LI Day 9

My last day was really great. A little bit sad, but mostly just fun. We did the normal morning routine. I worked with the girl on sight words again and finished evaluating her on those. I heard some of the other kids talking about her, saying "She can't even spell 'and'" It is sad that they notice that she is behind them. I wish that I could've explained to them why she is behind, but no one knows yet.

We did a fun art project on dental health. They have been learning about dental health and this was the final review project. They made these giant toothbrushes with a chart to remind them to brush their teeth every morning and night. I was amazed that they weren't able to remember Mrs. Hausmann's directions for very long. She told them all in a big group on the floor and then when they went back to their desks to start the project, many of them did not remember what to do! The ones that did start on their work, messed up their toothbrushes somehow. Mrs. Hausmann reminded me that you never could count on 1st graders to pay attention or remember directions. She explained it to them again and I was ciruculating to help kids along. A lot of them got a little more creative and put toothpaste on their brushes.

The final thing I did was read a story to the class. I brought one in about crocodiles because that has been one of the themes for the week. They all really enjoyed the story and were sad that it was the last story I would read to them. Afterward, Mrs. Hausmann gave me a new children's book and said that it could be the start of my collection. It was very nice of her and many of the kids said they had the book at home too. I got many, many hugs from the 1st graders and almost all of them told me "Happy Easter!"

I loved my placement with Mrs. Hausmann at Kennedy and the 1st grade class. I learned a lot from the changes in the 8th grade to the 1st grade. I think that I do enjoy the younger grades better, but any kind of teaching will be wonderful!

LI Day 8

Today I worked in depth with a student in the 1st grade class that is below a kindergarten level. Mrs. Hausmann told me she has been undergoing evaluations, but they aren't sure if she has a learning disability yet. When I evaluate her on sight words, she seems to know that she is being evaluated. I will have her read a word (the, go, in, a), then build it with letter blocks and then spell it out on her handwriting paper. Many of the words she does not know and she cannot sound it out because she forgets what sounds the letters make. But she sees the form that I am filling out as we go and she asks if she can make the checkmarks. She knows which ones she gets a checkmark for and which ones she gets nothing. It is very interesting to work with her on this work. I feel badly for her since she is so far behind everyone else.

We have been doing a song each morning with an accompanying dance. This is because it is Fitness Fever in February and they play the songs over the loud speakers. The kids are so cute when they're doing these funny dances, I try to dance along but I don't know most of the songs that they did.

I don't know how it would've worked but I wish that I would have been able to teach a lesson during this immersion or do something in front of the whole class (besides reading). Mrs. Hausmann said that the time went by so fast and she didn't get to do everything with me that she wishes. I think she means that she wishes that I could've done more with the class. But I still feel that I made a personal connection with every student and had many new experiences.

LI Day 7

Today we went on a field trip to the St. John's Arboretum. This was an adventure! We did the morning routine and I worked with a couple of students before we started putting on all sorts of layers to go outside. All of the first grade classrooms were going, but once we got there we split into groups by teacher. It was fun to squish on to the bus, three to a seat, with all the 1st graders. Four parents came as volunteers, a school volunteer, Mrs. Hausmann and myself. When we got there we did a short group introduction and then split off with a guide from the Arboretum. It was the cutest thing to see these little kids try and trek through the snow. There was a small path, but it had been recently covered with snow. With the deep snow, sticks, logs and branches, the 1st graders definitely had a hard time walking. First we went exploring and all the kids went crazy trying to find animal tracks and homes. But then when it was time to regroup, the kids had to climb a very large hill to get back to the rest of the group. They were falling down and tired, so I started to grab them by the arms and pull a few up at a time. It was really funny because they just really could not climb this hill. Then we broke out into groups and used books to identify different animal tracks and droppings. The kids liked doing this. I was looking with a group of 5 boys and I had a difficult time keeping them together and focused. They found so many things to look at that once we found one thing, they didn't even pay attention to it, they just went on looking. We had to climb the hill once more and I carried a few kids up again. The worst was when they would lose their boots or mittens. This happened a lot and usually to the same child more than once. We'd have to get all the snow off of them and from the inside of the boot/mitten then squeeze it back on them.

Overall the field trip was really fun and it was interesting to see the students in a different environment.