Last week was a busy week for everyone. The Unit II kids are sad to see our Session A Teacher Friends leave but are excited our new friends are here. This week we will begin a new unit called Northern Friends. Our focus will be on the people, culture and environment around the Arctic Circle. We also are doing a number of assessments in preparation for Parent Teacher Conferences. This will be something you can be involved in.
Today we will participate in the African American Read In held at the Rod Library and Union. I hope you will be able to join us.
Finally, strange things happen during the month of March in Unit II. Mrs. Barness and myself have quite a bit of green blood flowing through us. In the past, a few of the wee ones have visited our rooms so get ready for Unit II's version of March Madness! Erin Go Braugh! (Long live Ireland)
My first week in the classroom I enjoyed observing the students and teachers at work, watching the special classes, and helping out during math time. The first thing that I noticed when I walked into the classroom is how there is a very large open space between classrooms. At first I thought this would be very distracting for students as the noise levels would be extremely high. However, after spending six hours in the classroom last week, I never even noticed the other classroom. Another thing about the set up of the classroom is how there are bathrooms in the class. This is a good idea I think, because students often take their time and get in trouble when having to walk to the bathroom outside of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the students I noticed how there are more girls than boys within this class. Also, if I had not come in during math time I dont think I would have been able to separate the first graders from the second graders. From the physical features the students do not look that much older or younger from each other, but I have been able to tell that many of the second graders are much more vocal and outgoing than the first graders.
Kelsey Dolder
ReplyDeleteLast week was my first week in Unit II and it was a very fun-filled week with a lot of great learning opportunities. I got to observe the students' centers times, another teacher friends lesson, and also the special classes.
ReplyDeleteI love the classroom, and how to different centers are clearly stated. I also love how there is a large space between the two classes, so it allows for separation and also closeness.
There are more girls than boys in this class, but so far it doesnt seem like that is a bother to any of the students; they all are friends and get along with one another. It is still hard for me to tell which kids are 1st graders and which are 2nd, but I am slowly starting to figure it out. Names are also hard for me, but I am slowly learning those also.
Friday they had a citizenship award assembly, and that was really fun to see how all the students come together as one, and how loving and caring Price Lab is as a whole.
Last week was my first week in the Unit II classroom. I got to see math lessons, art, music, library time and student center time. I helped some of the students do their math worksheets and prepare for their test. I also got to do some of the center activities such as the Marc Brown learning center.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed about the classroom was that it was a good size and there were many different places to do the lessons at. The students could sit at their desks, on the big green carpet or in the back at the cooperative learning table. I also really liked the idea of having bathrooms in the classrooms, this way the students don't have to interrupt the teacher to go to the bathroom, they can just get up and go use it. Also, I do not think that I would have been able to tell which students were in first grade or in second grade if I hadn't come in during math time. The majority of the students seem to be on very similar skill levels.
-Emily Vogel
This past week I had the chance to help out at a class field trip. I thought this was a great learning experience, because children will take at least a couple field trips a year. Grant it, this field trip to the Union was not a very far distance for the students to travel, I thought they all behaved great. By the time I got to the African American Read-In the student had been there quite a while and I thought they would get restless, but they all seemed to be enhoying themselves greatly. When the rest of the students were getting on the bus I was put in a sticky situation with one of the students while escorting her to the bathroom. She was very upset that she did not receive an autograph from one of the readers. In order to calm this student down the other student teacher and I "faked" writing the autograph in her book. This worked, but was this the right thing to do? The class was already in a hurry to get back to school as they were running behind schedule and we just tried to help this student calm down the quickest way possible. Everyday is a new learning experiencing while working with these first and second graders. I even witnessed another student lose a tooth while snacking on a donut during birthday time. This has been a wonderful experience so far and it is flying by!
ReplyDeleteKelsey, the more I think about the situation at the read in I think that we did the right thing. The class was in a hurry to get back and we had to think on our feet. It ended up working and I don't think the student will ever know the difference. Although I knew I was deceiving the student, it got her to calm down and the rest of the day went on pleasantly.
ReplyDeleteI was really glad that I was faced with a difficult situation because I have never really faced one in a school setting before so I was glad to have experienced one. Also, I have learned a lot from Mrs. T about what to do when faced with a difficult student or situation. She is one of the calmest people I have ever met. She never raises her voice or acts like it bothers her. She handles every situation calmly and I can see why now. If she were to get upset the student would feed off of that and probably act out even more. I have really enjoyed this experience so far and am looking forward to teaching my first lesson next week!
Last week I got to experience some of the same things as week one, and also some new things. I went early on Thursday, and was able to observe some math time, and then also Spanish class. It was awesome to see the students in Spanish!! When I was their age I could barely count to ten in Spanish and these students were very good and knowledgeable with all of their Spanish. Last week was also kind of a crazy week because Elfie had been visiting the classroom, so by the end of the day, that was all that was on the students' mind; catching Elfie. It was fun to see how excited they would get. Some students even brought their parents in to see the different traps that they had set up. It has been a great experience everyday, and I am starting to work on getting my lesson together for after spring break!!
ReplyDeleteThis week has been a lot of fun. A lot of what happened last week was the same as the first week but there were some new things. On Thursday, I came in early and was able to see the end of Math and Spanish. This allowed me to finally see who is in which grade. I had been trying to figure it out and had my speculations but I found out that I was wrong on many of them. Another new thing was that Elfie was visiting the classroom. The kids were busy during center time trying to come up with traps. This made it difficult to get anything that needed to be accomplished done during center time but it was so interesting getting to see the students figure out the traps. It allowed me to see how they were thinking and I loved hearing their reasonings behind what they did with their traps. It has been such a growing experience coming to the classroom and this week will be exciting because I am teaching my lesson tomorrow which will be a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteI taught my lesson on shapes this week and thought that it went really well! The students were engaged the whole time and really seemed to enjoy drawing shapes and finding them around the classroom. I was a little nervous at first because I wasn't sure how the students would respond and they are usually a little wild in the afternoon, but they were great. During paired reading time I went with two students and one of them just didn't want to read, and if she did she wanted to read books that were way below her level. I wasn't sure how to try and get her to read so I told her that when I was younger I didn't like to read either and now I do. I told her that you can learn so much from reading and expand your knowledge. After I told her that it was time to go to music so I don't think that strategy worked very well and I wasn't sure how to get her to respond. Otherwise, it was a great week and I look forward to giving my second lesson after Spring break.
ReplyDeleteThis past week I was only in the classroom on Wednesday and Friday due to the fact that there was no school for Price Lab on Monday. During my time in the classroom this past week I was able to teach my firt lesson. This lesson was a matching game to review analog and digital clocks. Also, I covered how to tell time while writing it out. I thought showing the students what time looks like written out was important because while writing stories and reading stories they will need to know this information.
ReplyDeleteI thought my lesson went pretty well. The students were a little wild as they got into the game, but over all I was satisfied with how it went. I thought reviewing how to read/tell a time written out, on a digital clock, and on an analog clock prior to beginning the came helped the students succeed even more. I am very excited to teach my next lesson about money! One thing that I did learn from teaching my lesson was to never ask a question I did not want to hear the asnwer for. For example, I asked the students if they were ready to play the game. The students did not do this, but their response could have been, "No, I do not want to play the game yet." Instead of asking the question, I need to just tell the students what they are going to do without giving them options. I had a lot of fun this past week and learned quite a bit again.
Hi Everyone! I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I couldn't get on the blog for some reason. Fortunately tonight it worked! It has been so much fun watching you get familiar with the class and begin to teach your lessons. The math lessons and the lesson on the animals in the arctic have been great! The children have learned a lot and they have fit in so well with our existing curriculum. Games are so motivating and engaging. As you could see the children love participating! I have read most of your work samples but if you have more parts complete please email those to me. (denise.tallakson@uni.edu)
ReplyDeleteThe week before spring break was full of new experiences. I taught my first lesson on Tuesday and thought that it went pretty well. I read a story to the students about the animals of the Arctic and their babies. Then, I had the students fill out a worksheet that had a sentance about animals and their babies. There was an area for the students to color a picture of the animal that they write about. Some of the students needed more help with it so something that I could improve on in making sure that my directions are clear. On Wednesday, I started teaching my second lesson which is a center activity where I read another book to the about four students about the animals of the Arctic. Then, the students play a memory game with the animal and then the name of the baby animal. This has been a lot of fun because I have been able to see the students in smaller groups. This week I may be able to see some conferences which would be really nice to see. I am looking forward to this upcoming week but also sad that my level II will be over.
ReplyDeleteI taught my second lesson yesterday over shapes and tallying and I thought it went great. The students were engaged and each got to take turns counting shapes and making tallies on the board. A few of the students had trouble finding the shapes in the neighborhood shapes pictures so Mrs. Dolder and me individually went around and helped the students who were having trouble. I was a little nervous about giving this lesson but was relieved when Mrs. T told me at the end that it isn't very often that she can exit out of a lesson the way she did.
ReplyDeleteIt was my last day yesterday and thought the overall experience at my level II was really good. I was able to observe a variety of skill levels and was very impressed with the range of knowledge from these students.