Week by Week textbook for sale

I think $40(firm) is very fair.  It has some highlighting and the cover has a crease in it.  I paid $75 for it used from Amazon who won't take it back for a $57 gift card because of the crease.  

I had a fun morning of observation.(blog due 12/3)

Blog entry 11/18

I wasn't able to do my observation this week.  I had a bad cold/maybe flu, then took a sub teaching job for the rest of the week.  I'm taking off work next Monday and Tuesday to catch up.

Please comment here so you get credit and I'll be looking at your blog post, too. Do any of you work with special ed. kids? I'm wondering how that population is served before they get to public school. I don't see any special ed. kids in the Head Start programs I've seen.  I was just wondering where they go. Jim

Blog entry 6, due 11/11

Yesterday our classroom was closed except for the back part of the room where a papier maché “cave” was being built.  A parent supplied the metal mesh shell that looked like a big dog house, but it was slowly going to be transformed into a hideout that could probably accommodate 2 children.  At first I thought the project was a bit ambitious because--judging from the progress the team of 4 made in the half hour I observed—it was going to take several days to complete. (I was in the “immediate gratification” mode of thinking.)  I was also thinking there wasn’t much creativity involved in pasting strips of paper onto wire mesh. 

But now today as I’m looking at some pictures I took of the project in progress, I saw the potential of this being a very enriching educational experience for the children—much like a Montessori or Reggio E. type of on-going project that would involve and foster many areas of cognitive and psycho/social development:  The children are learning to work cooperatively while learning how to “create something from “raw” materials” (text, p. 273).  Other benefits of interacting with these particular art materials, as described by (Deiner, 2009, p. 673), are that they provide the opportunity to make decisions and problem solve: “How can I get this slippery piece of newspaper to stay where I want it?” 

To extend, enhance or build on this project it would be fun to show pictures of all types of shelters and homes—animal and human--so the children can make the connection between the building of their “cave” and the shelter that they live in.  Drawing and painting on the finished structure could be another way to enhance the child’s sense of competence by having his work (hopefully labeled) displayed on the walls of the cave.

Observation 6 - Due 11/6

I haven’t asked, but it seems that the teacher does yoga with the kids every morning--at least she has on the days I’ve been observing.  At first I chuckled to myself thinking:  “What a grown-up thing to do with these little kids--even though they won’t really get it; but why not try because, if anything else, it’s loads of fun.”  My expectations could not have been more wrong.

Last Tuesday as the kids were gathering around the teacher on the carpet and had begun to assume the “warrior 1” pose in pretty much total silence, the teacher looked over at me and probably read the expression on my face as I quietly said one of my favorite utterances: “Wow.”  She made a brief comment about how far they’d come, which was so true.  Many of the children performed the stance perfectly.  In a few more weeks the others would be there, too.  

Teaching the children these stances gives them a tool to calm themselves, especially in the morning after they’ve been through the commotion of getting up, dressed, fed, rushed to school; and then there’s the excitement of running around and greeting friends.  So it’s the perfect time for an activity that allows them to settle down by having them center their thoughts on their bodies.  Other benefits are the usual ones associated with gross motor control and balance.

I’m not sure what I’d do to extend or build upon the morning yoga.  How about doing some guided imagery?  This is also a very calming activity that could be done while the kids are in a seated yoga position. “You are sitting on a big puffy cloud floating high in the sky.  Look down at the beautiful green hills.  See the big tall trees.  Birds are singing….”   Oops.  I’d better stop before I drift away from this computer. ;-)

Observation #5

Today was one of those days that felt very disorganized and nothing went smoothly, partly because of uncoordinated planning by the adults and partly because of the general mood of the kids.  It was overcast, they had to get up in the dark, and it was Monday. Also, to add to the confusion, several kids arrived late.  Being a person who tends to enjoy an unstructured, free-flowing environment, I felt right at home.

One of the free choice activities I observed was the water coloring table that was set up in the garden area that surrounds the old school house, which is a great setting to inspire young minds.  There are plants, bugs, birds and the smell of the outdoors.  I’m not sure what the prompt for their painting was.  I helped open some of the baby food jars filled with water color solution, then retreated to the classroom because I didn’t see a good spot to observe without feeling like I was hovering or lurking.

As an extension or variation of this activity I would try making a “still life” display on the table for the children to observe and paint:  some leaves, twigs, rocks, flowers for them to touch and hold, and gather into their own still life display in front of them.  Showing some big prints of paintings depicting nature would be good. Like the works of Monet, Matisse or Picasso, which are fluid and abstract, and don't rely on photographic perfection to make an artistic statement.  

Observation #4

The children I’m observing are in the intuitive period of what Piaget terms the Preoperational Stage.  This means they explain things (phenomena) according to appearance and what they think rather than based on an understanding of scientific facts.  In other words, a 4 year old pointing at a playmate may say, “He has more play doh than me!” even though the 2 children have the same amount.  It’s just that one may have made 4 small pancakes and the other 2 big ones—a classic example of age-related inability to classify objects with more than one attribute or according to the Piaget theory of “conservation.”  From first hand experience, no amount of explaining and demonstrating to the child will make them understand that nobody got cheated when the play doh was doled out; their brains aren’t wired for that kind of discussion.  Which leads me to the “make a volcano” activity I observed this week—not so much as an example of not understanding the conservation issue but just the children’s general inability to understand complex scientific facts.  However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about them. Even though children may not appear to understand certain concepts, they are storing away information that they can later use to puzzle together and make sense of as their brains become more developed. 

The “volcano” was built outside in the gross motor area near the teeter-totter.  Five children were told to build a huge mountain out of dampened sand.  They carried water to the volcano location, dumped it on the sand and with hands and scoopers created a “mountain” that would be transformed into a volcano. To make it a “real” volcano a paper cup filled with baking soda was put on top. Vinegar was then poured in to create the foamy “lava” that flowed down to the village below. I’m sorry to say I missed the big event, but I did arrive to see the kids bringing dinosaurs to climb all over their prehistoric creation.

As a follow up I would show some picture books of present day live volcanoes like the ones on the Big Island in Hawaii.  And pictures of the ruins of Pompeii to show the effects of an exploding volcano on everyday life would be exciting (and scary!) for them to see. The teacher did have a table that was already set up with watercolor materials for the kids to express what they saw by painting a picture, which was a great idea.

Entry #3, part 1, Language and Social Norms, Running accounts and frequency counts

This week I began doing the note taking for the 2^nd observation assignment having to do with language and social/emotional development using running records and frequency checklists.  It was a little difficult finding the same child, or children, to produce the conversations for each of the questions on the assignment; but it was great fun.  I was amazed at some of the complex language being used by quite a few of the children.  Using a past continuous sentence as she emerged from the space between the sofa and the wall Grace declared, “I was squeezing through here!”  And then later, while in the block area with some other children, she said, “I think we should build a tall tower!” which demonstrated her meeting the developmental norm for 5-year olds of being able to express future events (or wishes for them to happen?).

 Then there was Jonathan whose language production was much less developed.  He used lots of repetitive speech: “Goo goo caca, goo goo caca,” he said to a group of children sitting around the snack table.  He and Zoey are among the youngest children in the class, yet Zoey’s language is more developmentally advanced and is closer to language production norms for 4, or even 5-year-olds when you consider her use of prepositions and pronouns as well as the overall complexity of her utterances, yet she has just turned 3. “Yesterday I was playing with that;” she told her playmates in the dramatic play area.

The frequency counts weren’t as difficult, but I still couldn’t find evidence of all 6 of the children on my list doing either “good stuff” or “bad stuff.”  In fact I’m looking now at my list and 3 kids have no check.  Hum.  There are 2 children that have several checks in the “antisocial behaviors” column and one child with only one check for being a good helper to her friend during block play. 

This blog entry is getting too long, and I still haven’t talked about a specific activity or a follow-up activity.  I’ll do that later. 

observation 4 today....

I'll write the details later.  It was great fun.  I was reminded of a cartoon that's been on the bulletin board in the teacher's break room at Park...... El in San Pedro for a long time.  It's shows a teacher on one side of a table and a mom and dad on the other.  The teacher is saying, (and you're always supposed to start on a positive note!) "Your child is my FAVORITE student..........to be ABSENT." 

My 3rd session observing.

It rained steadily the entire time I was there, which meant no outside playtime.  Fortunately the classrooms at both the LBCC facilities are huge in comparison to most of the ones I work in, so it’s not such a big deal to have the kids stay in.  The unfortunate part was that I wasn’t able to get enough input to do a very good job of recording the physical development part of the first observation assignment.  I also realized I need to be more diligent in my note taking.  It seems like I’m doing a lot, but when I get home later and look at what I’ve written it doesn’t seem like much. 

The teachers put out some extra activities for the kids to do.  I sat near the “Connects” table and watched 4 boys try to duplicate the picture of the robot on their “placemat.” They were to match not only the specific parts but also the color of each part.  Only one of the boys was able to “match” everything and complete the object. The others put together the pieces to make objects but they didn’t “match,” although they had assembled a creature that had a head, body and other anatomical parts resembling a human. From a developmental standpoint and in reference to milestones for 4 year olds, socially these boys were demonstrating competency.  They cooperated with each other.  No one grabbed parts from the other’s pile but rather took from the box in the center of the table. "Look at mine!" one boy said.  Each held up their creations for the others to see.

Time was up and the “Connects” were put away.  I was thinking it would be fun have an ongoing project that didn’t have to be disassembled but rather set aside to continue later—like a Montessori or Reggio type endeavor.   

Ambler El today, autism class

Fun day.  Kids went home at 11:30. Then pot luck.  I made carnitas and rice. 

Purchee El, Gardena

I subbed a primary grade autism class yesterday and today. Just 7 kids and 2 other adults to help. I'm worn out.  The rain didn't help because we had to stay inside all day.  I'm so behind in my classwork. 

My favorite school today....

Today I've got a sub job at one of my favorite schools in San Pedro.  It's a regular ed. 3rd grade that I went to the La Brea Tar Pits with at the end of last school year when they were 2nd graders.  It's going to be a fun day, but not without some drama I'm sure.  The best part of the gig is the location, and the drive there.  There's a view of Catalina and there are always a few peacocks strolling around the neighborhood.

...update....I made it through the day.  I underestimated the drama factor.  Wow.  There was a hyperactive boy whose father showed up after school to ask the teacher why his behavior card was not good.  The kid was seated at a separate table in the back of the room where he read a novel for most of the day when he wasn't throwing bits of paper at those around him or when I sent him to the class next door so I could get through the math lesson.  Dad was thinking about putting him back on ritalin.

Then there was Z who was convinced everyone was talking about him. "Yes you are.  You said........!!," he cried at those who said they hadn't been talking about him as he sat in his chair 6 or 8ft away from his table for most of the day and did no work.  I could go on but I won't.  All day there was an undercurrent of tension, silliness, and varying types disrespect for others.  I was trying to figure out a way to smooth things out but I just couldn't come up with anything that would last for more than 10 minutes.  What was I doing wrong?  Was it the kids?  The principal gave them a talking to as we exited the auditorium.  I can't remember her exact words, but it was something like, "This isn't White Point behavior.  Blah blah blah."  They shaped up for about 30 seconds until we got a short distance away when they reverted to being loud, out of line and running ahead.  I was glad when 2:30 finally got there.  And this is the beginning of the year?  Now I know why I love special ed.

Although, if I could have "cherry picked" the kids that were well-adjusted, happy and with a sense of compassion and awareness of others and moved the rest somewhere else, I would have loved this group.

My 2nd observation session was......

Observing today went well. I had been whining to myself about having to assume a passive presence, but today I felt better about my role in the classroom.  I'm just there to observe and that's all.  I also read the assignment more closely and realized I wasn't taking enough detailed notes to answer all the questions, so I looked and wrote more; and that made the time fly.  The teacher is great—very down to earth friendly. Not the case with some there; but I shouldn’t expect red-carpet treatment anyway. It is, after all, a bit of an inconvenience having us extra bodies in the room. 

I observed 6 kids painting at easels outdoors.  The teacher put smocks on them and they were told to paint something that inspired them from their morning story or any other idea they had.  Each easel was equipped with 4 pots of tempera paint and each child got a long-handled, stiff bristle brush.  The painting began.  The children worked for a short time (5 or 10 minutes) then started to look at their neighbor’s progress as closely as their own.  Next, some paintings began to become muddy because the children were putting their brushes into all the pots of paint.  “Look at mine.”  “What’s that?” “I wish I could do that;” were some of the comments I heard.

In manipulating the paint brush, the kids were using movements that would foster the development of their shoulder and arm coordination—both necessary skills in the sequence of proximodistal development that, in turn, lead to fine motor skills development involving the hand and fingers.  The children were also exhibiting or working toward the milestone achievement (for 4 year olds) of demonstrating the ability to paint or draw with a purpose as well as name objects even though they (the objects) might be unrecognizable.

As a follow up or continuation of easel painting I would simply repeat the activity—maybe with another “inspiration prompt” that, like the scenario I just described, came from the morning story about the monkey and his caps.  By repeating the activity it would help some of the kids overcome their timidity and build their self-confidence by becoming comfortable with the very daunting and involved process of putting on special clothing (smock); coming up with an idea of what to paint, and then manipulating the brush that moves the drippy paint to where they want it to go; and then finally “feel good” about their masterpiece.  

You may be wondering why all the nature photos...

For the last 3 summers I've worked for the California Department of Parks and Recreation.  This last summer I was in Marin County at Samuel P. Taylor State Park where I worked at the entrance kiosk as well as at Tomales Bay State Park in the Point Reyes National Seashore doing the same thing.  I had a nice little cabin in the woods with deer and chipmunks as neighbors.  Marin is the heart of the Tea Party Movement--sorta scary, but West Marin is an odd mix of liberal minded folks who engage in lots of organic farming.  Right up my alley, as they say.  Property values have crashed there, but it's still very expensive, and for good reason.  It's gorgeous.

My first day of observation...

 The school site is really nice.  There are lots of trees and green areas; and the classroom is set back quite a distance from the street so there's a bit of a rural feeling to it.  I enjoyed the kids, maybe a little too much.  I got "scolded" for being too interactive with them, but the teacher did say at the start of the day she'd like to use us to help--us being myself and the other person observing.  It didn't take too long before I was in teacher mode, which is what I do as a sub teacher anyway, but I had to put the brakes on that and withdraw.  4 hours is a long time to sit and do nothing.  Of course I am supposed to be observing and taking notes, which I did.

I'm ready

I've got my name tag ready for my first day of observation. I'm wondering about breaks (mine) and where I'll have my lunch, if I even get a lunch break.  Eating is a big deal for me.  I was told I shouldn't bring in even a bottle of water. It's going to be fun meeting the kids.  I'm still not sure how involved I'm supposed to become with them, but that will get worked out.