The 2nd Grade Report

In my class today the students shared their reports on their favorite animals. My cooperating teacher put together a packet for the students to fill out as their reports. The first page was a table of contents. The second page was what their animal looks like. On this page the students could either draw a picture of their animal or print one out from the computer. The kids were more in favor of drawing their own picture and I loved that they chose to do that. It really showed how much the kids love being artistic and how creative they could be. A cheetah had purple spots, and if that isn't completely awesome, I don't know what is! 

The third page was what eat animal eats. Some of the kids were pretty detailed in their drawings with blood and guts for the meat eaters dinners. Most of the kids who drew like this were boys. This did not surprise me too much because it is not unusual for boys to be interested in those kinds of things. The fourth page was what their animal's life cycle is like. This was a cool page because it showed the student's understanding of life cycle's and it also showed there creativity with how they feel each animal looks at each stage of life. The last page was an interesting fact that was not common to most people. I enjoyed this because some of the facts were very interesting and almost unbelievable because of how weird they were. The final page was about the researcher. I felt that this page added a nice touch to the report because it allowed the students to tell the class not only why they chose the animal but also about themselves as a person. I found this artifact to be very useful and practical, especially for preparing a 2nd grade class for research papers.

Reading Group 1

One of my favorite things I have done so far in my observation is the time I get to spend with a small group reading. My cooperating teacher has me taking 3-4 students down to the teachers lounge to work on reading skills with students who are falling behind in the class. This is a great opportunity for me to get to know students more personally and feel like I am more a part of the classroom. Even though I was really there to help the kids I also was able to learn something about myself. While working with the kids I started becoming aware of or at least looking at the different methods I find effective for me in that certain subject area. 

            Although the kids became antsy toward the end of our session for the most part they were very interested in the book about insects that they were reading. The kids continuously looked at the pictures and asked just about any question that crossed their mind. It was wonderful seeing how much the students enjoyed learning and how eager they were to show me how well they could read. They also worked together and helped each other when they became stuck on harder words. They did not taunt or tease anyone who struggled. This experience was very positive and the teacher was thrilled to hear that I would love to do it again!

What is your favorite station?

In my classroom my teacher created what she calls her reading stations. Each pod of desks was a different station focusing on different skills in reading and writing. There are four stations consisting of looking words up in the dictionary, sustained silent reading, sentence formation, and unscrambling letters to make as many words as possible.

I walked around the classroom and observed the kids working at each station. The teacher I am observing did the same and I realized how much she emphasized to the students to try their best to accomplish these tasks on their own. She was very willing to help students if they were really struggling but if she saw that the students weren’t putting 100% effort forth she would not answer the questions they had. It was very apparent to me that she wanted her students to try their absolute best before they lost confidence in themselves and looked to her for guidance. I think this is a great trait for a teacher to have because it helps the kids gain confidence in themselves and it also helps them to put there best effort forward. When a teacher has faith in a child’s ability I feel that it is easier for the child to have faith in themselves.

A Bad Student in Action

On my third day of observation I was able to experience one students mean comments on another student and how the teacher handle the situation. A little boy in the class was having an unusually bad attitude that was out of character. This attitude led to an argument whirlwind in the middle of our reading circle.

It all started with a rough morning at home and a little girl’s frustrating and hurtful comments did not help. The little girl had become frustrated with her tablemates negative attitude and told him that she wished his dog would die. This was what led to the argument in the middle of our calm reading time. The little boy would not sit down on the carpet, which made the teacher upset. After allowing him to sit at his desk quietly he started to cry. The little girl continued writing taunting sentences and stories about him and passing them in notes to him. He soon had an explosion of anger and was sent to the office after being asked to settle down. The teacher handled all of the other students comments about the outburst very well and helped to discontinue any problematic situations between the kids. With the teachers calming words and authoritative response to the scene caused the classroom stayed under control.