~Fabulous Word Choice~

We are working on the writing process by making "All About Me" books.  I found a fun, unique book to read to the kids before revising word choices called The Boy Who Cried Fabulous by Leslea Newman.

The story follows a boy who overuses the word "fabulous" because he is so amazed by the world around him.  Everything is so fabulous that he must comment on the fabulous-ness of it!  His attention to the beauty of the world causes him to dilly-dally, so his parents ban him from using the word again.  The boy must be creative in his word choice after this, which leaves the reader with many good alternative adjectives, mostly synonyms for "fabulous".

The book led to conversations about overused words and a brainstorm of better words to use.  When I sent the kids out to revise their word choice, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  So many changed to using words that were fun to read, and I have seen an evolution in their Daily 5 writing since!

Litter in the Neighborhood

While the kids were at PE, I taped garbage to the roads of our neighborhood.  When they came back, it was snack time, and I went about my business as usual.  One her shouted out in disbelief, causing everyone to freeze.  She then shrieked, "There is garbage in our neighborhood!"  All the kids then looked at me for my reaction.  I acted as if I was shocked with the news, and a little aggravated by the idea that our neighborhood looked so dirty.  I told them to drop what they were doing and come to the rug, because this was a serious issue we had to resolve.  The kids came up with many reasons why littering was wrong, discussed how seeing the litter made them feel, and thought of ways to both clean up litter, and prevent it from happening again in the future.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today was Dr. Seuss' birthday, which called for an all day celebration!  The kids entered the room this morning with the task to color a cat in the hat striped hat, which was then transformed into a hat for them to wear by recess time.  Middle schoolers came in and read Horton Hears a Who and Oh! The Places You'll Go.  We then watched the Dr. Seuss Brain Pop, and after recess, I read The Lorax.  I am so proud of how many Learning Targets I was able to tie into all of the Lorax activities.  We talked about narration, cause and effect, needs vs. wants, and ecosystems.  Any free time was spent with the kids working on a Lorax activity book.  I sent the new environmentalists home with sunflower seeds, and they were all so excited to plant them!

Happy Hundreds Day!

Today was our one hundredth day of school, so we did tons of fun activities to celebrate!  We did one hundred addition and subtraction problems, skip counted to one hundred, did one hundred jumping jacks, count one hundred steps, and snap together one hundred unifix cubes.

If I had $100 journal response:

Fun sentences to finish:

Self portrait at the age of 100 on a $100 bill:

What Makes an Insect an Insect?

We are studying insects in science.  Our classroom is currently home to about 20 darkling beetles, 5 painted lady butterflies, and 200 silk worms.  Observing their life cycles has been an exciting experience for the students, and today we talked about the classifying features of insects.  

I started the lesson with a concept attainment flipchart, where students sorted insects and not insects, then discussed the commonalities between the identified insects.  Once we decided on what makes an insect an insect, I taught the students a song to help them remember.

To the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen,

Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen,

Antennae, six legs, and an exoskeleton,

Head, shoulders, abdomen, abdomen

After singing and dancing a few times, I gave the students the task of creating a new insect species, using a variety of head, thorax, and abdomen templates to choose from.  They were to properly piece together three body segments, add antennae, and six legs.  Some choose to add wings, since most insects have wings.  Once they were finished with creating their new species, they gave it a name, since we talked a bit about the name classification system.

Families

 I had the kids make families to live in the houses.  Pairs of students worked on this project for three lessons.  The first was devoted to planning the family members, giving them names and ages.  In the second lesson, the students made the people out of templates.  In the conclusion portion, the kids wrote a biography for each family member.  These adorable pictures are evidence of the kids' hard work.  I am so proud!

Our Neighborhood Frieze

I recently started a Storypath for social studies about families and neighborhoods.  I paired the students up and they were responsible for making a house out of cardboard boxes and construction paper.  Some got really creative, adding smoking chimneys and flower beds.  We voted on road names, and the kids came up with their own family names.  

I'm Back!

To be honest, I forgot I was doing this.  Here is a brief look back at the past year!  After Spring 2011, I spent a week in Ellensburg taking a PE and Health class.  It was a grueling week, mostly because I was in class from 7am-7pm, and I was staying in a hotel room without the comfort of home.  Looking back, it was worth it because I now do not need to take those classes next quarter.  Summer 2011 was packed full of 8 classes, which began immediately after I returned from Ellensburg.  Aside from the stress, I really enjoyed my classes this quarter, as they included a Pre-K class, literacy class where I had to tutor a struggling reader, and a social studies class.  The week after Summer quarter ended, my first field experience, Pre-Autumn, began.  I was placed in a Seattle alternative school in a 4/5/6 grade classroom.  This was only a 4 week experience, and I learned a lot about the beginning of the school year from a teacher's perspective.  The week after Pre-Autumn ended, my ECE practicum began.  I was placed in a second grade classroom in Federal Way with a cooperating teacher I adore.  My supervisor was supportive and the kids were welcoming.  The three month internship was so positive, when I was asked to stay for student teaching, I could not turn the opportunity down.

So now we are caught up!  I am still in my student teaching phase, and even though it can be a bit overwhelming at times, I am loving it!  Second grade is a blast, and having built a relationship with the students during my practicum, it was an easy transition to full-time teaching.  We are working on all sorts of fun projects, which I will post from time to time.

Happy trails!

Spring Quarter Reflection

Last quarter got a bit overwhelming at times!  Taking 29 credits was no easy task, but I ended up earning all As in the end.  I think the biggest challenge was that I focused only on school, and took little time out of my day to focus on myself.  It was all worth it though, and I feel like I got more out of my experiences last quarter than any other.

My Kindergarten Curriculum class gave me good insight on developmentally appropriate practices, and reasons why a good educational foundation early on is essential for positive attitudes toward school later.  I think my favorite memory from this class is the day a few of us volunteered to help with kindergarten classes touring the campus.  During the visit, we surveyed the kindergarteners, asking them to give us advice  as future teachers.  Most children provided thoughts like: "be nice," and "Talk about flowers."  Some students gave meaningful feedback like: "ask me for my help," or "come out to recess with us."  Above all, my favorite comment was from a little boy.  With a tone of sincerity, he raised his hand high and said, "Every teacher should try to do a back flip."  That piece of advice was a good reinforcement of a lot of things we had discussed in class about the age of kindergarteners, and made me smile thinking of how much fun they can be.

It is difficult to think of my favorite part of math class because it was all very thought provoking.  In elementary school, I was not taught using a constructivist approach, so many instructional approaches were new to me.  The presentation of math using meaningful literature, games, and real-world scenarios help create meaning, and make the subject fun for students.

Literature class provided us with the opportunity to participate in book circles, something I was grateful for because it had been a long time since I had read anything that wasn't a textbook.  My group read "Night" by Elie Wiesel.  Our assignment revolving around the book was to write a passage from the perspective of the author five years later. 

Our theories class, focused on theorists that influenced education, was very enjoyable.  Our cumulative project was a lot of fun.  We were to take a theory or theorist and present the information to the class in a fun and interesting way.  I took a special interest in Albert Bandura, and choose to focus on his Bobo doll experiment.  In the spirit of fun, I recruited my siblings to help me make a reenactment of the experiment, and turned in a DVD as my project.  I also posted the video to YouTube to assist in my presentation.

Despite the mounds of stress presented to me last quarter, I had a blast!  I am a little concerned, but mostly excited, for the challenges that will be presented to me in my summer classes.

Creating a Culturally Complex Atmosphere

Between the ages of 2 1/2 and 3 1/2, children begin to absorb socially prevailing attitudes.  By the time children enter kindergarten, they can distinguish, and ask questions about physical differences.  Cognitively, they are able to understand explanations of these differences, and many use their idea of fair and unfair when solving problems.  My Kindergarten Curriculum class emphasized ways of creating classrooms that are culturally complex and curriculum that identifies the need of multiculturalism.  Four goals of an anti-bias curriculum were addressed:
1) Construction of a knowledgeable, confident self-identity
2) Comfortable, empathetic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds
3) Critical thinking about bias
4) Ability to stand up for herself or himself, and for others, in the face of bias
The lesson reminded me of the multiculturalism class I took last quarter that focused on Dr. James Bank's 5 Dimensions: content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy, and empowering social structure.