October 25-29

Monday - oct 25
Today we split into groups and went out to observe preschools in our local area. Some of us went to Mauldin Methodist, some went to a day care, and some went to Simpsonville First Baptist. It was really cool to get to see how different the preschool was from like a kindergarten or upper level class. The kids were all really cute!

Tuesday - oct 26
We had our senior meetings about cap and gowns.

Wednesday - oct 27

Mrs. Turner talked to us about Montessori education and gave us notes on how it was different from a normal school. She showed us pictures of different learning tools they used at these schools and talked about an article that we read.

Thursday - oct 28

We all met Mrs. Turner at Five Oaks Academy at 8:15 and took a tour of the Montessori school. We split into two groups and walked into the classes and around the school. It was really different to see the kids getting to do the things on their own instead of a teacher teaching it to them. It was a cool experience to see but was very different from how many of us had gone threw school. Some of us decided that we would want our kids to go to a school like that but wouldn't like to teach at a school like that.

Friday -oct 29

On Friday, we went to see our pen-pals. We made candy corn with their name on them so they could wear it. It was fun being able to spend time with them and get to know them better.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" -William Butler Yeats

October 18-22, 2010

Monday


Today Mrs. Turner was out sick, so we had a sub. We read an article from the laptops about Jean Piaget and the stages of cognitive development. Since several of us had already taken or are currently taking psychology, we knew much of this information.

Tuesday

Mrs. Turner was out sick again today, so we read another article. This one was about different types of play that children participate in. Some of these are solitary play, group play, parallel play, symbolic play, and play involving construction.

Wednesday

With Mrs. Turner back today, we went over the articles we had read the days before. We talked about our assignment for Thursday-- shopping!! We created "shopping lists" and "cheat sheets" to use when we went shopping for toys for our students.

Thursday

Today was shopping day! Our class met in the toy section of Walmart to shop for toys that would be useful in different stages of cognitive development and different types of play. It was confusing at first because we didn't really know what we were doing, but once we figured out what to do, it wasn't too difficult to find the toys. The hardest toys to find were the toys made for black and ethnic children.

Friday

Today we were on Pep Rally schedule so we had a shortened class period. So, we wrote in our journals and reflected on our shopping day at Walmart.

"Tell me, I'll forget. Show me, I'll remember. Involve me, I'll understand."

October 11th- October 13th

Monday

On Monday, Katie presented last weeks blog! Then we hung our teacher of the month dots. When we were done hanging our dots, we used the binding machine to put the finishing touches on our books. With the time that we had left, some of the groups were able to present their books to the class. Everyone loved to hear the stories and gave constructive criticism when needed.

Tuesday

On Tuesday the rest of the groups presented their books. All of them were so cute!!!! Everyone was very excited to go to the elementary school and present them to their groups and do their activities! Mrs. Turner offered to bring anything we would need. She is very helpful!!!! We all love her soooooooooooooo much!!!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we all had such a great time! We got to Mauldin Elementary at 8:15 to get our groups to read our books. The kids all loved them! After we read the books, we got to do our planned activities with the kids. There were constant smiles all over! Before we left the Mauldin Elementary we made sure to get the letters from our pen pals. J And lets not forget the romantic story from Ms. Quinn! After leaving the Elementary school, the teacher cadets had our first…. “faculty meeting” at IHOP!!!!!! Meanwhile, Caitlan and Miriam represented us at the District Fall Teacher Forum speaking before all of the District Teachers of the Year. After our “meeting” we all went to Overbrook Childhood Development Center and received a tour. Overall, it was an amazing day!

Thursday- Friday

NO SCHOOL!!!

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -- Benjamin Franklin

October 4th- October 8th :)

Monday 10/4
On Monday we got to choose our "Pen Pals" from Ms. Quinn's Class! Mrs. Turner put all of the names up on the board and each of us got to pick which student we wanted. Some of the girls in our class picked a child from Mrs. Rainey's class and one from Ms. Quinn's class. Each month were doing a different animal for our letters, so this month it was different cats. Our "Kitty Cat" pen pal letters turned out so cute! There was a variety of cats such as lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, etc. On top of the letter we got to draw the face of the animal. Then we cut on the bold line and it formed an adorable folded letter!
Tuesday 10/5
On Tuesday, we all came in and finished up our pen pal letters from Monday. They were introductory letters so we could get to know our pen pal. After we finished those, we met with our childrens book groups and continued to work on our stories. Mrs. Turner gave us a lot of work days to work on these, so we were all very productive in the time given.
Wednesday 10/6
Wednesday morning, we came in a little earlier than usual because it was the first Wednesday of the month, which means Teacher of the Month Dots! All the girls chose a teacher and got to decorate a thank you sign for their doors. The theme is polka dots so we continued to use our creativity with all the different materials Mrs. Turner has in her cubbard full of items. Some of us took all period to make these, and those who finished continued to work on their childrens book.
Thursday 10/7
On Thursday, everyone came in ready to work. As you looked around the room, childrens books were beginning to come together, and everyone was focused. My group used a piece of cardboard that Mrs. Turner had to form the outside cover. We glued everything together and were very pleased with the product. Everyone's childrens books were looking so cute, and I could not wait to see all the finished books.
Friday 10/8
Friday finally rolled around which meant the last workday before our childrens books were going to be due. I was on a field trip so I was not in class, but I know that everyone finished up their books and tied the final strings. Monday we are presenting to the class and I absolutely cannot wait!

"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think."
-James Beattie

Week of 9/27-10/1

Monday

Katie introduced us to her dad, Dr. Kelly, who is a developmental pediatrician. From him we continued to learn about barriers to education. He talked a lot about how our brain receives, processes, stores, and sends out information. We also learned about ADHD and Autism and the various types and degree of severity of those. Mrs. Turner was very excited to learn new things!

Tuesday

We started our day by reading My Brother Sammy. It was a really cute book about the range of emotions that the siblings of children who have special conditions can go through. Next, Mrs. Turner explained that we would be creating our own barrier books in pairs to read to the children at Mauldin Elementary. She showed us some examples of past books and the mini projects that went along with them. We read some of them and started picking out the topic for our own books.

Wednesday

Mrs. Turner was gone at a CERRA, Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement, meeting. While she was away we had a work day. Many of us started planning out the stories for our books, and some of us took the opportunity to get our pot messages done.

Thursday

Mrs. Turner was back from her meeting and told us about some of the things that she had done and heard there. It was interesting to hear the creative ideas teachers from other schools have come up with, so that we can maybe implement similar things into our own school. After catching up, we went back to working on our barrier books. People are writing their books about everything from sleep deprivation, to divorce, to language barriers.

Friday

The last day of the week was another work day for our books. Some pairs are already starting to do illustrations and covers, so it was great to see what people are coming up with. Mrs. Turner checked over any completed stories to provide suggestions as we prepare to present them to each other and the elementary school students. Mrs. Quin, from MES, came to tell us about the children in her class who will become our pen pals. Everyone is excited to have a little buddy at MES!

"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity." - Aristotle