October 22-26, 2012

Today Mrs. Turner taught us about the Four Stages of CognitiveDevelopment. The first stage is the Sensory Motor Stage (Age Birth-2), this stage is mastering concrete objects. In this stage children are learning through their senses. The second stage is the Pre-Operational Stage (ages2-6), in this stage language is being developed and the enhancement of symbolic thought. The child is relying on intution and what seems right. The third stage is the Concrete Operational Stage (Ages7-11), At this stage childre can reason deductively and deal with the world in the way they see it. The final stage is the Formal Operational Stage (Ages 12 and older), at this stage abstract reasoning is developed.

 

On Tuesday we took a field trip to Walmart to go Toy Shopping!!!! We enjoyed the experience. I love being able to work together as a class. When we got to Walmart Mrs. Turner gave us sheets to write down different toys that would be suitable for the four different cognitive stages. We had to look around and see which toys would be good for the different stages. I really enjoyed this experience and it gave me ideas on what toys would be great to have in my future classroom.

 



On Wednesday we had a summer because Mrs. Turner was in Mrytle Beach for a Teacher Cadet conference we missed her very much. Today we finally got to know why Mrs. Turner had us have our picture taken making it look like we were on a mountain, we were in Hot Air Balloons. I loved this craft, this has probably been one of my favorites. everyone did such a wonderful job creating them.

 

 

 

Today we got to visit different pre schools and observe how they do things. Sydney, Frannie, Jessica and I went Kids R Kids. I found that pre-schools today are way cooler than when I was in one. I learned that in the room with the new borns and early infants they use sign language. I found that very interesting. I also found out they are a no shoes enviroment when they're in that room. We also got a chance to observe a kindergarten class and watched them dance to a jumping up and down song. I really enjoyed my time at the pre-school!!!

On Friday we had to make a poster about our pre school. We had to tell about what we had seen and learned about pre school. On our poster we had to tell about the pre school, the cost, the times, and child to adult ratio. We wont present these until Mrs. Turner comes back. We really missed her and we hope she had a great time!! We love you Mrs. Turner!!!

 

 

" The child is both a Hope and a Promise for mankind."

-Maria Montessori-

 

 





 

 



October 15-17: Short Week

October 15, 2012
Today we had a shortened day because of the jostens meeting.  We didn't have much time to work on our big books. 

October 17, 2012
We had much more time today to work on our big books.  Most of us had most of it done but still had a lot to do.  We were really excited about the next day because we were going to present the big books to Mrs. Vaughn's class.

October 18, 2012
Finally today we finished our big books during our three hour period since the PSAT was that day.  Today we are going to present our big books to the little kids and our faculty meeting together. 

Amy coloring with her little friend!

All of us at the IHOP!

Delaney and Ashley!

 

Hope everyone had a great fall break but I sure am happy we are back together again next week for a another great week with all of y'all.  Also hope y'all had a great time at Mauldin Elementary and your big books and at IHOP with everyone!

 

 



Eighth Week as Teacher Cadets!

October 8, 2012
On Monday we were all at different sites observing special ed classrooms.  I went to Sara Collins Elementary and observed Mrs. Lewandowski.  At the beginning of class she had a few activities for the kids to do on the promethean board.  It was interesting to see different disabilities at a younger age since the week before I observed Mrs. Smith's class.  There was this one activity that they did, they had to choose the right shape on the board that she was looking for.  If the student chose the right shape it would be a good sound but if not, it would be like a burp or something.  It was funny to watch the kids laugh at the different sounds.  After they were done with the activities on the promethean board, it was math time.  It was great observing her classroom and really was a new experience for me. 

October 9, 2012
Today we were seperated again sadly but I went to Hope Academy and observed Ms. Claires class.  Laura, Olivia, Frazier and I were in her class in the fourth and fifth grade class.  All of the students in her class were working on math but each one was doing something different for math.  For example like decimals, rounding, adding or multiplication.  The students were talkative with us and telling us their favorite interests and what they liked to do.  Ms. Claire was so positive and supportive of her students and helping each one individually.  I enjoyed observing her classroom and being able to interact with her students.  Hope Academy has such a great system going for all of their students and I am happy that we were able to see just a little bit of all their programs that they offer.





October 10, 2012

On Wednesday we are finally back together at school!  We shared with each other about how our observations went!  After we shared our experiences at the different places we went to, Mrs. Turner told us about finishing our journals by October 16 and also telling us about our next BIG project, literally.  Our project is our big book project which some of us will present to the little kids in Mrs. Vaughn's classroom.  We chose our topic, either it being on death of a family member, or a topic that kids could relate to. We also went over the book The Acorn People and dicussed it with each other, on what we thought of the book. 

October 11, 2012

On Thursday we worked on our big books some more.  Coming up with a story, editing the story and then thinking of ideas to decorate our books.  Thursday we spent the class period working on our books!

October 12, 2012

Friday it was pep rally day so we had a shortened period :( We worked on our big books again while we had observers from Eastside High look at our Teacher Cadet class.  Since we had a shortened period we had to work fast and get our ideas together!  Can't wait to see all of our finished books next Wednesday!

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade."

-Tom Peters 

 

Seventh Week of Teacher Cadets


Monday October 1, 2012

Today we had quest speaker, Susan Sachs, from HOPE Academy come and tell us about their program.  HOPE is an acronym for Help Our Potential Emerge.  The HOPE Project is located in Advent Methodist Church on Woodruff Road and has four main programs.  The first program is HOPE Link.  This program contacts the families of kids with autism and helps them get past the despair that they feel after their children are diagnosed.  The second program is HOPE Academy.  The Academy was started because many day cares don’t want to accept children with autism.  This program provides a place for the children to apply what they learn in ABA (applied behavior analysis).  The third program, HOPE Reach, contains the ABA therapists that work with the kids, and the fourth program, Virtual HOPE, is for academically capable students who have had a rough time in school.  The fourth program gives them a safe place to learn.  Mrs. Sachs taught us so much about Project HOPE!

 

Tuesday October 2, 2012

Today was a day for tying up loose ends and planning new projects.  J  Mrs. Turner told us we would have opportunities to visit different special needs classrooms on October 5, 8, and 9.  On one of three of these days we will go to visit HOPE Academy.  On one or two of the other days we will visit another site of our choosing.  It was a pretty hectic event trying to sign up for visiting days all at once, but it worked out in the end!  After we signed up for our days, we all walked down to the library to pick up the book we are going to read.  It’s called The Acorn People, and it’s about a man who signs up to be a camp counselor and expectantly gets to work to with special needs children.  As the story progresses, the group grows closer.  This book highlights what happened that summer, and promises to be an excellent recount of personal growth.  I hope you all like the book as much as I did!

                                            

Wednesday October 3, 2012

We made more crayon boxes for the teachers today.  Our goal is to have a crayon box for every teacher as soon as possible, and with a productive class like ours, that shouldn’t be a problem! J When we finished we had free time to read The Acorn People.  Before we could leave class though, some of our wonderful volunteers had to make sure that the classroom was nice, neat, and clean.  Our volunteers did a wonderful job and left the room spotless!

                                                         

Thursday October 4, 2012

We made sure to complete any unfinished crayon boxes today and started a few new ones as well.  We made sure to laminate the newly prepared gifts and post them on the teachers’ doors as quiet as mice.  Quite a few cadets took this time to catch up on their reading of The Acorn People, while a few others broke out their artistic talent and went to work on the cafeteria bulletin board.  One of the cadets in particular was nice enough to trace out a moon and a cute little bat for the board.  The catch phrase on the board is adorable and captures the Halloween spirit.  “What is a witch’s favorite subject,” it asks, “Spelling!”  It looks wonderful!  Just a reminder to everyone,  we get to spend time with our kindergartner buddies celebrating Halloween.   We will be picking out our little friends shortly!  J

                                                  

Friday October 5, 2012

For many of us, today was our first observance day!  A group of about eight cadets went to visit HOPE Academy this morning and most likely fell in love with the kids there.  A few of us went to visit Mrs. Smith’s class at Mauldin, while others visited Sarah Collins Elementary or Mauldin Middle.  I’m sure we all had a blast visiting and learning about the kids.  The cadets that went to HOPE Academy got to learn more about the program and visit a class.  The other cadets had similar experiences in their host classes as well.  The kids were such sweethearts, and we all had fun spending time with them.  Just so we all know, there are two more visiting days.  Have a fun time visiting your classes everyone!

 

"We cannot hold a torch to another's path, without brightening our own"-Ben Sweetland