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!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
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!
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!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
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!
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!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Mar.26, 07
This morning, I taught a Language lesson based on what we did in Art class last week. They students made a garbage bag penguin in groups, so today I asked them to write a procedural piece on how they made the penguin. Before we began, I read them a book called “The Life of a Water Bottle”, written by my colleague, another student teacher’s Grade 6 class in Cedarwood Public School. They were impressed that 30 people worked together to create the big picture book. So I told them that each group was responsible for one of the pages, just like how our class has worked on the penguins in groups, dividing up the work within the groups. I believe that it is very important to give students positive feedbacks and encouragement when they did something good, because they need to know it. They are beginning learners who are experimenting and testing out limits all the time, and we as teachers must work together with them to ensure their learning.
Most students did really well in their writing, and I am very impressed. They seemed to enjoy it a lot and they showed me that they really did learn something!
In the afternoon, I did a Math lesson with the class. I divided them into two groups, one group wearing blue hats and the other wearing yellow hats. I made the hats before class, with a number from one to ten written on each hat. One problem that arose was that the students kept pulling on their hats, which were made out of construction papers, so some of them broke before the game started. Ms. Carson had to help them tape the hats so that I could move on.
I explained to the students that I was going to call out a number, and they had to work as a group to decide which numbers would add up to the number that I wanted. For example, if I called out 6, the students with the number 3 and 2 would stand at the middle of the carpet. The group who was faster and got the correct answer would get a point. Some issues arose when they were too excited in the game. One student was making fun of the other group because they had less points. To solve the problem, Ms. Carson helped me out and suggested that the group who yells would get a point deducted.
When I began to call out bigger numbers, I thought that they would try to get more people to stand in the middle, but they didn’t. So I would say something like, “I want 3 people to make the number 15.” Then they would start thinking how to make a sum with three numbers. Overall, the game went well, and I am pleased with how well they did!
Most students did really well in their writing, and I am very impressed. They seemed to enjoy it a lot and they showed me that they really did learn something!
In the afternoon, I did a Math lesson with the class. I divided them into two groups, one group wearing blue hats and the other wearing yellow hats. I made the hats before class, with a number from one to ten written on each hat. One problem that arose was that the students kept pulling on their hats, which were made out of construction papers, so some of them broke before the game started. Ms. Carson had to help them tape the hats so that I could move on.
I explained to the students that I was going to call out a number, and they had to work as a group to decide which numbers would add up to the number that I wanted. For example, if I called out 6, the students with the number 3 and 2 would stand at the middle of the carpet. The group who was faster and got the correct answer would get a point. Some issues arose when they were too excited in the game. One student was making fun of the other group because they had less points. To solve the problem, Ms. Carson helped me out and suggested that the group who yells would get a point deducted.
When I began to call out bigger numbers, I thought that they would try to get more people to stand in the middle, but they didn’t. So I would say something like, “I want 3 people to make the number 15.” Then they would start thinking how to make a sum with three numbers. Overall, the game went well, and I am pleased with how well they did!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Mar.19, 07
Today, I read the story "Little Whistle's Dinner Party" to the students. I noticed that no matter how much they like to talk to each other during lessons, they are always attentive during read-alouds. They want to listen to the story, participate on predicting what might happen next, and they love to know what's on the next page. Therefore, it is important to engage them with quality learning. It is also a good way to hear them think aloud.
After reading the story, I told the students that they will be writing creative stories about their own toys. They can make up anything they want. They loved that! We brainstormed the potential ideas to place in the 5 Ws. However, they didn't have time to start their writing right away, because they had to go to gym. After they came back from gym, one student said to me, "It's too bad that we didn't get to write the story." I was surprised that she made this comment, and I also felt happy that she was interested and engaged.
After recess, they were off to write on their own. I was surprised by a few of the students who tend to trouble writing. Some of them wrote really creative stories! As teachers, we should try different topics to see what our students are interested in. In this case, I wouldn't know their creative talents if I didn't assign this writing assignment. A few students were confused and wrote a retell of the story. Although they were on the wrong track, their ability to retell the story showed me that they have improved in that area. Their writing was clear, and the pieces would have been fabulous retelling pieces.
Before lunch recess, I was walking to the office to photocopy something when I saw an elderly Chinese man standing at the stair case. I saw him about 2 weeks ago, and I've asked him in Chinese if he needed any help, but I found out that he was just waiting for his grand child to come down to get the lunch. Today when I saw him again, he waved at me. I felt really warm from the inside.
After lunch, I taught the students an Art lesson on recycling. I brought in garbage bags, newspapers, and scrap papers to show them how to make a "garbage bag penguin". They worked in groups, and I could tell that they were having a lot of fun! Group work is sometimes hard because they would start arguments and there would be problems in sharing, but I believe that if the work is fun, then they would be able to handle it.
After reading the story, I told the students that they will be writing creative stories about their own toys. They can make up anything they want. They loved that! We brainstormed the potential ideas to place in the 5 Ws. However, they didn't have time to start their writing right away, because they had to go to gym. After they came back from gym, one student said to me, "It's too bad that we didn't get to write the story." I was surprised that she made this comment, and I also felt happy that she was interested and engaged.
After recess, they were off to write on their own. I was surprised by a few of the students who tend to trouble writing. Some of them wrote really creative stories! As teachers, we should try different topics to see what our students are interested in. In this case, I wouldn't know their creative talents if I didn't assign this writing assignment. A few students were confused and wrote a retell of the story. Although they were on the wrong track, their ability to retell the story showed me that they have improved in that area. Their writing was clear, and the pieces would have been fabulous retelling pieces.
Before lunch recess, I was walking to the office to photocopy something when I saw an elderly Chinese man standing at the stair case. I saw him about 2 weeks ago, and I've asked him in Chinese if he needed any help, but I found out that he was just waiting for his grand child to come down to get the lunch. Today when I saw him again, he waved at me. I felt really warm from the inside.
After lunch, I taught the students an Art lesson on recycling. I brought in garbage bags, newspapers, and scrap papers to show them how to make a "garbage bag penguin". They worked in groups, and I could tell that they were having a lot of fun! Group work is sometimes hard because they would start arguments and there would be problems in sharing, but I believe that if the work is fun, then they would be able to handle it.
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