Friday, December 3, 2010
My Award Winning Students
After the quarter was over, Castlen held a special presentation for students who had achieved multiple awards during the first quarter. As you can see, almost everyone of our students were presented with a award certificate for multiple things. Some examples of their awards are for Reading and A or A/B Honor roll.
Math Homework and Practice
While working with many different children as well as my tutoring student, I realized the importance of completing one's homework. The children need to practice the skills done during the week so they will be prepared for the test. Homework not only allows the children to practice, it gives them an opportunity to clear up any confusion. We assigned math homework about every other day in order for the students to get plenty of practice.
Teaching Math
I spent many days working with the students on math. I was allowed to teach many different things. Here are some pictures of me teaching Math. I worked on multiplying fractions for several days.
Math Student that I tutored
Student: Tanner
He is a fifth grader, and is ten years old. Tanner told me that math was not his favorite subject and that he was not interested in doing it. That information threw me off in my questioning and so I asked some of the other questions that may interest him. He likes video games, and wants to be a forensic scientist. After he informed me of that, I did mention that math was a huge part of that profession and that he needed to become aware before he entered that field. When he is not in school or working on homework he plays on Facebook and the game Farmville. He likes doing math but it is not his favorite subject. His favorite television shows are the shows such as Criminal Minds and the CSIs. When I asked him what else he likes to do, he told me that he likes to watch TV and likes to play with friends and family.
Math Concept: Multiplication
The concept that Tanner struggled with the most was his multiplication tables. I began working with him at the beginning of the semester. He was struggling with the concept of multiplying. I began by quizzing him, by randomly walking up to him and asking him a problem. I also work on the different methods of figuring them out, such as partial product, estimation, place values, and the box method (not sure of the technical name). We worked together almost everyday. His understanding has grown, I feel because he memorized his multiplication tables to some degree. However, as we moved on to division, I noticed that Tanner was still having trouble. While I watched him work I realized that he new the steps to division, but he still makes mistakes doing the multiplication. I would let him finish the problem, and would then ask him to check his work. As he did the multiplication he did was right but he say that the answer was not the same as the division problem. Therefore we would go back and check his work on the division problem. He saw how his one simple mistake got the problem wrong.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
After working with Tanner for the past few weeks, I realized that he is a very eager to learn student. He understands the mechanics of the problems, but still makes mistakes when working with his multiplication. I would recommend that Tanner continue to practice and memorize his multiplication facts. I would also remind him that it is not a race, and to take his time while he worked and think about the problems that he is working on.
I also told Tanner that he must do his homework, although I think there were only two times out of the first two quarters that he had not completed it, I reminded him of how important it was. I also reminded him of his favorite game, Farmville. I told him that he did not have the big farm in the beginning, I told him that he had to work hard to get the stuff he had, and that it took time. I reminded him that multiplication is the same way. One must work hard and constantly to keep up, because more things are beginning to be added, and are becoming more complicated.
Other Areas:
I also worked with Tanner on fractions. He understood the mechanics but it took him a long time to figure out the problems. I assured him that he would be quicker at the problems as soon as he got the hang of it. I would sit there and he would always look up for reassurance, and questioning as if I would give him the answer. I would never give him the answer directly. I would always ask him how his teacher and I had worked with the students on how to check your work. He would look down and check his work and smile every time he got it right.
He is a fifth grader, and is ten years old. Tanner told me that math was not his favorite subject and that he was not interested in doing it. That information threw me off in my questioning and so I asked some of the other questions that may interest him. He likes video games, and wants to be a forensic scientist. After he informed me of that, I did mention that math was a huge part of that profession and that he needed to become aware before he entered that field. When he is not in school or working on homework he plays on Facebook and the game Farmville. He likes doing math but it is not his favorite subject. His favorite television shows are the shows such as Criminal Minds and the CSIs. When I asked him what else he likes to do, he told me that he likes to watch TV and likes to play with friends and family.
Math Concept: Multiplication
The concept that Tanner struggled with the most was his multiplication tables. I began working with him at the beginning of the semester. He was struggling with the concept of multiplying. I began by quizzing him, by randomly walking up to him and asking him a problem. I also work on the different methods of figuring them out, such as partial product, estimation, place values, and the box method (not sure of the technical name). We worked together almost everyday. His understanding has grown, I feel because he memorized his multiplication tables to some degree. However, as we moved on to division, I noticed that Tanner was still having trouble. While I watched him work I realized that he new the steps to division, but he still makes mistakes doing the multiplication. I would let him finish the problem, and would then ask him to check his work. As he did the multiplication he did was right but he say that the answer was not the same as the division problem. Therefore we would go back and check his work on the division problem. He saw how his one simple mistake got the problem wrong.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
After working with Tanner for the past few weeks, I realized that he is a very eager to learn student. He understands the mechanics of the problems, but still makes mistakes when working with his multiplication. I would recommend that Tanner continue to practice and memorize his multiplication facts. I would also remind him that it is not a race, and to take his time while he worked and think about the problems that he is working on.
I also told Tanner that he must do his homework, although I think there were only two times out of the first two quarters that he had not completed it, I reminded him of how important it was. I also reminded him of his favorite game, Farmville. I told him that he did not have the big farm in the beginning, I told him that he had to work hard to get the stuff he had, and that it took time. I reminded him that multiplication is the same way. One must work hard and constantly to keep up, because more things are beginning to be added, and are becoming more complicated.
Other Areas:
I also worked with Tanner on fractions. He understood the mechanics but it took him a long time to figure out the problems. I assured him that he would be quicker at the problems as soon as he got the hang of it. I would sit there and he would always look up for reassurance, and questioning as if I would give him the answer. I would never give him the answer directly. I would always ask him how his teacher and I had worked with the students on how to check your work. He would look down and check his work and smile every time he got it right.
Morning Meetings with Math
Every morning the teacher and I would come up with math problems to put on the board for students to work on as part of their morning work. It was fun watching the children come up with differing answers.
Shared Reading
Reading/Language Arts/ Social Studies
II. Course of Study:
1) Demonstrate reading vocabulary knowledge, including recognition of
multiple-meaning words.
• Identifying word “chunks” or parts
2) Use a range of strategies, including drawing conclusions such as opinions
about characters based on their actions and summarizing passages, to comprehend fifth-grade recreational reading material in a variety of genres.
• Using prior knowledge and experience to interpret meaning
• Skimming passages to obtain primary message
3) Recognize the use and effect of literacy elements and devices, including
setting, character traits, stated purpose, metaphors, and simple symbolism to gain information from various text formats including tables and charts.
• Recognizing use of personification
• Identifying implied purpose
4) Use a wide range of strategies and skills, including using text features to gain meaning, summarizing passages, and drawing conclusions, to comprehend fifth-grade informational and functional reading materials.
• Using prior knowledge and experience to interpret meaning
• Using self-monitoring for text understanding
III. Concepts:
Personification, Purpose, Accessing Prior Knowledge for Understanding, and
Understanding Word “Chunks”
IV. Behavioral Objectives:
• The student will be able to analyze words and break them down to find meaning of those words in the sentence.
• The student will be able to explain the purpose of the author’s poem.
• The student will be able to compare words used in the text to the personified
object.
V. Evaluation:
Teacher observes student’s participation in oral reading and echoed reading.
Teacher will be able to ask questions with a proper response from students that
have comprehended the poem.
VI. Materials:
• Copy of the poem The New Colossus
• SmartBoard
• Smart Document Camera
• Copies of the poem for students (23)
• Highlighters
VII. Teaching/Learning Procedures:
A. Motivation:
Show pictures of The Statue of Liberty on the Smartboard, and
tell students how most of my family have visited this statue, as well as its relevance to this country and it’s history.
B. Instructional Procedures:
• The teacher will introduce the poem, and begin reading with expression and correct fluency, modeling fluent reading.
• The teacher will read the first two lines of the poem and have the students echo what is being read with accuracy.
• The students will read the poem together with similar expression and accuracy of the teacher.
• The teacher will go through the poem as the students read aloud and underline words that have “chunks” in them.
• Once the students have finished reading the teacher will point out underlined words and ask students to break them apart for comprehension.
• Teacher will help students if needed on pronunciation, and root words.
• Teacher will add these words to the word wall for future reference.
• Teacher will then discuss personification (giving human characteristics to nonliving things).
• Teacher will ask students to see if they can skim the poem and recognize the object that is being personified.
• Once the object is recognized (Statue of Liberty), the teacher will ask students to point out the different ways that the author used to personify The Statue of Liberty. Discuss other ways that we personify objects: fish (darts through the water like an Olympic swimmer), tree (dance in the wind, sway)
• The teacher will ask students to use prior knowledge, based on the passage, The Passage to Freedom, in Reading Street, that discusses immigrants and their struggles and passage into the new land.
• The teacher will ask students if they think the author is trying to persuade, explain, or describe The Statue of Liberty. Responses will vary based on the student’s comprehension. Some will say that it was describe the statue, others will state that the author was trying to persuade new immigrants to come to America, others may state that the author is trying to explain the process. Each answer will vary and can be relevant, if the student explains his/her reasoning.
C. Closure:
The teacher will reiterate the important symbolism of The Statue of Liberty, and how Americans and immigrants view The Statue of Liberty. Furthermore, the teacher and students will reread the poem, and the teacher will allow students to keep a copy of the poem for future reference.
D. Relevance:
The students must understand what The Statue of Liberty stands for, rights and freedoms granted in the United States and how many immigrants and others across the world recognize its symbolism.
VIII. Supplemental Activities (Early Finishers, Enrichment, Remediation)
• Early Finishers: Whole group instruction, no early finishers.
• Enrichment: Read selected books previously selected by teacher on the Statue of Liberty for further knowledge and understanding.
• Remediation: Discuss “chunk” words in small group, and work on personification assigning human characteristics to different objects.
IX. Personal Reflection:
This lesson could have gone better than I expected. I had everything I needed, I feel that the children were not grasping the point of personification. I can not really tell if it was because the poem was to difficult or that my explanations were not very good. Toward the end they were beginning to understand, I had to change my examples from the poem to everyday things, such as trees dancing in the wind, and rocks standing sturdy like a soldier. They did however do well on the reading. They repeated the phrases after me, and the children even did well on some of the larger words. I do feel that I could use this again in the classroom, but next time I may find a poem more suitable to the age group. I do feel that the children did well on the reading, but the inclusion of the other elements of the lesson may need to be left off next time, or at least kept to a minimum.
I also included the use of pronouns in my lesson per the request of the teacher. I asked the students to point out the different pronouns, and circled them as the children said them, as seen in the picture below.
II. Course of Study:
1) Demonstrate reading vocabulary knowledge, including recognition of
multiple-meaning words.
• Identifying word “chunks” or parts
2) Use a range of strategies, including drawing conclusions such as opinions
about characters based on their actions and summarizing passages, to comprehend fifth-grade recreational reading material in a variety of genres.
• Using prior knowledge and experience to interpret meaning
• Skimming passages to obtain primary message
3) Recognize the use and effect of literacy elements and devices, including
setting, character traits, stated purpose, metaphors, and simple symbolism to gain information from various text formats including tables and charts.
• Recognizing use of personification
• Identifying implied purpose
4) Use a wide range of strategies and skills, including using text features to gain meaning, summarizing passages, and drawing conclusions, to comprehend fifth-grade informational and functional reading materials.
• Using prior knowledge and experience to interpret meaning
• Using self-monitoring for text understanding
III. Concepts:
Personification, Purpose, Accessing Prior Knowledge for Understanding, and
Understanding Word “Chunks”
IV. Behavioral Objectives:
• The student will be able to analyze words and break them down to find meaning of those words in the sentence.
• The student will be able to explain the purpose of the author’s poem.
• The student will be able to compare words used in the text to the personified
object.
V. Evaluation:
Teacher observes student’s participation in oral reading and echoed reading.
Teacher will be able to ask questions with a proper response from students that
have comprehended the poem.
VI. Materials:
• Copy of the poem The New Colossus
• SmartBoard
• Smart Document Camera
• Copies of the poem for students (23)
• Highlighters
VII. Teaching/Learning Procedures:
A. Motivation:
Show pictures of The Statue of Liberty on the Smartboard, and
tell students how most of my family have visited this statue, as well as its relevance to this country and it’s history.
B. Instructional Procedures:
• The teacher will introduce the poem, and begin reading with expression and correct fluency, modeling fluent reading.
• The teacher will read the first two lines of the poem and have the students echo what is being read with accuracy.
• The students will read the poem together with similar expression and accuracy of the teacher.
• The teacher will go through the poem as the students read aloud and underline words that have “chunks” in them.
• Once the students have finished reading the teacher will point out underlined words and ask students to break them apart for comprehension.
• Teacher will help students if needed on pronunciation, and root words.
• Teacher will add these words to the word wall for future reference.
• Teacher will then discuss personification (giving human characteristics to nonliving things).
• Teacher will ask students to see if they can skim the poem and recognize the object that is being personified.
• Once the object is recognized (Statue of Liberty), the teacher will ask students to point out the different ways that the author used to personify The Statue of Liberty. Discuss other ways that we personify objects: fish (darts through the water like an Olympic swimmer), tree (dance in the wind, sway)
• The teacher will ask students to use prior knowledge, based on the passage, The Passage to Freedom, in Reading Street, that discusses immigrants and their struggles and passage into the new land.
• The teacher will ask students if they think the author is trying to persuade, explain, or describe The Statue of Liberty. Responses will vary based on the student’s comprehension. Some will say that it was describe the statue, others will state that the author was trying to persuade new immigrants to come to America, others may state that the author is trying to explain the process. Each answer will vary and can be relevant, if the student explains his/her reasoning.
C. Closure:
The teacher will reiterate the important symbolism of The Statue of Liberty, and how Americans and immigrants view The Statue of Liberty. Furthermore, the teacher and students will reread the poem, and the teacher will allow students to keep a copy of the poem for future reference.
D. Relevance:
The students must understand what The Statue of Liberty stands for, rights and freedoms granted in the United States and how many immigrants and others across the world recognize its symbolism.
VIII. Supplemental Activities (Early Finishers, Enrichment, Remediation)
• Early Finishers: Whole group instruction, no early finishers.
• Enrichment: Read selected books previously selected by teacher on the Statue of Liberty for further knowledge and understanding.
• Remediation: Discuss “chunk” words in small group, and work on personification assigning human characteristics to different objects.
IX. Personal Reflection:
This lesson could have gone better than I expected. I had everything I needed, I feel that the children were not grasping the point of personification. I can not really tell if it was because the poem was to difficult or that my explanations were not very good. Toward the end they were beginning to understand, I had to change my examples from the poem to everyday things, such as trees dancing in the wind, and rocks standing sturdy like a soldier. They did however do well on the reading. They repeated the phrases after me, and the children even did well on some of the larger words. I do feel that I could use this again in the classroom, but next time I may find a poem more suitable to the age group. I do feel that the children did well on the reading, but the inclusion of the other elements of the lesson may need to be left off next time, or at least kept to a minimum.
I also included the use of pronouns in my lesson per the request of the teacher. I asked the students to point out the different pronouns, and circled them as the children said them, as seen in the picture below.
Guided Reading, Whole/Small Group
Reading Street – Unit 3, Week 2, Day 2
Objectives: List objectives for the entire reading block.
• The student will be able to analyze new words and find meaning of those words in a sentence.
• The student will be able to explain the difference between fact and opinion.
• The student will be able to describe the main idea of the story as well as supporting details.
Evaluation: Tell how you will evaluate each objective.
• Teacher will ask questions after reading a selection from the text, and students will answer specific questions on the terms selected.
• Teacher will evaluate the student based on his/her ability to differentiate fact from opinion, through specific statements spoken by the teacher.
• The students will write a response based on the Reading Street Text’s question of the day.
Materials: List all materials that will be used during the reading block.
• SmartBoard
• Power Point from the website Waltkek, http://classroom.jc-schools.net/waltkek/fifth3.html
• Pencils and Paper
• Writing Journal
• Reading Street Text
• Sentence Strips, for the new vocabulary terms to place on the Word Wall.
• Marker
• Equity Sticks
For the next 2 sections, explain your teaching procedures and/or explain what the students will be doing. Please make sure that you are covering all of the objectives. **Add in at least one additional resource or activity to supplement Reading Street. Please mark the additional resource/activity in bold print.
Whole Group Instruction: Students will interact with the teacher using the SmartBoard to go over the vocabulary from this weeks story, using the website and power point listed in the materials. After the power point activity has been completed, the teacher will go over fact and opinion. The teacher will ask many different questions to determine if the students can differentiate between the two. The teacher will then read the text pausing briefly, asking specific questions based on the main and supporting ideas of the story or passage. The students will be asked to go online and look up more of Da Vinci’s work and describe it in their own words, and if applicable share with the class.
Independent Activities: As I finished the power point and discussed the different topics with the children, I divided them up into their assigned groups and sent them to do their activities. At one center, I allowed the children to go over the power point again, and write the definition of the vocabulary as well as draw a picture of the vocabulary term. In addition to that center, I had one group go to the corner and read the Shared Readers. I asked the children to read these aloud and take turns. Once they were finished reading I asked them to ask each other questions pertaining to the text. In another group, I had the children read AR books and test on them if applicable. Finally in my last group, I had the children work on worksheets, per teacher’s request, on main ideas and supporting details.
Small Group Plans for _Kevin Robertson/ Castlen Elementary________
Group: Tanner H., Matthew T., Austin C., Ashliegh A.
Title of Text: __Searching For Dinosaurs_________
Author: _______Anne Cambal____________ Level:____Yellow______
Strategy/Skill Focus:
• Main Idea
• Supporting Ideas
• Fact and Opinion
• Summarizing
• Context Clues
Vocabulary(Word Work Focus):
Erected, proportion, tidied, foundations, mold, occasion, and workshop
Extension Activity:
I had the students write a KWL chart in their journal. I asked them to write down everything they learned from the reader, what they wanted to know, and what they already knew. I told them to make sure they only wrote down facts, and that I would check to see if they had inserted opinions from the book. If they finished that early I asked the students to write about a time where they saw a dinosaur bone and if they have seen something similar to what Mr. Waterhouse had done, in the present day.
Group: Tanner H., Matthew T., Austin C., and Ashliegh A
Title of Text: __________The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins_________________
Author: _______Barbara Kerley________ Level:______Yellow________
Strategy/Skill Focus:
• Context Clues
• Fact and Opinion
• Predictions
Vocabulary(Word Work Focus):
Erected, proportion, tidied, foundations, mold, occasion, and workshop
Extension Activity:
I had the students read selected books (previously selected by the teacher) about dinosaurs. Furthermore, I had the students write as many facts as they could about the dinosaurs they read about in those books. I told them that once they were finished if they would please let me have a look at them so I could verify their facts.
Objectives: List objectives for the entire reading block.
• The student will be able to analyze new words and find meaning of those words in a sentence.
• The student will be able to explain the difference between fact and opinion.
• The student will be able to describe the main idea of the story as well as supporting details.
Evaluation: Tell how you will evaluate each objective.
• Teacher will ask questions after reading a selection from the text, and students will answer specific questions on the terms selected.
• Teacher will evaluate the student based on his/her ability to differentiate fact from opinion, through specific statements spoken by the teacher.
• The students will write a response based on the Reading Street Text’s question of the day.
Materials: List all materials that will be used during the reading block.
• SmartBoard
• Power Point from the website Waltkek, http://classroom.jc-schools.net/waltkek/fifth3.html
• Pencils and Paper
• Writing Journal
• Reading Street Text
• Sentence Strips, for the new vocabulary terms to place on the Word Wall.
• Marker
• Equity Sticks
For the next 2 sections, explain your teaching procedures and/or explain what the students will be doing. Please make sure that you are covering all of the objectives. **Add in at least one additional resource or activity to supplement Reading Street. Please mark the additional resource/activity in bold print.
Whole Group Instruction: Students will interact with the teacher using the SmartBoard to go over the vocabulary from this weeks story, using the website and power point listed in the materials. After the power point activity has been completed, the teacher will go over fact and opinion. The teacher will ask many different questions to determine if the students can differentiate between the two. The teacher will then read the text pausing briefly, asking specific questions based on the main and supporting ideas of the story or passage. The students will be asked to go online and look up more of Da Vinci’s work and describe it in their own words, and if applicable share with the class.
Independent Activities: As I finished the power point and discussed the different topics with the children, I divided them up into their assigned groups and sent them to do their activities. At one center, I allowed the children to go over the power point again, and write the definition of the vocabulary as well as draw a picture of the vocabulary term. In addition to that center, I had one group go to the corner and read the Shared Readers. I asked the children to read these aloud and take turns. Once they were finished reading I asked them to ask each other questions pertaining to the text. In another group, I had the children read AR books and test on them if applicable. Finally in my last group, I had the children work on worksheets, per teacher’s request, on main ideas and supporting details.
Small Group Plans for _Kevin Robertson/ Castlen Elementary________
Group: Tanner H., Matthew T., Austin C., Ashliegh A.
Title of Text: __Searching For Dinosaurs_________
Author: _______Anne Cambal____________ Level:____Yellow______
Strategy/Skill Focus:
• Main Idea
• Supporting Ideas
• Fact and Opinion
• Summarizing
• Context Clues
Vocabulary(Word Work Focus):
Erected, proportion, tidied, foundations, mold, occasion, and workshop
Extension Activity:
I had the students write a KWL chart in their journal. I asked them to write down everything they learned from the reader, what they wanted to know, and what they already knew. I told them to make sure they only wrote down facts, and that I would check to see if they had inserted opinions from the book. If they finished that early I asked the students to write about a time where they saw a dinosaur bone and if they have seen something similar to what Mr. Waterhouse had done, in the present day.
Group: Tanner H., Matthew T., Austin C., and Ashliegh A
Title of Text: __________The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins_________________
Author: _______Barbara Kerley________ Level:______Yellow________
Strategy/Skill Focus:
• Context Clues
• Fact and Opinion
• Predictions
Vocabulary(Word Work Focus):
Erected, proportion, tidied, foundations, mold, occasion, and workshop
Extension Activity:
I had the students read selected books (previously selected by the teacher) about dinosaurs. Furthermore, I had the students write as many facts as they could about the dinosaurs they read about in those books. I told them that once they were finished if they would please let me have a look at them so I could verify their facts.
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