Transitions in our classroom are very well-planned. Christin laid out procedures the first week of school with the students, and we practiced several times.
Now they are just second nature.
Our system is to use a bell as the signal. The children, when they hear the bell, are to drop what they are doing, and put their hands on their shoulders, criss-cross.
Christin gives a direction and says 'Go' and the children do whatever the direction is. Usually, she says "And meet me on the rug" as a follow-up to whatever direction she gives. The rug is our classroom meeting place. We do large group activities here and spend most of our day migrating back and forth between the tables and the rug.
I like this concept because it really gets the kids moving back and forth throughout the day. Children are not meant to be sitting at desks all day, so Christin's back and forth teaching style really works to curb any disruptive activities.
Sometimes it does get a little crazy when she gives 2 or 3 directions at a time, but I feel like that is helping the children practice their listening and ordering skills. They must mentally keep track of all 3 things before heading back to the rug, which not all of them are skilled at yet. It is helping them to become self-guided, as they know the routine for the most part.
At this point in the year, it is just a lot of reminding them, rather that explicitly telling them what to do. It is amazing to see the growth that has happened in such a short amount of time.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Math
Math at our school is blocked school-wide. Every class has math at the same time so that students can group according to their own individual level. The school uses Saxon Math, which at first I was skeptical of, because I'd heard mixed reviews about the program. It seems that it's the type of curriculum that people either love or hate.
I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I think Saxon is a great starting point, but I don't like the idea of having to follow it exactly. Thankfully we have a little bit of flexibility and are able to supplement the program as long as we cover the main points in each lesson.
I do like that it puts everyone in the school on the same page, so that children in one class are not missing key material before moving on to the next teacher. It makes it really easy to assess students as well, because the whole school is using the same program, the same assessments, etc.
It really standardizes everything, but as a whole, it seems to work for our school.
Since we differentiate for each child, leveling the math classes allows each teacher to only teach one grade level, as opposed to 2 or 3 levels, as is the case with the reading curriculums. Students who are able to do 3rd grade math go to a 3rd grade math class. Students who are able to do 1st grade math, come to a 1st grade math class, regardless of which grade they are actually in.
In a way, this is challenging, because developmentally a 5 year old and a 7 year old are in completely different places, but for the most part, this structure works. The attention span of some children is much different, so it really takes a skilled teacher with good classroom management to handle the different age levels within each math class.
I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I think Saxon is a great starting point, but I don't like the idea of having to follow it exactly. Thankfully we have a little bit of flexibility and are able to supplement the program as long as we cover the main points in each lesson.
I do like that it puts everyone in the school on the same page, so that children in one class are not missing key material before moving on to the next teacher. It makes it really easy to assess students as well, because the whole school is using the same program, the same assessments, etc.
It really standardizes everything, but as a whole, it seems to work for our school.
Since we differentiate for each child, leveling the math classes allows each teacher to only teach one grade level, as opposed to 2 or 3 levels, as is the case with the reading curriculums. Students who are able to do 3rd grade math go to a 3rd grade math class. Students who are able to do 1st grade math, come to a 1st grade math class, regardless of which grade they are actually in.
In a way, this is challenging, because developmentally a 5 year old and a 7 year old are in completely different places, but for the most part, this structure works. The attention span of some children is much different, so it really takes a skilled teacher with good classroom management to handle the different age levels within each math class.
Science
Science is one of the curriculum areas that I have been able to observe most of the time. Because our internship is structured to half days, I started out in the classroom in the afternoons, which is when our science time is.
The first unit we studied was Alaskan Animals. We used the ASD science kits, but Christin is great about supplementing the kits with her own activities.
One thing I found to be interesting about the ASD science kits is the fact that they even exist. For me, having grown up in Cordova, our science curriculum was literally all around us. There is so much interesting ecology, biology, geology, and oceanography, etc. around us, that our teachers rarely relied on kits. What they did have, was an abundance of wild life, and an infinite amount of field trip locations. We didn't just study glaciers, we hiked to them. We didn't just read about wetlands and do projects, we counted insects and plants, we dipped nets and filtered muskeg, and truly explored the wetlands firsthand.
We uncovered crabs beneath rocks in the intertidal zone, along with sunstars, clams, mussels, snails, chiton, popweed, kelp, and other intertidal life.
We smelled crude oil from the Exxon Valdez, collected from local beaches.
It wasn't something that could ever be packaged in a kit and preserved with formaldehyde.
I feel like that is something that the students here are missing out on, is the focus on truly local science. With everything so neatly preserved and packaged, the students are missing the opportunity to truly connect with science on a personal level.
Our students did get the chance to go to the Eagle River Nature Center. I was unable to attend that field trip because of our methods classes, however, I do feel like this was an incredibly beneficial experience for all the students. It helped to make the science real, instead of just specimens in jars and worksheets. It was something they could experience with nearly all their senses and I feel like there is true value in that.
The first unit we studied was Alaskan Animals. We used the ASD science kits, but Christin is great about supplementing the kits with her own activities.
One thing I found to be interesting about the ASD science kits is the fact that they even exist. For me, having grown up in Cordova, our science curriculum was literally all around us. There is so much interesting ecology, biology, geology, and oceanography, etc. around us, that our teachers rarely relied on kits. What they did have, was an abundance of wild life, and an infinite amount of field trip locations. We didn't just study glaciers, we hiked to them. We didn't just read about wetlands and do projects, we counted insects and plants, we dipped nets and filtered muskeg, and truly explored the wetlands firsthand.
We uncovered crabs beneath rocks in the intertidal zone, along with sunstars, clams, mussels, snails, chiton, popweed, kelp, and other intertidal life.
We smelled crude oil from the Exxon Valdez, collected from local beaches.
It wasn't something that could ever be packaged in a kit and preserved with formaldehyde.
I feel like that is something that the students here are missing out on, is the focus on truly local science. With everything so neatly preserved and packaged, the students are missing the opportunity to truly connect with science on a personal level.
Our students did get the chance to go to the Eagle River Nature Center. I was unable to attend that field trip because of our methods classes, however, I do feel like this was an incredibly beneficial experience for all the students. It helped to make the science real, instead of just specimens in jars and worksheets. It was something they could experience with nearly all their senses and I feel like there is true value in that.
Literacy
If I were to profile the literacy methods in our classroom, it would look as follows:
Weekend News
Journals
Share Time
Daily Five
and a myriad of other opportunities.
Children have book baskets at their shared tables, which they are free to read from anytime they finish their other work early. There is also a classroom library, where students may choose books from during the Daily Five.
Labels are everywhere in the classroom, as well as posters, which together create a print-rich environment.
Every Monday (which I am not present for, due to Methods classes), students write in their Weekend News folders. These entries are always about what they did over the weekend, and several students are chosen at random (using sticks) to share their journal entries.
Tuesday through Friday, students have free choice for what to write about in their journals, but this is always the first thing that happens in the morning. Parents stick around and help their kids, as well as encourage other students. It gives the teachers a chance to touch base with the families before class begins, and makes for a great transition into the day.
Again, several students are chosen at random to share what they have written in their journals with the class. This promotes literacy not only in writing, but orally as well. Additionally, students are making connections between what they have written and what they are reading. They take ownership of their words.
The Daily Five is a method that Christin uses to cover reading, writing, and spelling. While Daily Five only occurs 3 days a week, it gives Christin a chance to read with each group of students at their reading level, as well as helps students to take responsibility of their work independently. The five categories that our students participate in are: read to self, partner read, read with teacher, spelling work, and writing.
During read to self, students choose "good fit" books from the classroom library and read quietly on their own around the room. With a partner, they may read to each other or read back and forth, "elbow-to-elbow, knee-to-knee."
Spelling is based out of their spelling book (we have two spelling groups, red and blue), and their writing is usually a teacher-given or picture prompt (free choice writing happens during journals).
Currently in writing, we are talking about the concept of ideas and continuity within a written work. Children are working on making sure that the same idea is carried throughout their writing, for at least 3 sentences.
Lastly, read with teacher is our reading groups. These are leveled according to their DRA scores from the beginning of the year, with a few adjustments based on observation.
Share Time occurs once a week, on Thursday afternoon, and children may bring anything to share that fits in their backpack.
I consider Share Time to be a literacy activity, because students must say 2 things about their share item. This works on oral literacy and public speaking skills. It also builds classroom community, and the children are allowed to play with their share item during Choice Time, which immediately follows Share Time.
Overall, I would say there is a very positive approach to literacy in our classroom. We work strongly to support writing skills, and every aspect of our literacy curriculum is differentiated, meaning that it's tailored to each student specifically.
Weekend News
Journals
Share Time
Daily Five
and a myriad of other opportunities.
Children have book baskets at their shared tables, which they are free to read from anytime they finish their other work early. There is also a classroom library, where students may choose books from during the Daily Five.
Labels are everywhere in the classroom, as well as posters, which together create a print-rich environment.
Every Monday (which I am not present for, due to Methods classes), students write in their Weekend News folders. These entries are always about what they did over the weekend, and several students are chosen at random (using sticks) to share their journal entries.
Tuesday through Friday, students have free choice for what to write about in their journals, but this is always the first thing that happens in the morning. Parents stick around and help their kids, as well as encourage other students. It gives the teachers a chance to touch base with the families before class begins, and makes for a great transition into the day.
Again, several students are chosen at random to share what they have written in their journals with the class. This promotes literacy not only in writing, but orally as well. Additionally, students are making connections between what they have written and what they are reading. They take ownership of their words.
The Daily Five is a method that Christin uses to cover reading, writing, and spelling. While Daily Five only occurs 3 days a week, it gives Christin a chance to read with each group of students at their reading level, as well as helps students to take responsibility of their work independently. The five categories that our students participate in are: read to self, partner read, read with teacher, spelling work, and writing.
During read to self, students choose "good fit" books from the classroom library and read quietly on their own around the room. With a partner, they may read to each other or read back and forth, "elbow-to-elbow, knee-to-knee."
Spelling is based out of their spelling book (we have two spelling groups, red and blue), and their writing is usually a teacher-given or picture prompt (free choice writing happens during journals).
Currently in writing, we are talking about the concept of ideas and continuity within a written work. Children are working on making sure that the same idea is carried throughout their writing, for at least 3 sentences.
Lastly, read with teacher is our reading groups. These are leveled according to their DRA scores from the beginning of the year, with a few adjustments based on observation.
Share Time occurs once a week, on Thursday afternoon, and children may bring anything to share that fits in their backpack.
I consider Share Time to be a literacy activity, because students must say 2 things about their share item. This works on oral literacy and public speaking skills. It also builds classroom community, and the children are allowed to play with their share item during Choice Time, which immediately follows Share Time.
Overall, I would say there is a very positive approach to literacy in our classroom. We work strongly to support writing skills, and every aspect of our literacy curriculum is differentiated, meaning that it's tailored to each student specifically.
Playing Catch-Up
It was brought to my attention that I hadn't posted in awhile, and holy cow! It has been awhile!!!
The whole first two months of internship have just been a whirlwind.
We did our 2 week intensive at the beginning of the year, with a focus on classroom management and procedures and a basic introduction to the school. I really enjoyed this opportunity to get to know the school, my classroom, my mentor teacher, and the students before we dropped down to half days.
While half days are definitely easier on my schedule (and my health!), the full days really helped to me be entirely involved in the classroom community. Once we dropped down to half days, there was a feeling of disconnect. I was missing key events in the classroom, and most of the academic areas were happening in the mornings (I was there in the afternoons).
Our afternoons consist mostly of pull-outs, with science, health, and social studies thrown into the mix.
This gave Christin and I a lot of common planning time, which was helpful, but I did feel like I was missing out on most of the classroom happenings, because my student contact time was limited.
Now that we are so far into the first semester, I find myself struggling to catch-up with some things. Homework has overwhelmed me entirely (hence, the lack of blog posts). I've been sick 3 times so far, which I have lovingly labeled "first year teacher syndrome."
Each new cold seems to hit me before the last is finished and I feel like I've been stuck in a cloud the entire semester to date.
The whole first two months of internship have just been a whirlwind.
We did our 2 week intensive at the beginning of the year, with a focus on classroom management and procedures and a basic introduction to the school. I really enjoyed this opportunity to get to know the school, my classroom, my mentor teacher, and the students before we dropped down to half days.
While half days are definitely easier on my schedule (and my health!), the full days really helped to me be entirely involved in the classroom community. Once we dropped down to half days, there was a feeling of disconnect. I was missing key events in the classroom, and most of the academic areas were happening in the mornings (I was there in the afternoons).
Our afternoons consist mostly of pull-outs, with science, health, and social studies thrown into the mix.
This gave Christin and I a lot of common planning time, which was helpful, but I did feel like I was missing out on most of the classroom happenings, because my student contact time was limited.
Now that we are so far into the first semester, I find myself struggling to catch-up with some things. Homework has overwhelmed me entirely (hence, the lack of blog posts). I've been sick 3 times so far, which I have lovingly labeled "first year teacher syndrome."
Each new cold seems to hit me before the last is finished and I feel like I've been stuck in a cloud the entire semester to date.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
First week!
The first week of internship has been going swimmingly. Ms. Christin, my mentor teacher, had the classroom pretty much set up by the time we started, so that was a bonus!
I am absolutely LOVING being at Aquarian -- the staff, the kids, the parents, the community is so incredible, and you can really tell that everyone wants to be there and loves what they do!
I'm slowly getting to know the other teachers, but everyone has been incredibly welcoming to me and the other interns.
Today, we started our profiles, so I was able to meet a few of my students and their parents. I sent a welcome letter home with each parent that gives an overview of the internship and what I will be doing in the classroom, as well as a little bit about me.
Looking forward to what the rest of the week brings! :)
I am absolutely LOVING being at Aquarian -- the staff, the kids, the parents, the community is so incredible, and you can really tell that everyone wants to be there and loves what they do!
I'm slowly getting to know the other teachers, but everyone has been incredibly welcoming to me and the other interns.
Today, we started our profiles, so I was able to meet a few of my students and their parents. I sent a welcome letter home with each parent that gives an overview of the internship and what I will be doing in the classroom, as well as a little bit about me.
Looking forward to what the rest of the week brings! :)
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