Small Group Literacy

By Elizabeth Gonzalez

Week 8

This week, I thought my small group literacy lesson on disasters. The students will be reading a chapter book next week based on actual events of the 1960 San Francisco earthquake. I decided to focus my lesson on a variety of natural disasters by reading a book called Disaster Alert! By Christine Taylor-Butler. This book discusses five different disasters which are tornadoes, floods, sinkholes, volcanoes, and bushfires. All three students participated in the discussion and learned key facts on different disasters there are in the world. All three students met their objectives. One concern I did have during my lesson plan was time. This was my first small group and I wanted to create an engaging lesson plan. I didn’t notice how fast time goes by when you are teaching. Overall, my lesson went great and I am still learning strategies in the classroom to apply next time in my lessons. 

Small Group Literacy

This week I had the opportunity to facilitate a small group literacy lesson in regards to the reading strategy of chunking words into parts that are already known.  This strategy helps readers decode words that they do not already know.  I believe that my lesson went really well this week.  The main thing that I learned through this experience was to think of additional questions I could ask students, throughout the duration of this lesson, to get them to think of additional ways they could use this strategy.  In addition, I learned that it is important to consider table size, when planning to share materials and that you must plan ahead and think of ways to engage students who may not want to participate in the lesson.  Overall, this teaching experience was a positive experience and I look forward to the next time that I will be able to teach these students.

Professional Development and Sight Words

This week, my CT and I spent the morning in a professional development pop up. The pop up part means that it is done in the school during normal working hours to make sure that the teachers have opportunities to attend professional development. I attended one of these before so I was expecting a presentation with a packet to follow along with and some questions and group discussion... this one was different. We walked in and were offered treat bags with chocolate and candles along with relaxation gummies, then we all sat on the floor in a candle lit classroom do yoga. We were sent away with a packet on why a teachers calmness helps students, but we didn’t go over the packet. It was a nice start to the day although I’m not sure where the professional development part happened.

In other news, I have posees in the past about how my CT was running out of ideas for teaching sight words and that students were not regaining them. This week I was able to see a new strategy that she added in that students seemed to enjoy because it was like a game. After using flash cards and have students read the cards, find the cards, hand get the cards and so on, she gave them letter tiles to arrange into the word. This is not only a fun activity for the students, but also a different way of learning sight words. Rather than reading the word they are spelling it. In my opinion, it’s very different to know what a word is by looking at it and to know how to spell a word. The students did well with spelling the words after going through the cards as they typically do.

week 8

Kiley Rolder

March 12th, 2020

Today I taught my small group lesson. I thought m small group lesson would go completely different than it did but we can't always plan for everything. This the third week the students have had a substitute teacher so they were all pretty antsy. The substitute kept yelling at them which made things worse than they were it seemed like she had no control over them. During my small group lesson I had five students with me and in the middle of the lesson another kid who had gotten in trouble with the substitute who was supposed to sit at his desk came over and started to say I want to read, I want to read, can I read? In the middle of me speaking. I had to stop and turn to the other student and politely ask him to go sit back in his chair. This occurred another time too. The students seem to be really struggling and are starting to not listen because the substitute is just yelling at them instead of talking to them and fixing the issue it seems to be making more issues. As I said with this profession we can try to plan as much as we want but we can't expect everything to go perfectly because you never know how the students will respond exactly in this case. I tried my best to manage the issue and get back to the lesson but it also made it hard to get the students to focus while the substitute was yelling at the other children 

Week 7

This week I taught my first lesson. It was my science lesson, and honestly, I thought I did pretty well. The kids absolutely loved my activity because it was hands-on and messy. What kid doesn't love hands-on and messy? I know I don't love hands-on and messy. This had definitely taught me to be more choosey with what messy lessons I allow the students to engage in for cleanup and safety purposed. Having a whole crap ton of spilled water on the floor is not at all safe for the students to be around.

Teaching at the school also made me realize how little time my CT has the students in her class at all. She didn't have her all students in her class to herself for a single lesson, which is a bit ridiculous. The school pulled out students for intervention that didn't need the intervention. Like. Why? It didn't seem to have a rationale that I could explain.

The rest of the day went pretty well aside from the needless intervention for the higher-level students.

The picture attached is a few samples of the student work from my lesson.

Week 7- Science lesson

This week we followed the intended schedule and it was interesting to finally see what their day truly looked like. I was able to see how they test for their sight words and their high frequency words. I myself tested the kids on these words and it was interesting to see how many different levels were in the classroom. I already kind of knew the students who struggled within the classroom based on whole group lessons I have done but it was shocking to see how many people were below grade level on these words and had a lot of catching up to do to be at a second grade level. I knew the kids who had an IEP in the classroom but through this experience and even the small group reading I did with them, I did have a question about another student. I am no expert on IEP's just yet but I did bring up my concerns with a particular student and interesting enough my CT has already submitted paper work on this student to be evaluated. I also taught a whole group science lesson to the class on the different phases of the moon. It was out of the blue and I offered to teach it, I am really glad I did. I did a read aloud and during my read aloud I was asking higher order questions which only a few students seemed to know so as I continued the read aloud, I used lower level questions to ensure they were understanding the topic. The students were all able to answer those questions and then we made our own phases of the moon cycle. I used black construction paper and white chalk for the kids to draw the different phases. The students liked using the chalk as it was something different than what they are use too and they kept engaged with the entire lesson. There was one student who got extremely upset and started crying because he couldn't match the cycle I made. I just reminded him that its ok and everyones is going to look different, make it unique to you. As long as I could see the different phases represented in some way, I was happy. Overall, it was a good day with the kids and i'm ready to continue taking on more lessons outside of my observed lessons. 

Week 7 Substitute

This week in my field observations my CT was out because of a sickness. The sub that she normally has take over her class was there and the students are very familiar with her. My CT always has her take over her classroom when she is out. When their is a sub in the class the students always behave differently because they know their regular teacher isn't there to manage them. The sub had worksheets for them to complete but I do not believe the students actually learn any content when their teacher is out. The sub they normally have does not go over the directions before telling the students to do the work on their desk. The students always have a million questions and they raise their hand and I come around. The sub does not assist them much with their worksheets but I believe this can be done in a much more beneficial way. By the time I make it around to help everyone, the students are out of time and many of them do not finish their assignments. I believe with something as simple as explaining the worksheet and modeling an example can help them immensely when completing the worksheet. Many of them get off topic and rowdy because they do not understand what is expected of them or how to complete the assignment on their desk. I learn a lot about teaching when my CT is there but I also learn a lot when their are subs because I learn from their actions in the classroom. Not everything we see is a good way to teach and I believe having subs in our classrooms is a good way to learn what to do and what not to do.

1st Whole Group Lesson

This past week, I had the opportunity to teach my first whole group lesson plan.  I had been in contact with my CT and was looking forward to teaching students about place value.  I walked into the classroom and realized that I would be teaching this lesson on a day that a substitute teacher was in the classroom.  I did not think that this would be an issue, because I am comfortable in this type of setting, considering I'm a substitute teacher on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  However, this substitute teacher was extremely aggressive and the students were not responding well to that type of environment.  I tried my hardest to redirect student behavior and provide extra support in ways the students would respond well to.  I feel like the students responded best when they were spoken to in a respectful manner, which is what I attempted to model.  This experience was very stressful, but it just goes to show that our profession will come with a lot of unplanned circumstances and we will just have to roll with the punches. 

Day 8: Spelling Test and Dr. Seuss

• By Nadine Hamideh
• Friday March 6th 2020

Today was a very fun day for the students it was fun Friday and pajama day. I was making up the day that I had to complete due to the half days, so since I couldn’t over spring break I did it on Friday. It was a great experience I got to administer a spelling test, and with this I had to say the word, then make up a sentence for the word and then sound out the word one last time. I also walked around the room to make sure that each student was done before saying the next word. My CT gave me great feedback in regards to how I gave the spelling test as it was the first time I have ever given students a spelling test, and she also told me that I can grade them. I was very impressed with most of the students grades in terms of this spelling test the average out of all of the test was about a 7. This was really good practice for me because it had given me an experience I have never had until now. I learned that it’s very important to sound out the words correctly for students whenever giving them a spelling test because they might spell the word wrong. It is equally as important to put it in a sentence so that they can understand the overall context of the word and that they can comprehend better as sometimes two words may sound the same however are spelled differently and so it’s important to provide some background information on the word. Besides the spelling tests the students got comfy in their pajamas as they watched some Dr.Seuss movies and then wrote letters to their loved ones in their writing journals. My CT explained to me that every Friday the students write a letter to one of their family members, and there is a little space on the bottom for their family members to write a letter back to them. I honestly thought that was just the cutest idea ever and my CT agreed she told me it was a great way for the families to connect with their children over something so simple as a heartfelt letter. I am very happy that I got to help students as they wrote letters in their writing journals and incredibly greatful because this is an idea that I would love to incorporate within my future classroom.

Day 6&7: WG Math Lesson & Pajama Day

Rachel Sebastian
Saturday March 7, 2020

Day 6:
On Thursday I taught my WG math lesson, I was nervous to teach this one because it was my first time ever really teaching math. One of the most challenging aspects of this was students today learn differently the way I was taught. I had to reteach myself in a way the lesson I was teaching because I had to teach the students how they were supposed to be learning it. I thought I did a pretty good job at teaching my lesson because most of my students were understanding what I was teaching. Now, I know that when I am in my own classroom, I will have to reteach myself some of the material because the students are learning in new and different ways. I think this will still be difficult for me because everytime I teach a lesson I will be learning something new.

                 Linking Cubes I used in my lesson. (4 red and 2 yellow) Number sentence: 4+2=6



Day 7:
On Friday I had to go to FE because this was a make-up day. This was not an ordinary day for the students because it was Dr.Seuss week and it was pajama day for the students. During this day my CT allowed me to give the spelling test and math test to the students. The students have designated spots when they are testing. During the spelling test, I would have to say the words out loud, say the word in a sentence, and then sound out the word. One of the most challenging aspects for this was making I sounded the word out correctly. It is important to sound out the words correctly because if I don't then they will spell their word wrong. Overall, I thought I did a great job and my CT gave me great feedback when I give the spelling tests.

Day 7: Money Math

• By: Nadine Hamideh 
• Thursday March 5, 2020

Today was a day of learning, the students learned about a new math topic which was about coins. The students were divided into three tiers and were taught in small groups. My CT did the first small groups and showed me how to administer this activity task. It was then time for me to administer the task to the rest of the small groups. I was able to see how the different tiers worked and how to teach a small group math lesson to different tiers. The first tier of students just had to draw the amount of dimes and pennies that I stated. For example, if I said its time to make 24 cents, I would show students the amount in dimes and pennies and they would just draw that amount. I had to also provide an amount for the second tier of students in which they had to both draw out the amount of dimes and pennies as well as write the exact amount with a cents sign. The third tier of students were to come up with their own amounts as well as draw them out and write them. My CT informed me that this was a hard topic for them because they never really worked with coins for math, so she told me to compare it to base ten blocks for them and see if that would help them understand the material better. And honestly, it did and it was really great to see that by just making that small comparison the students instantly understood the task at hand. I just simply explain how this can be like working with base ten  blocks. I told them that the dime is like the tall rod of base ten blocks, and that the penny is like the individual unit of base ten blocks. By just saying that the students were able to make connections and count out the dimes and pennies. In the end, I learned that it is very important to give students tasks that can be relatable, and if it is a new task to compare it to something that they have learned about previously if it can help them make better sense of the material.

Week 7: Snowball Fight Mania! Social Studies Lesson Plan

•  By Amnah Hzaiyen
• Thursday, March 5, 2020

Today, I taught my social studies lesson plan on Cultural holidays in the United States. My goal for this week was to begin creating more fun and engaging lessons for my students. It was brought to my attention how I can create my lessons to assess what I am expecting of the students, but in a way that is more fun for the students and doesn’t seem so “boring” for them. My lesson was focusing on differences and similarities between different cultural holidays that we see in the United States. I was going to have the students do a Venn diagram for their independent practice, but had the students do a “snowball fight” activity instead. They threw paper snowballs with different sentences or words that describe both or one of two holidays then had to walk over to a designated sign for those two holidays. The students had a lot more fun with this activity than I had anticipated. At the end of the activity, the students had asked me multiple times to do it again, but unfortunately we had not time. I had a handful of students tell me how much fun my lesson was and that they would love to do it again. After teaching this lesson, it made me understand how important it is to create fun and engaging lessons. All the students were involved and participating, which is quite rare compared to what I usually see. I now understand the importance of creating these fun lessons, and understand that there are many websites out there with lots of different ideas I can use to create these lessons.

Week 7: Germs

Week 7
By Elizabeth Gonzalez



I started off my day feeling great, after being sick for almost three weeks. I greeted every student with a “good morning” and a smile. During the student's morning routine, the CT made an announcement on learning about germs. The CT said, “All day long, your hands touch things that have lots of tiny germs all over them. Today, we’re going to learn what we can do to keep our hands clean.” The class watched a short video on washing your hands. The video demonstrated knowledge of germs and what they can do to the body. There are many students who are out due to flu or cold. Students are not aware of when they sneeze or cough. Students are always touching one another and aren’t aware of the germs they might pass around. Therefore, it is important for young children to understand the basic concept of germs. A student had an accident during power math, he cut his finger with the paper and started to bleed. I took him to the sink to rinse his hands and after we put a bandaged. I reassured him that he is okay and to leave the bandaged alone. He responded, “We need to wash my hands because if I don’t I will pass my germs.” This made me smile because the students did observe the information that their teacher provided in the morning. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6GQN-z_2s

week 7 - anchor chart

This was my first week teaching, and I taught a science lesson about the sun. This was some of the

first exposure that the student had to this topic although they have been in this unit since January. Science is a subject that often gets overlooked, as the teacher puts a heavier focus on math, reading and writing. The lesson went well, but I want to focus on one activity of the lesson. I used a KWL chart with the class, filling in the K and W sections before learning anything and the L section at the very end of the lesson.

The class had never used this type of chart before, but they understood it when I explained it. In the K section, there were a lot of misconceptions about the topic - which I was excited to hear because I knew that we could correct these misconceptions in the lesson. It also helped me to decide what to emphasize as I was teaching. The student asked some great questions, some of which I wasn't even planning to teach but added in last minute because they were curious about it (specifically, what the sun is made of). By the end of the lesson when we filled in the last section of the chart, the students had changed a lot of their thinking and were able to give me much more detailed facts and ideas about the sun. I have attached a picture of the chart, I was amazed by their learning.

My CT was excited that I was making a chart with them because they do not have many science related things around the classroom. I asked if she preferred I did the chart on the Smart Board so that it was easier for the students to see, but she expressed that she wanted to hang the paper chart in the room. Anchor charts are a great tool for seeing what student know or have learned. It is also something that they can reference and use to make connections to as they learn more about the sun.

week 7

Kiley Rolder

March 5th, 2020

This week was my first week teaching and I was a little nervous considering the students have had a sub for a week now. I wasn't sure how they were going to act because they haven't had their normal class schedule since the CT wasn't there. I started my lesson and right away the students were all engaged. It was great to see them all focused and learning. The students were all participating and excited about my lesson. During my lesson I had them read passages and hold up the answer they thought it was this seemed to work really well instead of having one student come to the board and the rest of them sit there everyone was able to participate. I even taught the rest of the day considering my CT wasn't there. It feels like each week i'm becoming more comfortable and taking on more responsibility which I love. The experience I am gaining this semester has been so helpful thus far. I am learning what ways work best for me for regaining students attention and how to approach different topics. I am also becoming more aware of how to handle certain situations such as a student misbehaving and trying to understand why they are acting out if it's a bad day, if something is going on at home, or if they are just having a bad attitude. Forming relationships with the students where they know they can trust me and come talk to me if something is wrong is very important and something we are taught to always be welcoming and try to understand what is going on in your students lives. 

Week 6 -last minute changes

This was a busy Thursday for my class  since they had a long weekend coming up. The plan for the day was to follow the regular schedule in the morning which includes reading, writing and technology followed by lunch. After lunch The students had a silent party, but 4 students in my class did not go because they didn’t pay, so all of the first graders who didn’t attend went into one first grade room. The silent party was only supposed to go until 1:30, then my CT had plans to do a project for the upcoming parent day. During the party, someone decided to extend it to last until the end of the day. My CT was very concerned about getting the project done, but didn’t want to pull her class from the party. Around the last half hour of the school day my CT went to the students left behind to start them on their projects, and I offered to go help them. Those four students got their projects done. When the rest of the students came back, we rushed for the 20 minutes of dismissal time to at least get students started on their projects. The extension of the silent party really messed with my CTs plans, but we managed to help the students get a lot done in the little time that we had and this was something I was really able to be helpful with. This showed me how even with planning and a schedule things can come up that can’t be controlled and teachers need to be ready to change their plan even if it’s not ideal. I’m excited to see the finished projects next Thursday!

week 6- teaching

This week I taught my whole group 1 for literacy. There was many strengths and weaknesses that happened through my lesson on Thursday. For being my first lesson taught, I thought it went well. The students were very engaged in the lesson and enjoyed discussing compare and contrast through the two book and daytime and nighttime. Although it went fairly well, there was some areas of improvement. For any carpet procedures that happen in the classroom, it is important to address classroom behavior and carpet behavior. For my lesson, I had students gathered on the carpet for part of my lesson and had students bring something to write with and write on.  I did not think this over well and all the students were confused on what to bring to wrote on. For future lessons and my future class, I will have materials at the carpet ready for the students to write on to keep the lesson going. Overall, I am excited to teach more lessons this semester.

2/27/2020

These past couple of weeks, my CT has been addressing student behavior through a classroom app, called Class Dojo. This app allows the teacher and the guardians of each student to be in contact throughout the day. While this app can be used for messaging parents, my CT mainly uses it for behavior. Each day that I am present, I continue to see how this app works. The students really strive to get green points and are disappointed when they receive red, or negative points. I believe that this behavior strategy really works for some classrooms, this classroom specifically. Since each classroom is made up of different students, they may not all benefit from the same behavioral system.