Field Log #1
I was placed in the Pre-K class at St. Jerome school. The first day went very smooth! They have a very small class of 6, 4 girls and 2 boys. Meeting all the kids and getting to know about each one of them was very important to me because it gives me more insight on that child. They were all so kind, funny and listened very well. They are a very diverse group and I think that will be a awesome experience for me! I found it very neat how Mrs. Abusada did activities that I have never seen/done before. One of my favourite activities that she did was she had a basket full of play vegetables (she called it the "Harvest Basket") then, would name a letter for example "c", (and would also sound the letter out) after that, the child would pick the vegetable that he/she thought started with that letter (carrot). I was super impressed that all of them knew what letter matched with each vegetable! Another thing that I loved was that she had different stations with different activities but they were all related to an apple. For example, she had an apple painting station, an apple on paper that you stick colourful tacks to, apple colouring pages and many more! She also read a book that was about apples and the kids loved it! I'm very excited for the weeks ahead with this group. The first day went so well and by the end, the kids seemed very comfortable being around me which I think is very important!
Field Log #2
The first day at St. Jerome School, I was very nervous but excited at the same time. When we were introduced to most of the teachers, they were all so kind and welcoming! As for the teacher we are working alongside with, Mrs. Abusada, is so caring, charismatic and funny! I love working with her and learning all her tips and tricks for teaching young children. She is incredible with the kids and encourages them to try out new activities.
St. Jerome School is a kindergarten to grade eight catholic school with around two hundred students (that was Mrs. Abusada’s estimate). “Home of the Lions” is there school logo! They offer many extra curricular activities such as volleyball, cross country, football, choir, basketball, badminton, improv and intramural program. They also have service programs that the students can join such as safety patrol, environmental recycling, art team, spirit team and many more! I think it’s awesome that they have so many varieties of programs that the students can join! There is program that they offer for the students with special needs which are located in the two EFAP classrooms.
I’m excited to continue going once a week and learning more about the school. The first two days so far have been nothing but great! It is definitely an awesome experience, especially since I have a great field partner!
Field Log #3
My third week in pre-kindergarten at St. Jerome elementary school I focused on the teachers and their different ways they teach and the methods they use to share knowledge with their students. Mrs. Abusada from what I experienced mainly uses two teaching methods. The first which she starts and finishes her days with are large group activities that involve the whole class. The second is self-guided learning where the students are able to move around the classroom from activity to activity with Mrs, Abusada, her EA, Hannah, and myself monitoring and engaging with the students throughout.
In this classroom I found that Mrs. Abusada promotes knowledge through learning about self and others. She uses group learning to teach the alphabet by using the students name because it is a very personal and memorable way to learn letters. Students get a chance to learn about themselves as well as their classmates names which is quite essential to developing relationships. They also recite the Lord’s prayer as a group before snack which is important to learn early as it is a religious school and continues throughout their entire education at St. Jerome.
The self guided learning is an excellent way for students to learn about themselves, as well as for teachers to learn about their students. This allows Mrs. Abusada to develop her own professional knowledge by carefully analyzing her students behaviour and learning needs through spectating and interacting with her students through play. Since the classroom only has six students this is not only a great way to have the students learn but also very manageable. If the class size were bigger I imagine she would have to use more structured methods, but since she has the luxury of such a small class I think she does a great job of creating engaging learning experiences for her students.
Field Log #4
Being a girl from a small town, there wasn't much diversity in our school. When I came to St.Jerome, it was so interesting to experience what a school with diverse groups was like! All of the kids have different cultural backgrounds and I would like to learn more about them! We just had a new little girl join us and at first she was very shy but through out the few hours of doing activities and engaging with her peers she was warming up! One thing that Mrs. Abusada does is that she has the children's parents bring a picture of their family to hang up on the wall. I think this is very special because the kids have the chance to tell all about their family. m.
This week, we celebrated Halloween. It was so much fun, Hannah and I even dressed up! The children all had such cute costumes. We did lots of Halloween activities like making "Halloween Brew", halloween collages, making picture frames and making treat bags. Hannah was in charge of the picture frames and I was in charge of the treat bags. Mrs. Abusada even made play-doh that smelled like pumpkin spice! It spelled so good, even one of the kid's said "it smells like pumpkin pie!" She also had a colour mixing station that was just water and food colouring. There where three cups that had the primary colours, then the kids had to mix whatever ones together to see what colours they could create. After doing all these activities we ended with a pumpkin prayer. When the day was done, as I was leaving the school I had one of the students say "bye teacher!" and it truly made my day, I couldn't help but smile!
Field Log #5
St.Jerome has lots of diversity throughout the school. There are children that come from many different cultures and have many unique backgrounds. It is amazing what you can learn about while working with children of different ethnic backgrounds. Since I am in a small classroom with only 7 children, it is very easy to have more one on one time with each child. For example, a young girl who has just joined us, speaks Spanish. She is quite shy, but when she says something in Spanish, I think it is so interesting to listen because I have never met someone who can speak Spanish! With diversity, teachers learn about their students and the students learn about their teacher which I think is amazing. With diversity in St. Jerome, it allows the students to have relationships with children of all backgrounds. When I walk in and out the school, I notice that the students are always nice to one another. This school also provides the students with many different extra curricular activities and sports that obviously anyone can join! Having a variety of activities will not only help a student develop their skills and endurance but it will build relationships and teamwork.
This week, we were learning all about the alphabet! Mrs. Abusada used awesome techniques and strategies for the children to learn more about what sound each letters makes and how to write it! The sensory table this week was cutting, the children were provided with string, plasticine and paper to cut! One thing that I really enjoyed was the puzzle the you had to match the uppercase letter with its lower case letter! The children really enjoyed the "dice" game where they would sing "Miss Madison, Miss Madison, what do you see?" then I would continue to say what I rolled! Eventually, the new student (who doesn't speak english) ended up singing once with us and I heard her! I was so happy to hear that!
Field Log #6
This week as well as the the previous week, Mrs. Abusada continued to focus on letters, numbers and writing. At the start of the class, she always asks a yes or no question for her students to answer. The question she asked on Wednesday was "Do you have an R is your name?" then the students would put there name on yes or no. If a student is struggling to answer the question, Mrs. Abusada will help them out till they fully understand . She had many different activities set out this week. The most popular one was the "fishing pond". Each fish had numbers from 1-5 on them. The objective of the game was to spin the arrow to get a number, then you try to "catch" the number you got. The kids loved that activity! While I was "fishing" with one of the students, I decided to take the fish and hide them around the classroom for her to find. After she found them all, it was her turn to hide them. It was quite shocking to me as I was trying to find them that she put them in the exact same spots as I did. Her memory is absolutely amazing! Another popular activity that they really enjoyed was writing letters on a white board. The activity had a huge dice that the students would role then the letter that they got, they would have to attempt to write the letter, both upper and lower case. The students did very good with all the letters, they even were saying the sounds each one made.
We had a new student join us that day. It was his first day which was super overwhelming for him. I hope soon he will warm up to his new classroom! It's sad to think that we only have one more day left with the students, it went by super quick!
Final Log
It was a pleasure working with Mrs. Abusada, Mrs. Phyllis and Hanna at St. Jerome school. I learned a lot of awesome ideas from Mrs. Abusada for my future teaching! She is very caring and creative. I loved all of the songs she taught us, the different variety of activities she had put out every week and the way she was with her students. She was amazing with her students, she treats them as if they are one of her own kids! As for students, it was an amazing opportunity to get to know each one of them. I was glad to be apart of their learning and to be one of their people of support. They are all very smart and love to learn. Every time I went in the classroom, I loved every minute of it. The classroom environment brought nothing but good vibes and happiness for both the students and for anyone who enters. One thing that I really enjoyed was the diversity of the school. It was a very interesting experience for me going to a school with students of many different ethnic backgrounds because it was a huge difference from the school that I went to! I'm extremely humble to say that I had my first "pre-internship" at this school. I'm thankful for the partner that I had along the way (Hanna) and not only was she my partner, she is now a great friend! I will miss the students so much and maybe one day, I will be their teacher!
I was placed in the Pre-K class at St. Jerome school. The first day went very smooth! They have a very small class of 6, 4 girls and 2 boys. Meeting all the kids and getting to know about each one of them was very important to me because it gives me more insight on that child. They were all so kind, funny and listened very well. They are a very diverse group and I think that will be a awesome experience for me! I found it very neat how Mrs. Abusada did activities that I have never seen/done before. One of my favourite activities that she did was she had a basket full of play vegetables (she called it the "Harvest Basket") then, would name a letter for example "c", (and would also sound the letter out) after that, the child would pick the vegetable that he/she thought started with that letter (carrot). I was super impressed that all of them knew what letter matched with each vegetable! Another thing that I loved was that she had different stations with different activities but they were all related to an apple. For example, she had an apple painting station, an apple on paper that you stick colourful tacks to, apple colouring pages and many more! She also read a book that was about apples and the kids loved it! I'm very excited for the weeks ahead with this group. The first day went so well and by the end, the kids seemed very comfortable being around me which I think is very important!
Field Log #2
The first day at St. Jerome School, I was very nervous but excited at the same time. When we were introduced to most of the teachers, they were all so kind and welcoming! As for the teacher we are working alongside with, Mrs. Abusada, is so caring, charismatic and funny! I love working with her and learning all her tips and tricks for teaching young children. She is incredible with the kids and encourages them to try out new activities.
St. Jerome School is a kindergarten to grade eight catholic school with around two hundred students (that was Mrs. Abusada’s estimate). “Home of the Lions” is there school logo! They offer many extra curricular activities such as volleyball, cross country, football, choir, basketball, badminton, improv and intramural program. They also have service programs that the students can join such as safety patrol, environmental recycling, art team, spirit team and many more! I think it’s awesome that they have so many varieties of programs that the students can join! There is program that they offer for the students with special needs which are located in the two EFAP classrooms.
I’m excited to continue going once a week and learning more about the school. The first two days so far have been nothing but great! It is definitely an awesome experience, especially since I have a great field partner!
Field Log #3
My third week in pre-kindergarten at St. Jerome elementary school I focused on the teachers and their different ways they teach and the methods they use to share knowledge with their students. Mrs. Abusada from what I experienced mainly uses two teaching methods. The first which she starts and finishes her days with are large group activities that involve the whole class. The second is self-guided learning where the students are able to move around the classroom from activity to activity with Mrs, Abusada, her EA, Hannah, and myself monitoring and engaging with the students throughout.
In this classroom I found that Mrs. Abusada promotes knowledge through learning about self and others. She uses group learning to teach the alphabet by using the students name because it is a very personal and memorable way to learn letters. Students get a chance to learn about themselves as well as their classmates names which is quite essential to developing relationships. They also recite the Lord’s prayer as a group before snack which is important to learn early as it is a religious school and continues throughout their entire education at St. Jerome.
The self guided learning is an excellent way for students to learn about themselves, as well as for teachers to learn about their students. This allows Mrs. Abusada to develop her own professional knowledge by carefully analyzing her students behaviour and learning needs through spectating and interacting with her students through play. Since the classroom only has six students this is not only a great way to have the students learn but also very manageable. If the class size were bigger I imagine she would have to use more structured methods, but since she has the luxury of such a small class I think she does a great job of creating engaging learning experiences for her students.
Field Log #4
Being a girl from a small town, there wasn't much diversity in our school. When I came to St.Jerome, it was so interesting to experience what a school with diverse groups was like! All of the kids have different cultural backgrounds and I would like to learn more about them! We just had a new little girl join us and at first she was very shy but through out the few hours of doing activities and engaging with her peers she was warming up! One thing that Mrs. Abusada does is that she has the children's parents bring a picture of their family to hang up on the wall. I think this is very special because the kids have the chance to tell all about their family. m.
This week, we celebrated Halloween. It was so much fun, Hannah and I even dressed up! The children all had such cute costumes. We did lots of Halloween activities like making "Halloween Brew", halloween collages, making picture frames and making treat bags. Hannah was in charge of the picture frames and I was in charge of the treat bags. Mrs. Abusada even made play-doh that smelled like pumpkin spice! It spelled so good, even one of the kid's said "it smells like pumpkin pie!" She also had a colour mixing station that was just water and food colouring. There where three cups that had the primary colours, then the kids had to mix whatever ones together to see what colours they could create. After doing all these activities we ended with a pumpkin prayer. When the day was done, as I was leaving the school I had one of the students say "bye teacher!" and it truly made my day, I couldn't help but smile!
Field Log #5
St.Jerome has lots of diversity throughout the school. There are children that come from many different cultures and have many unique backgrounds. It is amazing what you can learn about while working with children of different ethnic backgrounds. Since I am in a small classroom with only 7 children, it is very easy to have more one on one time with each child. For example, a young girl who has just joined us, speaks Spanish. She is quite shy, but when she says something in Spanish, I think it is so interesting to listen because I have never met someone who can speak Spanish! With diversity, teachers learn about their students and the students learn about their teacher which I think is amazing. With diversity in St. Jerome, it allows the students to have relationships with children of all backgrounds. When I walk in and out the school, I notice that the students are always nice to one another. This school also provides the students with many different extra curricular activities and sports that obviously anyone can join! Having a variety of activities will not only help a student develop their skills and endurance but it will build relationships and teamwork.
This week, we were learning all about the alphabet! Mrs. Abusada used awesome techniques and strategies for the children to learn more about what sound each letters makes and how to write it! The sensory table this week was cutting, the children were provided with string, plasticine and paper to cut! One thing that I really enjoyed was the puzzle the you had to match the uppercase letter with its lower case letter! The children really enjoyed the "dice" game where they would sing "Miss Madison, Miss Madison, what do you see?" then I would continue to say what I rolled! Eventually, the new student (who doesn't speak english) ended up singing once with us and I heard her! I was so happy to hear that!
Field Log #6
This week as well as the the previous week, Mrs. Abusada continued to focus on letters, numbers and writing. At the start of the class, she always asks a yes or no question for her students to answer. The question she asked on Wednesday was "Do you have an R is your name?" then the students would put there name on yes or no. If a student is struggling to answer the question, Mrs. Abusada will help them out till they fully understand . She had many different activities set out this week. The most popular one was the "fishing pond". Each fish had numbers from 1-5 on them. The objective of the game was to spin the arrow to get a number, then you try to "catch" the number you got. The kids loved that activity! While I was "fishing" with one of the students, I decided to take the fish and hide them around the classroom for her to find. After she found them all, it was her turn to hide them. It was quite shocking to me as I was trying to find them that she put them in the exact same spots as I did. Her memory is absolutely amazing! Another popular activity that they really enjoyed was writing letters on a white board. The activity had a huge dice that the students would role then the letter that they got, they would have to attempt to write the letter, both upper and lower case. The students did very good with all the letters, they even were saying the sounds each one made.
We had a new student join us that day. It was his first day which was super overwhelming for him. I hope soon he will warm up to his new classroom! It's sad to think that we only have one more day left with the students, it went by super quick!
Final Log
It was a pleasure working with Mrs. Abusada, Mrs. Phyllis and Hanna at St. Jerome school. I learned a lot of awesome ideas from Mrs. Abusada for my future teaching! She is very caring and creative. I loved all of the songs she taught us, the different variety of activities she had put out every week and the way she was with her students. She was amazing with her students, she treats them as if they are one of her own kids! As for students, it was an amazing opportunity to get to know each one of them. I was glad to be apart of their learning and to be one of their people of support. They are all very smart and love to learn. Every time I went in the classroom, I loved every minute of it. The classroom environment brought nothing but good vibes and happiness for both the students and for anyone who enters. One thing that I really enjoyed was the diversity of the school. It was a very interesting experience for me going to a school with students of many different ethnic backgrounds because it was a huge difference from the school that I went to! I'm extremely humble to say that I had my first "pre-internship" at this school. I'm thankful for the partner that I had along the way (Hanna) and not only was she my partner, she is now a great friend! I will miss the students so much and maybe one day, I will be their teacher!
ECS 210- Blog 1
Common sense is such a broad term in today’s society, especially towards the educational department. When someone says “use your common sense,” we often find ourselves trying to come up with something “normal.” When reading this paper on what “common sense is,” it truly got me thinking about the different ways we categorize it. Common sense definitely limit’s the sense of wonder and the courage of out speaking because when we tend to speak for ourselves and the term “use your common sense” gets hit right back to us. When it comes to schooling and education, “common sense” is often used for what “should” happen in a school and what teachers “should” be doing as a teacher. Common sense is something that is repeated because people want others to comprehend what it is.
Common sense could either be a pro or a con, depending how you look at it because everybody has a different idea of what it is. The writer in this reading really gave some good points of what common sense is and went into great depth of how it shapes the education system and our society. We try too hard in this World to normalize things when really nothing is “normal,” because people will always have a different perspective on what they believe. It’s important to be aware of common sense in your classroom because all of your students come from different ethnic backgrounds and living situations. As a future educator, it is also important to challenge your students, get them to use their imagination and get creative.
ECS 210- Blog 2
The Four Methods:
The third method “Curriculum as process” is fairly different from the other two methods because it’s more of a free way of learning because there are more offered options with how you want to learn. Teachers focus more on how the students are learning by allowing them to explore and have some freedom to how they learn. The only downfall to this method could be that certain material for the outcome would not be taught. The fourth method “Curriculum as praxis” could also tie into the same idea of what the third method is, it just has more interaction between everyone and everything.
In my school, all my teachers had a way of teaching differently. In my english class, my teacher was very particular of what she was teaching and had a set plan with what the plan for everyday was. So, she was definitely the type of teacher who followed the first two methods. As well as my science and math classes, they followed exactly what needed to be taught and in the end the students were tested. As for my Phys.Ed teacher, he was more laid back and let us pick what activity we wanted to do.
Common sense is such a broad term in today’s society, especially towards the educational department. When someone says “use your common sense,” we often find ourselves trying to come up with something “normal.” When reading this paper on what “common sense is,” it truly got me thinking about the different ways we categorize it. Common sense definitely limit’s the sense of wonder and the courage of out speaking because when we tend to speak for ourselves and the term “use your common sense” gets hit right back to us. When it comes to schooling and education, “common sense” is often used for what “should” happen in a school and what teachers “should” be doing as a teacher. Common sense is something that is repeated because people want others to comprehend what it is.
Common sense could either be a pro or a con, depending how you look at it because everybody has a different idea of what it is. The writer in this reading really gave some good points of what common sense is and went into great depth of how it shapes the education system and our society. We try too hard in this World to normalize things when really nothing is “normal,” because people will always have a different perspective on what they believe. It’s important to be aware of common sense in your classroom because all of your students come from different ethnic backgrounds and living situations. As a future educator, it is also important to challenge your students, get them to use their imagination and get creative.
ECS 210- Blog 2
The Four Methods:
- Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted
- Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students – Product
- Curriculum as process
- Curriculum as praxis
The third method “Curriculum as process” is fairly different from the other two methods because it’s more of a free way of learning because there are more offered options with how you want to learn. Teachers focus more on how the students are learning by allowing them to explore and have some freedom to how they learn. The only downfall to this method could be that certain material for the outcome would not be taught. The fourth method “Curriculum as praxis” could also tie into the same idea of what the third method is, it just has more interaction between everyone and everything.
In my school, all my teachers had a way of teaching differently. In my english class, my teacher was very particular of what she was teaching and had a set plan with what the plan for everyday was. So, she was definitely the type of teacher who followed the first two methods. As well as my science and math classes, they followed exactly what needed to be taught and in the end the students were tested. As for my Phys.Ed teacher, he was more laid back and let us pick what activity we wanted to do.