April.30, 07: Teaching Block Day 15

I read a story to the clas last Friday called "The Puddles", and I planned to do the puddles experiment with them today. I showed them how to do it -- choose someone from their group to pour water onto a styrofoam plate, draw a circle around the puddle with marker, then pick a safe location to put their plate. However, my circle was already smudged when I brought it over to the window, even when I walked really carefully. So, one student suggested that we move the plate to where we want it to be first, then we can draw the circle. That way, it won't smudge! I think it's a great idea, so we decided to do that. Sometimes, students give really good suggestions, and they are very happy that we accept their ideas. They worked in groups of four, and only one or two arguments came up. I'm feeling more comfortable to let them work in groups now.

In the afternoon, I taught them how to make change with money. I have been changing the prices of the washroom passes, drinking pass and the items that they are allowed to buy in the morning and during Math lesson. The prices went up when I wanted them to count greater amounts, but I lowered them today because I want to teach them how to make change. They only had nickels in their banks, and the things that they purchase range from 1 cent to 4 cents, so they require change for every item they buy. In the beginning, after I explained how it works, a lot of students said that they didn't get it. Then I went on to show more examples, and I had students buy things and think aloud to make the change. Before I asked them to work on pretend buying with their partners, most of them got it.

When I walked around to see how they were doing, they were thinking aloud the way I did during the lesson, and I was very impressed. They were processing the information and thinking while they play and enjoy themselves. I had a worksheet for them, but I didn't want to rush into it before they fully understand the concept, so I'll push that to tomorrow instead.

April.27, 07: Teaching Block Day 14

I did the morning routines with the class this morning. Usually, I'd do the morning message with them, then I'll pass it on to Ms. Carson. But today, I did the mornig message, the calendar, and the word wall clapping with them as well. I've seen Ms. Carson did it for many times, so I'm quite familiar with it. I was surprised by how well they behave today, because they could get pretty noisy in the morning. The boy who led the calendar routine was shy at asking questions at the beginning of the week (each student gets a chance to lead the calendar routine for a week), but he has improved throughout the week and he has begun to ask questions (e.g. What day is it today?).

Ms. Carson told me who to choose to lead the word wall, so I chose that little girl. But some of the students were not happy with it, because she has led many times before. I didn't really know what to do, but I told them that she didn't lead yesterday. I need to be careful with this next time, because they would notice things like this and think that it's unfair.

Today is the Earth Week Assembly, and most of the students in my class wore green. A few of them didn't, so Ms. Carson made them green necklaces so they wouldn't feel left out. I think it is a very good learning moment for me, because I would know to prepare for events like this so everyone would feel included.

April.26, 07: Teaching Block Day 13

I went on a Spring Walk with the students today. I wanted to do this earlier on in the unit, but the weather didn't feel like Spring and it would be pretty cold to walk outside. I made an observation chart for the students, and asked them to use their 4 senses (eliminating taste) to take note of the signs of Spring. Ms. Carson and I guided them to look at signs like the buds on the trees and hearing the birds chirping. When we came back, they drew a picture of their walk and used their chart to write in sentences. Some of the pictures were really realistic and captured the moments vividly. I think they really enjoyed it!

In the afternoon, I played a game of adding coins with the class. We've played a similar game before, so it didn't take them a long time to understand how to play it. However, one group was doing a lot better than the other, because of their abilities and their cooperation. I emphasized that the main thing about the game is not what they know and how well they do it, but it's about working as a team. If I can do it again next time, I'll divide up the groups rather than let the pick, so the "losing" group wouldn't feel so bad.

April.25, 07: Teaching Block Day 12

Today, I started recording the temperature with the class. I told them what a thermometer is, and I hung it on the window. I taught them how to read the temperature, and created a chart with them. We will be recording the temperature 2 times a day -- in the morning and in the afternoon, to see how it changes. They were very eager to be picked to be a temperature reader! And they had fun guessing what temperature it is too!

I brought 5 fake plants from home today and taught them how to make observations. I had one plant for each group, and I planned to rotate the plants so all of them could do all 5 observations. However, they were working at different speeds, and it was hard to rotate. I didn't want the slower students to be unable to finish each plant, and I didn't want the faster students to wait for so long. So I decided that they could switch seats with students from other groups, so they could work at their own speed. Luckily, it went well, and the students were all working. I think I'm getting better at classroom management, which I believe is the most difficult and tiring thing about teaching.

April.24, 07: Teaching Block Day 11

Yesterday, Ms. Carson talked about Earth Day with the students. Today, I taught them about Earthworms and how they help the earth as recyclers. They were very excited when I read them the book "Diary of a Worm", because it is cute and funny. Then I discussed with them about some interest facts about worms and put them on chart paper under four headings -- The Body, What They Eat, What They Do, and In Winter. Next, I taught them how to create an information pamphlet, and I paired them up. Most of them worked very well together, but some had problems and kept complaining. One of the groups complain about every little thing almost everyday. I only intervene when they get too loud, but otherwise, I want them to solve the problems themselves, because they argue over the tiniest things like whose name should go first on the front page. They need to understand that they have to get over it and focus on more important things.

In the afternoon, I read "The Penny Pot" to the students and counted money with them as the story proceeds. After that, I let them work in pairs again, to estimate and count coins. I felt really good when a girl came to me and said, "Ms. Chung, I think I get it! I'm getting better at money now!" She was so excited and she felt so proud. I was really touched!

Since last Friday (the day after Science Centre), I wasn't feeling very well. I'm losing my voice. I'm glad that the students were pretty good today, and although I couldn't raise my voice when I taught the lessons and read the stories, they listened and paid attention. Things are going well and I'm feeling very comfortable in the classroom.

April.23, 07: Teaching Block Day 10

I'm already half way through my teaching block, time passes so quickly! A week passes by like a blink of the eye, but when I reflect on my day, it would seem like it happened a few days ago. It's weird.

Just like how Peni has predicted, I have changed my plans throughout my block. At the beginning, I was suspicious about it because I would like to stick with my plans since I spent so much time putting the units together. However, as I got used to being in the classroom and teaching everyday, I begin to think that it's ok to change my plans according to the needs of the students. Plus, there's always things that I suddenly come up with that would be useful for the lessons.

On Friday, the Eggshell People's hair have grown a lot. I thought that it would be a great idea to give them a haircut today (Monday). So I gave the students paperclips, like what I did before, to measure the grass hair. After they measured the longest piece, they recorded it in the chart. I was surprised by how quick they did it today, because they had trouble with the measuring last week. I'm impressed that they have learned how to do it and are getting good at it.

I find that webs and charts help students organize their ideas better, so I made a web to help them write about the growth that they see in their Eggshell People throughout the week and a half. Their writing are much more detailed with all the headings covered. They were really excited to take home their Eggshell People today!

I'm also very impressed by how well they understand money now. Most of them have improved a lot compared to the beginning of the unit. Most of them now understand the concept of 2 nickels in a dime and 5 pennies in a nickel. They think about it when they need to buy things from me, and as they get practical experience on a daily basis, they are getting really good at it!

April.20, 07: Teaching Block Day 9

We did a Science Centre Trip writing today. I made a brainstorming web with the headings "Going There", "My Favourite Part", "My Least Favourite Part", "What I Learned" and "Coming Back". This would help the students with organizing their writing, because there were so much that happened during the trip, they might not rememeber everything that they want to say, or they might not know where to begin. This would give them guidance as to how to approach the writing. I listened to them sharing their experience, and I felt good when I knew what they were trying to describe to me. For example, when a student was describing the cave, I said, "Oh yeah, and there were bigger kids who were trying to scare us!" And then he said, "Yeah, I scared people too! I scared YOU when you came in!" We shared, discussed and laughed, and I really enjoyed it.

In the afternoon, I signed out the computer and let them play an online money counting game. They spent a long time typing the addresses last time we used the computers, so I printed a large picture of a keyboard and coloured in the keys ".", "/", "~" and "#" so I could point to them when they type. I also pointed to the letters so they could find them more quickly. They really liked the game, but some of them got bored after a while. So I typed in another address for them and they played another game. Using the computers with the Grade Ones is very time consuming, but I think that as they get used to it and use it more often, they'd do it more quickly and easily.

April.19, 07: Teaching Block Day 8

We went to the Science Centre today! The students were very excited! I remember that when I was little, I always enjoyed the bus rides. On the way there and on our way back, I taught two girls in my class to make origamis. They were really happy about it, and some other students peeked and wanted to make some too. I made a bond with a student in Ms. Jones' class, because I made her something and she found it really amazing.

When we arrived at the Science Centre, we divided the students into groups (one adult was responsible for 4 students). Then they were free to play and explore. I wished that I've looked at information and studied about the things in Science Centre, because I wasn't sure of how the machines work or what they mean. It would be more beneficial and educational to students if I could just sneak in a scientific comment or explanation when they were exploring. This could be my homework for next time!

By the end of the day, I was exhausted. It's natural for children to run around in a fun place like this, but running around to keep watch of them and keep them together was really tiring. I even started to get a sore throat! After yesterday's bad experience and today's fun and tired day, I believe that the rest of my teaching block would be much easier!

April.18, 07: Teaching Block Day 7

Ms. Carson wasn't feel well today, so she didn't come to school. I was greeted by a substitute teacher when I arrived in the morning. The teacher was loud and threatening. He would yell at the kids even when they were only talking quietly. He was impatient, and he tried to bribe them with large money amounts (coin manipulatives) like 10 dimes, whereas I only give them a penny, nickel or dime when a group is working quietly. And it didn't work for the students at all. They weren't even excited about the "award".

His tone sounded demeaning. None of the students called his name throughout the day except for when he first came in. But one student told me, "Mr.xxx looks like he is sleeping." When I looked, he was sitting behind the teacher's desk, with his eyes closed. Perhaps he was only closing his eyes for a second, but I wasn't sure about that.

During Math lesson, while I was helping other students, I heard him trying to help a lower kid, but he was being very impatient with her and he spoke really loudly. Being a student teacher, I wasn't sure of what I could do. He started the morning, but I taught for most of the day, so the afternoon was OK. Also, he kept saying to me that finding a full-time teaching job is not about what you know, it's about who you know. He said that it's all about politics. I didn't feel like I should argue with him or say anything, so I just kept smiling and trying to talk to him most of the time. But the day was awful! I felt like I need to protect the students, but I couldn't really do anything.

The day after, I told Ms. Carson about it, and she said that two other teachers also heard him yelling at our students. So she went to the office to let them know not to get him again. When I think about it, I feel so lucky that I'm in Ms. Carson's class. I have heard bad things about irresponsible host teachers, and I am really glad that I am in a good school with all the support that I can get. It would be very depressing to work in a poisoned environment everyday.

April.17, 07: Teaching Block Day 6

Yesterday, I saw that our grasses were starting to grow, so I decided to do some measuring today. I asked the students why do they think the Eggshell People's "hair" has grown, and led them to tell me that plants need water, soil and sunshine to grow. Then I showed them how to use paperclips to measure how long their Eggshell People's hair are. Before, I have planned to use rulers to measure, but when I checked the curriculum, Grade Ones are not expected to measure in standard units. When I think about it, it makes a lot of sense, because they need to understand what measurement really means before being thrown with units that don't make sense to them. I taught them how to measure the shortest and longest piece of hair and record it in a chart. Then they wrote a journal, in the perspective of the Eggshell Person, that includes the measurements.

The measuring part was kind of difficult for them, because they had to be careful with the eggshells and they had to choose the shortest and longest (or approximately) piece of hair from the bunch of grasses. But they did it! However, some of them cracked their eggshells. Next time, I need to tell them that if it's not necessary, don't touch the eggshells.

In the afternoon, I reviewed the relationship of pennies, nickels and dimes with the class. Then we counted and skip counted together. I showed them how to play the game "Collecting Dimes", where they would replace 5 pennies with a nickel and 2 nickels with a dime. In the meantime, I picked groups to water their plants. I saw the some of them were kind of confused as to how to play the game, so I clarified it with some of the groups. At the end of the day, Ms. Carson suggested that I play it again with them tomorrow as a class, just to make sure that they understand. I believe that it is important to step back when things aren't going in the right direction. It is useless and more time consuming to push ahead when most of the students are not understanding.

April.16, 07: Teaching Block Day 5

The seeds that we put into our Eggshell People grew over the weekend! Now all the Eggshell People have hair! The students were so excited about it!

I taught the class about plant parts today. I thought that it would be fun to add some music and movements in the lesson, so I went on the Internet and found a movement song about plant parts. Last term, I took a course called Music Pedagogy, and it is very helpful to me as a teacher. The professor taught us how to incorporate music into our everyday classroom, and how to teach them songs by rote. It was a fun course, and I really learned a lot from it. I feel happy that I can apply it in my teaching and it actually worked well. I think the students had fun, and the movements helped them remember the locations of various plant parts.

The class was pretty chatty today. Most of them were talking about what they were doing, so I didn't really intervene much. However, I think that I should tell them beforehand that if they are done, they'll work on their unfinished work. It created some confusion for me and my students because I wasn't clear, and I had to look through the pile of work to find the students' work for them. If I can do this lesson again, I'll organize all of their unfinished work first, so they can easily access them and minimize the wasting of time.

In the afternoon, I started our Math lesson with selling and buying things. Counting up the money to "pay" me is a very strong incentive for students to want to learn. A lot of the times, they weren't really interested in what items they are buying, as long as they can buy something. I will start each Math lesson with this buying exercise so they can have more practice and more fun at the same time. I also let them know that I only pick people who are quiet, who sit properly and who listen. This is working well so far.

I taught the students how to use different coin combinations to make the same amount of money. I also introduced the class to the relationship of pennies, nickels and dimes. I showed them examples and made sure that most of them understand before letting them explore with the coin manipulatives. I think that money is a very abstract concept for kids, because they don't use them on a regular basis. I let them explore and gave them guidance when they needed them. Today, again, was tiring, but enjoyable!

April.13, 07: Teaching Block Day 4

It's Pajamas' Day! I wore my pajamas to school for school spirit. I always think it's fun to dress up on Halloween, to make a wacky hair on Wacky Hair Day, to wear pajamas on Pajamas' Day. It helps get the students into the school spirit, and they feel very excited when their teachers are having fun too!

Today, I read a book called "When Will it Be Spring?" to the students. We used the book as a guide to fill in our Spring mind map. We talked and discussed about what we see, hear, touch and smell in Spring. The students are all enthusiastic, because I believe that looking at the seasonal changes is a very natural interest for children. Everything fascinates them, and seeing how the snow melts and flowers bloom can be very exciting. It is very important to let them talk about their experiences and observations, because other students who are listening would get to hear about different people's experience and knowledge of Spring. They become engaged in the conversations, which can be really productive.

I asked the class to think about some of the things about Spring that they don't quite understand. For example, why does it rain so much in Spring? When animals come out from hibernation, are they really hungry? I got them to think about their inquiries, and then I taught them to write a letter to Spring. Two days ago, they wrote a letter to say goodbye to Winter, and now they are writing a letter to say hello to Spring and ask questions about it. They had fun coming up with the questions! This information will also help me because I can take a look at their questions and try to answer them in following classes. It is important to know what students want to know.

In Math, I taught a lesson on the relationship between pennies and nickels. First, I read the "Coins" poem with them to review the values of pennies and nickels. Then I asked them how would they pay for a washroom pass, which is 5 cents. So we started talking about how 5 pennies is the same value as a nickel, because both equal to 5 cents. So they can either give me 5 pennies or a nickel when they need to get a washroom pass. Since they enjoy paying for the passes, this gets them to think about what I am teaching them, because they don't always have 5 pennies in their buckets. When they don't, they'd have to pay me in other ways.

Then we did some selling and buying. I have a little tray with bookmarks and origamis in 4 sections, with 4 different prices. I asked for people who wants to buy something, and then walk the students through how to make a purchase. They really enjoyed doing that! Every single hand went up when I asked who wants to buy something.

After that, I gave each of them a gamesheet and a die to play the pennies and nickels trading game. Through the game, they were practicing how to exchange a nickel with 5 pennies. I think that it is useful to let the students play with the money, or else they'll get bored and Math and money are not fun anymore. Being boring is the last thing that we want to do!

April.12, 07: Teaching Block Day 3

Today we finished up our Winter letter lesson. I taught them how to use the writing checklist to self-edit their writing. So from now on, when they finished any writing, they would check it with their checklist before raising their hands.

In the afternoon, we played Money Bingo. I made 20 different Bingo sheets, with the values of the coins. Above each column is a letter -- M, O, N, E or Y. I would call out, for example, "penny in the M column", then the students would see if they have any "1c" in the M column. If they do, they'd put a penny (coin manipulative) on that specific box. The game continues until someone fills in a whole row, column, or diagonal line.

As a modification for the students who might be confused, I held up a big card with the picture of the coin as I called out the coin name. For example, when I called out "a dime in the O column", I'd hold up a picture of the dime, so the students who weren't sure how much is a dime would have the reference to help them.

The class enjoyed the game, but I think that they got over-excited, and I wasn't able to calm them down. I still need to work on classroom management in terms of controlling the noise level. I understand that they were trying to figure out what to put on their Bingo sheet and that the noise level expressed their enthusiasm, but they should not go too overboard.

April.11, 07: Teaching Block Day 2

For the first week of my block, I'm teaching periods 4, 6 and 7, because Ms.Carson needs the morning to do some catching up with the students. Today after recess, I taught the class how to write a letter saying goodbye to Winter. We brainstormed some of the things that we enjoyed doing and talked about why we couldn't do something anymore in Spring. Then they started writing their letters.

After lunch, I used the Smart Board to teach patterning. This is my first time using the Smart Board, and it is amazing! I created a template with different coins and scrambled them. I showed the class how to drag the coins on the Smart Board, and how to write and erase. I told them that I only pick people who are quiet to come up and answer questions on the Board. The whole lesson was really quiet, because they were all waiting for their turns. At the beginning, I asked one person to come up to do each patterning and the writing, but too many others wouldn't have a chance to come up. So I divided each pattern into 3 parts, so one student would create the pattern, one would write the pattern name, and one would write the pattern in numbers.

After doing the patterning as a whole class, I handed out a worksheet to each student and they worked on it on their own. The ones who were finished early were able to finish up their money booklets from yesterday. Today was fun but tiring!

April.10, 07: Teaching Block Day 1

Today is the first day of my teaching block, and I'm very excited! The students applauded and cheered when Ms.Carson told them that I would be here everyday for a month. This is a good start!

I brought an egg shell for each student (and for Ms.Carson and myself) to make Eggshell People. First, I showed the class how to draw a face on the egg shell with markers. Then I made a name for my Eggshell Person. When they understood what they had to do, I handed out an egg to each student when they went back to their desks. They had a lot of fun drawing the faces! Only one student broke the eggshell, which was a surprise for me. I prepared extras just in case. When they were done, they raised their hands and me and Ms.Carson went around to put soil and grass seeds in their eggshell. I didn't want them to do that on their own because the eggshells are very fragile. But they saw us doing it in front of them, so they witnessed the process. I also showed them how to water them.

During recess, three boys came up to me -- one was crying, one looked scared, and the other was a friend of theirs. The crying boy said that he got punched in the stomach. The scared boy explained that he didn't mean to, he only wanted to hit the ball. So I asked the crying boy if he thinks it's an accident or not, and he said he doesn't know. I asked him if he thinks the other boy did it on purpose, and he said no. The third boy said that it's probably an accident. So it's resolved, and I let the crying boy go to the office. I think that it is necessary to clarify and let the boys know what have happened and what was wrong, because they need to know when if it's an accident, there is nobody to blame.

After recess, I taught the class to write their first Eggshell Journal, using their Eggshell People's perspectives. E.g., "My name is Smiley. First, Ms.Chung made my beautiful black eyes so I can see the world." I encouraged them to use adjectives and write descriptive sentences. E.g., What are those black eyes for? To see the classroom, the sky, the birds, etc. Most of them got it! I gave lots of individual help to Josh, and it helped a lot just to be beside him.

In Math class, I told students stories about the Canadian coins, and they were very engaged. I found that they knew more than I thought about money, which is good.
I taught them how to do sketches with the coins to make a booklet, with sentences saying how much each coin worths. They had fun with the coin rubbings, and I think today is a very good start for my teaching block!