I came to school on Monday with some ideas for my lesson on transportation. My cooperating teacher and I decided to start by reading a book, the Big Red Bus and then doing two different activites with them. The first activity consisted of the children decorating a large pre-cut cardstock letter (the first letter of their first name) and then using a toy car or airplane to trace the letter. In the second activity the children were making a "Things that Go" collage. They had to cut out pictures of different types of transportation and glue them on their frame. After that they could decorate the frame using pieces of paper, crayons and jewels. Then if they were not completing one of those activities they had the opportunity to play with the toys cars and a rocket toy.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I had the opportunity to work more with the children. I read them stories and led art activities. This definitely helped during my lesson. The children needed to see me as more of a teacher and not just a helper or volunteer before I could lead a lesson on my own.
Then Thursday came, I was so nervous but I prepared well and I knew that the childen loved to cut and glue and decorate so I had a good feeling that they would enjoy the activities that I had planned. Even though Dr. Thomas was a tad bit late the children were still very attentive to the story which was great. Within the book there was the beginning stages of addition and lots of repetition. The children became engaged after learning the pattern of the story. It was wonderful to see them shouting out, "Stop" when that portion of the story would repeat. Then I showed them some realistic pictures of transportation and attempted to first say the word in Italian and then in English to help them to learn some new English vocabulary. My Italian was not the best but I tried and hopefully my teachers and the students appreciated my effforts.
Just as I had anticipated the children were so excited about the decorating, they flocked to the tables, especially the letter one because they got to use glitter and these kids really love glitter. It was a bit chaotic in the very beginning because the children were grabbing letters left and right and it was not necessarily the letter for their name but I tried to make sure that if they grabbed the wrong letter that I switched it out for the correct one as soon as possible. There were times when I was not quite fast enough and they made a mark on it but in the future I will probably have the letters to the side and I will ask them one by one if they can find the letter for their name. There was glitter everywhere! On the tables, on the floor, on the children and on me but I was excited that they were so excited. They were able to identify their letter and just as I had instructed them to they traced the letter with the car or airplane when they were finished. It was a bit crazy with children trying to put glitter on their letters without glue or just played with the glitter or at one point spilling and open container of paint but overall I think that they got something out of the activity and that is what is most important.
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As for the other acitivity I did not get a chance to observe them much but when I did get a half second to glance once they seemed like they were enjoyed cutting and gluing and decorating their collages. I am so glad that there were other teachers in the room to help supervise the other table and the children playing on the carpet because it was so much work to make sure that the children were staying on task and completing the acitivity as instructed. I know that these activities helped the children to work on their fine motor skills with the cutting and gluing but they also worked on their social skills by communicating with the other teachers and their peers during the activity.
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Even though it only lasted about 35 or 40 minutes, it was exhausting. I am so glad that the stress of the lesson is over and I can just enjoy the rest of my time with the kids. I am getting to know many of them on a more personal level and they even remember my name which for three year olds is quite a feat for someone you see two times a week (between he two classes).
On Tuesday and Wednesday I had the opportunity to work more with the children. I read them stories and led art activities. This definitely helped during my lesson. The children needed to see me as more of a teacher and not just a helper or volunteer before I could lead a lesson on my own.
Then Thursday came, I was so nervous but I prepared well and I knew that the childen loved to cut and glue and decorate so I had a good feeling that they would enjoy the activities that I had planned. Even though Dr. Thomas was a tad bit late the children were still very attentive to the story which was great. Within the book there was the beginning stages of addition and lots of repetition. The children became engaged after learning the pattern of the story. It was wonderful to see them shouting out, "Stop" when that portion of the story would repeat. Then I showed them some realistic pictures of transportation and attempted to first say the word in Italian and then in English to help them to learn some new English vocabulary. My Italian was not the best but I tried and hopefully my teachers and the students appreciated my effforts.
Just as I had anticipated the children were so excited about the decorating, they flocked to the tables, especially the letter one because they got to use glitter and these kids really love glitter. It was a bit chaotic in the very beginning because the children were grabbing letters left and right and it was not necessarily the letter for their name but I tried to make sure that if they grabbed the wrong letter that I switched it out for the correct one as soon as possible. There were times when I was not quite fast enough and they made a mark on it but in the future I will probably have the letters to the side and I will ask them one by one if they can find the letter for their name. There was glitter everywhere! On the tables, on the floor, on the children and on me but I was excited that they were so excited. They were able to identify their letter and just as I had instructed them to they traced the letter with the car or airplane when they were finished. It was a bit crazy with children trying to put glitter on their letters without glue or just played with the glitter or at one point spilling and open container of paint but overall I think that they got something out of the activity and that is what is most important.
.jpg)
As for the other acitivity I did not get a chance to observe them much but when I did get a half second to glance once they seemed like they were enjoyed cutting and gluing and decorating their collages. I am so glad that there were other teachers in the room to help supervise the other table and the children playing on the carpet because it was so much work to make sure that the children were staying on task and completing the acitivity as instructed. I know that these activities helped the children to work on their fine motor skills with the cutting and gluing but they also worked on their social skills by communicating with the other teachers and their peers during the activity.
.JPG)
Even though it only lasted about 35 or 40 minutes, it was exhausting. I am so glad that the stress of the lesson is over and I can just enjoy the rest of my time with the kids. I am getting to know many of them on a more personal level and they even remember my name which for three year olds is quite a feat for someone you see two times a week (between he two classes).
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