Molly+Sternberg

Molly Sternberg Haw Creek Elementary 3rd Grade Fridays 8-10:30 11:30-2:30

Friday, Sept. 29 It took a while for me to actually get into the school. The only day I have avaliable to go into schools is on Friday and they always seemed out of the class for some reason or another. As soon as I walked into the class I knew this was going to be a positive expierence. I aws greeted by a class full of smiling faces and a welcoming host teacher. After introducing me I took a seat at the back table ready for a long day of observations. I stay from 8-10:30 to 11:30-2:30. As the teacher carried on with her daily routine she would occasionally stop by and address questions I had. During the morning they have a morning work period, reading, STAR group, writers workshop and math. During the reading period I took the time to introduce myself to some of the students and read next to them. I also worked with a boy as he made his way through the AR test. I sat and observed the STAR groups. One of the specialists who came in to work with a group was focusing on a small reoccuring ascpect of a picture book, such as a mouse, and why it was appearing on every page. It was fascinating to see the kids thought process as they realized why illustrators include bits like this. During writers' workshop I wandered around the class talking to the students' about their work,,working on developing ideas, or editing their work. They have this time to write about anything they please. It goes through three editing phases- self, peer, teacher- before they publish it. Math today was not the most grabbing activity. They did mutiplication word problem worksheets. I was totally and completely amazed at how well the students behaved and stayed on task. The teacher used a calm, collected voice the all the students responded to and respected. I left for lunch, looking foward to seeing what the afternoon would hold, but due to sad news of the death of a friend I did not return in the afternoon.

Friday, Oct. 6 Today the class went on a frield trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway

Friday, Oct. 13 Finally back in the classroom. The host teachers schedules and mine don't seem to be lining up to well! She was at a workshop, and I spent the day with a sub. As I have always been intersting in being a sustitute, I figured this would be a very intersting learning experience. She knew the students well and also had children at Haw Creek elementary. She well very casual and talked to the students like they were anyone. I appreciated this about her and it made me feel comfortable in the classroom. What I found to be the hard thing about having a substitute in the classroom is that the work they do with them is mostly book and worksheet based. The students did an amazing job still at staying on task. They didnt seem to mind the worksheets one bit. During reading time I read //The Missing Piece Meets the Big O// on the beanbag with a student and it felt good to connect one-on-one. I was able to work with one of the STAR groups. It was a small group of only four, but a great size. I made sure to keep the conversation flowing, but they didn't particularly need my help. Because I hadn't read the //The Littles// it was hard for me give to much input. They decided the topic of the story and wrote a page summery of the book, then read the summeries to oneanother. Some of them provided feedback and asked questions. The most exciting thing about today was that it was school picture day! Hooray. All of the students were wearing their very bast clothes, drsses on, hair gelled. This todo took up a large portion of the morning. I parted the girls hair and brushed it with my fingers. Many of them practiced their smiles with me and of course they all looked fabulous. It is excting to see a group of youngsters warming up to you. I had a very interesting conversation about AR tests, STAR groups and title 1 schools. During the afternoon I went to my first music lesson. Right after we first arrived the three boys who are often taken out of class to work seperately arrived, without their music folders. I walked back to the classroom with them and boy was it was wild! The wildest child, who most would say is often out of control, I saw in a great light. As he was running through those halls, with me trailing behind and not listening to a word I said, he was totally glowing. He showed us the shortcut through the school, which including right through the middle of the media center. He darted into all of his old teachers rooms and in the middle of their lessons he interrupted giving them a high-five or a hug. While at first i felt responsible for this unruly behavior, I soon recognized that this was his time to be free. All of the people we encounted realized this as well. Everyone gave me and him a kind smile and his old teachers had a quick chat with him before returning to their lessons. Back in the music room was quite and interesting experience. I did everything as the kids did- stood, sang, sat when they did. They were practicing for their winter holiday concert. I found it kinda funny that while they are recognizing many different cultures' ways of celebrating and creating a very culture sensitive concert they are not connecting what each holiday is or means.
 * Molly-**
 * Although you are having trouble getting to fieldwork it sounds like your experiences there have been good. I think that it's great that you got to work with a sub that your really liked that can often be a weird interaction. It's really great to hear that some of your third graders are self-motivated enough and have enough understanding of story context to be able to write a summary of a book without teacher assistance. It sounds like you are having a good time. Good luck with the rest of the semester.**
 * -Robin**

Friday, Oct. 20 - I have been noticing the different ways the students summerize the daily reading in their STAR groups. Today they made a sort of comic strip with 5 or 6 boxes. They then had two bubbles underneath each picture to write two main points or details of the picture. They then have several minutes to share. All of the students responded very positivly to this method. In math they were working on arrays. The students created any picture they pleased and then counted the rows and columns. Their pictures ranged from robots to flowers to T.V.s and Nintendos. If there was still time they were able to color in the arrays and the paper. During Language Arts the class did a great activity that explored verb usage/synonyms. They all gathered on the floor and the teacher read boring sentences with words such as "walked" and "ran." She then read more sentences with exciting, desciptive words such as "strolled" and galluped." They discussed why descriptive words were important to a piece of literature. In groups of four, they each receive a "boring" verb and were to write as many synonyms as they could on post-it notes. After 5-10 minutes they gathered in the front of the classroom and posted them all on the board. They discussed, created sentences and then went ack to their Writers Workshop pieces and changed some words. Another fun day in music class. They auditioned for the speaking parts of the winter concert.

Oct. 27 - Fall Break

Nov. 3 - There was a sub today which always set an interesting tone for the day, or at least a different one. I have been realizing, just by walking through the halls, that many teachers talk to their students' in a very harsh tone. This was the case with this substitute. While she was very nice to me, I did feel as throgh she was yelling the instructions to the students. It was hard for me to be present and find a time to interact with the children. The day was filled with worksheets, a few for assessment purposes ( which she told the students) so we were not able to assit them then. There were intersting assignments and a great writing promt for the kids to pretend a space ship landed on the playground. She read the promt to them once, and they read it once togeather and then no questions.I browsed the books and started reading The Magicians Nephew. I started to see the children relly warming up to me. A boy asked me if he could use the toilet and I told him he better ask the sunstitute. He then went back to his seat and assuming he was trying to take advantage of me I went to him and asked him if he really had to go to the bathroom and why didnt he go ask the su. He told me didnt feel comfortable asking her. Needless to say, I told him he may go to the toilet. I walked the students back from music today and when we got back and the sub wasnt there yet I found myself at a total loss of what to do with 20 3rd graders starting at me. After hesiting of a bit, we figured out a game we could play.

Nov. 10 - Veterans day - no school

Nov. 17 - This is a very exciting week for hopefully many children around America. It was book week. So when I arrived Friday morning I was quite suprised to see all of the children in character. It was the day of the book parade. It was the focus of much of the morning. We stood along the side of a hallways watching all of the kindergarteners, 1st graders, and 2nd graders pass before we hopped on. It was great fun to see the students and teachers costumes. It makes me feel reassured when schools can hold school-wide events. When we were back in the classroom I noticed new pretzel artwork that showed examples of of different angles, line types and triangles. They did a very cool math lesson from the Investigations book ( she says they do some of these most days.) She showed them an image on the overhead projector for only a few seconds and then they did and best to recreate it with unifix cues. She gave them about one second review. The students then did their best to explain in descriptive words what the built. She did a great job leading the discussion and pointing out what was good the children were saying, but emphasizing that she was not hearing some very important details of how to build it. Today when the students went to music I went and observed a 1st grade classrooom. I havent been in a 1st grade class in years, so it was great to be able to see that age in action. The students were playing math games and I traveled from group to group assisting them or observing them.

Nov. 24- Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 1 -Today the class did an interesting activity that integrated math and writing. This activity provided various ways for the students to learn this information, depending on their learning style. First she chose a gaint and they walked in gaint steps across the classroom. The students guessed how many steps they thought it would take before they walked and half-way through. All of the students had a chance to take gaint steps across the classroom. They all wrote their number ofn the board and then created a graph to record their steps. The teacher then chose a person to take baby steps across the class. They made estimations again and every person had a chance. They discussed why the same type of graph would not be appropriate and why there was such a range of numbers for the baby steps. Everyone then gathered on the floor and read a book "How big is a foot." It was about how a King ordered a bed to be made for his Queen and he measured it using his feet. When the apprentice went to make the bed he measured it using his feet. The apprentice was then thrown in jail for making the bed too small. The students were to write a letter and draw a picture to explant to the apprentice why he was put in jail and what he could do to fix it. Afterwards they shared their letters and finsihed the book. This lesson was a faulous way to not only explant measurment, but to integrate language arts into a math lesson. This class is always doing exciting lessons that keep the students interested. They read a book on constellations and then poked through a peice of paper with a pin and created their own. The pieces of paper were put onto the overhead projector, so all that shone through were the tiny stars. The students then indentifid the contellation that was on the board. I went into the first grade classroom again. They are doing a unit on gingerbread and had just finished their gingerbread, candy village. it was beautiful, but I was suprised with the amount on candy wasted for this project. During the math lesson they were counting the candy on a house and making a graph of it. Several of the children I worked with could not do the questions that prceded becuase they could not do the simple addition and subtraction. I experimented with various ways to explain it. I gather it could get frustrating when you know it is time to move onto another objective, but half the class still needs to drill and practice the last one.

Dec. 8- Thursday night it crossed my mind that in these North Carolina schools it wouldnt be unlikely for school to be cancelled with the minor threat of snow. But the morning was sunny and beautiful so I went into school without giving it second thought. To my suprise it was a snow day.....

December 17 - **Resonse to Julia Travis's Fieldwork** What really interests me aout Julias Fieldwork responses is that she is the only one in our class who is currently in fieldwork with the same person she will be student teaching with. This I would imagine would make the experience so much more real. I beleive you can see this in her reflections. She is gaining very practical expereicne that will benifit her greatly next semester. From the get-go Julia was working on establishig a connection with her students. In one of the very first reflections she mentions she is working hard to learn their names as well as what sort of learner they are. Approaching the classroom with the knowledge of being aware of what type of learner each student is will be of great benifit to Julia, the host teacher, and the students. It is evident that Julia is not only being a concious leader, but also a reflective learner. She took the time to note that it was going to be important for the students to quiet down before she began the lesson. she even was reflecting on the various methods that could e used to quiet the class down. She concluded that counting to five worked well for her class. It is good so acknowledged how important it is to simply be infront of the class. Having that time is essential. I can certainly identify with Julia when she was questioning about grading. She brought up some very valid points and questions. While testing is something one lust get used to in pulic schools there are also plenty of other ways to provie assessment that aren't necessarily so harsh.