Middle of the Mitten Learning Center, Toddler Room
Early Childhood Student Teaching Experience
At Middle of the Mitten Learning Center in Alma, Michigan, I guided learning in the Toddler Room on weekdays, from 7 AM until 5 PM. This age was easy to fall in love with! I quickly made relationships with the children and their families. The children I worked with were between 18 months and 3 years old. Some children were new to the room, while others were preparing for the Preschool Room. It was a joy to watch each child grow and learn something new each day!
During my time directing activities I focused my lessons on the social and emotional, literacy, small and large motor, aesthetic and cognitive domains of the children. I also initiated and applied a daily schedule for the Toddler Room that was necessary for the children's consistency and behavioral expectations.
During my time directing activities I focused my lessons on the social and emotional, literacy, small and large motor, aesthetic and cognitive domains of the children. I also initiated and applied a daily schedule for the Toddler Room that was necessary for the children's consistency and behavioral expectations.
Small Motor Activity for Toddlers
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
Bath Elementary, 2nd Grade
Elementary Student Teaching Experience
Service Learning Book Drive
Our second grade class lead the second grade and first grade classes in a competitive book drive to gather and donate books to the new Bath Township Library Center. The center was in need of books and publicity, so I integrated the book drive into our Social Studies and Math units. I also sent informational letters to all students' families about the new library center, the book drive, and how we were using this service learning project across disciplines.
Integrating Service Learning into Common Core Math:
During our Math unit focused on place value, the students in our classroom were responsible for counting the donated books each day, for two weeks. I designated a pair of students to count each classes collected books everyday. The students were asked to count the books, and then put the books in groups of ten to check their counting. It was remarkable to see students counting by tens and finding the "ones" left over without being asked. I was so pleased to observe students applying what they were learning.
After the pairs of students reported the number of books donated by each class, we'd draw "quick pictures" using tens and ones. Next we'd add each classes totals together. Children were chosen at random to suggest a strategy to do this each day. We counted using our quick pictures to draw a new picture of the sum, we wrote addition sentences, we recorded how many hundreds, ten and ones, etc. The children's reactions to the sum they'd calculate each day was the best part!
Integrating Service Learning into Social Studies:
We tied our service learning project into our communities unit, by using it as an gateway to discussions about: why it's important to be involved in the community, where the library is located in our community, and what a library will offer members of our community. As a second grade, our students and their families donated 720 books! As a whole, the first and second grades donate 1,073 books to the Bath Township Library Center! I brought in treats to celebrate, not which grade "won" our book drive, but to celebrate the 1,073 books we donated as a whole. We discussed how great it was to work together and help the community grow!
During our Math unit focused on place value, the students in our classroom were responsible for counting the donated books each day, for two weeks. I designated a pair of students to count each classes collected books everyday. The students were asked to count the books, and then put the books in groups of ten to check their counting. It was remarkable to see students counting by tens and finding the "ones" left over without being asked. I was so pleased to observe students applying what they were learning.
After the pairs of students reported the number of books donated by each class, we'd draw "quick pictures" using tens and ones. Next we'd add each classes totals together. Children were chosen at random to suggest a strategy to do this each day. We counted using our quick pictures to draw a new picture of the sum, we wrote addition sentences, we recorded how many hundreds, ten and ones, etc. The children's reactions to the sum they'd calculate each day was the best part!
Integrating Service Learning into Social Studies:
We tied our service learning project into our communities unit, by using it as an gateway to discussions about: why it's important to be involved in the community, where the library is located in our community, and what a library will offer members of our community. As a second grade, our students and their families donated 720 books! As a whole, the first and second grades donate 1,073 books to the Bath Township Library Center! I brought in treats to celebrate, not which grade "won" our book drive, but to celebrate the 1,073 books we donated as a whole. We discussed how great it was to work together and help the community grow!
Multicultural Integration
In order to expose my children to other cultures, I shared many photographs I took while traveling China. I planned this lesson as a part of our Social Studies "Communities" Unit. The Power Point Presentation includes an introduction map that we used to discuss where China is in relevance to where we live.
The first half of the presentation is pictures of communities in China which we categorized as urban, suburban, or rural based on what we saw in the photographs. Then we discussed photographs of different aspects of the Chinese culture such as food, architecture, and advertisements.
We compared the culture in our own homes to what we saw in the photographs. The children loved seeing the Nike Building and the Harry Potter movie advertisements in Chinese, as well as seeing Miss Harwood on the Great Wall of China!
The first half of the presentation is pictures of communities in China which we categorized as urban, suburban, or rural based on what we saw in the photographs. Then we discussed photographs of different aspects of the Chinese culture such as food, architecture, and advertisements.
We compared the culture in our own homes to what we saw in the photographs. The children loved seeing the Nike Building and the Harry Potter movie advertisements in Chinese, as well as seeing Miss Harwood on the Great Wall of China!
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
"GoObserve" Evaluation
Principal Zachary Strickler, Bath Elementary
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.