Tuesday, May 20th
Today I was with Ms. Caraballo's kindergarten class again, and even as the year is winding down, we are still following our daily routine. In the morning, the class sat on the carpet like normal and did some dome of the daily warm ups to get their brains going. This is a great time because it allows the students to repeat a bunch of different topics in order to help them learn. For instance, the students go over what the wether is like for the day, what day of the week it is, the date, patterns, numbers, letters, and counting, while doing fun activities like counting how many students are in class that day and singing songs.
From there, the students worked on making a book of the letter R at the back table with me, worked independently on the computer and on worksheets, and read with Ms. Caraballo. I also had the chance to review letters with two students, both very new to the class and with limited English skills, in a small group. One of the students is very new, and I hadn't had the chance to work with her before; however, I worked with the other student in March and was amazed already at how much his knowledge and skills have grown in just a few months. It was an incredibly rewarding realization.
This realization was something that was really emphasized when students wrote in and shared their writing journals in the morning. The students all had to draw a picture of something that started with R, write as many sentences as they could about it, and share with the class via a microphone. All of the students are in very different places with their writing and English skills, but it was incredibly gratifying to see all the effort they put into expressing themselves and how much their abilities have improved since I first worked with them in December.
In the afternoon, for math time, we decided to have students make clocks out of paper plates and do a quick lesson with that so that they could learn a little bit about time. We didn't have time to get through a full lesson, but it was a fun activity for the students and they were able to see how the hands of a clock moved.
Today taught me a lot about being flexible who working with students and really tailoring curriculum to meet their individual needs. It also emphasized again how important consistency and repetition are, and the amazing results that the two can produce for students over periods of time.
I really like how you have a previous connection with this class so that you could see how particular student(s) that you worked with have progressed over the past few months. It always amazes me how much kids absorb and retain over such a short period of time and just how crucial it is to do so at that age. I also love how the kids are trying so hard at their school work because it seems to be a more uncommon thing in this day and age. I can't even imagine going through elementary school in the United States without knowing English as a first language. It's just so amazing that you get to witness such an amazing display of hard work in these young students.
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