P2 News

Hello Parents/Guardians/Students!

This is the first blog post for P2, the special Kindergarteners and First Graders of Miss. Kelley Clevenger's class. Jessica Pak, Kelley's student teacher has set this up so that parents can see for themselves any updates, news and information in the classroom.

I have been taking over the class while Miss. Kelley continues to supervise. It has been an amazing experience so far working with this diverse group of students. Kelley has given me a huge amount of resources, support and suggestions. Through my Internship III (in November) and student teaching so far, I have learned so much about classroom management, even more about the interaction of young students, and the methods in which these particular students learn best with.

Since mid-Internship III and at the start of student teaching, I have taken over calendar, math, and Science. I also read aloud for about 15-20 minutes, and the students really enjoy The Magic Tree House series. We have already read through eight Magic Tree House books and will continue book #9 tomorrow by popular demand. We have also read a couple Horrible Harry chapter books as well.

Most recently this week, we have started Math Centers, which include writing numbers #1-100 with random blank squares for the students to fill in. This was sent home with each child either yesterday, or today. There are also Dot Tiles that the students use to correlate counting dots with the actual number, and it helps the students add and read the equation as a sentence, "Five plus two equals seven," for instance. They also rotate through the pattern blocks, which is a great tool to be used for fun as well as a manipulative. They love it, and you wouldn't believe the creations the students come up with!

For reading and writing, the students have been practicing their handwriting with the letters, and will (in a couple weeks) be taking home the alphabet, with each page filled with capital letters and lowercase letters. Students know to "always start their letters (and numbers) at the top," but many of them do not follow that rule of thumb. By working on this alphabet packet, it will hopefully improve their handwriting, help them with letter recognition, and with deciphering the difference between the letters, "b," "d," "p," and "q."

I plan to update this approximately once a week, but please know that this is my first time using this and may not be able to navigate it as easily as I would like! Thank you again for your support! :) Look forward to having a fun-filled Valentine's Day Party this Friday at 2:30 PM!

* Also, there is a website that you may or may not have known about, found at www.starfall.com. I don't think that the computers in the classroom have access to this, but it is an amazing tool for reading and letter recognition. We have used it in our graduate classes, and there are tons of interactive websites within a certain category, including: music, poetry, letters, rhyming, and tons more.