Miami Heights Elementary! Lisamarie Del Valle - Virtual Journal
Transcript
1. Good Morning! Overall I enjoyed my time in Miami Heights
Elementary. It was full of wonderful surprises and the children
were awesome! The staff were very friendly and helpful as well. I
met several kindergarten teachers and I asked them about what their
days are like, what is the hardest part about teaching etc. School
is very open with a lot of landscaping with small gardens and
trees. There are two separate buildings with the younger ones in
one building and the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders in the other. The
school seemed fairly populated and not over populated. The
classroom I volunteered in had 18 children and one teacher.
2. I worked with Mrs. Ortiz, Kindergarten class. The room was
filled with decorations, letters, words, and cartoons. Boards all
around the room were decorated by categories. For example: there
was a reading/letter board, science board, Spanish board, math
board, concept and time/calendar board. There was a cozy area and
the rug area where the children gather around to have a book read
to them or during free choice/work time they would build blocks,
work with science related games/toys and legos. There was an easel
and a table set for arts and crafts. In a corner was a half circle
table that was used for free writing and mini white boards for
children to practice writing. Finally, there was the computer
center.
3. I honestly did not have any great expectations because I
have never been to an elementary classroom. Then after a few
minutes of being in the classroom I absolutely loved it. I love how
fun the classroom looked and how packed it was with materials for
the children to play and use. Watching the teacher sing every
morning with the kids Good morning by Greg and Steve. Also, getting
to see them do their little choreography and being able to join was
really fun. I realized that teaching does not have to be a very
boring stressful job but you are able to have fun with the children
and always do your best to make it a memorable experience.
4. No I do not like green eggs and ham said Sam I Am. The day
after reading Green Eggs and Ham with the children and doing
several activities, the teacher brought a surprise. She brought in
eggs and ham with an electric frying pan. I actually helped her
cook the eggs and the ham and color it with green food coloring.
The children were amazed and were so excited watching the eggs and
ham change color. I really enjoyed this experience because seeing
the children get so excited over the simplest things was very
rewarding. It made me think about how much my teacher goes the
extra mile for these children all the time. I thought about all the
times I would like to do the same for all the children I will come
in contact with in the future.
5. There were times when we danced and laughed but there were
also times where the children opened up and would discuss their
thoughts and feelings with one another during sharing time. This is
when a child that wants to share something (it can be a dream,
wish, experience, thought etc.) raises their hand and speaks.
Afterwards, the other children are open to discuss it with them and
ask them questions. This one moment that I remember most was when a
child opened up and told the story of a friend of her moms that got
into a motorcycle accident. The teacher simply asked how the child
felt and the child responded saying she was sad. So the other
children asked her questions about it and asked if they could help
her feel better. I felt that it was very interesting for me to see
how comfortable the child felt to express why she was sad and what
happened. When I become a teacher I would like for the children in
my classroom to feel comfortable enough to just express themselves
and be themselves.
6. On this day, all the children including the teachers dressed
up as farmers. Everyone had strawhats, plaid shirts, bandanas,
braids and some even had freckles drawn on their cheeks. This was
an eventfor the kindergarten classes.All the parents walked in and
gave their breakfast item of choice. One parent actually stayed and
helpedcooked some of the food items and the teacher cooked
scrambled eggs with cheese. The children weredoing their journal
entry and when the food was ready and they finished, we started to
serve them. Thechildren absolutely loved it and were so happy to
eat it.After that we put on some country related sing a long songs
for them to dance to in the rug area. Theyjumped, dance, sang, and
laughed. The chicken dance was played and they loved it! At one
point onechild started a conga line and I was able to join in and
so did the teacher.The school put on Barnyard the movie after
recess for the children to watch and it was really nice. Towards
the end of this exciting day, they call the teacher over the
intercom to inform herthat they were ready for her class to go get
some free snow cones by the cafeteria. The children allstarted to
jump up and down and scream YAY! out of excitement. The teacher and
I started to laughand we went to take them to get their snow cones.
I actually helped to make some of the snow conesfor the
children.
7. 1. Communication: This experience has helped me a lot
tobetter improve my speaking, listening, writing and readingskills.
Many of the children were having difficulty with theassignments and
I need to be prepared to assist themaccurately in whatever they
needed. Listening skills were usedin situations where children were
expressing themselves and Ineeded to do my best to listen
carefully. I needed my handwriting to be excellent when grading
papers or helpingchildren with assignments. When speaking to
children Ineeded to use very proper language. I needed to refrain
fromslang or mispronunciations.5. Global, Cultural, &
Historical Perspectives: Since I was in apublic school environment,
my global, cultural, and historicalperspective skills were
improved. Even though I was mostly ina classroom full of children
from Latin culture, there was stilldifferences in language and
religion. Also, outside of theclassroom when I came in contact with
other children therewere many different cultures represented. As a
teacher in apublic school, these skills are of very high
importance.6. Personal, Civic, & Social Responsibility: This
skill was highlyused in the classroom. As a teacher you are set as
a role modeland it is true for assistant teachers or helpers as
well. 8. Computer & Technology Usage: I found myself many
timeshaving to use technology. I needed to have an understandingon
how to use technology when the teacher was showing mehow she puts
in grades as well as helping the children whenthey would have
trouble with the computer they were using.9. Aesthetic
Appreciation: I really love creative arts and crafts.So
volunteering with this teacher and being able to decoratethe room
and help with creative assignments was ideal for me.I really gained
a higher appreciation for arts and crafts.