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!