I have a terrible sweet tooth. I watched a student eat a Twix icecream bar and since I only had pbj and chips I couldn't resist!
I also brought back some molasses crinkles from home (I made Saturday night) and froze them but they are so good. They are little cookies so I can eat a lot right? They are so soft, I feel like I could eat them all day!
It has been a very cloudy day but put on some music and look out the window, read a book and its kinda peaceful! I started The Secret Garden today as part of my classics section for the Children's Literature class. Its kind of sad right now but I think it will get better!
Observed and helped with centers in Kindergarten today because the second graders were taking 9 weeks tests.
Kindergarten is a whole other world.
I was very impressed with this school's teacher. The little ones were adding and making simple sentences! She had a balance beam of numbers that was a great help to show them how to make numbers. Today's number was 7. So you put 5 and 2 on one side and 7 on the other and it balances! It's pretty cool!
She also had this loft piece of furniture built. It was so neat, there's a stair case up to the top and a reading center up there with books, pillows, stuffed animals and underneath its like a secret hide out (well just another place for a center) but if I were in K4 i would say its a secret hide out! The sides were different shapes cut out (another hidden lesson). Kids need a little fun every now and then. It's hard to be a kid, so many things to remember and so many people telling you what to do and what not to do.
They even knew their colors, the difference between a shade and a tint! They listened to a song about opposites which was also a great tool! They could do the motions and they did it in Spanish too. They also knew shapes and characteristics like rolling or sliding. They know much more than I knew when I was in kindergarten!
I am learning that songs are very helpful in education! The second graders are learning how to skip count (prelude to multiplication) and they have a song that goes from 2-10. There's a song for each number. The kids love the silly songs and it sticks! I love the line that says, "taking the complication out of mul-ti-plication!"
One little boy told our teacher, its stuck in my head! She said that's good, its supposed too. He was singin' it on the way to the bus and gave her a hug. It's neat because this little one used to not like the song at all and now it clicked!
With kindergartners its so fun because they get SO excited for every little accomplishment. Part of that 'whole other world' is that they love to tell you anything and everything. You sit down and they say hey, did you know? Or I do that too! Or you have a momma too? They have something to say about anything. You are automatically a friend if you smile, sit next to them, and/or your teacher introduces them. They are like oh someone new, I can tell them stuff! Right now everyone is excited about the fair!
I love how everything is so new to them! They get so excited and say, "I did it! see!"
Sometimes I wonder if we had that attitude about life, how different and enjoyable it would be.
I also discovered today the power of encouragement and high expectations. I was checking a little boy's work and one of the girls asked, what if he got them all wrong? I said, he didn't because he's smart and the boy lit up and said, yeah! Math is my favorite subject. After finishing checking, most of them were right!
Give someone a compliment or encourage them today and see what happens! Share your stories if you'd like!
I should go read...
-Life as an El Ed major
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