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On Friday, we took our kindergarteners on their very first field trip! Our destination: The Glazer Children’s Museum of Tampa. The Glazer Children’s Museum is like one giant, interactive play ground. Everything in the museum is hands on and integrates math, science, technology, art, imaginative play, and so much more.
Click on "Read More" to read more about this experience, how it benefited our students, and see pictures!
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Girls on the Run is an organization that I have been involved in with my sorority for two years now. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this organization, it is a 5K race for young girls set up with the mission to “inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.” Through a 10-12 week program, this organization helps these young girls train for a fun-filled 5k race, recognize their inner strength, build their confidence, become inspired, and celebrate who they are. On race day, supporters help these girls get ready with fun activities like a photo booth, colored hair spray, face paint, and nail painting. During the race, volunteers cheer these girls on and celebrate their victories with them. It’s an empowering event for the girls and all who are involved! This year I volunteered at the winter 5k in Tampa, FL. It was so exciting to see all the girls who came to participate, bright and early on a Saturday morning. Some came with friends, moms, dads, grandparents, and some came as a whole school team! While I was there I ran into my PRT (Partnership Resource Teacher) who told me that her daughter was running the race, and her husband would be running it with her. Their goal was to beat their personal best 5k time! She told me that her daughter has done this for a few seasons now and loves it! This is such a fun organization to support and volunteer for, and one that I would like to continue to work with! I would love to bring this organization to the school that I work at one day….! Teaching isn’t just about teaching our students content—but also about building those character traits, self-confidence, and so much more. Through Girls on the Run, we can help build strong girls and teach them valuable life-lessons outside of the classroom!
In the residency program, us residents like to take part in what’s going on outside of our classroom just as much as we enjoy taking part in activities inside our classroom. When we were invited by the math resource teacher to be a part of the STEAM night committee, we all jumped right in! Taking part in this experience not only showed us what it was like to work with other teachers outside of our grade level, but also showed us how much work goes into planning an awesome after school event. As interns, we not only attended the committee meetings, but also designed the flyer, tickets, posters, and found the connecting standards for each activity. We were excited to make this a night to remember for our school! STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. For STEAM night, it was our goal to incorporate all of these components into our event by having different stations catering to the various subjects. At the same time, we also wanted it to be themed to add an element of fun into the evening! We chose to do a polar express theme to go along with the name “STEAM” and the month of December. Each of the eight stations went along with our theme with names such as “Frosty’s Estimation Station,” “Snowball Shapes,” and “Melting Ice Caps.” When the students arrived, they each received a golden ticket which was hole punched after each activity they did. After participating in the eight stations, the students could get chili and watch The Polar Express with their friends and families. At the event, we also had the school choir and step team perform! The big night came and it was all we had hoped it to be! All of the teachers wore their pajamas to school that day to promote the program that evening. We all had fun with this—teachers and students! After school, we prepared our stations and made sure everything was ready for a great night. As soon as 5PM came, there was a line outside of the school with students and parents ready to come in. Our STEAM night lasted from 5PM-7PM… two full hours of learning for the 200+ students who came! We had exceeded our attendance goal and had one of the largest (if not the largest) after school events that our school has had! Everyone had a blast: students, parents, and teachers. The next day we received word that one parent was so impressed that she had even wrote about it on her Facebook page. We had students and parents coming to school the next day telling us how great of a time they had. It was surely an after school event for the books!
I am spending my Thanksgiving break at my parent’s home in Naples, Fl, where my mother is also a kindergarten teacher at our neighborhood school. While Hillsborough County has the entire week off, Collier County still goes to school on Monday and Tuesday, so my mother suggested I come to observe the teachers at her school.
On paper, her school and my school look nothing alike. My mother’s school has been an A school for 12 consecutive years, and my school has earned an average of a C grade over that same time period. Additionally, my mom’s school has only about 24% of students on free or reduced lunch and a 27% minority rate, where as my school has about 98% of students on free or reduced lunch and about a 91% minority rate. Seeing that there is such a difference on paper, I was curious as to how different it would look in the classroom. I visited 3 other kindergarten classrooms on the team, plus spent some time in my mom’s classroom. The first classroom I walked into was making Indian tribal hats using sticker shapes to make patterns on sentence strips. When they were done, they were doing a math worksheet that was also related to Thanksgiving. The students knew what had to be done and were working at their tables discussing their hats with their table groups. The teacher walked over to each table, looking at each student’s hat and either giving constructive feedback or a positive praise. She talked to them about their patterns, and where they should be “breaking their train,” (separating their pattern with lines). The students were really enjoying making their hats, and it was easy to see that there has been a lot of instruction about the Thanksgiving holiday in this classroom. In the next classroom, a reading block was taking place. At guided reading with the teacher, they weren’t reading guided reading books, but instead, a Thanksgiving poem. I am so used to only seeing guided reading books used in guiding reading, that it was first a bit surprising to me to see another text being used until I realized—why not?! We should be exposing students to all sorts of texts, not just some tiny book. After all, reading happens all around us, and it doesn’t just come out of a tiny book! Some students were writing in a quarterly writing journal about Thanksgiving at their seats. These notebooks were set up differently than the ones we use at my residency—they had a place for students to draw a picture and lines to write about what they drew. This is something that we have discussed in our writing coursework and love the idea of (especially in kindergarten), but have not seen it taking place in our school. It also had a space at the top for students to write the date, and circle what the weather is like today. Students knew where they needed to be and were working, but also taking pride in their work. One student was very excited to not only show me her writing, but also her neighbor’s writing. In the last classroom I visited, I also observed several activities taking place. Some students were painting a Thanksgiving picture, some were making pattern block necklaces, and some were working with the teacher to make a Thanksgiving picture frame. This teacher had more available time to explain in more detail some things to me, and I took away some great ideas: · Sight word BINGO: Each student receives a blank bingo card. Using the word wall, they choose sight words to fill in their card with. The teacher than randomly reads off the sight words. The first person to cover their entire card gets BINGO! A great, quick activity that has students practicing reading and writing their sight words! · Labeling: This teacher creates labels for most (if not all) of the students artwork. The students cut out the words, then place them on the appropriate place in the picture. (For example, students made turkeys and labeled their feathers, legs, etc.). This exposes them to more words, but also helps to build vocabulary and make it meaningful. An idea so simple, yet so helpful to their learning! · Scholastic “Let’s Find Out” series: This teacher enjoys this series to enhance science and social studies instruction. She often uses them as a filler in guided reading. Not only does this expose the student’s to different kinds of text, it also helps build vocabulary and is an easy way to integrate subjects. · Behavior Log: As part of her classroom management, she has a behavior log on a clipboard. When students are not following directions or are misbehaving, she has them sign in on this clipboard and check off the consequence they have received. This was a more private way for students to take responsibility of their actions, and it also serves as data for the teacher’s records and can be used during conferences if need be. Back in my mom’s classroom, students were getting dressed into their Indian outfits: paper hats made out of sentence strips and cut out feathers, brown shirts that were fringed and decorated with beads, and dyed macaroni necklaces. It was time for a Thanksgiving celebration with their 5th grade reading buddies. Even the 5th grade buddies came dressed in pilgrim hats! The kindergarteners read to their buddies a Thanksgiving poem and sang them Thanksgiving songs, then bonded over pumpkin pie, popcorn, and juice boxes. Each class took a picture in front of the life-size teepee that the kindergarteners decorated. It was a fun way to come together to read and give thanks to each other! One thing that really stood out to me that I saw constant in all of the classrooms was the integration of social studies in both math and reading. I noticed on their schedules that only a half hour each day was devoted to science/social studies. While this was upsetting to see at first because I LOVE both of those subjects, it brightened me up to see that these student’s weren’t lacking social studies instruction one bit. In fact, walking around listening to the students and observing their work around the room, I was afraid these students might actually know more about Thanksgiving than I do! I was so impressed that with my quick visits to four kindergarten classrooms, I saw social studies integration in every single classroom, no matter the subject. Another thing that also caught my eye in all four classrooms was that I only saw one worksheet—and it was used as an activity for students who finished early. Every single classroom had students doing an activity where their minds and bodies were at work. These activities also allowed for creativity, something that is sometimes forgotten in the stress of trying to teach a standard. With their minds and bodies busy, there was hardly any misbehavior that I observed in my time being there. Teachers did not have to remind students of behaviors or redirect their attention—students were engaged and therefore teachers were able to engage with them. Each teacher in all of the classrooms was working with students on some level—whether it was individual, small group, or whole group—and learning was actively taking place. I could write so much more about what I observed, but what really stood out to me the most were the attitudes of the students. They were all happy! They were smiling, taking pride in their work, and making those kindergarten memories that we all once experienced years ago and cherish till this day. These classroom visits truly captured what we all enjoyed about kindergarten and more—learning, making memories, and being a kid. After these classroom visits, I can see how this school has been able to stay an A school for 12 consecutive years. This made me think more about how learning was being portrayed at the school I am at. Here, learning seems so effortless, yet it’s constantly taking place. Students are learning in so many ways without having to pick up their paper and pencil. If our learning looked more like this, how much more would students be taking away? How would their attitudes about learning change? How would it improve student behavior? I truly feel that this is what learning looks like. I am so eager to take what I learned back to the classroom with me and one day [soon!] incorporate them into a classroom of my own. Each year in November, HCPS does the Great American Teach-In! For those of you that are not familiar with this, it’s the same concept as career day, where guest speakers come into our classrooms to talk about their jobs. My collaborating teacher (CT) invited her mom, who works for the Tampa Police Department. This morning, she came with another officer to tell our students all about what they do as police officers, and how to stay safe. They started off with the TPD’s version of the popular song “Call Me Maybe” (google TPD Call Me Maybe) to show our students the different departments that officers work in and what they use. Then, they showed another video about cell phone safety. Both of these videos were fun and humorous, and it was a great way to start off the lesson with the police officers. They were excited, and loved watching the videos! Then, the police officer showed our students the tools that she carries with her, and discussed with my students gun safety, car safety, and what to do in an emergency. Unfortunately in Hillsborough County, there have been events recently where children have accidently shot themselves or someone else with a gun, or have had to call 911 during an event like a home invasion. It was so important that they learned about being safe in those events because it has been happening all too often. Then we took our students outside to see the police car. They were SOOOO ecstatic! The officers showed them the front of the car, let them sit in the back seat, then also let them sit in the driver’s seat and turn the siren on! (People in the neighborhood must’ve been so confused with the siren constantly going on and off!)
While having the Great American Teach-In was wonderful and a great opportunity, I think that there was so much to be learned about our police officers today. Their time here was valuable to my students. I learned a lot from this experience—we can’t always teach our students everything we know from a book, and we can’t always take them out of the classroom… so why not bring the learning to us? We shouldn’t be limiting opportunities such as this one to one day a year! If you are learning about what scientists do, bring in a scientist. If you are learning about animals, contact your local zoo and see what resources they can provide you. Connect your lessons to the real world; after all, we are teaching our students all of these things to become successful lifetime learners! ***Yesterday during writing, I read a book about police officers to give students some background information for today’s teach-in. Today in writing, it was the perfect opportunity to write about everything that we learned from the book and our guest speakers! You can go visit the Reading and Writing section of my blog to hear more about that lesson and its successes :) Although they are not always posted on this page specifically, you can click on the content related pages for updates and reflections of what I am doing in my classroom! I am trying to get better about updating this page more; there is just too many exciting things to write about in the subject areas!
When I was browsing through the education board on Pinterest, I found this little gem called Mean Stinks and I literally thought I had struck a goldmine!
This pin combined two things I love so perfectly together: anti-bullying, and free resources. Yes, free. Mean Stinks is an ant-bullying campaign through Secret deodorant that is geared towards preventing bullying amongst adolescent and teen girls. They use fun tactics and products like painting your pinky nail blue, elastic bracelets that sport “mean stinks” and fun tshirts, designs, and sayings. They have also gained the support of former and current Disney channel stars like Demi Lovato and Zendaya. You’re probably asking why I even care since 5 year olds have a while to go until they adolescent age. I care so much because bullying can happen at ANY age, to BOTH genders. This means that I can still make it relatable to my classroom. The free resource kit included tshirts, bracelets, blue nail polish, posters, cards, and more. When I shared it with the other UTRPP students, they quickly sent away for their free kit, too. You can see in the picture at the top of this page how some of us came together one day to gang up for good by wearing our shirts and sporting our blue pinky! It has helped us all to grow our passion to stop bullying, and we been attempting to also bring it to our school. Being at a Title 1/Renaissance school, we have a high retention rate, meaning many of our intermediate grade students have reached, or are approaching, their adolescent years. This could really be a great program to reach out to them. I encourage you to learn more about the Mean Stinks campaign and send away for your own kit! Bullying has unfortunately become a big, everyday problem that we can’t become bystanders to. https://meanstinks.com/ The first few weeks of school came and went faster than I could blink! If this is any indication of how this year is going to go, then it will be over before I know it.
I experienced a lot in these first few weeks alone—a lot of learning, a lot of emotions, and a lot of young lives that I hope to make an impact on by the time I leave in May. I also experienced a “little” of things, like little time to catch my breath! But I’m pretty sure that most of the time this means that you’re doing something right..! This has been my first time seeing kindergarten through a teacher’s lens, and what an eye opening experience it has been. It’s so easy to forget that for many of these students; it’s their first time in school. In the beginning, our teaching seemed to somewhat resemble a broken record—constantly going over and repeating rules and procedures. One of my favorite moments was on the first day of school when one of our students was fascinated with the idea of raising her hand to speak. She would continuously raise her hand, just to tell us a story or what she was thinking. When she ran out of things to tell us, she raised her hand just to tell us she loved us. How innocent! Another one of my favorite moments was this conversation when we were returning from the lunch room: Student: “Ms. Cohen, what’s in your cup?” Me: “Iced tea from my lunch.” Student: “Oh. Can I have a sip?” Me: “No, sorry, we don’t share drinks at school.” 20 minutes later… Student: “Ms. Cohen, can I have a sip of your iced tea now?” After I had once again explained to her that we don’t share drinks at school and walked away to get my giggles out, I reflected on this conversation and other events similar to the hand raising story. We spend so much time in the beginning of the school year on rules and procedures, yet how are we benefiting our students by “drilling” these into their heads? We are handing students a list of rules and a specific way of doing things, repeating them over and over, and expecting them to follow. “No talking in the halls, no running in the halls, raise your hand to speak…” To us, this all makes sense. We tell our students not to talk and run in the halls so they don’t distract other classes or hurt themselves, and we ask our students to raise their hand to speak so students aren’t talking over each other and to avoid distractions while the teacher is teaching a lesson. WE know this, but do our students know this? Sure, we may explain why we do things when we first set our rules and expectations, but are we telling the reasoning why every single time we go over our rules and procedures? Are we having these class conversations and developing understanding? If we expect our students to follow these, we should also expect from ourselves that we are facilitating an environment where we can have discussions that are helping them to understand why. Better yet, having classroom meetings to discuss norms and expectations and create these “rules” as a class can bring a deeper and more personal meaning to following them. When students take ownership in something, they are more likely to follow through. As a teacher, we can teach them and hold them to that sense of responsibility. Wouldn’t this be more effective then repeating these rules like a broken record? When my student asked for a sip of my iced tea, my response was that we didn’t share drinks in school. I know why we don’t share drinks in school, but I failed to explain to her why we don’t. To her, if she is able to take a sip out of Mom and Dad’s drink, why can’t she take a sip out of Ms. Cohen’s drink? Failing to explain this to her on my part is most likely the reasoning why she asked again 20 minutes later, and this could have led to a great classroom meeting on social norms at school. That, or she was REALLY craving some iced tea… As part of being in the Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program (UTRPP), us teacher residents had the opportunity to participate in something that most interns don’t get the opportunity to see: teacher planning. If you’re a teacher, you can probably imagine some of the looks I got when I told people how excited I was for this. A whole week to plan?! Set up a classroom?! LET’S DO IT! People must’ve thought I had lost my mind.
But truth was, I had soooo many questions, and I was excited to learn the answers to them. What is it like setting up a classroom? How much can we prepare for before we meet our students? What do we teach students, especially kindergartners who haven’t been to school before, in the first couple weeks? How do we plan to set procedures and expectations in the classroom? Who are these students that are going to walk in bright and early on the first day?? And that wasn’t even all of my questions. Like I said, I had SO. Many. In Hillsborough county, teachers get 6 days for teacher planning, Monday-Monday. My mentor had stayed in her classroom to teach VPK, so there wasn’t much furniture that needed to be moved, or things that had to be organized. Although I would’ve liked to help with this, I’m not the strongest person, so maybe it’s best that it was already done! This left us lots of time to plan and prepare for the first nine weeks. This meant lots of copies, stapling, and writing names everywhere. Let’s just say I learned quickly how important it is to be fully stocked on paper, staples, and sharpies for teacher planning! But this also left a lot of time for me to review resources. Because our school has an extended hour for extra reading time, a lot of planning is focused on reading instruction. Two resources that my mentor showed me she used was The First 20 Days lessons, and Making Meaning. These explain step-by-step how to set up expectations and procedures for teaching reading, and where to even begin teaching their young minds. Along with individual and team planning, there were also faculty meetings. Each day, the faculty meeting covered a different topic, or aspect, of the school. There were of course the typical beginning of the year meetings that went over procedures, and need-to-know’s for this year. As residents, we were able to participate in the New Teacher meeting, which was really cool for a few reasons. We weren’t just being looked at as “the interns.” We were being treated equally with the teachers, and feeling like a part of the school community. But as interns, we were able to get a glimpse into what it’s going to be like as a new teacher one day really soon. So exciting! But the most thrilling meeting was that first meeting back on Monday morning when we were told about the changes that were going to be made this year. The overarching theme for this year is “Changing the Game.” The site that I intern at is a Title 1/Renaissance school. Statistically, schools like ours do not always have the highest test scores and student promotion rate. But luckily, our administration did not want to be a part of that statistic, and neither did the teachers! By changing the game—bringing in more positivity, encouragement, and collaboration amongst the entire school—our vision is to break free of that statistic. The excitement among the teachers and faculty was contagious! People were dancing on chairs and tables, and shouting with enthusiasm! The teachers were excited to teach—and when the teachers are excited to teach, the students will be excited to learn. What better way to get the year off on the right foot?! By the end of the week I was exhausted. My brain was fried. I probably hit the snooze button one more time than I should have. But, I was still just as excited as I was on Monday—for a different reason. I couldn’t wait to meet my new students Tuesday morning and have a great year teaching Kindergarten :) My first year interning was such an amazing experience! I spent two internships in two different classrooms, in two different schools, in two completely different grade levels. There were many ups and downs (more ups then downs, thankfully!) and MANY, MANY things learned. It seems so long ago, but I remember in August being so anxious and nervous to start. I had NO idea what to expect! I found this blog with advice for future interns, and I must say that after a year of interning, EVERYTHING on this page is so true! I wish someone had told me all of this, so now I am passing it along! Hopefully by the end of my residency I will also be able to pass along some advice, too :)
Please show this to anyone you know who is preparing to start their internship! http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/2013/01/whats-your-best-advice-for-student-teachers.html |