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Alyssa Carmona
Dr. Jade Burris
EGP 322-03
21 October 2015
Activity Plan #1 Reflection

My Monkey Math activity plan was implemented on Wednesday, October 14, 2015.

Throughout the morning, I kept searching for the perfect opportunity to implement my plan. This

was a relatively difficult thing to do, on account of the fact that I usually follow Arabellas lead

when I interact and play with her. After snack time, however, once Arabella finished eating, she

headed over to the quiet reading area. I went over and asked her what she was doing, and she

held up a book (Smelly Socks), which she then proceeded to read to me. Eventually, the

opportunity presented itself for me to try to engage her in my activity plan, and this went over

well. Arabella was engaged from the start, and remained engaged throughout. Although she did

seem a bit apprehensive at the start of the anticipatory set, she quickly became excited once I

offered some support. I then carried on with the rest of my activity plan, and she expressed much

interest, particularly once we got to the game portion of the activity. For instance, while the

activity was still going on, she told me that she thought it was fun and wanted to do it again once

we were finished. Then, once we did finish with the activity, Arabella continued to play with the

manipulatives. In addition, once she had decided that she was finished, she told me, Maybe you

can bring this back again sometime and we can play again. I was so happy to know that

Arabella enjoyed taking part in the activity that I had created, and hearing this truly brought a

smile to my face.

Overall, I would say that my activity went as planned. I will say, however, that I almost

forgot to carry out the anticipatory set! I think that this was due to some nerves that I had

regarding carrying out the activity, but I caught myself just in time to still be able to include it.
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So, I was thankful for that! I first asked Arabella if she liked jumping. Luckily, she had

responded that she did, but if she had said no, I would have substituted the jumping with another

movement. Upon explaining the jumping activity to Arabella, however, she seemed a bit

resistant, and told me that she couldnt do it. In an effort to offer support, I then asked her if she

could just jump one time without counting, which she did. After this, I again asked her to jump

one time, but this time as she did so, I counted for her. I then asked her to jump two times, and

again counted for her. When it came time for her to jump three times, I transferred the

responsibility of counting to her, and she was able to complete this step successfully. She then

also completed these steps for numbers four and five.

Once the jumping activity had been completed, I introduced and read Five Little Monkeys

Jumping on the Bed, to which Arabella listened to attentively. Upon finishing the book, I had her

recall the events that took place in the story, specifically as they related to the number of

monkeys jumping on the bed. This related to my first behavioral objective, which stated, After

listening to Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, the child will verbally and accurately retell

the main events from the story in sequential order. Arabella was able to do this with 100%

accuracy, and only needed prompting when recalling the first detail (how many monkeys there

were in the beginning of the story/at first). I then introduced the storytelling props to her, and

told her that we were going to play the game that I had told her about earlier. This next portion of

the activity plan related to behavioral objective two, which stated, When prompted by the

teacher, and in the form of recalling events that took place in the story, the child will use

storytelling props to represent quantities from 1 to 5 with 80% accuracy (4 out of 5 times), as

well as behavioral objective three, which stated, After using props to create a visual

representation of an event from the story, the child will match the number of monkeys that they
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see/count in their visual representation to the correct numeral with 60% accuracy (3 out of 5

times). Arabella was able to meet each of these objectives with 100% accuracy. When first

staring out, although she needed some prompting in order to recall the number of monkeys that

had been jumping on the bed, she did not require additional support in order to actually represent

the number of monkeys and select the correct corresponding numeral. In addition, once it had

been established that all of the monkeys (5) were jumping on the bed at first, she carried on with

the activity almost independently, without seeking out any additional support or guidance.

When creating my Monkey Math activity plan, I believed that it challenged Arabellas

emerging skills because I created an activity that would encourage her to use skills that I had

observed either intermittently or not at all. In addition, I ensured that it would provide her with

an opportunity for success by keeping in mind a number of ways that I could offer additional

support/guidance throughout the activity. I also facilitated this by including tasks that would

require her to use skills that I already knew she possessed. For instance, while I had seen

Arabella count small numbers of objects from time to time, I had never seen her display any

knowledge of numerals. Thus, I had perceived this to be one of her emerging skills. However,

after carrying out my activity, I no longer think that this is an emerging skill for Arabella, at

least as it relates to quantities from 1 to 5. This is a good transition into whether or not I found

my assessment to be effective, regarding Arabellas skills.

As far as my assessment is concerned, it did match my objectives, and I do believe that it

was effective in providing the information I needed to assess each child (in this case, only one

child)to a certain extent. The reason I say this is because Arabella met each one of the

behavioral objectives with 100% accuracy. Thus, my assessment allows me to see that she

currently possesses the skills that were needed for this particular activity, but I do not think that it
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fully tells me about the skills that she does not yet possess/is on her way to possessing. For

instance, I know that she can represent quantities from 1 to 5 and match said quantities with the

correct corresponding numeral, but my assessment does not tell me at what number she no longer

possesses this skill/this skill becomes difficult for her. I also still do not know if she possesses

knowledge of number words/would have been able to select the correct corresponding number

word. Thus, I believe that taking steps in order to make this activity more challenging, and

altering my assessment to match, would have helped me further in assessing Arabellas skills.

Although I did not possess this knowledge prior to engaging her in my activity plan, it is

something that I would have had to have been prepared for prior to carrying it out. For this

reason, one thing I would do differently in the future would be actually preparing for

differentiation, rather than only stating what I would do for differentiation in the written plan.

Overall, I was proud of my teaching skills, especially as they were related to offering

additional support during the activity. For instance, when trying to carry out the anticipatory set,

I had to be quick on my feet in order to provide Arabella with more guidance once she told me

that she couldnt do what I was asking her to do. Regarding factors such as set up,

communication, management, transitions, gaining and maintaining childrens interest, and

flexibility, I felt pretty good. While I feel, however, that my activity went pretty well, I do

believe that there is always room for improvement. For instance, perhaps the way in which I

worded my questions could have been better; perhaps the way I moved from one portion of the

activity to the next could have been more seamless. I am a firm believer in practice making

(almost) perfect. I think that each time I carry out a pre-planned activity, I will learn more and

more about what to do, as well as what not to do. And, while this may be true for carrying out

activities in general, I also think it is especially true for carrying out a certain activity in
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particular. For instance, each time I carry out my Monkey Math activity, I would expect to

learn something new about that particular activity. Also important to keep in mind, though, is

that no two children are alike, and this would undoubtedly also have an effect. Thus, even when

a particular activity seems to go perfectly, I would not expect it to go perfectly each time I

carried it out after that.

As far as my planning for this activity is concerned, although I felt that I put a lot of

effort into my preparation, I regret not actually planning for differentiation. Thus, as stated

previously, this is one thing that I would do differently next time. This, I believe, would allow

me to more adequately meet the needs of the child(ren) engaging in the activity at hand.

Regarding my Monkey Math activity, I believe it was play-based because it did not

involve a traditional paper-pencil task, but instead made use of a meaningful game. The

manipulatives that I created and then used during my activity allowed Arabella to actually

experience and do something with the material, helping her to learn in a hands-on way.

I would adjust my plan for children who were either slightly more or slightly less mature

developmentally by utilizing the differentiation techniques laid out in my written lesson plan. For

children who are slightly less mature developmentally, this would include things like: offering

additional support if the child is having difficulty retelling the story (i.e. by asking questions; by

referring back to the book itself); referring back to the book to offer additional support if the

child is having difficulty answering the teachers questions about the number of monkeys that

were jumping on the bed and/or using the props to visually represent this; by making the task

easier by offering less numerals to choose from if the child is having difficulty selecting the

correct number to match to their visual representation. For children who are slightly more mature

developmentally, this would include things like: offering more numerals to choose from (i.e. the
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teacher may have numerals from 0-10, rather than just 1-5); adding another step to the activity

(For instance, once the child has chosen the correct numeral (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) to match their

depiction, have the child choose the correct corresponding number word (i.e. one, two, three,

four, or five). In addition to things such as these, the actual manipulatives or tasks (i.e. jumping

during the anticipatory set) could be altered.

If Arabellas parent(s)/guardian(s) asked me about Monkey Math, I would tell them

that I chose to carry out this activity, because it provided me with the opportunity to both employ

and develop some of her skills as they relate to certain math and literacy concepts. I would give

them a brief overview of the activitys procedures (reading the book Five Little Monkeys

Jumping on the Bed to her; having her recall and represent numerical details from the story;

having her match a certain number of objects in this case, monkeys with the corresponding

numeral). In addition, especially if they displayed concern, I could offer to show them the actual

materials used for the activity, and explain to them exactly how they would help with her

development in the areas of math and literacy. I would also inform them about her response to

and performance during the activity (in this case, that she enjoyed the activity, and that she

performed very well, either meeting or exceeding each of the objectives). I would also inform

them of what this activity helped me to determine regarding Arabellas current, as well as

emerging, skills, in addition to what my plans regarding these skills would be moving forward.