This week was a short week at Mylan Park Elementary School due to Thanksgiving being on Thursday. (There was no school on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday which made a two day school week.) I really enjoyed teaching Monday and Tuesday this week due to the fact that we incorporated many activities that were based around the Thanksgiving holiday that consisted of Thanksgiving themed math worksheets, games, learning videos on the Native American Indians, etc. We also had on Tuesday a Thanksgiving feast for the students. At the feast the students were introduced to many fruits and vegetables, as well as educated about what the Indians and Pilgrims ate for dessert which consisted of pudding pies. The students really enjoyed the feast and the celebration that we had within the classroom.
This week was also my sixth week for the implementation of my Action Research project. On Monday and Tuesday the students read “Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving” as well as “I Know An Old Lady That Swallowed a Pie.” For the book, “Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving”, my students read the story out loud, generated their own student led group discussion, had to choose three key words within the story that described the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story. Then, they had to define those key words, illustrate a picture relating the meaning to the story, and choreograph their own dance movement to express the beginning, middle, and end of the story. I feel that all of the students are becoming more confident and comfortable with expressing stories through their illustrations and bodies that they are creating more visual images within their minds helping them comprehend better what is occurring throughout the entire story as they read.
For the book “I Know An Old Lady That Swallowed a Pie”, the students had to read the story out loud, generate their own discussion period, and then were asked to illustrate on paper what they saw was the begging, the middle, and the end of the story. Once they completed this task, they then had to choreograph their own movement segment and perform it to the class. Their final comprehension assessments for this book was for them to place in sequential order all of the events or foods that the old lady took part within. I was impressed with how well the students did this week with reading both stories, expressing the beginning, middle, and end of the stories through the fine arts, and passing the written assessments that all checked on their comprehension skills.
To conclude this week’s implementation of my Action Research, I provided my students with a post test to see if their reading comprehension skills have improved and increased, if they remained the same, or if they at all decreased. I discovered after grading their post-tests that their reading comprehension scores increased a phenomenal amount! On the pretest, one student in particular scored a 38% average, and on the post-test scored a 80% average. I feel that this students’ success was influenced by the implementation of movement and the fine and creative arts; which means that my action research project on a whole turned out to be a success.
I really enjoyed this week; however, am very sad that this was my last week to be full time teaching. I am going to miss Mylan Park Elementary school and sad that my last day, December 15th, is approaching rapidly. I am really looking forward to the next two weeks within my classroom, teaching my students, and being mentored by Ms. Walker!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Mylan Park Elementary School Nov 15 -Nov 20, 2011
This week was another great week at Mylan Park Elementary School! On Monday I was able to attend one of our students’ IEP meetings that was scheduled due to the number of absences that she has had this school year. Her parents did not show up so it was interesting to see how the meeting was conducted without the parents present. The faculty members that attended the meeting were her general education teacher, her special education teacher, the principal, and the IEP coach.
Throughout the week I worked with the reading groups on their vocabulary lessons, Journey’s lessons to build their comprehension skills, FOCUS lessons to influence their standardized testing skills, as well as the Reads Naturally Program to help improve their fluency. With all of the reading groups I worked with the students on their spelling words by writing them in the sand, looking at letter patterns, writing their words in context sentences, and completing their weekly spelling assignments that consist of Rainbow Words, Spelling City, Alphabetical Order, and Stair Step Spelling. Due to all of the practice and reinforcement of the spelling words throughout the entire week, the students’ scores on their tests were quite exceptional!
During the morning math group, I worked with the two students on time, money, regrouping addition and subtraction problems, as well as reviewing for their unit test. I was extremely impressed with the scores that the two students received on their exam and was very proud of them for their achievements. I feel that consistently teaching, re-teaching, and practicing the material really allows the students to grasp and understand the information that they are being presented with.
On Wednesday and Thursday this week my Action Research Reading Group read “Henry and Mudge and the Wild Wind”. The students read out loud the story by popcorn reading the text. I also promoted the students to create a discussion throughout the entire book in order for them to reinforce the text that they were reading. Once the story was over, the students were asked to create a comic strip demonstrating the sequential order of events that clearly showed the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Once the students completed that task, they then had to think, pair, and share about the story with the individual that was sitting right next to them. It was very interesting to listen in on their conversations and hearing them correct each other of the sequential order of the story, share vivid details, and even discuss their favorite parts of the story. Once the students completed the think, pair, share activity, they then were asked to choreograph movement with their partner that clearly presented the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The students’ challenge within this task was that they were not provided music. They had to tell the story completely with their bodies and within silence unless they felt that it was necessary to implement sound within their movement piece. I was really impressed with how well they did with the movement portion of their assessment and feel that it really allowed them to bring the story to life and put the events within the story in sequential order. When the students completed the movement segment of their assessment, they then had to answer comprehension questions on the text. I am extremely impressed with their achievement on answering the questions correctly after creating illustrations both on paper and with their bodies upon completion of reading the text.
This week during the writing group time, the students wrote letters with the writing prompt “I Am Thankful For…”, they learned how to correctly address and sign a letter, and they learned how to address an envelope. I was very impressed with their letters and was excited to display them on the classroom door. I feel that it is important to display student work and show them that if they tried their very hardest, that should be proud of their hard work and dedication.
I really enjoyed this week at Mylan Park Elementary School and am beginning to get really sad that my time as an intern within this classroom setting is coming to an end. I have really enjoyed getting to know and work with my students and my mentor teacher, Ms. Walker. I have learned a tremendous amount this semester from this placement and from my placement with Mrs. Rengers at Morgantown High School. I am looking forward to the upcoming week at Mylan Park Elementary School and the Thanksgiving holiday activities that we will be completing within the classroom!
Throughout the week I worked with the reading groups on their vocabulary lessons, Journey’s lessons to build their comprehension skills, FOCUS lessons to influence their standardized testing skills, as well as the Reads Naturally Program to help improve their fluency. With all of the reading groups I worked with the students on their spelling words by writing them in the sand, looking at letter patterns, writing their words in context sentences, and completing their weekly spelling assignments that consist of Rainbow Words, Spelling City, Alphabetical Order, and Stair Step Spelling. Due to all of the practice and reinforcement of the spelling words throughout the entire week, the students’ scores on their tests were quite exceptional!
During the morning math group, I worked with the two students on time, money, regrouping addition and subtraction problems, as well as reviewing for their unit test. I was extremely impressed with the scores that the two students received on their exam and was very proud of them for their achievements. I feel that consistently teaching, re-teaching, and practicing the material really allows the students to grasp and understand the information that they are being presented with.
On Wednesday and Thursday this week my Action Research Reading Group read “Henry and Mudge and the Wild Wind”. The students read out loud the story by popcorn reading the text. I also promoted the students to create a discussion throughout the entire book in order for them to reinforce the text that they were reading. Once the story was over, the students were asked to create a comic strip demonstrating the sequential order of events that clearly showed the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Once the students completed that task, they then had to think, pair, and share about the story with the individual that was sitting right next to them. It was very interesting to listen in on their conversations and hearing them correct each other of the sequential order of the story, share vivid details, and even discuss their favorite parts of the story. Once the students completed the think, pair, share activity, they then were asked to choreograph movement with their partner that clearly presented the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The students’ challenge within this task was that they were not provided music. They had to tell the story completely with their bodies and within silence unless they felt that it was necessary to implement sound within their movement piece. I was really impressed with how well they did with the movement portion of their assessment and feel that it really allowed them to bring the story to life and put the events within the story in sequential order. When the students completed the movement segment of their assessment, they then had to answer comprehension questions on the text. I am extremely impressed with their achievement on answering the questions correctly after creating illustrations both on paper and with their bodies upon completion of reading the text.
This week during the writing group time, the students wrote letters with the writing prompt “I Am Thankful For…”, they learned how to correctly address and sign a letter, and they learned how to address an envelope. I was very impressed with their letters and was excited to display them on the classroom door. I feel that it is important to display student work and show them that if they tried their very hardest, that should be proud of their hard work and dedication.
I really enjoyed this week at Mylan Park Elementary School and am beginning to get really sad that my time as an intern within this classroom setting is coming to an end. I have really enjoyed getting to know and work with my students and my mentor teacher, Ms. Walker. I have learned a tremendous amount this semester from this placement and from my placement with Mrs. Rengers at Morgantown High School. I am looking forward to the upcoming week at Mylan Park Elementary School and the Thanksgiving holiday activities that we will be completing within the classroom!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Mylan Park Elementary School Nov 8-Nov 12 2010
This week was another wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School! I continued to work with my math group on regrouping with subtraction. Today, I gave them a quiz and one of them received a 100% which made me feel so proud of them as well as for knowing that I accomplished teaching them something that they currently have mastered. Next week I will be providing my math group with a unit test on money, time, regrouping with addition, and regrouping with subtraction. I feel that this test will truly assess how well they really know money, time, and regrouping with addition and subtraction.
Throughout the week I have also worked with my reading groups on letter and sound patterns in words, syllables, and vowels, as well as continuously reinforcing their spelling words. I also have been working on with the students in their Journeys guided reading books. I feel that slowly some of the students are really beginning to read more fluently than they have in the past. They also tend to be keying in important details that are present within the text.
This week for my Action Research my students read “The Farmer In The Soup”. The students took turns within the group reading the story aloud. The students began to create very good discussions throughout the story and was proud of them for promoting informal, whole group discussions. Once the students read through the story, they then completed two acrostic poems; one poem described the farmer and one poem described the wife. For the next class session, the students are expected to label a major event that occurred in the beginning of the story, at the middle of the story, and finally at the end of the story. Once they have completed this task, they then will need to express through their bodies the farmer in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. They will be expected to choreograph their own movement segment that correlates with that part of the story. I am really excited to finish out this weeks action research and see how creative my students will be!
During this week I have also been working with the writing group. I have been reviewing with the students how to write a paragraph, as well as how to write a letter and formally set up a letter. Currently, the students are writing a letter about what they are thankful for. It is very interesting to see how creative they are when they are provided with a writing prompt. I am excited to read their letters on what they are thankful for and who they chose to write their letters to.
I feel that this week was another fantastic week at Mylan Park Elementary School and am continuously learning from my mentor teacher, Ms. Walker, as well as from my students. I am really looking forward to sitting in two of my students IEP meetings in the upcoming week. I am already looking forward to another wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School; however, I am very sad that I only have a few weeks left in my current placement.
Throughout the week I have also worked with my reading groups on letter and sound patterns in words, syllables, and vowels, as well as continuously reinforcing their spelling words. I also have been working on with the students in their Journeys guided reading books. I feel that slowly some of the students are really beginning to read more fluently than they have in the past. They also tend to be keying in important details that are present within the text.
This week for my Action Research my students read “The Farmer In The Soup”. The students took turns within the group reading the story aloud. The students began to create very good discussions throughout the story and was proud of them for promoting informal, whole group discussions. Once the students read through the story, they then completed two acrostic poems; one poem described the farmer and one poem described the wife. For the next class session, the students are expected to label a major event that occurred in the beginning of the story, at the middle of the story, and finally at the end of the story. Once they have completed this task, they then will need to express through their bodies the farmer in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. They will be expected to choreograph their own movement segment that correlates with that part of the story. I am really excited to finish out this weeks action research and see how creative my students will be!
During this week I have also been working with the writing group. I have been reviewing with the students how to write a paragraph, as well as how to write a letter and formally set up a letter. Currently, the students are writing a letter about what they are thankful for. It is very interesting to see how creative they are when they are provided with a writing prompt. I am excited to read their letters on what they are thankful for and who they chose to write their letters to.
I feel that this week was another fantastic week at Mylan Park Elementary School and am continuously learning from my mentor teacher, Ms. Walker, as well as from my students. I am really looking forward to sitting in two of my students IEP meetings in the upcoming week. I am already looking forward to another wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School; however, I am very sad that I only have a few weeks left in my current placement.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Mylan Park Elementary Nov 1 - Nov 5 2010
This week was another wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School! Throughout the week I have been teaching all of the students that come to our classroom throughout the day. I have learned that teaching students regrouping with addition is a very challenging area in the content area of mathematics. My students understand how to regroup; however, they tend to leave out the step of either carrying a number over to the tens place and or adding the carried number which results in their solution being wrong. I am hoping that by reviewing, re-teaching, practicing, and drilling this, they will begin to see where they are making their mistakes and how to correct what they are doing wrong. I am very proud of them how far they have come and will be exuberant when they come close to mastery when regrouping.
This week I have also been working with students on reinforcing their spelling words, teaching them vocabulary lessons, as well as working on their fluidity in reading through the Reads Naturally Program and Journey’s. I feel that by working consistently on spelling words, vocabulary, reading, and comprehension questions, the students are beginning to really build in the Reading and Language Arts area and all are collaborating on influencing their reading skills.
Two days this week I was also able to implement my Action Research within the classroom. This week we read “Tacky the Penguin”. First, we reviewed that while reading, we are to create visual images within our heads about what we are reading. Next, I allowed the students to popcorn read throughout the entire book. Throughout the book I promoted discussions about the illustrations, the texts, etc in order to keep the students engaged as well as make them think and make inferences beyond the text. Once the students completed reading, they then had to illustrate in three different penguins the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Once they completed their illustrations, they then answered comprehension questions, as well as had to choreograph and act out one scene from the story that the rest of the students had to guess what scene and who they were trying to be. I feel that the students really enjoyed the activities that we did, were engaged, and did a nice job answering the comprehension questions. I feel that this week’s implementation of Action Research was a success!
I will be looking forward to the upcoming weeks within the classroom. The students have already been making their own Turkey’s with Ms. Walker and decorating the classroom for Thanksgiving. Also, I feel that each and every day I learn a lot from Ms. Walker, her classroom management skills, as well as how she presents lessons to her students which always promotes a positive learning atmosphere. I really have enjoyed my students and working with Ms. Walker this semester!
This week I have also been working with students on reinforcing their spelling words, teaching them vocabulary lessons, as well as working on their fluidity in reading through the Reads Naturally Program and Journey’s. I feel that by working consistently on spelling words, vocabulary, reading, and comprehension questions, the students are beginning to really build in the Reading and Language Arts area and all are collaborating on influencing their reading skills.
Two days this week I was also able to implement my Action Research within the classroom. This week we read “Tacky the Penguin”. First, we reviewed that while reading, we are to create visual images within our heads about what we are reading. Next, I allowed the students to popcorn read throughout the entire book. Throughout the book I promoted discussions about the illustrations, the texts, etc in order to keep the students engaged as well as make them think and make inferences beyond the text. Once the students completed reading, they then had to illustrate in three different penguins the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Once they completed their illustrations, they then answered comprehension questions, as well as had to choreograph and act out one scene from the story that the rest of the students had to guess what scene and who they were trying to be. I feel that the students really enjoyed the activities that we did, were engaged, and did a nice job answering the comprehension questions. I feel that this week’s implementation of Action Research was a success!
I will be looking forward to the upcoming weeks within the classroom. The students have already been making their own Turkey’s with Ms. Walker and decorating the classroom for Thanksgiving. Also, I feel that each and every day I learn a lot from Ms. Walker, her classroom management skills, as well as how she presents lessons to her students which always promotes a positive learning atmosphere. I really have enjoyed my students and working with Ms. Walker this semester!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Mylan Park Elementary Blog 10.25-10.29.2010
This week was another wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School! Throughout the week I taught once again the majority of the day and enjoyed every moment. I was extremely proud of my math students in the morning group; they did very well on their unit test on time and money which the results averaged in the “A” range. Also, throughout the week I worked with students in the reading groups teaching each group what their word sound was for the week and enforcing those sounds and spelling patterns within their spelling words. Through all of the spelling activities that we did this week with the students, many of them did poorly on their spelling tests on Friday due to not studying them at home. My mentor teacher, Ms. Walker and I continuously reminded them every day to study; however, their parents did not reinforce it at home which is a shame for their child’s grade suffers. For the students that did extremely poorly, we will provide a retake next week providing them with one last chance to re-study the words.
For my Action Research this week we read “The Popcorn Shop”. Before we jumped into the story, I reminded my students’ that while we read, we create images in our minds of what is occurring throughout the story, we visualize while sequencing the scenes, and to keep in mind that we will shortly be bringing the story to life. Also, I had the students look at the cover of the book and flip through the pictures in the book and try to predict what they thought the story would be about. This week I popcorn read with the students. They absolutely loved this method and it began to ease them into them just conducting the reading next week in the group without me being involved and reading aloud too. Throughout the story I promoted a discussion period asking them questions according to the text, pictures, as well as asking self-to-text connections. Once we completed reading the story, I told the students to make their paper into a comic strip and illustrate the main scenes that could provide the beginning, middle, and the end of the story. When the students completed their illustrations, I then asked them to place popcorn on their pictures that showed the amount that would be appropriate for that particular scene. For example, a little bit of popcorn should have been in the beginning, a massive amount of popcorn should have been in the middle scene for all of the popcorn exploding throughout the town, and finally, maybe one or two pieces at the end to show that there was really none left in the town. When the students completed this activity, I then cleared the space so that we could implement movement into the classroom bringing the story to life. I reviewed with the students the low, medium, and high levels that we use in movement, as well as walking patterns that we use and space awareness. I had the students close their eyes and visualize in their minds the story that we read, the sequencing of the story, and to put themselves in the shoes of a piece of popcorn. I then asked the students to pop like the popcorn would in the beginning of the story, the middle of the story, and finally the end of the story. Once they were done moving through the space like the appropriate scene as the popcorn, we then discussed the levels and the emotions at those levels connecting their movement to the text. I feel that my action research was a great success this week and the assessments that I did were excellent for seeing what they comprehended from the story, and how expressing the story through artwork and movement allows them to gain a better perspective for visualizing the importance of sequencing and becoming active readers.
This week I also was able to attend a PLC meeting. This meeting was beneficial for me for it discussed different methods that the school uses to benchmark students as well as programs that the school uses and interventionists use in order to increase students reading and math scores on a whole across all grade levels. The one program that they strongly enforced for teachers to use that increases fluency and comprehension is the “Reads Naturally” program. My teacher and I have already begun using this program and feel that it is an excellent way to influence students reading abilities.
Also, this past Friday was all of the Halloween festivities and parade for the school. It was a wonderful experience to take part in. I took many pictures and was excited to see how creative so many of the costumes were. I also thought that it was nice that families came into the students’ classrooms and the teachers created a family activity before the parade. For families that could not come into the school, the teachers made sure to pay extra special attention to those children and make that day a wonderful one for them. All of the teachers had to dress as superheroes in the school that resembled the seven habits and or promoting respect, manners, etc. and I dressed as Captain Kindness.
This week was a wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School and I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks ahead!
For my Action Research this week we read “The Popcorn Shop”. Before we jumped into the story, I reminded my students’ that while we read, we create images in our minds of what is occurring throughout the story, we visualize while sequencing the scenes, and to keep in mind that we will shortly be bringing the story to life. Also, I had the students look at the cover of the book and flip through the pictures in the book and try to predict what they thought the story would be about. This week I popcorn read with the students. They absolutely loved this method and it began to ease them into them just conducting the reading next week in the group without me being involved and reading aloud too. Throughout the story I promoted a discussion period asking them questions according to the text, pictures, as well as asking self-to-text connections. Once we completed reading the story, I told the students to make their paper into a comic strip and illustrate the main scenes that could provide the beginning, middle, and the end of the story. When the students completed their illustrations, I then asked them to place popcorn on their pictures that showed the amount that would be appropriate for that particular scene. For example, a little bit of popcorn should have been in the beginning, a massive amount of popcorn should have been in the middle scene for all of the popcorn exploding throughout the town, and finally, maybe one or two pieces at the end to show that there was really none left in the town. When the students completed this activity, I then cleared the space so that we could implement movement into the classroom bringing the story to life. I reviewed with the students the low, medium, and high levels that we use in movement, as well as walking patterns that we use and space awareness. I had the students close their eyes and visualize in their minds the story that we read, the sequencing of the story, and to put themselves in the shoes of a piece of popcorn. I then asked the students to pop like the popcorn would in the beginning of the story, the middle of the story, and finally the end of the story. Once they were done moving through the space like the appropriate scene as the popcorn, we then discussed the levels and the emotions at those levels connecting their movement to the text. I feel that my action research was a great success this week and the assessments that I did were excellent for seeing what they comprehended from the story, and how expressing the story through artwork and movement allows them to gain a better perspective for visualizing the importance of sequencing and becoming active readers.
This week I also was able to attend a PLC meeting. This meeting was beneficial for me for it discussed different methods that the school uses to benchmark students as well as programs that the school uses and interventionists use in order to increase students reading and math scores on a whole across all grade levels. The one program that they strongly enforced for teachers to use that increases fluency and comprehension is the “Reads Naturally” program. My teacher and I have already begun using this program and feel that it is an excellent way to influence students reading abilities.
Also, this past Friday was all of the Halloween festivities and parade for the school. It was a wonderful experience to take part in. I took many pictures and was excited to see how creative so many of the costumes were. I also thought that it was nice that families came into the students’ classrooms and the teachers created a family activity before the parade. For families that could not come into the school, the teachers made sure to pay extra special attention to those children and make that day a wonderful one for them. All of the teachers had to dress as superheroes in the school that resembled the seven habits and or promoting respect, manners, etc. and I dressed as Captain Kindness.
This week was a wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School and I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks ahead!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
BLOG 9- Week 9 Mylan Park Elementary School
This week at Mylan Park Elementary School was another great week! I taught throughout the week pretty much all of the groups that come to our room besides three. My first group we reviewed money and coins and I provided them with their first test with me. They did okay on their tests; however, I wish that they would have done better! After I graded the tests, I discovered their trouble areas and have been reviewing them each and everyday since the test. I have done a review with them everyday before we move on to learning all about time. They will be having a test with me next week on the unit of time as well as money. So far, after a lot of hard work, they are doing pretty well with it; however, we still need to work more on quarter to and quarter past the hour.
I have also continued to work with all of the reading groups. We have been working on “oi” words as well as words with “e” in them. Along with practicing the words, we also have been reading from the Journey’s books and having the students answer comprehension questions after the reading is complete.
I have begun my Action research this week and it has been quite successful. On Monday, I read to the students “When the Relatives Came”. We discussed the sequencing of the story as well as the “who,” “what,” “where”, “when,” and “why.” Also, I had my students write in their journals a self-to-text connection as to if they ever traveled and who they traveled with and where. They expressed their thoughts through writing as best as they could. On Wednesday, I allowed my students to express themselves through the fine and creative arts. They had to illustrate a picture of who they were traveling with and where they were going. They also had to create out of clay an image that they saw that woke them up at night. For example, one student made a train for at night that wakes her up; just like in the story all of the unfamiliar breathing wakes up the relatives at night. Finally, I had the students create their own steering wheels that they would use for the movement segment on Friday. On Friday, I introduced to the students movement and expressing the story through their bodies. We went over low, medium, and high levels, as well as fast, medium, and slow paces, and finally space awareness. Once the students understood all of that, they became the travelers within the classroom using their steering wheels driving up and down the mountains; the students were the sleepers waking up at the right cues within the music with imagining what was waking them up at night; and finally, the students were the huggers and hugging at all of the levels. Since half of the group was absent on Friday, they will have to take the quiz on the book on Monday right before beginning the new book for the upcoming week.
Also, I had to provide my students this week with the Acuity Tests in both reading and math. This took up a large portion of the day on Wednesday and had to continue for some of students onto Thursday. This test was very hard for many of my students due to them being way below their grade level and being unable to read the text or effectively answer the math problems.
I feel that on a whole this week was a wonderful week and that I learned a lot from teaching this week! I am excited for the upcoming week ahead and for the Halloween Parade on Friday! My teacher has been a wonderful mentor and am looking forward to learning from her and my students this upcoming week!
I have also continued to work with all of the reading groups. We have been working on “oi” words as well as words with “e” in them. Along with practicing the words, we also have been reading from the Journey’s books and having the students answer comprehension questions after the reading is complete.
I have begun my Action research this week and it has been quite successful. On Monday, I read to the students “When the Relatives Came”. We discussed the sequencing of the story as well as the “who,” “what,” “where”, “when,” and “why.” Also, I had my students write in their journals a self-to-text connection as to if they ever traveled and who they traveled with and where. They expressed their thoughts through writing as best as they could. On Wednesday, I allowed my students to express themselves through the fine and creative arts. They had to illustrate a picture of who they were traveling with and where they were going. They also had to create out of clay an image that they saw that woke them up at night. For example, one student made a train for at night that wakes her up; just like in the story all of the unfamiliar breathing wakes up the relatives at night. Finally, I had the students create their own steering wheels that they would use for the movement segment on Friday. On Friday, I introduced to the students movement and expressing the story through their bodies. We went over low, medium, and high levels, as well as fast, medium, and slow paces, and finally space awareness. Once the students understood all of that, they became the travelers within the classroom using their steering wheels driving up and down the mountains; the students were the sleepers waking up at the right cues within the music with imagining what was waking them up at night; and finally, the students were the huggers and hugging at all of the levels. Since half of the group was absent on Friday, they will have to take the quiz on the book on Monday right before beginning the new book for the upcoming week.
Also, I had to provide my students this week with the Acuity Tests in both reading and math. This took up a large portion of the day on Wednesday and had to continue for some of students onto Thursday. This test was very hard for many of my students due to them being way below their grade level and being unable to read the text or effectively answer the math problems.
I feel that on a whole this week was a wonderful week and that I learned a lot from teaching this week! I am excited for the upcoming week ahead and for the Halloween Parade on Friday! My teacher has been a wonderful mentor and am looking forward to learning from her and my students this upcoming week!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Blog 8- Week 8 Mylan Park Elementary School
This past week was another wonderful week at Mylan Park Elementary School! Each and every day I am able to learn more and more from my mentor teacher, Ms. Walker, as well as from my students. Throughout this week, Ms. Walker allowed me to teach the majority of the day within the classroom which I enjoyed thoroughly! I taught this week two students about money and coins. I have to say that it is very rewarding when you teach students something that is very blurry in the beginning to them, and clear and understandable after a few days! Along with the money unit that I created, I was also able to teach the students reading and comprehension skills from their Journeys books, reinforce their weekly spelling words consistently, and assist during the collaborative math time within the computer lab. On Wednesday of this week, I was able to participate within the Egg Drop by measuring how far the students eggs landed from the target, and whether their egg cracked or was okay. This was an extremely exciting event and is great to see how creative so many students are with wrapping their eggs in order to stop them from cracking.
Also, throughout the week, Ms. Walker was kind enough to assist me with finding books and talking out my tentative timeline for the implementation of my Action Research within my classroom. I also was able to collect baseline data this week from my students that consisted of two different passages. The first passage I read to them, and then they answered questions. On the second passage, they had to read on their own and then answer questions. When I scored all of my students, the majority of them were most certainly struggling with the comprehension questions. The group that is struggling the most is going to be my target group. I plan on implementing my Action Research within the classroom three days a week; every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Monday I am going to read the story aloud to the students and create a discussion period; Wednesday the students will create an art project that will allow themselves to express the story; and Friday I am going to have the students bring the story to life through movement. I feel that implementing movement and the fine and creative arts within the classroom is really going to help students open up their minds, think in a new manner, and become more engaged and active readers that begin to show improvement with their reading and comprehension skills. I am excited to implement my Action Research within the classroom throughout the next six weeks!
One other activity that I was able to take part in this week was the parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday evening. From being apart of the conferences, I feel that I learned more background information on my students and their support system at home. I feel that the collaboration between teachers and parents is extremely important; however, I wish that more parents would become active in their child’s education and be better influences for them.
I am already looking forward to another exciting week at Mylan Park Elementary School! I feel that each and every day I learn how to become a better educator and to provide the best education possible for my students!
Also, throughout the week, Ms. Walker was kind enough to assist me with finding books and talking out my tentative timeline for the implementation of my Action Research within my classroom. I also was able to collect baseline data this week from my students that consisted of two different passages. The first passage I read to them, and then they answered questions. On the second passage, they had to read on their own and then answer questions. When I scored all of my students, the majority of them were most certainly struggling with the comprehension questions. The group that is struggling the most is going to be my target group. I plan on implementing my Action Research within the classroom three days a week; every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Monday I am going to read the story aloud to the students and create a discussion period; Wednesday the students will create an art project that will allow themselves to express the story; and Friday I am going to have the students bring the story to life through movement. I feel that implementing movement and the fine and creative arts within the classroom is really going to help students open up their minds, think in a new manner, and become more engaged and active readers that begin to show improvement with their reading and comprehension skills. I am excited to implement my Action Research within the classroom throughout the next six weeks!
One other activity that I was able to take part in this week was the parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday evening. From being apart of the conferences, I feel that I learned more background information on my students and their support system at home. I feel that the collaboration between teachers and parents is extremely important; however, I wish that more parents would become active in their child’s education and be better influences for them.
I am already looking forward to another exciting week at Mylan Park Elementary School! I feel that each and every day I learn how to become a better educator and to provide the best education possible for my students!
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