Second Day in Kindergarten

Thursday was my second day in Mrs. Silva’s kindergarten classroom.  When I went in two weeks prior, I noticed that some of the children had a hard time expressing themselves using English words during our 5 senses lesson.  This time, I was prepared to hear them answering my questions with some Spanish words.  My first goal was to be able to communicate with all of the children in the classroom, regardless of the language they decided to speak.  My second goal was to become more confident while in the classroom with diverse learners.

Over the time I have spent at Brigham, especially since it is my PDS placement as well, I have noticed that Mrs. Silva’s class has quite a few children who are rambunctious and have a hard time sitting still.  I also noticed this during the 5 senses lesson.  This week I was prepared for this by making sure I knew each child’s name I would be working with.  That way, I was able to calm them down by being able to address them by name.  When each child got their own picture card to decide whether it was living or non-living, they got really excited and needed to relax a little bit.  Being able to get their attention by saying their name was really helpful in keeping the group on task.  They were really into getting to draw their own cards and tell Jessie and me if the thing in the picture was living or non-living.  They were also very eager to assist each other, even when they did not need any help from one another.  I really liked the lesson this week and would actually like to implement a similar lesson in my clinical setting.  To expand on their knowledge, I would allow them to go to http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/plantsanimals.html in order to practice living and non-living things on their own during their computer centers. 

Unlike last time, this week I only had one student answer one of my questions in Spanish.  All responses besides that were in English. Allison said “si” instead of “yes” for a living thing, which was an easy word for me to understand what she meant.  This was different than last time because it was actually a Spanish word I was completely familiar with.  I’m thinking that during my own lesson, I would like to implement Spanish into it so I can really benefit from getting the opportunity of teaching a group of bilingual students.  If I am in a bilingual classroom and do not ever get the opportunity to implement a different language, I do not think I will get as much out of the experience as I should.

I feel as though this week I did not get to make much progress on my first goal besides working on getting to know each and every individual child.  It did not help my goals that the children responded to my questions in English because I was not able to try to understand their Spanish words.  I do feel as though I have been making progress on my second goal: gain confidence when working with diverse students.  I think that since I have the privilege of working with the children not only when I am in the classroom every other Thursday but also on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have become more and more comfortable around the children.  It is a huge advantage to me getting closer to meeting my goals.

Exceeds: Went over the word count & included a link to a living and non-living game appropriate for kindergarteners.