Prompt 10: Recognizing Growth

            I could see significant progress throughout my activity plans. Although I have written plenty of lesson plans before this course, I had never written one for preschoolers and the format seemed stricter than what I was used to. Early on, I feel that I did a good job with including a lot of detail in my activity plans. As I progressed, I began writing in bullet points instead of long paragraphs with “teacher talk”. I used to think that quoting what I would say would be the easiest way to get my point across. I have learned that listing the information in bullet points makes it a lot easier to follow along.

            I noticed that it was very challenging to maintain the children’s attention during a lesson.  While writing my activity plans, I made sure to write it in a way that would keep the students focused. I noticed that a lot of students responded well with asking them to keep a secret just between us, asking them to help me find something I lost, and using different voices. I think it is important to have a strong anticipatory set in each activity plan to catch the children’s attention from the very beginning.

            One area I am still developing on as a future teacher would be writing and implementing assessments. On occasion I will struggle with figuring out what I feel is a strong assessment to use within my lessons. It is difficult to understand when you will complete the assessments when you are not yet a teacher. For now we only need to include them in our lessons, but there will come a time when I actually have to implement the assessments in my own classroom. By writing the different activity plans I feel like I have become more confident with my assessments. I feel like this is an area where “practice makes perfect.”

            Each of my activity plans made a connection with the material my students were learning in class. My first activity plan worked with the ABC’s and my second lesson worked specifically on the letter K. These two lesson plans made a connection because they both worked with letters. Activity Plan 3 dealt with mathematics. Because my class does not do a lot of math, I decided to work with measurement because I knew they had at least heard the word before in class. Before I began creating any of my lessons, I would check in with my teacher to see if she was comfortable with my idea for an activity.

            I have had such an amazing experience in my placement. I feel like a have grown as a future educator during my time at my school. I have never worked with this age group before so I was able to broaden my age range. I had a lot of “hands on” experience with the children and I was able to implement my own lessons. By implementing two of my lessons, I was able to see how unpredictable teaching can be. I understand now that you need to be prepared for any situation as an educator. My placement taught me how to think on my feet and expand my creative thinking.

            In my first prompt I said, “I believe that students need to learn from experience. I do believe that the students need to be pushed in the right direction, but I feel like teacher’s today spoon feed the material instead of letting the students find the answers.” I still agree with the philosophy of learning through experience. Young children should not be told everything they need to do. These children will not fully develop as a learner if they do not learn to explore and learn for themselves. If these children are “spoon fed” information, they will grow up depending on their teachers to give them all of the material. The Bullard text talks about how it is a teacher’s job to create an environment where the children can initiate the activities. 

Prompt 9: Social and Emotional Development & Communicating with Families

            I am very disappointed to say I have not experienced any sensory activities in my placement. The closest activity I would consider as a “sensory activity” would be when the children were recently finger painting. Although they were using their hands to feel the material, the teacher still had them follow rules of what colors to use and where. Therefore, all of the students created the same products.

            My children interact very well with each other and the teachers in the classroom. During play time, my children are very good with sharing items and including others in their play. They are very open to meeting new people and accepting them as one of their own. I notice that the children have a great amount of respect for their teacher. The children listen to what the teachers tell them and normally respond in an appropriate manner. I have never noticed any “talking back” to the teachers or other adult figures. When I arrived on my first day, the children were very interested to learn more about me. They asked me to read them books, push them on the swings, and sit with them on the carpet. They quickly accepted me into the classroom and began treating me like one of their “teachers”. They listen to me when I talk and they come to me with some of their problems.

            The Shallcross article states, “Soft skills might include teaching kids to work cooperatively in a group or teaching them how to think about the long-term consequences when they make a decision, whereas teaching physics is an example of a hard skill.” My teacher has done a great job with building a sense of empathy in the classroom. The children are very aware of others feelings and how their actions can hurt them. When the teacher witnesses a child being hurtful to another child she does not simply say “don’t do that”, instead she will talk to the child and ask them to verbalize what they did and how it could hurt the other child. By creating this sense of empathy, children are a lot less likely to hurt others feelings. I personally feel that this type of learning is crucial for a classroom environment. Soft skills are the skills that children will use throughout the rest of their lives. This type of learning could decide who they are as a person and how they carry themselves. I think this type of learning could be taught through videos, or allowing the students to role play different situations. I have seen role play as a very beneficial approach for young students to put themselves into the “shoes” of a certain situation.

            My teacher does a very good job of keeping parents “in the loop.” She frequently sends home classroom newsletters, and emails them with reminders or good news about the children. She has a snack calendar and concept calendar that she sends home as well. If there are any papers that need to go home the teacher will place it in the children’s cubby or totes for the parents to pick up. I do agree that there is a lot of pressure on families today with children attending these institutions. The Grose article states, “Schulte notes that working moms now spend as much time taking care of their kids as stay-at-home moms did in the '60s: 11 hours a week, compared with seven hours a week for working dads.” Some of these institutions have become very selective and demanding on the prospective families. If I wanted to strengthen the classroom-family relationship, I would create a classroom website. I feel that these websites are beneficial because the parents can find all of the information online and they can see pictures of their children and their work in the classroom. I enjoy the sentence from the Bullard text that says, “Regardless of socioeconomic status, a parent’s educational background, age, ethnic or racial background, or gender, numerous outcomes for children improve when families are involved.” 

Prompt 8: Health, Wellness, and Physical Development

In my classroom the children have about 15 minutes every day to run around outside or in the gym. I have noticed that this time can be cut short depending on how long it takes them to complete their work. The schedule is never consistent when it comes time for them to go to recess. During recess time the children are extremely active. They become very excited when it is time to go play because they have so much energy built up. When they get to recess the teacher encourages all of them to run around instead of participating in stationary play. I have observed a lot of indoor play due to the inconsistent weather. Indoor play limits the children to the materials that they normally have on the playground (swings, jungle gym, balance beam, slides, rock wall, etc). The Bullard text states, “children who play outdoors demonstrate better visual motor integration, imagination, and verbal and social skills than children who play inside.”

While observing my classroom, I have found no source of blocks and a very limited source of fine motor activities. The closest thing the classroom have to blocks are Legos. A lot of the children spend time building objects out of the Legos. The Bullard text talks about the different opportunities blocks provide. The text says, “While children build with blocks they develop mathematical skills, use symbolic representation, practice science skills, make use of literacy, exhibit social-emotional skills, demonstrate aesthetic awareness, and practice geography.” The teacher does not scaffold the children’s play when they arrive in the morning. The children have puzzles, crayons, markers, scissors, colored pencils, and tinker toys. These materials are the only ones I could even consider the classroom using for the children’s fine motor development.

My program would score really well on the Health practices item for ECERS. My teachers make sure the students blow their nose when it is running, wash and dry their hands in the bathroom, and use hand sanitizer before snack and after recess. During snack time the students are provided with healthy options. This normally includes; whole grain goldfish, applesauce, and fresh fruits. The teacher makes sure to always have an abundant supply for the students who have certain allergies. The only suggestion I would make to improve this item would be to display more pictures/posters about health reminders for the children. I believe my program would also receive a good score for the Safety practices item in ECERS. I have noticed that my teachers are very proactive when it comes to a student that could potentially get hurt. They make sure to always keep an eye on the students and prevent them from participating in hazardous activities. The only suggestion I would make for this item would be to display examples of possible hazards that the students could use as a resource. 

Prompt 7: Creative Thinking and Expression

            My classroom is not given as much time I feel they deserve to be creative. Everything is very scheduled and there is little space for any wiggle room. One thing my teachers are very good at, is allowing the students to share any ideas they might have. The teacher allows every students to have their voice be heard and is very accepting of all different answers. I have seen many examples of art, dramatic play, and music within the school day. These different activities normally do not overlap.

            My students are encouraged to come in at the beginning of the day and spend some time doing free play. The girls usually play with the dolls and cook in the kitchen while the boys play with the superheroes and trucks. During this time, the teacher does not facilitate the students or tell them what to do. The teacher will only chime in if the students are using the materials inappropriately. I have seen some of my children partake in sociodramatic play during this time. The Bullard text states that for play to be considered sociodramatic the children must, “engage in role-playing, make believe with actions and objects, have verbal and social interaction with at least one other person to coordinate roles and plot, and have a play theme that persists for 10 minutes or more”. I have seen this type of play more with the girls than the boys. The girls will coordinate a theme and play around with it for a while.

            My teacher facilitates a lot of art throughout the day. The children normally do at least two different art activities a day. They work with scissors, glue, paint, stickers, markers, crayons, and a lot of other materials. During art activities the teacher normally has an example of the product that the students will be making. By doing this, it gives students no room to be creative with their work. The teacher will go through the directions step by step instead of allowing the students to put together the materials on their own. The Bullard text states, “If children do not move beyond exploration they will not develop their full potential in the arts or be able to effectively use the arts as a tool for thinking, inquiry, and communication”.  It is important to supply students with an abundance of materials and allow them to partake in free exploration.

            One thing my students have that you do not see in a lot of schools anymore is a music class. They go to this class once a week and sing songs and learn dances with music. I have a big issue with the music class they attend. The music teacher is extremely strict and does not allow the students to be creative at all. She gets mad when students fidget in their spots, when they try and sing along with her, and if they do not do everything exactly like she says. This is heartbreaking to watch because I feel that it could potentially damage the student’s idea of music. Cutietta’s article says, “It is also important for your child to attend to and interact with music regularly”. This means students should be able to have fun with music and move their body if they feel like it. As for the children’s classroom teacher, she spends a lot of time singing songs about the days of the week, cleaning up, and songs to support different transitions. The Kemple article talks about how it is important for the teacher to participate in the music with the children instead of only directing. My teacher is very good with this aspect and always joins in as the students are singing and dancing.

            Creativity is key for younger learners. It allows them to do things on their own and learn without someone telling them what they need to know. I would adjust the creativity opportunities within my classroom. I feel that my students are not given enough time to explore and learn on their own. I understand that my teacher and school are a little old fashion, but that means there is only more room for improvement. As for art, I would still create different pieces of art with the children, but allow them to be creative with the materials. For dramatic play, I would supply the students with more materials (costumes), so they can become more involved. Although I cannot change how the music teacher approaches learning, I would play music more often in the classroom as the teacher and give students a chance to dance however they feel. The Connor’s article says, “When teachers and children move to music together, it is a unique social and bonding experience”. 

Prompt 6: Social Studies Thinking

            I have not observed a lot of social studies activities/materials within my classroom at my placement. The most materials my classroom has relating to social studies is an American flag, and different story books. One thing I have seen in my classroom is a picture of a less fortunate girl from another country. The school has been raising money to help her receive an education. My class also has a lot of different decorations talking about being nice to each other and being a good citizen. This idea if good citizenship is an aspect of social studies. As I have said before, my classroom is extremely focused on the language arts. The two bullet points that my class focuses on from the Mindes article includes: classroom community development, and foundational understanding for civic engagement. My teacher focuses a lot on the idea of working together as a class and accepting everyone for who they are.

            I have an extremely diverse Pre-K classroom. The different ethnic groups include: Caucasian, Asian, and Indian. A lot of the children have very different beliefs and lifestyles. I have not seen any issues with the mixture of culture within the classroom. The only thing I have observed is that one of the boys who is Indian (rarely speaks in class), refuses to hand any materials to the girls or interact with them. This type of behavior stems from his cultural background. Other than that, all of the kids have no problem working with one another, The Mindes article talks about how it is important for children to appreciate the diversity of their friends and classmates.

            My program does not have any support for bilingual or ELL students. All of my students speak fluent English except for the one boy in my class. Since I have been there, I have only heard him talk about 4-5 times with 1-2 words at a time. The teacher/aid do not know how to help him with his language struggles and they will occasionally do things for him if he does not understand what they are saying. The Tabors article says, “Children from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds may face social isolation and linguistic constraints in the classroom.” I think it is very important to immediately work with these children so they do not fall behind in class and miss out on a lot of experiences.  One support I have seen for second language acquisition would be classroom organization. The Tabors article talks about how having a set routine for activities, allows second-language-learning children to catch on and get into the flow of events.

Prompt 5: Scientific Thinking and Technology

            I have not observed a lot of science materials in my placement. I have noticed that my placement focuses on literacy and language development. The only form of science learning I have seen in the classroom would be from books. On occasion, the teacher will read a book about a different animal species, but they usually end up creating a piece of art from these stories instead of a science lesson. Due to the lack of science materials, my classroom does not have a science center. The Bullard text discusses a study that found only 50% of early childhood classrooms had a science center. This chapter also goes on to describe the different types of science centers a teacher could create. Some of these centers include: a multitude of science boxes with materials focusing on a certain topic, inquiry based center where the children focus on questions or answers to the questions, a discovery center where children are asked to explore different concepts, and a center that uses different inquiry tools that children can use throughout the classroom. Viadero’s article states, “I think a lot of preschool teachers aren’t aware of the fact that preschoolers can figure out things like they do, or make predictions as they do.” A lot of educators are unaware of the potential that students have in the classroom. Students are curious learners and it is important to use this curiosity while they are young so they can grow as learners.

            I have yet to see any technology being used in my classroom. The most technology I have seen consisted of my teacher taking out her phone and taking a picture of the class. My classroom focuses on books, letter/word activities, and making different crafts. The Bullard text describes how technology can be used in the classroom for students to create stories, illustrate ideas, produce presentations, conduct research, and engage with others through electronic means. I personally believe that technology should be incorporated occasionally in an appropriate manner, but not all the time.

            I think the role of technology in preschool is to aid students. It allows the students to become more engaged in the material in a different style. I think technology is a great way for students to share the work they complete in the classroom.  The Bullard text discusses how digital cameras can be used to record and document the children’s learning. These pictures can then be displayed to parents, in portfolios, as decoration, etc. The Virtual Preschool article discusses how it is now an option for students to have their own “virtual school” at home. The program includes digital learning materials, activity guides, learning analytics, and “homeroom teachers” that are all available online. This means that the students can engage in a preschool program without leaving their homes. I was extremely intrigued by this article. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of school becoming a technology based philosophy. I think the most important aspect in preschool is to have students playing and learning with other children around them. 

Prompt 4: Mathematical Thinking and Expression

            I have not seen a lot of math being practiced in my placement. I have observed a couple of mini activities that dealt with counting, but I have not seen them sit down for a math lesson or discussion. A couple math materials I have observed include:

• ·         Number line:  The number line helps students communicate different ways to add and subtract within the number line.
• ·         Number cards with pictures (1-10): This relates to the communicating and connecting processes. The classroom has cards with numbers 1-10 written on them. Underneath the number, each picture has the correct amount of objects. In the morning the teacher points the pointer at the numbers and asks the students to say which number he/she is touching. This allows students to practice their communication with numbers. They can also make a connection between the number and how many objects that number represents in the picture below it.
• ·         Number charts: One time I observed my students create their own number chart. They were given a bag of skittles and asked to separate them by color. They were then asked to count how many were in each color and fill in a chart with the correct marks. This type of activity uses the representing process. The children were able to represent the information by writing it down on a chart. The Bullard text says, “Children might use fingers, make tallies, create diagrams, produce graphs, make maps, or draw pictures to represent their knowledge.”
• ·         Different colored animals: These different colored animals can be used for counting, creating different patterns, or to practice grouping.
• ·         Counting books: Some of these books represent good problem solving situations that the students have to figure out together. The Bullard text describes the steps to problem solving as, “understanding the problem, making a plan for solving the problem, implementing the plan, and reflecting to see if the solution works or the answer makes sense.” A lot of these books are set up to take students through the steps of problem solving.  
• ·         Calendar:  The calendar uses the connecting process. The children connect that the date (the 17^th) is defined by the amount 17 that they use while counting. It also helps to show them how each day that goes by adds 1 more onto the last number. This works with their addition skills or subtraction skills depending on questions the teacher may ask them.

I have seen a lot of my students use the reasoning process to solve certain problems while they play. On occasion when I am playing with the students, I ask them why they are doing the things they do. Most of the children give me their reasons as to why and how they solve different problems. The teacher is also very good at asking questions to understand the students thinking processes. I have also seen different forms of communication with math between my students. When a lot of my children are asked “how much” questions, they usually hold the answer up on their fingers. The Bullard text says that children may communicate verbally or nonverbally.

The idea of number instinct is something that is hard-wired into our brain. The Carey article says, “Human beings, even if they live in remote cultures with no formal math education, have a general grasp of quantities as well, anthropologists have found.” Number instinct is something we do on a daily basis and it goes unrecognized. For example, let’s say someone is offered two different bowls that both have strawberries in them. One of the bowls is going to have more strawberries than the other. Of course, most people wouldn’t sit there and count out how many strawberries are in each bowl. Instead, our number instinct gives us the ability to know which bowl has more without counting.

Although I have not experienced a lot of math in my classroom, I have witnessed an activity where the teacher was building on the student’s idea of number instinct. My teacher would lay out 2 different piles of rubber animals. She would then ask the students to decide which pile has more or less without counting them. Sometimes she would line them up, while other times she would just put them into 2 different piles. I believe the best way to do an activity like this would be to do it with one child at a time. It could also be used as a good assessment tool to see where their knowledge of number instinct is.