Reflection #24

This week at SLE the students had their last day of FCAT. They returned to school that Monday and started FCAT Math, then on Tuesday (the day I am there) They did FCAT Math again. this was their last day of FCAT for the year. After the usual warm up activity that was what the rest of the class time consisted of. The next day things were back to normal. The students came in and their desk were back in groups! It was a sign that FCAT was over. There was a look of relief on the students faces, some even though there was another day of FCAT. After the students had settled down and but their backpacks away and got chairs for their desk they had a seat and waited for Ms. C to tell them what to do. There was no warm up activity for them so they had nothing to do but sit at their desk, this caused some problems. The students started to walk around, talk and become disruptive. I think Ms. C should have had something for them to do, even if it was just for them to read or to draw, anything to keep them busy and out of trouble. 

A few minutes had past and Ms. C called all the students to the carpet. She decided the kids needed a 'Brain Break' all the teachers have started using a program (gonoodle.com) for their brain breaks. a brain break is when the students are working really hard and you think they deserve a reward and want to do something fun in the classroom, or if the class is really rambunctious and you think they need to get some extra energy out. Ms. C used the brain break because the class was very wild and out of hand and had a lot of energy to get rid of. The activities they have on gonoodle are exercise type activities. After they finished with the brain break the students seem much more ready to learn and less antsy while sitting on the carpet. Next the class read the "Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School" 

https://www.gonoodle.com/

The next day things were the same as before but with more well behaved students. Morning activity went as normal and then they read the book. I normally leave in the middle of their readings. In each chapter there is a fable or a moral that goes with the chapter. The book is really good and the students enjoy it a lot, it has a very good meaning and I think that even the students understand it too. 

Reflection #23

Credit to Nathan Grosshandler 

This week at the elementary school things were a bit different. This week was FCAT week. The first day I was in the class the students started their day like normal. With a morning warm up and some worked on the computers. After that was done Ms. C went over the FCAT PowerPoint again. This PowerPoint has information about what to do and what not to do during the test. For example the students could not ask questions or look at another students test booklet during the test. The PowerPoint also reminded students how to properly fill in their bubbles on the answer sheet. The students had the hardest time with the grids. A lot of students took a long time understanding how to properly fill in the grid. After they finished with the PowerPoint Ms. C handed back test. The test were similar to practice FCAT test. She told the students that this was the last time they would be doing this this year, everyone was ecstatic to hear that. The class went over the test together like they always did. They continued to review the test until I left for the day.

The next day I could not make it to SLE. I missed my students first day of FCAT but thats okay Im sure they all did great with or without me there.

The last day of the week that I was at SLE was another FCAT day. The last day for reading FCAT. We did not start testing until about 30 mins after class started. So the morning routine went on as usual until time for testing. Then about half the class left! Only 8 or 9 students were left in the classroom. The other students were sent to other classes and with other teachers. After testing began I just read a book and sat quietly at a desk until it was my time to.leave. The students behaved very well during the FCAT and I am proud of them for that. I hope they continue with good behavior for he rest of the test.

Reflection #22

Credit to Wikipedia

The first day that I was in the classroom everything was running smoothly. The students were well behaved, the computers were working etc. The whole time I was in the classroom the class acted this way. After the morning work the students and teacher went on to centers. Ms. C decided to make a change to centers and have the students do two science centers now and one more later on during science. She said they never really had enough time to complete all the centers so it was better to do it that way. The centers they did that day were, star constellation (making star constellation out of marshmallows) Sun (Read the book about the sun and answer questions) DE (Discovery education, watch videos) and Scavenger Hunt (find the answer to a question). The next day they would complete their last center. After the two centers were over everybody cleaned up their area and had a seat on the carpet. Ms. C was about to introduce a new story to them. "The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School" That was the name of the book they would be reading. and for every chapter they read there was a 'moral' or a lesson to be learned. Each lesson went along with an Aesop Fable. When Ms. C began the first chapter she read it and then read the Fable. So the students could understand the story and the lesson more. I suggested to her that maybe she should read the fable first and have the students predict what will happen in the story based on the fable. In the next chapter she did this and the predictions the students came up with were priceless. 


The next day the same things happened as the day before, the students started their day with a morning warm  up. Next they went to science centers. They only had to do one center today. After that center they read one chapter in the book. 

The last day of the week that I was in the classroom was an abnormal day. All the teachers were in a teacher meeting so the students had to wait in the hallway for their teacher to take the to the class. I walk into the hallway.. I wanted to say good morning to my class but I got shushed immediately as I walked in. The teacher that supervises the hallway in the morning is not very nice and never lets the students talk very much anyway, but to have all the students sit in complete silence I thought that was a little extreme. When the teacher finally came Ms. C asked me if they were behaving well in the hallway. They were but I wanted to know why, so I asked. Apparently R and D were bullying another boy from another class. 

This whole day was filled with drama about who said what and when. The students were not very well behaved today, Especially K, the new students, she was asked to mover her clip down 2 or 3 times just in the time that I was there. I hope that that isn't a sign of how she will act for the rest of the year. 

Reflection #21

I walk in Ms. C's classroom on the first day this week and I can almost see the frustration on her face. She tells me good morning and smiles just like every day. I start my day there like normal just by greeting everyone and walking around the class seeing what everyone is doing. I notice that nobody seems to be doing anything. Ms. C comes up to me and tells me her computer is broken, again. Ms. C's computer has been broken multiple times just in the past month. It is very frustrating for her as a teacher. All of her lessons are on computer so when it doesn't work it make sit hard to work through out the day. Ms. C and I figured out that she could take a picture of the centers from her phone and then show it on the document camera. We did this and it worked just as good. The students went about with centers and continued their day like normal. The centers they did were the same like they were used to but because it was the first day back after Spring Break. One center was sort of hard for the students. They normally do an acrostic poem using words from the story they read but since they hadn't read the story yet they were a bit confused about the words, their meaning and what to write the poem about.  All the other centers were things they had done before and the students were used to it.

After the students had finished with their centers there was some extra time. Ms. C told the class that they could play around the world. I didn't know what this game was but I was ready to learn! All the students stood up. Ms. C got out the multiplication flash cards. she went row by row and quizzed each students on their multiplication. Each student got one question, if you got it wrong you stay standing, if you get it wrong or don't answer in time then you have to sit down. All the students did very well. P did especially well. P is the ELL student that we have in our class. She plays with the multiplication flash cards a lot and always has her homework done so I believe that is why she did so well.

Credit to Jason Major @Flickr

The second day that I was in the classroom and also the second day that the students were back in school went a lot better. The computer was working again and the students were very well behaved. Ms. C told her class that since they didn't finish their science lesson yesterday they would be doing that first thing today. The lesson was about the sun. The class read a book about the sun together and then they had to find one interesting fact about the sun. Next they would write it on a sticky note to show Ms. C and make sure everything was correct (the fact, spelling, capitalization etc.) After they got it checked they could write it on a yellow strip of paper. After they wrote on the paper they could outline the words with markers or crayons. The strips of paper would be going on a bulletin board. The bulletin board said "Betcha didn't know these facts about the sun!" and it also had a "sun" made out of construction paper"

The third day was a surprising day for Ms. C and I. First of all her computer was broken again. It had just been "fixed" the day before, they gave her a new hard drive and said that everything was good. But apparently not. It is very frustrating not being able to have a working, reliable computer. The students were about to start work on their cenetrs when the next surprise arrived. A new student!! Ms. C opened the door and K was standing at the door with her sister and her dad. She walked in the class introduced herself and sat down. She joined one of the groups for centers and did most of them with them. The rest of the class continued cenetrs like normal. I am interedted to see how K adjust to school here. She also says that she took the PSSA (FCAT but for Pennsylvania), if she passed that I wonder if she will also have to take the FCAT.