Kolb EDUC 461 Fall 2014

Journal Entries: September 29th - October 3rd

September 29, 2014
Today was my first day of full time teaching and I was nervous! I was excited at the same
time as well plus it would give me more time with my students without my cooperating teacher.
She decided to take the time and do all of the new testing for the students while Ms. Bolden was
with me in the classroom. It was the last day of learning the last letter of the alphabet and we are
going to review the alphabet for the rest of the week. The next week we will be starting letter
sounds of s and m. I tried to add on more with the calendar with getting the students to come
up and do it besides me. I believe it makes the students want to participate and especially if I
start to see them yawn. It lets them get up and come use the technology offered to them to use.
This week we are doing apples and using our five senses for apples. We had a class discussion
on apples come from the trees and into the store. We started with a big book called From Apple
Tree to Store. I first asked the question where do we get our apples from and most of them said
the store. As I read the story, I told them to listen to the process on how they get to the store.
After I had the students turn and talk to their partners to have them collaborate and also to get
them to participate because I noticed yawning going on.
In Math, we did an apples in a basket booklet where the students had to color a number of
apples a certain color. We did this in small groups because I thought it would be easier to
monitor as well as give more individualized attention. The booklet had the number words and the
color words in them. I had the students write the numeral underneath the number word and trace
the color words yellow, green, and red in their crayon colors. I thought it would be an
accommodation for the students who did not have previous knowledge of number and color
words. Some were able to do this activity and some were not because they did not follow
directions. I should have done the directions before I gave them the book.
October 1, 2014
Today we did alphabet bingo as our open court activity. The students were excited about
the game because I did tell them the day before. For the first round, I showed the letter to the
students but for the next two rounds I did not. It was surprising to see the ones who still did not
know their letters. I do the flashcards of letters during intervention time but if they are not getting

it at home either then it will not help. I also try to have the students do the alphabet by having
each student say a letter starting with A and so on. I know the ones that still need help with
letters so I need to make sure I do this during center time as well.
In Math, I did the measuring of how tall the students were with apples. I did the activity
during center time because it would have been better in small groups. The students enjoyed this
activity because it amazed them that they were 17 apples tall. It is an interactive activity as well
as something that is exciting to them. I did small guided reading groups during center time as
well. I did questions like where is the title? Can you point to the title? I also read to the
students and then had them to repeat it back to me. It is mostly memorization but I think that
should be the first step to reading. I did forget that morning to do math journal and I told my
teacher and she was like that is fine because sometimes that will happen so it is no big deal. I did
do it after related arts so it was good timing to do it.
October 2, 2014
Today I did the lesson for life cycle of an apple because the students think that apples
magically appear in the grocery store. I did a guided reading lesson of a booklet called I See an
Apple which has the life cycle of an apple. At first I would read the sentence on each page and
as each page went to a new step in the life cycle, I would have the students come up and
physically do the life cycle of an apple. After I explained each step, I did a review of having the
students do a thumbs up and down of what I wanted them to know like which one is the apple?
The idea came to my mind when I was driving to school that morning. I remember doing
something similar in science pedagogy and I thought it would be more meaningful to the
students if I had them act out the life cycle. The acting out was not part of the lesson plan.
I also did parts of an apple by using a real apple. Again it was not part of the lesson plan
to use a real apple. But I think using a an actual apple would be more meaningful cause they can
see it and look at their own apples and know the parts. After that, the students had do a
worksheet which did not work for them. They had seen the words leaf, stem, and seeds before
but not skin or flesh so it was not easy for them to put the right word in the right box. I would
have used an anchor chart and I would have had the students tell me altogether what the parts
were rather than them trying to read the new words they have not seen before. I did try to write

them on the board but since I did not have a picture of it already up there, it was difficult for
them.
In math, we had a taste test of green, yellow, and red apples. We had di-cut apples of
each. Before we did the experience, I asked them to make a prediction of which apple they think
would like before tasting it. I then asked them which apple would have more votes. After they
did the taste testing, each student had to whisper in my ear which apple they liked best and were
given that color apple. As they put their apples under our chart, I had them count how many
apples in each column and put the total at the bottom. I tried a concept that they were not ready
which is one less or one more. Most students picked the yellow apples and green and red were
tied. It was a great math lesson and it tied the unit together as well. I thought it was a good idea
to have the students predict because they do need to know how to make a prediction.
We also met for an ELA planning meeting for the unit of farm animals. I was able to
contribute my idea for the Old MacDonald book and the song. I suggested that the students
compare and contrast both the book and the song because they probably mentioned animals that
may or may not have been in either one or the other. Ms. Glace and Ms. South were like that is
perfect! Girl, you are good! It was great that my idea was getting added to the lesson plan for that
week.
October 3, 2014
Today was the last day for unit of apples and the five senses. We did another game of
alphabet bingo and the students love this game. It makes them think hard about each of the
letters. It also shows what they know and what they do not know. I did one round of showing
them the letter and then two rounds of not showing them. While the students were at Guidance,
Ms. South and I got books together for the unit next week and the week after that. I already had
the farm books out and the big books used for the ELA lessons. I already had the work for next
week ready and put in the correct folders for each day.
I read the big book of Apples when the students came back. I did a review of the life
cycle as well as the parts of an apple. It was great to see that they remembered those things from
yesterday and it was great to see that my impromptu lessons worked. For math, we did an anchor
of the number 6. Ms. South observed me for that lesson. I had the students show me six fingers. I

had them get their white boards out to write the number six. I also asked to write six in tally
marks which did not work as well as I would have liked them to. It made me realize we do need
to work on that. I also had them to represent six in their tens frame by drawing it. For some, they
did well but for some they did not. I should have done an example of both the tally marks and the
tens frame. After that, the students did their worksheet of an anchor chart of the number 6.
At the end of the day, the students brought their own apple from home and we had the
students use their five senses for their apples. I asked them to use words that would describe their
apples while eating them and one said Delicious which is a good word for a kindergartner. I
believe the whole week went well for the students and very tasty for them.
I had a great first week of full time teaching and I cannot wait to see what the next four
weeks are going to hold for me. I am so excited to teach about fall and the other seasons.