a new level using these tablets now.
Today is all about technology!! (My favorite!)
As I may have mentioned previously I have a minor in Educational Technology. I am a firm believer in students reaping the benefits of such a tool. There are so many different ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. In the first grade classroom I am currently in there is a set of iPads. I was excited when I found this out and I began looking into 'apps' to use with the class. When I began showing them to my co-op she told me that they haven't been able to download any apps onto the iPads and only use the internet browser and websites. This puzzled me. She told me that she didn't have access to the password necessary to complete the downloads. Today I decided to talk to the principal about it and asked him if he would be willing to enter the required username and password when apps needed downloaded. Through this conversation we discovered that there was never an account set up on the iPads. He asked me if I would take care of this. I spent some of the afternoon then creating an e-mail for the iPad account and setting up an account on all of the iPads. I began to search for some apps that could be used throughout the year. After talking with my co-op we decided that I would generate a list of apps for students to use. This is something I will be working on throughout my internship and I will share it to my blog when it is completed. I even set up the entire set of iPads to automatically download the app on all of the devices once it is added to one. I'm so excited that the students will be able to take their learning to a new level using these tablets now.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Day 11: Reachable
September 22, 2015
Previously in Day 8's post I talked about my Monday one-on-one time with Tyler*; the seventh grade learning support student. Last week he was very shy and I had time getting more than a word or two from him. Today it was like I was with a whole new student. He was much more engaged in the material we were working on and he also shared a lot more about himself with me. One task we completed was a practice spelling test. He took the test on the wall mounted white board. This definitely gave him a better attitude towards the activity. There were only 4 words out of his 26 that he misspelled. I talked to him about spelling always being a challenge for me. He asked me what I do to improve my spelling. I showed him a few strategies, an example of one is below.
I read the word "reachable".
Tyler spelled the word "recheable"
Strategy (I told this verbally to Tyler): Break the word into two parts reach-able. Look at the first part, "reach". What words do you know that sound like reach?
Tyler replied: Teach
I told him to write "teach" on the board. As soon as he wrote "teach" he realized "reach" was spelled r-e-a-c-h. He wrote that and added the suffix -able.
I felt like I could see the light bulb go off for Tyler when this strategy clicked.
Later in the day my first grade class worked in their "Kidwriting" notebooks. Students draw a picture and write a story to pair with it. Once they finish either myself or the classroom teacher do adult writing in the notebook and set a goal for the student for the next story. The students vary drastically for each student. Some students are already to the point where we want them to work on extending their stories by adding more detail. Other students have goals that are much more basic, like using punctuation and capital letters. I flipped back in the notebooks to the student's first story and it is remarkable how much improvement has already been made. I can't imagine the difference there will be by the end of the year.
*Name changed
Previously in Day 8's post I talked about my Monday one-on-one time with Tyler*; the seventh grade learning support student. Last week he was very shy and I had time getting more than a word or two from him. Today it was like I was with a whole new student. He was much more engaged in the material we were working on and he also shared a lot more about himself with me. One task we completed was a practice spelling test. He took the test on the wall mounted white board. This definitely gave him a better attitude towards the activity. There were only 4 words out of his 26 that he misspelled. I talked to him about spelling always being a challenge for me. He asked me what I do to improve my spelling. I showed him a few strategies, an example of one is below.
I read the word "reachable".
Tyler spelled the word "recheable"
Strategy (I told this verbally to Tyler): Break the word into two parts reach-able. Look at the first part, "reach". What words do you know that sound like reach?
Tyler replied: Teach
I told him to write "teach" on the board. As soon as he wrote "teach" he realized "reach" was spelled r-e-a-c-h. He wrote that and added the suffix -able.
I felt like I could see the light bulb go off for Tyler when this strategy clicked.
Later in the day my first grade class worked in their "Kidwriting" notebooks. Students draw a picture and write a story to pair with it. Once they finish either myself or the classroom teacher do adult writing in the notebook and set a goal for the student for the next story. The students vary drastically for each student. Some students are already to the point where we want them to work on extending their stories by adding more detail. Other students have goals that are much more basic, like using punctuation and capital letters. I flipped back in the notebooks to the student's first story and it is remarkable how much improvement has already been made. I can't imagine the difference there will be by the end of the year.
*Name changed
Friday, September 18, 2015
Day 10: Teacher jobs
September 17, 2015
I didn't spend a ton of time in the classroom with the students today, but I did get a look at some of the other "jobs" teachers have to do.
I took down and re-did 2 bulletin boards in the hallway. I was very happy with the end result and got many compliments. I also spent most of the morning copying, cutting and laminating math and phonics games for the class to play next week. Although I was doing these things during "class time" I kept thinking how a teachers job truly does not begin at 7:30 and end at 3:00. There are so many additional tasks that need to be done and they can't all possibly be completed in a prep period. It took me nearly all day to get the games prepared and the bulletin boards done. I also stuffed folders that go home weekly with the students and prepared reminders that had to go in the homework folders. The reminders were easy to make and I think they can really help some parents/students. The ones I made were to remember to bring back library books tomorrow and one to remind parents that students need to be memorizing their computer log-in information.
Today my co-op and I found out that we may be getting another student. This was exciting! I think if this happens this would be a great learning experience for me. I would love to see how the teacher works in a new student after the school year has already begun.
I didn't spend a ton of time in the classroom with the students today, but I did get a look at some of the other "jobs" teachers have to do.
I took down and re-did 2 bulletin boards in the hallway. I was very happy with the end result and got many compliments. I also spent most of the morning copying, cutting and laminating math and phonics games for the class to play next week. Although I was doing these things during "class time" I kept thinking how a teachers job truly does not begin at 7:30 and end at 3:00. There are so many additional tasks that need to be done and they can't all possibly be completed in a prep period. It took me nearly all day to get the games prepared and the bulletin boards done. I also stuffed folders that go home weekly with the students and prepared reminders that had to go in the homework folders. The reminders were easy to make and I think they can really help some parents/students. The ones I made were to remember to bring back library books tomorrow and one to remind parents that students need to be memorizing their computer log-in information.
Today my co-op and I found out that we may be getting another student. This was exciting! I think if this happens this would be a great learning experience for me. I would love to see how the teacher works in a new student after the school year has already begun.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Day 9: Picture Day
September, 15 2015
Today was picture day. I enjoyed seeing the students dressed in outfits that were not their uniforms. This gave me more of a look into their personalities based on how they dress. This was the first dress down day of the year. The students, across grades, had a complete behavior change. It was interesting to see how a combination of different clothing, and a messed up routine effected them. It seemed to take students 10x as long to transition from subject to subject, they were more chatty and could not sit still. Along with all of the students I also had my picture taken today to go on an ID badge. This was exciting for me; I will feel more "professional" and "grown up" having to wear one.
During my class' special today I went to observe/work in the fourth grade classroom. The teacher threw me right into the class and had me lead a literature circle. Typically this is something I would plan ahead for by reading the book, preparing questions, etc., however I didn't have the opportunity to do that. I was pleased with how well the discussions went with having to think and plan on my feet. I realized that will be the reality sometime and it is great to have my senior year of college to get some of those "firsts" out of the way before I start in my own classroom.
I got assigned my first bulletin board today. It will be fall themed and display samples of student work. I befriended the die-cut machine today in preparation for the board. Stay tuned for pictures to come.
Today was picture day. I enjoyed seeing the students dressed in outfits that were not their uniforms. This gave me more of a look into their personalities based on how they dress. This was the first dress down day of the year. The students, across grades, had a complete behavior change. It was interesting to see how a combination of different clothing, and a messed up routine effected them. It seemed to take students 10x as long to transition from subject to subject, they were more chatty and could not sit still. Along with all of the students I also had my picture taken today to go on an ID badge. This was exciting for me; I will feel more "professional" and "grown up" having to wear one.
During my class' special today I went to observe/work in the fourth grade classroom. The teacher threw me right into the class and had me lead a literature circle. Typically this is something I would plan ahead for by reading the book, preparing questions, etc., however I didn't have the opportunity to do that. I was pleased with how well the discussions went with having to think and plan on my feet. I realized that will be the reality sometime and it is great to have my senior year of college to get some of those "firsts" out of the way before I start in my own classroom.
I got assigned my first bulletin board today. It will be fall themed and display samples of student work. I befriended the die-cut machine today in preparation for the board. Stay tuned for pictures to come.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Day 8: Music Class
September 14, 2015
Throughout my time in the classroom I wanted to spend some time observing the students' specials (art, music, gym, etc.). Today I got to observe their music special. I found it interesting because the music teacher conducted her classroom very different than my co-op. One thing I really didn't like was how she used her behavior chart. She has a keyboard print out for each grade and uses a clothes pin to move up and down the keys. In the 45 minutes the class was there she moved the clothes up and down 7-8 times. All but 2 of the times she didn't even tell the class when/why their clip was being moved. This defeated the purpose of the behavior chart if the students weren't told when their behavior was appropriate or when it needed fixed. Besides that, I liked the activities the teacher chose. They were age appropriate and the students were engaged. I know when I was in elementary school I always had a difficult time keeping myself on task during music. When my class was packing up to go home for the day they were singing one of their songs from the class.
During the semester I will be spending an hour each Monday working one-on-one with a seventh grade learning support student named Tyler*. I don't have the dual major in Special Education but I still wanted to get time with special education students. I will be working on reading material with him assigned by the reading specialist. Today all we did was vocabulary flash cards and I spent the rest of the time working on building a rapport. He seemed very shy and a boy of few words. By the end of the session I could tell he was already opening up a bit more. Hopefully within a few weeks that will grow even more.
*Name changed
Throughout my time in the classroom I wanted to spend some time observing the students' specials (art, music, gym, etc.). Today I got to observe their music special. I found it interesting because the music teacher conducted her classroom very different than my co-op. One thing I really didn't like was how she used her behavior chart. She has a keyboard print out for each grade and uses a clothes pin to move up and down the keys. In the 45 minutes the class was there she moved the clothes up and down 7-8 times. All but 2 of the times she didn't even tell the class when/why their clip was being moved. This defeated the purpose of the behavior chart if the students weren't told when their behavior was appropriate or when it needed fixed. Besides that, I liked the activities the teacher chose. They were age appropriate and the students were engaged. I know when I was in elementary school I always had a difficult time keeping myself on task during music. When my class was packing up to go home for the day they were singing one of their songs from the class.
During the semester I will be spending an hour each Monday working one-on-one with a seventh grade learning support student named Tyler*. I don't have the dual major in Special Education but I still wanted to get time with special education students. I will be working on reading material with him assigned by the reading specialist. Today all we did was vocabulary flash cards and I spent the rest of the time working on building a rapport. He seemed very shy and a boy of few words. By the end of the session I could tell he was already opening up a bit more. Hopefully within a few weeks that will grow even more.
*Name changed
Day 7: Tests
September 10, 2015
Today's post is going to focus on tests; specifically tests in a first grade classroom. When you are testing in older grades you will probably take for granted the basic requirements that there are for taking a test, writing and reading. My first graders took their first math test. It's been a while since I was in first grade myself, so at first it came as a shock that when the tests were passed out the students didn't begin silently working on it themselves. Less than half of the class was capable of reading the directions or word problems. This would inevitably effect their grade and would result in a grade that did not reflect their knowledge of the material. To address this issue the teacher reads the test to the class question by question. After she reads the last question she goes back and re-reads the test so the students can check their answers. This method seemed very effective.
My co-op was preparing the religion test for the next day. This is another test she was going to read to them while they complete however their was another problem she showed me that is common. First grade students are still building their vocabulary. Using 'True and False' on a test could cause an issue if students don't know those terms yet. The teacher used the words 'Yes or No' instead.
I'm interested to see how the test taking methodology will change throughout the year as students build their reading, writing and vocabulary skills.
Today's post is going to focus on tests; specifically tests in a first grade classroom. When you are testing in older grades you will probably take for granted the basic requirements that there are for taking a test, writing and reading. My first graders took their first math test. It's been a while since I was in first grade myself, so at first it came as a shock that when the tests were passed out the students didn't begin silently working on it themselves. Less than half of the class was capable of reading the directions or word problems. This would inevitably effect their grade and would result in a grade that did not reflect their knowledge of the material. To address this issue the teacher reads the test to the class question by question. After she reads the last question she goes back and re-reads the test so the students can check their answers. This method seemed very effective.
My co-op was preparing the religion test for the next day. This is another test she was going to read to them while they complete however their was another problem she showed me that is common. First grade students are still building their vocabulary. Using 'True and False' on a test could cause an issue if students don't know those terms yet. The teacher used the words 'Yes or No' instead.
I'm interested to see how the test taking methodology will change throughout the year as students build their reading, writing and vocabulary skills.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Day 6: Sing Sing Sing
September 9, 2015
In first grade there is A LOT of singing. There are songs for just about any topic that is being covered. I decided for this to be the topic of my post when I caught myself in my car singing "A penny's worth one cent, a penny's worth one cent, heigh-ho, the dairy-o, a penny's worth one cent". This is just one of many songs I listen to the students sing on a daily basis. The song then continues with a nickle, dime and quarter. It is sang every day during the students' math warm-up. I can tell that it is really helping some students when I see them lip-singing the song to come up with the answer to how much 'x' coin is worth.
Another song that is sung is the "Days of the Week" song. This one goes:
There's Sunday and there's Monday
There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday
There's Thursday and there's Friday
And then there's Saturday
Days of the week (snap snap)
Days of the week (snap snap)
Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (snap snap)
The students sing this one every morning during morning meeting. In my opinion it is their favorite because they all get really into the snapping and sing it louder than any others.
The last song that is sung daily is for the months of the year. This one is very simple, the students sing the months of the year while doing the motions of the Macarena. This is still a work in progress. A lot of the students were not familiar with the Macarena. So in addition to learning the months they have to learn the dance moves.
I'm excited to explore songs that I can use to enhance my lessons when I begin teaching. I don't like singing but I know it will benefit the students and it is obvious how much they enjoy the different songs. Today they began singing their own lyrics to "The 12 days of Christmas", using their version "The 12 days of School". This is actually something I may consider having them create an entire song of lyrics for (and possibly turn into a video).
Friday, September 4, 2015
Day 5: Mass
September 4, 2015
Today began very different than any day of school I had in my K-12 education; we went to mass. Every Friday the entire school attends mass. This was actually my first time at a Catholic church so I found it very interesting to compare/contrast my experiences from my church with this mass. My first grade class behaved very well and I was impressed with how quietly and still they sat for the hour we were at the church.
After church "Fun Friday" began. This is just the term my co-op has for each Friday. During the centers (which are done daily), instead of the usual worksheets, there are different activities. The students loved the switch up. Instead of the writing station, there was a listening station. Students got to listen to a book, or books, on CD and follow along using the physical book. The math station and word work station each had games, math war and popcorn sight words, respectively. In order to participate in Fun Friday centers, students must have their "centers folders" completed. Throughout the week students have a folder they take with them to centers. One side of the folder is labeled 'Finished' and the other side is labeled 'Needs Completed'. They place all of their work from the centers in the folders. Today the teacher taped the worksheets to the board that were to be in the folder. She then placed a chair in the classroom where the students were told to put their folder when they were done. If they had all of their work completed and it was placed on the chair, the students would get a sticker to add to their folder and a prize from the prize box. My co-op explained to me how this is a big test of responsibility for them so she didn't want me to help them by showing them what needed to be completed or where to put their folder. Most students did very well with following all of the directions. Only 2 students were delayed in starting the centers because of their folders not being completed. I liked this concept a lot. I'm curious to see how they improve throughout the year with this task.
Today there was also a sight word test. Each student was called up one at a time. I was very excited when my intervention student that I have been working with one-on-one got a 10/10 on his test. This was very rewarding. It was great seeing how excited he was as well.
The last observation from today that I wanted to discuss was from the second grade classroom. I was in this room for about 45 minutes while my class was at their special. During this time the second graders were taking a religion test. I found it interesting that their chapter test was in their workbooks that they keep with them at all times and take home with them each night. I never had a class before, or observed a class before that had access to their tests in advance. I'm not sure how I feel about it either. I think if I were the teacher I would take out the tests from the book in advance.
Today began very different than any day of school I had in my K-12 education; we went to mass. Every Friday the entire school attends mass. This was actually my first time at a Catholic church so I found it very interesting to compare/contrast my experiences from my church with this mass. My first grade class behaved very well and I was impressed with how quietly and still they sat for the hour we were at the church.
After church "Fun Friday" began. This is just the term my co-op has for each Friday. During the centers (which are done daily), instead of the usual worksheets, there are different activities. The students loved the switch up. Instead of the writing station, there was a listening station. Students got to listen to a book, or books, on CD and follow along using the physical book. The math station and word work station each had games, math war and popcorn sight words, respectively. In order to participate in Fun Friday centers, students must have their "centers folders" completed. Throughout the week students have a folder they take with them to centers. One side of the folder is labeled 'Finished' and the other side is labeled 'Needs Completed'. They place all of their work from the centers in the folders. Today the teacher taped the worksheets to the board that were to be in the folder. She then placed a chair in the classroom where the students were told to put their folder when they were done. If they had all of their work completed and it was placed on the chair, the students would get a sticker to add to their folder and a prize from the prize box. My co-op explained to me how this is a big test of responsibility for them so she didn't want me to help them by showing them what needed to be completed or where to put their folder. Most students did very well with following all of the directions. Only 2 students were delayed in starting the centers because of their folders not being completed. I liked this concept a lot. I'm curious to see how they improve throughout the year with this task.
Today there was also a sight word test. Each student was called up one at a time. I was very excited when my intervention student that I have been working with one-on-one got a 10/10 on his test. This was very rewarding. It was great seeing how excited he was as well.
The last observation from today that I wanted to discuss was from the second grade classroom. I was in this room for about 45 minutes while my class was at their special. During this time the second graders were taking a religion test. I found it interesting that their chapter test was in their workbooks that they keep with them at all times and take home with them each night. I never had a class before, or observed a class before that had access to their tests in advance. I'm not sure how I feel about it either. I think if I were the teacher I would take out the tests from the book in advance.
Day 4: Parent-Teacher Interactions
September 3, 2015
There are two topics I decided I wanted to address in Today's post; Math and parent-teacher interactions.
First, each day in between the math lesson and the math group work, there is a "math warm-up". There is number of the day activity. The teacher asks for a volunteer to pick any number. The student puts the number in the middle box on the smart board. For example "22" was today's number. There is a box on the left that says "1 less", a box on the right that says "1 more", a box above that says "10 more" and a box below that says "10 less". I really like this activity. I did something similar with a girl that I used to tutor. The main difference was that the box above was "10 less" and the box below was "10 more". I liked this method better. If you look at a 100 chart, that is how the chart is set up. The box above 22 on a 100 chart will be 12, not 32 like it is shown in the SmartBoard activity. The second part of the "math warmup" is a coin activity. Students begin by reviewing how much each coin is worth. The teacher then drags 3-8 coins down and the students add up the worth. This is definitely something I will add to my classroom if I am in a younger aged classroom. Even though what the students are learning in math currently (addition and subtraction word problems), has nothing to do with money I think this is still a great skill to practice daily since money is a life skill.
The second topic for Today is parent-teacher interactions. I was always curious how much parents contacted the teacher, what they contacted the teacher about, etc. My co-op today was sharing some encounters from last night. She had two different parent phone calls, both very different from each other. The first call was from Emily's* mom. This mom was calling because she felt like her daughter was too smart for first grade and should be moved ahead to second grade. My co-op asked me my opinion about the topic and how I would have answered her mom. From my observations over the past week and a half, Emily is definitely one of the brighter students in the class. She is on chapter books while some students have yet to master their sight words, and she is above average on the math topics we have covered thus far. However, her maturity is absolutely not on a second grade level. She struggles with sitting still on the carpet and lays down frequently, she also has to be told to do tasks such as unpack her backpack, clean up snack, write her homework down, constantly throughout the day. My co-op agreed with my thoughts and explained that that's exactly what she kept reiterating to the mom for an hour and a half the night before. The second conversation was involving James*. James' mom called to explain that her and James' father are divorced. She proceeded to say that James stays with mom one week and dad the next week. The call mainly revolved around the concept that she and the father have very different parenting styles. Because of this she wanted the teacher to 'okay' the fact that James' homework responsibility are basically exempt every other week. My co-op obviously did not agree to this and explained that regardless of where James is sleeping he is still responsible to complete the minimal homework that he has. This conversation led into a deeper talk at lunch with other teachers about divorced parents. I got a look into how different each students' situation can be when divorce is involved.
*Name Changed
There are two topics I decided I wanted to address in Today's post; Math and parent-teacher interactions.
First, each day in between the math lesson and the math group work, there is a "math warm-up". There is number of the day activity. The teacher asks for a volunteer to pick any number. The student puts the number in the middle box on the smart board. For example "22" was today's number. There is a box on the left that says "1 less", a box on the right that says "1 more", a box above that says "10 more" and a box below that says "10 less". I really like this activity. I did something similar with a girl that I used to tutor. The main difference was that the box above was "10 less" and the box below was "10 more". I liked this method better. If you look at a 100 chart, that is how the chart is set up. The box above 22 on a 100 chart will be 12, not 32 like it is shown in the SmartBoard activity. The second part of the "math warmup" is a coin activity. Students begin by reviewing how much each coin is worth. The teacher then drags 3-8 coins down and the students add up the worth. This is definitely something I will add to my classroom if I am in a younger aged classroom. Even though what the students are learning in math currently (addition and subtraction word problems), has nothing to do with money I think this is still a great skill to practice daily since money is a life skill.
The second topic for Today is parent-teacher interactions. I was always curious how much parents contacted the teacher, what they contacted the teacher about, etc. My co-op today was sharing some encounters from last night. She had two different parent phone calls, both very different from each other. The first call was from Emily's* mom. This mom was calling because she felt like her daughter was too smart for first grade and should be moved ahead to second grade. My co-op asked me my opinion about the topic and how I would have answered her mom. From my observations over the past week and a half, Emily is definitely one of the brighter students in the class. She is on chapter books while some students have yet to master their sight words, and she is above average on the math topics we have covered thus far. However, her maturity is absolutely not on a second grade level. She struggles with sitting still on the carpet and lays down frequently, she also has to be told to do tasks such as unpack her backpack, clean up snack, write her homework down, constantly throughout the day. My co-op agreed with my thoughts and explained that that's exactly what she kept reiterating to the mom for an hour and a half the night before. The second conversation was involving James*. James' mom called to explain that her and James' father are divorced. She proceeded to say that James stays with mom one week and dad the next week. The call mainly revolved around the concept that she and the father have very different parenting styles. Because of this she wanted the teacher to 'okay' the fact that James' homework responsibility are basically exempt every other week. My co-op obviously did not agree to this and explained that regardless of where James is sleeping he is still responsible to complete the minimal homework that he has. This conversation led into a deeper talk at lunch with other teachers about divorced parents. I got a look into how different each students' situation can be when divorce is involved.
*Name Changed
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Day 3: Whole Group
September 1, 2015
Today I talked to my co-op about my timeline of when I will begin teaching. This got me extremely excited. Beginning in October I will begin teaching Social Studies.I already started looking up lessons for my starting topic of American Symbols. I also began to think about a plan of action for my one-on-one student. Today we made it through 2 more sets of 10 sight words. By the end of our 20 minute session he was able to go through a total of 30 cards, twice, with no errors. For our next session I plan to finish the final set of 10 for the pre-primer words and incorporate the words into some type of activity/game. Although, I was surprised at how invested he was in just successfully getting through a deck of flash cards.
When I met with my co-op before the school year started she showed me how a lot of the beginning material in the students' workbooks was review. She explained that she usually can get through all of the review material by the end of week two. I can tell that her class this year is not following her norm. Many of the students don't have the review material mastered. I think there will most likely need to be some additional time spent on some of the review topics they have been doing. These topics include, but are not limited to, short vowel sounds, the correct way to write numbers, and sequencing of numbers. Another observation I have made is that during whole group lessons when the class is working on a page or pages from their workbook as a group there are some students that get the worksheet done in 2 minutes while as class we may spend 10 minutes on the page. This leaves some of the students getting off task while they wait to move on to the next page. This is something I will definitely remember when I have my own classroom one day and will try to address.
During the math lesson today, the SmartBoard was incorporated. I really liked seeing this since I have a minor in Educational Technology. I'm looking forward to finding ways to incorporate this type of technology into my lessons.
Today I talked to my co-op about my timeline of when I will begin teaching. This got me extremely excited. Beginning in October I will begin teaching Social Studies.I already started looking up lessons for my starting topic of American Symbols. I also began to think about a plan of action for my one-on-one student. Today we made it through 2 more sets of 10 sight words. By the end of our 20 minute session he was able to go through a total of 30 cards, twice, with no errors. For our next session I plan to finish the final set of 10 for the pre-primer words and incorporate the words into some type of activity/game. Although, I was surprised at how invested he was in just successfully getting through a deck of flash cards.
When I met with my co-op before the school year started she showed me how a lot of the beginning material in the students' workbooks was review. She explained that she usually can get through all of the review material by the end of week two. I can tell that her class this year is not following her norm. Many of the students don't have the review material mastered. I think there will most likely need to be some additional time spent on some of the review topics they have been doing. These topics include, but are not limited to, short vowel sounds, the correct way to write numbers, and sequencing of numbers. Another observation I have made is that during whole group lessons when the class is working on a page or pages from their workbook as a group there are some students that get the worksheet done in 2 minutes while as class we may spend 10 minutes on the page. This leaves some of the students getting off task while they wait to move on to the next page. This is something I will definitely remember when I have my own classroom one day and will try to address.
During the math lesson today, the SmartBoard was incorporated. I really liked seeing this since I have a minor in Educational Technology. I'm looking forward to finding ways to incorporate this type of technology into my lessons.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Day 2: Sight Words
August 31, 2015
Today I started my one-on-one time with one of the students. I can already see this being an extremely rewarding experience. The class does centers every day. One of the centers is at the reading table with the classroom teacher. My one-on-one student, Mike*, is not yet on grade level for reading. My co-op and I decided he needs to be working on his sight words before moving on to reading text. Last week I prepared 4 sets of 10 sight words for him. The words came from his sight word assessment. Since he was not successful on the pre-primer list we used those words. On the first attempt Mike only knew 4 out of the 10 words. By the end of our session he correctly identified all 10. Tomorrow we will review those 10 words and depending on how he does will determine if we move on to the next set. Just getting him to improve on 6 words was extremely rewarding. I'm excited to see the progress he will make in my time working with him.
Today I also had my first experience in the 2nd grade classroom. I will periodically be in this room when the 1st grade class is at a special. While in this room I helped the students get their spelling notebooks prepared and I observed the teacher doing an introduction lesson on the new spelling words and short vowel sounds. I'm curious to observe the differences between 1st and 2nd grade.
During the student's math lesson they were learning about greater than, less than, and equal to. After the lesson the students did an activity where they played "Math War". This game is a spin off of the classic card game, War. During my Teaching Math course last semester this was something that I observed in a teaching demo. When I observed it last semester the student used actual playing cards. During the lesson today the students used index cards that were numbered 1-20. I liked this better because the numbers were able to go higher than just 10. I had to think on my feet when my co-op realized she wanted the students to keep their own cards (and not collect both cards when winning a round like done in War the card game). I suggested using chips that were in the manipulative bin. The students received a chip if they won a round (if their card was greater), and if the students played the same number both students got a chip. This worked great and the students loved playing the game. This is definitely an activity I plan to use in my own classroom one day.
*Name changed
Today I started my one-on-one time with one of the students. I can already see this being an extremely rewarding experience. The class does centers every day. One of the centers is at the reading table with the classroom teacher. My one-on-one student, Mike*, is not yet on grade level for reading. My co-op and I decided he needs to be working on his sight words before moving on to reading text. Last week I prepared 4 sets of 10 sight words for him. The words came from his sight word assessment. Since he was not successful on the pre-primer list we used those words. On the first attempt Mike only knew 4 out of the 10 words. By the end of our session he correctly identified all 10. Tomorrow we will review those 10 words and depending on how he does will determine if we move on to the next set. Just getting him to improve on 6 words was extremely rewarding. I'm excited to see the progress he will make in my time working with him.
Today I also had my first experience in the 2nd grade classroom. I will periodically be in this room when the 1st grade class is at a special. While in this room I helped the students get their spelling notebooks prepared and I observed the teacher doing an introduction lesson on the new spelling words and short vowel sounds. I'm curious to observe the differences between 1st and 2nd grade.
During the student's math lesson they were learning about greater than, less than, and equal to. After the lesson the students did an activity where they played "Math War". This game is a spin off of the classic card game, War. During my Teaching Math course last semester this was something that I observed in a teaching demo. When I observed it last semester the student used actual playing cards. During the lesson today the students used index cards that were numbered 1-20. I liked this better because the numbers were able to go higher than just 10. I had to think on my feet when my co-op realized she wanted the students to keep their own cards (and not collect both cards when winning a round like done in War the card game). I suggested using chips that were in the manipulative bin. The students received a chip if they won a round (if their card was greater), and if the students played the same number both students got a chip. This worked great and the students loved playing the game. This is definitely an activity I plan to use in my own classroom one day.
*Name changed
Friday, August 28, 2015
Day 1: (My) First Day of School
August 27th
This was my first day in the classroom with the students (it was the students' second day of school). Prior to this I had a two hour meeting with my teacher and I attended two full day in-service days with all of the teachers from the school (which is only 10). I arrived at the school at 7:30 and I was very excited to meet all of the students in my class. For the remainder of this semester I will be in a first grade classroom for 3 days a week. I have 8 students in my class, 5 girls and 3 boys. With it only being the second day of school a lot the material was review for the class. The day began with a morning meeting. The class reviewed the date, which day of school it was (number 2), the schedule for the day, and a brief introduction of material to be covered later in the day. During the morning announcements I had my first "this is going to be a lot different than my schooling" moment. I went to public school, and I am doing my internship at a Catholic school. The students recited three different prayers before it was even 8:00am. This was only the first 3 of many more to come throughout the rest of the day. I am not Catholic myself so I did feel slightly out of place at first during this, however, I'm sure it is something I will adjust to in time.
One thing that I immediately loved on the first day of my internship was that I wasn't just sitting and observing like I had done many other times to complete observation hours throughout the past 3 years. After the morning meeting the students were broken up into center groups and I had the chance to go around and assist the students and make sure they were on task. While I was doing this, my cooperating teacher, Ms. DeGuzis was completing sight word assessments with the students one at a time. I had the opportunity to review the assessments with Ms. DeGuzis later in the day. There are students on a wide range of ability levels. One student is very below grade level, while another mastered the third grade sight word list. I think this will give me a great insight into differentiating instruction throughout the time I am in the classroom. My first day exceeded my expectations and I am looking forward to returning next week.
This was my first day in the classroom with the students (it was the students' second day of school). Prior to this I had a two hour meeting with my teacher and I attended two full day in-service days with all of the teachers from the school (which is only 10). I arrived at the school at 7:30 and I was very excited to meet all of the students in my class. For the remainder of this semester I will be in a first grade classroom for 3 days a week. I have 8 students in my class, 5 girls and 3 boys. With it only being the second day of school a lot the material was review for the class. The day began with a morning meeting. The class reviewed the date, which day of school it was (number 2), the schedule for the day, and a brief introduction of material to be covered later in the day. During the morning announcements I had my first "this is going to be a lot different than my schooling" moment. I went to public school, and I am doing my internship at a Catholic school. The students recited three different prayers before it was even 8:00am. This was only the first 3 of many more to come throughout the rest of the day. I am not Catholic myself so I did feel slightly out of place at first during this, however, I'm sure it is something I will adjust to in time.
One thing that I immediately loved on the first day of my internship was that I wasn't just sitting and observing like I had done many other times to complete observation hours throughout the past 3 years. After the morning meeting the students were broken up into center groups and I had the chance to go around and assist the students and make sure they were on task. While I was doing this, my cooperating teacher, Ms. DeGuzis was completing sight word assessments with the students one at a time. I had the opportunity to review the assessments with Ms. DeGuzis later in the day. There are students on a wide range of ability levels. One student is very below grade level, while another mastered the third grade sight word list. I think this will give me a great insight into differentiating instruction throughout the time I am in the classroom. My first day exceeded my expectations and I am looking forward to returning next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)