Blog Entry 1

Today was my first day volunteering for my son's kindergartens class. I was very excited to be able to help Miss R and intact with the children. Today Miss R had me help out with practicing the word "no" the kids rotated to different stations and would rotate to my table. I loved the different ways she had me teach the kids "no". We had black paper with the word written in chalk. The kids enjoyed tracing it with their finger. The next thing we did to practice the word was tracing it in pie tins with salt in it. And finally the last way was with the actually letter (kind if like the magnet letters) and they would shake them, drop them and assemble them to spell out the word. This was definitely hands on and I feel the children responded well and most of them wrote and spelled the word correctly. There were a few that spelled it backwards or the word "on". I think some thought as long as they had all the words, the order they were in didn't matter. Having them practice tracing and assemble the word helped them understand the order of the letters. It is interesting to see what kids can listen to instructions well and what kids need to be told several times and then help getting started. Most of the girls can get right to the next task. The  boys tend to be distracted and take a bit longer to focus. It makes me feel bad for the kids that need that extra attention. There is one child in particular who has a very difficult time paying attention to any instructions or any task. He walks around poking and hitting other children. He stomps on anything he sees on the floor. He doesn't talk or participate when the teacher asks a question. My heart just breaks when I see that he does not accomplish much in the short time he is in class. Miss R has a great curriculum. She has them practice writing often, they practice saying letters and the sound. This is Miss R first year teaching. She is fresh out of college. I think she has learned a lot already and will know what things to do and not to do for next year.