Today, Ms. Carson let me take the attendence, and I'm surprised that I remember all of the students' names. Then we went to finish the Terry Fox walk, because the Grade.1s didn't get to complete 3 whole labs yesterday. We went with Ms. Jone's class, and each class was accompanied by 2 Grade.8 students, just to look after the little ones. Two of them sang along with the Grade.1s, and it was very nice to see them getting along like this. I believe that it has something to do with The Gators Day and how Mr. Yake and the teachers promote and emphasize on unity. Seeing older students and younger students working and playing together is very powerful, because what we usually see is a separation among different age groups. Parents would let cousins of the approximate age play together, because they play with the same things, and because older children might think that the younger ones are annoying. This few weeks in Greensborough really opened up my thinking horizon.

During recess, I witnessed quarrels among students. Two boys were being rude to another boy. Ms. Carson saw that and stopped them. She asked them how they would feel if their positions are reversed, and she asked them to apologize. However, they came back and said that the boy wouldn't listen, and he just covered his ears with his hands and kept saying "blah blah blah". Sometimes it's difficult, because that little boy is sometimes mean to other students too. Students at this young age might not have the social skills to work and play with different people, and it's important as educators to guide them and teach them as good people as well as good students.

Although it's not pleasant seeing the students quarrel, I'm happy that I haven't seen any students fighting against each other because of racial difference. Greensborough is a very diverse school, and students seem to work well with each other. I believe that addressing to difference is a learned phenomena, so we have to be careful what kind of messages to convey to students.

I did lots of photocopying today, and I also used the computer to make the October calendar with Ms. Carson. We did the word wall words today, where the students stand on the carpet, and they reach, crouch and clap while saying the words. For example, the word "at". The "t" is a word that's "up above the trees", and they would say "a" and clap normally, then say "t" and reach up higher and clap. "p" would be a "down on the ground" word, where they crouch down to clap. This activity gives them a physical and visualized concepts of alphabets and words, which I find really interesting. They'd repeat the spelling a few times, and then say the word "at". Through practice, they would know and internalize the word and the spelling.

After lunch, the class worked on patterning in Math. They were assessed today. I talked with Ms. Carson about assessment in Gr.1. The Professor in my "Teaching Math in P/J" course said that it's not really reasonable to assess Gr.1 students, because they are so new to the schooling system. They had to be there all day, which already makes them feel exhausted half way through. Ms. Carson also mentioned that they do not have the language and vocabulary to express themselves, which makes it hard for evaluation.

After school, two students gave me a hug and wished me a good weekend, which I think is very sweet of them. I'm excited in having students know me and feel comfortable around me. Ms. Carson said that I can bring in a picture book to read to them, and I'm feeling even more excited!