I spent the week doing a lot more with the Namibia lesson I taught last Thursday.  When I walked in on Monday, many of the students were talking about their animal books which was neat to hear!  I helped the students with those books as well as helping them sew their Namibia books (maps and flag) together.  We also had African-looking beads for them to tie onto the ends of their books.  They really seemed to enjoy this whole lesson.  Recently, my class made a “compliment” box.  During the week, the students can write a compliment to a student and then put it in the box.  They read the compliments during circle time once a week.  On Wednesday before their dismissal, we read all the compliments.  Mrs. V and Mrs. Mellon made sure ahead of time that each student had one so no one was left out.  I think this is a very positive experience for the students.  They all left with smiles on their faces!  Today, unfortunately, was my last day.  They all made me a book of “thank-yous” and a few other gifts.  It was a great ending to a wonderful field experience.  I learned so many new aspects of teaching that I can definitely see myself using in the future!

Last Sunday, I spent about an hour working out at the OARDC for the Week of the Young Child Festival.  It was a really fun afternoon.  About 23 different organizations were present and each table had a different activity.  It was a great turn-out of children and families which made it an even better event!  The Wooster Education Department’s station was musical instruments.  It was a lot of fun to interact with a variety of different kids. Instruments are definitely a favorite among young children and I could see using them in many ways in my future classrooms!

Another great week in field!  Throughout the week, I helped with weaving/sewing projects.  The children really seem to enjoy this.  They are given burlap that they can draw a picture on and then they sew different colors of yarn onto their picture.  There were some very creative ones!  I was thinking it would be neat to make a quilt out of them..perhaps I’ll mention it.  I also worked on a geography project with two of the girls in my class- labeling the all the states.  For math, I did a very simple number recognition worksheet with a few of the students.  This seemed like a fun activity for them, even though it was so simple!  On Thursday, I presented a lesson on Namibia, a country in Africa that I visited last summer.  We talked about the different animals, the location of the country and the flag.  It went really well and the children were very interested in the variety of activities I had planned!  I can’t believe next week is our last week, it has definitely gone fast but it has been a great experience!

It definitely felt like it had been a while since I had been at school when I walked in on Monday!  The kids were very excited to see me!  On Monday I worked with a couple students on different activities involving consonant blends.  I also helped a few of the children get started on their weaving projects.  Tuesday was journal day.  I was the scribe and wrote down exactly what they wanted to say.  This is always a fun experience!  During the end of the day circle, I witnessed my first “peace table”.  Two of the boys were having an argument during the story so Mrs.V asked them if they needed to go talk about their feelings at the table.  They both got up and went to talk at the table.  I couldn’t hear anything but I could see that they were talking through things.  Afterwards they quietly came back to the circle and participated with the rest of the class.  This was very interesting to observe and I found myself wondering how and if it would work in a public school setting.  On Wednesday, I assisted with handwriting activities and helped a few of the students work on writing “compliments” for their classmate compliment box.  Thursday is gym day so I was able to spend the majority of my time working on my Africa lesson for next week!

Finally a full week of field.  It was a very productive week and I learned a lot!  On Monday, I spent most of the afternoon doing geography.  We practiced naming countries in Africa and cities in Italy.  They continued to color the countries and their flags.  When they were cutting out their maps of Italy, I found it interesting that the children had the option to use scissors or a needle to punch it out.  Most of them chose to punch out their maps.  On Tuesday, I helped with journaling.  I continued to see how important it is to not say too much and let them say what they want to say.  Wednesday was a busy day.  I helped out with hand-writing and also discovered the “object box”.  This is a basket with tiny objects in it.  For example, I would pull out several objects and say “I am thinking of an object that starts with ’sp’.”  Then the child finds the “spoon” and I write spoon on a post-it so they can see the word and place it with the object.  This was a very neat lesson that many of the students seemed to enjoy.  On Thursday,  I worked on compound words with a few of the students and discussed some of the future lessons I will be teaching after break!  All in all, it was a busy and fun week but now it is time for break!

This week went well. Although, I can’t believe we haven’t really had a full week yet! On Monday, I spent most of my time working with one of the boys on counting patterns using little number peices on a 100’s board. There were several different activity cards that he worked on. I also helped a few students with their state bird books that they are working on. In the after-school program, I played a variety of games with the students and one of my cooperating teachers gave me pictures of the Abe Lincoln hats we made last week to celebrate President’s Day (see pictures below). On Wednesday, I spent more time working with students on the 100’s board activities. It seems to be a new favorite among my students! I also helped with some journaling. Once a week, my class has a parent of one of the students come in to do journaling with them. I can see that it is an exciting for the children to interact with someone besides their teachers. On Thursday, gym was canceled so I was able to spend a good amount of time with my class which was nice! I helped one child with reading which focused on vowels and rhyming. I also helped one of the more advanced math students build a tangram robot. He really enjoyed this and I was quite impressed with his tangram abilities. All in all, it was a fun week with a variety of different learning aspects.

Pictures:

After-School class with Abe Hats

Miss Bartha with Abe Hat

I finished another great week at the Montessori school.  Since Monday was President’s Day, Tuesday was busy!  Tuesday was journal day so I helped a few of the students write in those (the students sit next to you and dictate whatever they want to talk about while you write it down).  This is always fun because it gives the children a chance to be creative in their story-telling/journaling.   I also worked with 2 students on geography.  Right now, they are in the midst of making “Country books”.  I helped one student with countries in South America and one student with countries in Africa.  It is really neat to see how interested they are in learning more about the various countries in these continents!  By simply locating countries on a map definitely provides a great beginning to promoting and celebrating diversity in the classroom.

On Wednesday, I worked with one student on math.  She was having some trouble getting focused so I think it was beneficial to have me sitting with her.  I helped her count by 5’s (1-125) using the long- chain math beads.  This was new to me so not only was she improving her math skills, she was teaching me how to do “long-chains”.  I was glad to finally learn what the long strands of math beads were hanging in the back of the classroom!  This was a great lesson for the both of us.

On Thursday, I continued the math game that I began constructing last week.  My cooperating teachers asked me to make 2 more sets of the game so they could put them in the other classrooms as well.  I finished making the game but had a minor setback because the laminator was acting up…hopefully I can figure that out next week.  I can tell that the children are curious and excited at what I have in store!

It will be nice to have a full week of school ahead!

Although it was nice having two snow days this week, I missed being in my classroom since I was just beginning to get settled.  It was good to be back on Wednesday but the students were very wound up since it was only a 2 day week for them, including a Valentines Party on Thursday!  I helped one of my students on Wednesday with reading and vocabulary.  Before he read the story to me, he reviewed/learned some of the important words that were in the story.  I assisted him in using the words in sentences.  After he felt like he knew the words, he read the story to me.  I could see that he really benefited from reviewing the vocabulary before the story.  On Thursday when I arrived, my cooperating teachers asked me to create some math materials while the class was at gym.  They gave me some guidance but I was pretty much on my own which was actually fun!  I made some a number game that will help the students with counting sequences and transitions in between numbers (i.e.: 26,27,28,29,__,31).  After I was finished with a few of the cards, I could see that the students were very excited to use them.  Hopefully I will be able to see them in use next week!  All in all, it was a very short week but of course, I learned something new!

I just finished my first week in a kindergarten classroom at the Montessori school, where I have had no previous experience. It went very well and I am excited about teaching and learning with a new perspective. When I arrived on Monday, my cooperating teacher asked me to spend the first day or so just simply observing. This was new for me since I am used to jumping right in on the first day but it really seemed to help get me oriented with the environment and begin to learn what the Montessori philosophy of education is all about.

I had the chance to interact with just about every student in my class this week. It is so neat to see how enthusiastic the children are about learning and being at school every day. This definitely adds to the joy of teaching them and being around them. Before I left on Monday, my cooperating teacher gave me a few packets that explain the unique elements of the Montessori education as well as the classroom environment. This was very informative and taught me a little more about what was going on every day.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, after I spend an hour or so in my kindergarten classroom, I help out with the after-school program. This is a time where the students are free to do just about whatever they would like, although there is still some structure. This is a fun way for me to interact with some children from the other classes. They enjoy doing art activities, playing games or simply being read to!

It was a wonderful first week and I am looking forward to what lies ahead!

Check this out: The Montessori School of Wooster!