October 29 to November 2, 2012 :)

October 29
      Today, we talked about our day with preschoolers.  We all shared our thoughts on the schools; we said what we liked about the school and what we didn't.  After that, we made witch hat treats for the staff at Maudlin   We started off with a chocolaty stripped cookie.  Then, we put a dot of orange icing in the center of the cookie.  We added a unwrapped Hersey Kiss in the middle of the orange dot.  It made the perfect witch hat cookie!

October 30
      Today, Mrs. Vaughn came into class to tell us about her kinder-gardeners.  She started off telling us about herself, and we got to see pictures of her beautiful wedding.  Then, she went through each one of her "kids" and told us about their personalities and what they needed help with. We had to think about which child would fit our personality and would get along with us best.  We got to chose our buddy for the rest of the year.  Some people wanted the same child, so, we had to talk it out and figure out who would be best with the child.  All the kids are cute and seem really sweet.

October 31
       Today is Halloween!  We got to visit Mrs. Vaughn's class today.  When we got to the class, the kids were working on a classwork.  After they finished, we got to make spider bags with them.  We had to use two halves of a black paper plate, eight pipe cleaners, two eyes, a mouth, and a string.  First, we had to staple the two halves of the black paper plate together.  The kids got to chose where they wanted the legs (pipe cleaners) to go, and we had to staple them in.  The kids then got to glue down the eyes and stick the mouth on the front of the spider.  After the kids did that, we took the hole punched the two ends and put string through it to make it a bag.  When we finished making the spiders the kids went trick or treating around the classroom.  They got to fill their bags with all different types of candy!

"Trick or Treat"

                                                         

November 1
        Today, we started off by making the teacher crayon boxes for their doors.  While we were doing that Alex presented her blog from last week.  After that we got to look a the t-shirt design.  Everyone loved the back of the shirt, but we decided to change the front to make it more detailed.  Then, we had to finish picking our buddies for the rest of the year.  Everyone got to pick a buddy, and everyone seemed happy with who they got.  The last thing we did was watch a video about Montessori education.  Montessori education is when you learn how to do things through hands on activities and learn how to be independent.  Montessori education has five different sections: science practical life, sensory, culture, mathematics  and language.  They learn all of these sections through several different activities.  Each child gets to chose what they want to do each day, and they work on it until they are finished.

                                                

November 2
       Today, we went to Five Oaks Academy and got a tour of the school.  We got to go into a couple of the classrooms to see how they were set up and how the kids acted.  We learned that they use activities to learn something.  If they don't get it the first time, they are able to try to learn in through a different activity.  Whenever two people get into a fight, an adult takes them to a separate area to talk out their problems.  This school works with kids to help them work with others and to be calm about things.  The school was really pretty and calm

                                 .


 “The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.” 
- Maria Montessori 

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

Sixth Week as Teacher Cadets

Monday, September 24, 2012

Today Mrs. Turner picked random people to partner up, and read an article together.  She chose people from popsicle sticks, and got us to interact with people that we haven't worked before. This was a good way for us to meet some classmates, and for us to work together.  We had to read the article with our partner for a few minutes, and find facts that would be important to share with the class.  This was a good exercise because we got to learn how to teach in front of a class, and give facts to our audience. The first group that went up to teach the class was Sydney and Rebecca. The topic they had was "Abuse and Neglect."  A fact that stood out to several people were that kids who are abuse are more mad at the people who didn't help, than the person who actually hurt them.
   

Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Today more groups went up to present to the class. Each time someone went up, Mrs. Turner us advice on how to be a better teacher, by not reading to fast so people can right down facts.  This helped us in several ways because people were learning how to teach verbally to a class.  We learned about very interesting topics such as  sleep deprivation, substance abuse, eating disorders, teen pregnancy, death, bullying, etc. A very shocking fact that we learned was that we need 9.2 HOURS of sleep to help us through our whole day.  We know that not even half of us sleep that much especially in high school, with all the work that teachers give us!!

  

Wednesday, September 26,2012
Today, in the first 20 minutes of class, we took a "field trip" outside to take pictures for a special project Mrs. Turner is making for us! This is was really fun because of all of the different faces and positions people were doing, pretending we were looking down at people.  After we got back from out trip outside, we finish up our presentations.  Today the presentations were about ADD/ADHD,  ESOL, depression and suicidal, poverty, etc. Some of the presentations were very heart touching on people, but we connected closer together by sharing these stories to each other. It is shocking how everyone in our class and relate to one of the topics that we have learned through out the week.

Maddi as Miss "Future Homecoming Queen"

Thursday,  September 27, 2012
Today is our FUN DAY! We recreated several disabilities that people have, so that each of us could feel how people go through this everyday.  For speech impairment, we stuck marshmallows in our mouth. For visual impairment, we covered goggles and braille reading. For Dyslexia, we had to write while looking in a mirror.  For physical impairment, we had to paint with no arms. This was a very amazing activity because it makes us so grateful for how health we are, and there are so many people out there in the world who can't do half of the things that we do everyday.

Using their MOUTHS to paint.

Saige was really good at talking with marshmallows in her mouth.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Today we turned our very first BIG assignment to Anderson University about ourselves.  Remember that our next one is due November 27, and it is the newsletter article.  Mrs. Turner told us that we're are going to have a special guest coming to talk to us about Autism from Project Hope.  To prepare for this, she showed us a video about Autism.  Autism is a development disorder, and it affects the brain's normal development social and communication skills.  We can not wait to work with the Hope Academy again, since we already worked with them during Spirit Week 2011.

MHS ♥ Project Hope!

“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone.” - Martina Navratilova

Fifth Week as Teacher Cadets!

This is a photo of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the first need being physiological

Monday, September 17, 2012

Today, we continued watching the inspirational movie called Gridiron Gang that focused on self- esteem and Maslow's Hierarchy of needs.  As we watched we begin to see more and more of the levels coming into play.  By this point in the movie we had seen that because Willie Weathers did not reach the second level of the pyramid (that is feeling safe and secure) it could have been a motive that led him to be apart of a gang.  He killed his abusive step father and when his mother chose to comfort the wounded husband instead of Willie, he felt unloved and unwanted, thus leading him to crave that attention else where.  As we continue watching through the rest of the week we discover more of these issues shining through in the characters.

We continued watching Gridiron Gang today!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

This morning, the seniors decided to have a black out for our senior class picture!  While we had to miss the first thirty minutes of class, when we returned we continued to watch Gridiron Gang.  As we all intently watched the movie, we all experienced crazy emotions as we saw Willie and Kelvin reach the very top level of self actualization.  We could clearly see that this level was reached when Kelvin made a huge block for Willie in one of the games and when Willie defended Kelvin when he was about to be shot by an enemy gang member.  As we all rubbed our goose bumps away, the bell rang, separating us from the last five minutes of the movie.  We all begged Mrs. Turner to write us passes for class so we could finish.  But saving the emotional ending for the next day just made it worth the anticipation!

Officer K came to talk to us about gangs!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

We all excitedly hurried to class today to watch the last five minutes of the movie!  The ending was worth the wait.  We watch the Mustangs win against the first team that they lost to and we also saw the team of new faces that Sean Porter recruited for the following year.  Before the credits we got to see most of the former players moved on and doing better things with their life (though we were all heartbroken that Bugs was killed in a drive by).  After the movie was over, Officer K came in to talk to us about gangs! He gave us all our very own booklets that were specifically made for the MHS teacher cadets!  We were all surprised when he told us that he is a former gang member.  We were all at the edge of our seats learning about the signs of gangs and how to spot a member.  That night we all went home to number our booklets for easier access tomorrow!

A group picture of the teacher cadets with Officer K!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Officer K was with us again today!  We all came in sharing our stories about how we suspected everyone and everything we saw were affiliated with gangs!  He showed us a powerpoint he had prepared for us which included gang signs, graffiti, clothing articles, and much more!  He taught us that three pieces of evidence are needed in order to categorize someone as a gang member.  Also, the definition of a gang member (as sited in the Webster dictionary) is a group of criminals or hoodlums who band together for mutual protection and profit.  Not only did we get to learn about gangs, but we also got an added bonus of learning about how we are STRONG, and INDEPENDENT women who do not need men!  We are all unique and do should not feel underestimated or not good enough.  It is our jobs as future teachers to learn early signs of gang activity or other problems and stop them.  We can essentially be the only thing a student has.

Frannie displaying her beautiful plate of prejudice project!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Today, Mrs. Turner had a very fun activity planned for us!  This whole week we learned how important it is not to judge others because we do not know where they have been or what they have been through.  So, she asked us all to get a paper plate and draw how we think most people perceive us at first sight.  Then, she asked us to write what people might stereotype us as before they get to know us.  Some of us wrote things such as "snobby," "overly confident," and "loud."  Some of these words do not actually describe who we are as people.  They hurt our feelings.  On the inside of the plate we wrote words that describe who we REALLY are.  Some of the things we could write were "insecure," "misunderstood," or "quiet."  As we laid out our plates, we got to see how other students think that people see them.  We might have been surprised by some things or even relate to some.  This project really opened our eyes and taught all of us that stereotypes are harsh and are not accurate representations of who we really are.  Get to know people before you judge!

"A Teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops." -Henry Adams

4th Week of School

Monday September 10th, 2012
Today we discussed the jounal entry on Self-Esteem. We learned the difference between  golbal self-esteem and earned self-esteem. It was interesting to hear other cadert's opinion on how to praise a student on what they have done. Today we also finished up out pupet shows and got ready to share them to the class for tomorrow. Only one more day to share them with the kindergardiners!:)



Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
Today we got to practice our pupet shows! We got to share them witht the class and get help from others in other groups. All the pupet shows were fabulous! There were five groups that got to share their pupet show. All of the shows had a great story that taught us about self-esteem and treating everyone with respect. Every group did a great job and made the show fun and exciting to watch! Tomorrow we get to share with the kids!




Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
Today was a great day! We meet at Mauldin Elementary School to share out puppet shows with the kids! Watching the shows with the kids made the stories even better! They had such a fun time watching and laughing at the funny puppets. They really seemed to enjoy it! When the cadets asked Questions about the show, the kids were happy to answer. Thier responses were cute and fun! It was great to get to meet the kids and do the FREEZE dance before we left! Cant wait to go back and visit!




 

Thursday, September 13th, 2012
Today we left a "Mark" for teachers! We made re"mark"able notes to place on Teacher's doors. We all picked a teacher and made them a small poster to place on their doors. These notes were filled with clever comments using "mark" in it. We placed the Teacher's initial on the front and filled the poster with nice comments about all the amazing things they do for Mauldin High School. Later we will place a marker around the note, with nice comments for the teachers.

Friday, September 14th, 2012

Today we watched the movie Gridiron Gang! This movie is to show how gangs are formed and how badly people want to feel welcomed in a group.

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" -Dr. Seuss

Our 3rd week as Teacher Cadets :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Today we started making our own exclusive pots. It was neat to see how all of us are different by the way we created our pots to reflect somewhat of what we like or who we are. I think we all learned from The Pot Nobody Watches that even the way you phrase a question can end up hurting someone's self- esteem. We also learned that as future teachers we have the ability to fill someone's pot to the top with self- esteem, which could possibly be the only pot-filling they get, so it's a great feeling to know we could make such an impact on someone's life.

Some of our fabulous pot making skills.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Today we finished making our pots and they turned out wonderful. Mrs. Turner gave us pot slips with Chrysanthemum on them so we can fill each others pots with with pot and help boost each others self esteem!

Some more of our cute pots :)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Today we read Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon and learned that even if we have a voice that sounds like a bullfrog being squeezed by a boa constrictor, we must still sing out clear and strong and the world will cry tears of joy. As Molly Lou Melon's grandma taught her, we must have confidence! We also learned about how many puppets Mrs. Turner has and that we get to use them to perform a puppet show for our kindergartners on Wednesday! We started preparing 5-10 minute puppet shows, either based on a book, or came up with our own, that have self- esteem boosting ends to them. We will perform them for our class on Tuesday so we can practice. We also needed to read the self-esteem article Mrs. Turner gave us and write a journal entry by Monday.




Sydney, Ashley, and Anna practing for their debut.

 Friday, September 7, 2012

Today we continued preparing for our puppet shows. As of the end of class on Friday they seemed to be coming along very well! I know the kindergarteners will absolutely LOVE everyone's show!




Practicing for their puppet show!




Puppets, puppets, and more puppets!



Second Week of School!!

Monday August 27:  On Monday Professor Kimbrell from Anderson University visited our class!  He spoke to us about several assignments we will complete for him throughout the year.  The first assignment is an autobiography which is due on September 28.  Professor Kimbrell also spoke to us about paying 100 dollars in order for teacher cadets to count as a college class.  At the end of the class period we were each given a free pretty brown t-shirt!!

We love Professor Kimbrell!

Tuesday August 28:  On Tuesday we began class with a fun "change" activity!  Each cadet partnered up with a buddy for the game.  We were forced to change ten things about our appearance and our partner had to recgonize the changes.  After the activity Mrs. Turner read a book to us called Wings of Change.  In the story a caterpillar named Anew had a very hard time facing the fact that he would soon change into a butterfly.  Anew loved his life the way it was and feared changing one thing about it.  We discovered that we were similar to Anew because we fear change too.

Rebeccah and Catherine make some changes.

Wednesday August 29:  On Wednesday we started making butterflies!  We used all differnt sorts of things from glitter to stickers to decorate our butterflies, which made each butterfly unique!

Ashley presents her beautiful butterfly - truly a reflection of her!

Thursday August 30:  We continued to decorate our butterflies, making them as pretty as possible!

Friday August 31:  On Friday we presented our butterflies to the class.  Since each cadet uniquely made her butterfly we learned new facts about everyone!

Mauldin High Teacher Cadets 2012-2013

"As the world turns so do you, when you change for the good, you change the world too!" 

- Wings of Change 

TEACHER CADETS 2012 - 2013

It's August 2012, so it's time for a new year with my wonderful teacher cadets!  The first day of school brought about basket deliveries and the standard paperwork/syllabus.  All cadets should have their permission slips and confidentiality agreements submitted NOW! (Thanks!)  Also, we ventured to the library to register on-line for Anderson University and to complete the CERRA pre-survey.  Friday was our first fun day!  In learning what CERRA means, the cadets participated in the "Crayon Box that Talked" activity learning how to work in groups with each other's strengths.  "We are a box of crayons, each one of us unique.  But when we work together, the picture is complete!"

It was pep-rally day!

All the seniors wore black!

Anna is a senior cheerleader

We needed a few more crayons for more color!  :-)