Fall 2006 Journal

Fall 2006 Semester

Mrs. St. Sauver's Kindergarten Class- Scandia Elementary (30 hours)

Summary

This semester was a great learning experience for me. I was able for the first time develop lesson plans, implement them, and evaluate the process. The Scandia Elementary School was a wonderful, inviting school to work in. The staff is very warm and friendly. The wide range of grades they have within this building, create a unique sense of community and I found that many of the new theories of community, authentic learning was being implemented in this school. My cooperating teacher in particular was a great testament to a model teacher. She was so excited after teaching many years to have someone to show her the relatively new method of the morning meeting. I found this to a great representation of what a teacher should be: someone who is excited to continually learn new things to teach others. This was one of the biggest things this semester I will take away with me, and adopt as personal philosophy towards teaching -- Never stop learning!

November

11/09/2006 - Reading with prop.

Today I read Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and ham with a Sam I Am prop. The kids loved it! They were perfectly still and attentive. I boy held him in his lap with the instructions that "he will only sit there if everyone is quiet because he likes to hear his story, and if he isn't jiggled to much." This worked like a charm, and everyone got a chance to come up after the story and touch Sam I Am.

I picked up this story and prop at Kohl's which is the "Kohl's Cares for Kids" campaign. This is a great way to get props and a book!

11/07/2006 - Acrostic Name Poem Collages

Today we created name acrostic poems. I supplied the template for their names along with a list of describing words beginning with the letters of their name letters to cut out and paste on their templates. When they were finished, they pasted their poems on a sheet of paper with a photo of themselves and decorated them. We took individual pictures of each child holding their name poem collage and a group photo of all of us.

11/02/2006 - Journal center's today

Today the students started a journal in my center. They will be filling the pages with different items they create. Today they talked about their families, and practiced writing their names, ages and how many siblings they had. We also read the poem "The Llama Who Had No Pajama" by Mary Ann Hoberman, and "Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans (Caldecott).

October

10/31/2006 - Read "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type" by Doreen Cronin (Caldecott)

Today I did a poem called "The Bat" in Beast Feast. I used a transparency to show it on a large scale because the last line "Upside down." is written upside down. Then they were given a photocopy of the poem and asked to illustrate a bat and put it in their poem books. I also introduced acrostic poems for a project next week. I did two acrostic poems using BATS and HALLOWEEN.

I also read "Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type." They immediately recognized the Medal on the front from our earlier discussion in "Make Way for Ducklings" and remembered it was for the pictures in the book. This was a predictable book, so I had them participate at the "Click, Clack, Moo" parts. They enjoyed it, and we were able to talk about letters, politeness, and some vocabulary words in the book like "ultimatum."

10/26/2006 - Read "Chicka, Chicka, 123" by Bill Martin Jr. & Michael Sampson& "The Stinky Cheese Man" by Jon Scieszka (Caldecott)

"Chicka, Chicka, 123" - This book was a big hit as they already read Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom. So they knew the format. They were also to predict that 0 joined 10 at the end to make 100. I was surprised they could already see that.

"The Stinky Cheese Man" - I used this during snack time to keep noise levels down. This is a funny parody of the Gingerbread man. I thought it would be engaging as a funny story. It seemed to work, as they were quiet and listen well while eating.

10/24/2006 - Read "The Anteater" in "Beast Feast" by Douglas Florian & "Please, Puppy, Please!" by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

"The Anteater" - I used this as a distraction during snack time to lower the volume of talking. This is a funny poem and engaged the interest of the students very well. I read it 4 times and they laughed every time and enjoyed. They loved the funny descriptive words, and it took all four times for them to get that it was termites being eaten not ants.

"Please, Puppy, Please!" - This is a greatly illustrated book. The students were drawn in by the photos, and were able to make great predictions from the repetitive words said in varied pitch and from the illustrations. I would use this again in the younger grades.

10/12/2006 - Read "Make Way for Ducklings" by Robert McCloskey (Caldecott Winner).

I used this book for a emphasis on safety and following directions. This was a theme this week since the school was practicing lock down drills. We also talked about the "penny" as one child put it, on the front cover. I asked the children to look at the pictures and to remember their favorite. At the end we talked about their favorite pictures and why they were their favorites.