The Culminating Blog

This project came with a lot of mixed emotions: ecstatic, joyful, frustration, relief, annoyance, bitterness, and more! However, the whole experience has been a great learning experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do this project. I learned a lot about myself and child development. Although I couldn't help out in the hospital, I did academic development at a local elementary school, Ponderosa Elementary. I helped teach in a kindergarden class. I tried several ways to teach the children, but the best way was hands on learning. They worked better with hands on learning because when I orally explained the lesson they didn't understood it, and when I demonstrated the lesson without them copying, it took them awhile to understand it because they weren't all paying attention. They got side tracked. I had them do the pre-lesson with me, so they can have muscle memory.When I was teaching the kindergartners, I did the each activity with them, so I can continue to learn with them. I had the students copy what I did before we did a lesson. This helped them with their learning skills and most if not all understood the lesson within minutes. I had to talk in a gentle voice, so the children wouldn't shut down. We worked on letter sounds, letter recognition, sentence starters and conjunctions! I had them read the alphabet everyday, so they can remember how important it is to know you letter recognition and sounds. We would play big bag games, which they chose a bean bag and whichever letter it said, they had to say the sound, what letter it is, and an object starting with the letter. With the advanced group, I made a game, which I gave them two flashcards and they had to make a sentence using the two objects on the flashcards. They were amazing at this! I had to help some of them, but majority of them got it. It was interesting listening to how string their sentences were at such a young age. 

I gained self-relaince, confidence, and resilience. I've always been a timid girl who was always hesitate on everything. I always want everybody's opinion. I usually need guidance to make feel "comfortable", but when I started this problem, I learned how to rely on myself and my instincts. It felt amazing and knowing I made an impact to many young lives. These children believed in me and I believed in them, and that made me strive till the end in this project. I usually talk so fast people don't understand what I'm saying. I don't even know what I'm saying! But when I was teaching the students, I learned how to talk slow, learned how to think before I spoke and learned how to pronounce words. I still have trouble, but it's getting better. After a long day at school, I would go to community service to teach the children and they always put my mood in a good mood. They taught me that there is a brighter side to everything. Even when they were struggling, they never gave up. They encouraged each other to understand the lesson, and I will never forget this lesson. 

There weren't that many challenges along the way besides being patience. I would get frustrated when the students didn't listen to me as I was trying to help them be Pros at their alphabets, but I never showed the frustration. I would just stay quiet for a moment then wait patiently until they are ready to learn. This really helped. They felt bad that I had to wait in the end. Also, I found it difficulty when I had to change up the plans at that moment because we took too long on something or went by quickly over something. This only happened two times. I would either finish teaching the lesson the next week, or have them finish it during play time the next day, and if I went too fast on a lesson, I would call out random objects in the classroom and had them say the letter, letter sound, have them put it in a sentence. They loved it because they made their own sentence on the spot.

This capstone experience has been amazing. I love working with children and I can't wait to work with them in the future. I hope to still volunteer at Ponderosa when I come home from break from college. My mentor and students were awesome and I can actually say they made a positive impact to my life.

18th Day- April 11, 2014

On Friday, I tutored my little cousin with division. The division problems had remainders. We first did the remainder problems with double digits. He got it right away. However, when we moved onto a more complex worksheet with 3-4 digits, he got stuck. I told him it was okay and to just take one step at a time. I had him cover up the 3rd and or 4th digit, so he can understand a complex problem. If he didn't know how many times a number went in the number, I had him to the opposite of division, which is multiplication. He didn't understand what I was saying, until I showed him an example. He's getting better and better at math now I need to pace him, so when it comes to tests, he can finish all the problems or when it comes to timed tests he can get as many problems done as he can. 

Time logged in for session: 3 hours

Total time logged in: 25 hours 

17th Day- March 25th, 2014

On Tuesday, I had my cousin write complex sentences with his weekly words. Since he's in 3rd, I wanted him to challenge himself. He did really good! However, he just used the wrong prepositions. Next, I'm going to give him a prompt and wore 8-10 sentences, so he can learn how to write paragraphs the essays. After, I taught him how to do longer division. This time the number was  4 digits. He confused himself. I told him "it's nothing different or harder, just take one step at a time". This calmed him down and began to slowly understand it. After he got a hang of it, the questions switched over to 3 digits and forgot how to do it. I understand how he can get confused because easier things can be harder. After math, he read his book to me. His English is improving, he just stutters. How can you prevent that because I always stutter when I publically speak? 

Time logged in for session: 3 hours

Total time logged in: 22 hours 

16th Day- March 24, 2014

Yesterday, I tutored my cousin again. He still had trouble with division. He had 3 math worksheets to complete by the next day. We only got to finish two because it was getting past his bed time. I helped him with each problem, again. I didn't know I had this much patience because every 2-3 problems were repetitive. He kept getting stuck, so he guessed. I told him not to guess because he kept guessing wrong. I told him he needed to really think about it, so he did. I've learned that teaching math is more difficult that teaching spelling. On his spelling work, he went through it like a breeze. Tonight, I'm going to print out 1-9 times table so when he does his multiplication or division he can refer to the table.

Time logged in for session: 3 hours

Total time logged in: 19 hours 

15th Day- March 23, 2014

On March 23, 2014, I tutored my cousin in math. It was only one worksheet on division. I helped him with each and every problem. It was difficult because my cousin has trouble with math. I tried to teach him different methods like doing the problems he knows first, covering the ones places of the problem, and more but it's hard to explain. It's took an hour and a half to do one worksheet, but he understood it by the end. Then he had to read to me for 30 mins. He's really good at reading, especially English being his second language.

Time logged in for session: 2 hours

Total time logged in: 16 hours 

14th Day- March 18, 2014

Today, I played with all three kindergarten classes outside for 30 mins. After, I had the Tuesday group come with me to the rug, so I can read them "Green Shamrocks". The Tuesday group is slower than the Monday group, but it's okay because I get to work with the different levels. Before I read the story, I asked them what's the beginning, middle and end of a story. They said the beginning occurs on the first couple pages of the story, middle has the problem, and end is where the problem is fixed. I read them the story and stopped consecutively to ask them questions about the book to keep them engaged and because some were looking out into space. After I asked them what the 3 different sections were. The teacher and I had to help them. I couldn't stay for their worksheet because time had ran out. 

Time logged in for session: 1 hour

Total time logged in: 14 hours 

13th Day- March 17, 2014

Today is St. Patty's day! The kids were so excited to tell me the leprechaun came and took the coins. Their stories were so cute! Today, I read them a St. Patrick's story, "Green Shamrocks". The students had to pay attention to the beginning, middle, and end. After repeating the story several times, the students wrote down the beginning, middle, and end. And after drew a picture. The students had a difficult time understand in the different sections because they mainly remembered what happened at the end. I miss kingergatren and all the activies they do. :( 

Time logged in for session: 1 hour

Total time logged in: 13 hours 

12th Day- March 14, 2014

On March 14, 2014, I waited for the staudents to leave so I mess up the classroom. The children made leprechaun traps, and I got to be the leprechaun. The leprechaun got to move the traps, move the class furniture, and take the coins from the traps. It was really fun because I got to apart of their leprechaun beliefs. I remember when I was in elementary school I used to believe in Santa, the tooth fairy and the leprechaun. These fictional characters play a major role in a child's life. 

Time logged in for session: .5 hour

Total time logged in: 12 hours 

11th Day- March 7, 2014

On Friday, March 7th, I worked with the advanced group. I distributed flash cards to the students. The flash cards had a letter and a picture on each card. I had the students think of a sentence with the picture on the card and use two words from the word wall. The word wall had: I, we, us, play, go, can and more. Their sentences were impressive! We did this about 5x. After, I gave them two cards. They had to use both of the cards and atleast 1-2 words from the word wall. Now this amazed me because they used conjunction words and made their sentences interesting. For example, I gave a girl a lion and a seal and she said "I saw a lion and a seal at the zoo." A boy had two cards which were a jet and a monkey and his sentence was "do you see a monkey on the jet?" That was great because it was a question. After we did several rounds, I had the students write a sentence they shared aloud and draw a picture corresponding to the sentence. We had extra time so I taught them vowels and constants. They caught on very quick. 

Time logged in for session: 1 hour

Total time logged in: 11.5 hours 

10th day- March 4, 2014

Yesterday, I had flashcards for the students to practice their letter sounds, but first we said the alphabet and the sound it makes as a group. The flashcards had a letter on each card and a picture. I had the students say the letter, the letter sound and the name of the picture. We did about 5 rounds. The kids had fun with the flash cards but a little too much fun. They were off task because they were playing with cards or making funny sounds with the letter sounds. After 5 rounds, I pointed to objects around the classroom and asked what it was, the sound it makes, and the letter it starts with. 

Time logged in for session: 1 hour

Total time logged in: 10.5 hours 

9th Day- March 3, 2014

On March 3, 2014, I had a sentence starter that was "We can go _____." My example was "We can go to the beach." I asked the students if "we" meant for only one person or two or more people. Their answer was two or more. It's crazy how smart these kindergartners are. Anyways, I had the students think what they wanted to complete their sentence with. After they figured it out, they shared it aloud and began to write it on their paper. They wanted help on how to spell the places, but I had them sound it out, so they are familiar with letter sounds. A lot of them were close on the spelling! After they completed the sentence, they drew a picture corresponding with it. The students are very artistic. I've learned that I need to give the students more time on sounding out the word because I get impaitent and feel tempted to tell them how to spell the word. 

Time logged in for session: 1 hour

Total time logged in: 9.5 hours 

8th Day- February 25, 2014

On Tuesday, February 25, 2014, I shawdowed on another kindergarden teacher who was teaching addition. We watched several videos on YouTube about addition. They were catchy rap songs that kept the students engaged. We watched each video 3-4x so the students understood the concept. When the video said "and they're group together", the students made their hands into a "plus sign". And when the video would say numbers, the students would put up their fingers corresponding to the number. After, I passed out whiteboards to the students, so we can do problems together. For example, the teacher said lets do 4+2=__. Under the numbers, the students would put circles corresponding to the number. And when they want to figure out the answer, they circle the little circles with a big one. Then they counted the little circles. It was cute seeing the students do mathematics because it's a bit difficult than learning letters. I'm glad I learned how to teach them addition, I can't wait to teach an addition lesson. 

Time logged in for session: 1.5 hours 

Total time logged in: 8.5 hours 

7th Day- February 19, 2014

On Thursday, February 19, 2014, I thought I'd do something different with the children instead of using flash cards and asking them what the letter is. I had the students each choose a book, so a total of 5 books. I read each book aloud but ask questions between each page. For example, I'd ask them to make predictions, tell me their favorite type of food( it corresponded with the book), or I had them try to sound out some words on the page, it was a little difficult, but nice to know where they were.  I felt like the students enjoyed this because I played several characters as I read and they got to do a new activity. I really enjoy working with the students. It's an amazing opportunity. 

Time logged in for session: 1hr

Total time logged in: 7hrs 

6th Day- February 18, 2014

Yesterday, on February 18, 2014, I worked with the children on their letter sounds. First, I got a pointer stick and began to point at the alphabet on the walls. I had the students say the letter and the sound the letter makes. Some of the children participated but others fooled around with each other which made me mad because I'm trying to help the students know their letter sounds. After that, I got 26 bean bags that had a letter on each on them. I spreaded out the bags, faced down on the carpet. The children sat in a "U" shape around the bag. Each one of chose a bean bag and said the letter, the sound it makes and a word that starts with the letter. A lot of them were clueless on the letter sound of "Q", "U", "E", "W", and "X". So I gave them a couple of tries and helped them out. Also, I had the students help as well. The students did excellent today, but I wished they were more focused in the beginning. 

Time logged in for session: 1hr

Total time logged in: 6hrs 

5th day- February 6, 2014

Today on February 6, 2014, I worked with the children that needed help with letter recognition. I used 26 bean bags that had a letter on each bean bag. I flipped the bags over so they looked like plain bags and separated them into rows, sort of like a deck of cards. I went around in a circle and had the student choose a bag, say the letter, the sound of the letter and if they can, name an object with that letter. It was really fun. We went around 5 times. Only one girl got all 5 points! After playing the game, I had the students tell me the alphabet. Then we said the alphabet backwards. I've noticed improvements within the students. They are doing very well and I'm so proud of them. 

Time logged in for session: 1hr

Total time logged in: 5hrs 

4th Day

On Friday January 31, 2014, I worked with the higher level skilled children. I had the 6 students pick 3 words from the word wall: I, see, we, can, like, me. There were more words, but I don't remember them off the top of my head. The students wrote the 3 words on the back of their paper then I had them choose two words from their choice to use in a sentence. After, I had them brainstorm on the back of their paper then had them share it aloud. When they knew what they were going to write, they turned their paper over and began to write. For example, I chose "I" and "see" and my sentence was "I see the students play." and drew a picture of me watching the students play. The students did very well on this assignment. Each of their sentences were different. If they didn't know how to spell a word, I had them sound out the word so they get familiar with the letter sounds. I had them draw a picture that represents their sentence. Their pictures had a lot of colors and details:) I enjoy working with children and watching them improve.

Time logged in for this session: 1 hr

Total Time logged: 4 hr

3rd day- January 28, 2014

On January 28, 2014, I had students who needed help with letter sounds. I bought alphabet flashcards at Walgreens. I had the students sit in a circle on the rug. I used a pointer stick and pointed to each letter of the alphabet on the wall. They had to say the letter and sound. I didn't move on to the next letter unless they had it correct. After, we played a game with the flashcards. The game was to recognize the photo on to card and say the name, letter, and sound. Only a boy named Henry and a girl named Johanna got all them correct. During first semester, Henry had a hard time doing classwork because it was challenging for him, but man he knew his alphabet! It was heart warming seeing him proud of himself instead of being sad. However, an intelligent girl named Elaine didn't know much of the alphabet even when we sounded out the picture on the card. Hopefully, next week when we play she'll understand.

Time logged in for this session: 1 hr

Total Time logged: 3 hr

2nd day- Monday January 27, 2014

On Monday January 27, 2014, I met with the kids. This was the first day I was going to teach them a lesson, I brain farted and just sat infront of them blank. Luckily the teacher helped me get started. She continued to help as I got stuck.  I met up with 9 children and taught them a sentence starter. The sentence starter was "I like to play _____." Over the weekend, I made my own and wrote, "I like to play hop-scotch." I drew myself playing hop-scotch in the sun. It was a well-detailed picture. I had the students write the sentence starter and fill in the blank. First, I had them share out the activity and had them sound out the activity as they tried to spell it. It was really cute. A boy, named Uriel put, "I like to play on the moncke borz." This was a way to help students get familiar with letter sounds.

Time logged in for this session: 1 hr

Total Time logged: 2 hr

The 1st Day- January 17th, 2014

On January 15th, 2014 was the first day I talked to my mentor about the physical project. I was hesitate on what I actually wanted to do because I didn't want to feel "dumb" infront of a teacher. I asked her if we can put the children into groups based on their academic learning levels. She said it was totally fine! I was relieved. I was going to help them with basic mathematics, since I enjoy math, but she said Language Arts would be better. And I agree because knowing your alaphbet and letter sounds are more essiential to first grade than mathematics. On Monday's and Friday's, I will be working with the students by writing sentences by themselves or finishing off the sentence starters. On Tuesday's and Thursday's, I will be working with the children by recongizing letters and sounds. I'm excited to teach the children and watch them academically develop. I feel like this will help me with public speaking.


Time logged in for this session: 1 hr

Total Time logged: 1 hr