About Webquests

Dear Parents,
I would love for you to look at the powerpoint that is posted on this blog. This is a fun way to get your children to learn why washing hands is important. This presentation is called a webquest. A webquest is a fun and interactive way to learn and apply a subject to life. Here are a couple websites you can visit to learn more about webquests.
http://www.webquest.org/index.php
http://bestwebquests.com/

Fire Station Field Trip

Parents,
We had such a fun time going to the fire station this last friday. Thank you for allowing your students to attend and helping us give them a chance to learn so much from a member of our community. It was very fun to watch them learn and we also got to see a fire truck and ambulance leave on a call. They learned so much and I hope you have had a chance to talk to your students about what they learned and look at your house plan and make a fire escape plan. They have had a lot of fun this unit and next week we will be learning about thanksgiving. We will be doing some activities with one of the younger classes and we are way excited. Thanks for all you do for your students. They are learning so much.

Field Experience #3

This week went well but it was kind of a pain trying to just get everything done that was expected of us. Teaching enough lessons was not a problem at all but just making sure that whatever we might need got done before friday. Also we had a lot of drama with our advisor because we had the wrong name and the couldnt get a hold of the right lady.....it was just a pain. These three weeks were a great learning experience and im glad we got the chance to do it, but im also glad that we get to finish up this semester in our classes.

Field Experience #2

We have had the opportunity to teach four lessons this week and it was way fun but way challenging as well. I am so use to Kindergarten and preschool that it can be weird teaching older children. Yesterday I taught a lesson all by myself and that became quite interesting fast. It started out really good and then two helpers from the high school showed up (so at this point there are 5 teachers in the classroom). Right when I was about ten words from being done with the instructions, a child came to class from who knows where. I got her in a group and then another child came and then a couple minutes later one more later comer. At that point I had in some ways lost control just for unseen circumstances, but then I get them settled and they were supposed to be silent reading and I asked the three late comers to come see me so I could catch them up.
All through this the high school students were calling children back to work with one on one. This also caused problems with management they came back and were confused or had not read the assignment by the time they were ready to make their posters. They made their posters and joined with their everyday teacher in the back (we decided for times sake to just present the posters the next day). As they were with their teacher I got a little bit of comfort by reading the posters to see that they did write what I wanted them to learn.
Today though was the best reward. Even after a day like yesterday I was able to see the students still learn and retain information. today as they presented their posters lots of questions were asked and they knew the answers they shared their favorite things and every thing that was required to be on the poster. I really felt a lot better.

Parents

I'm so sorry if anyone has been reading this that I have been doing such a horrible job updating this!! We had some fun activities this last week talking about washing our hands and germs that make us sick. We learned all about Red and White blood cells and how Red cells carry oxygen and the white cells let out antibodies that fight the germs. They got really excited about this and caught on really fast. This week on Wednesday we are planning on having a dental assistant come in (as long as everything works according to plan). This should be a fun week we will spend a couple of days talking about teeth health and also doctors and other community helpers that help keep our bodies healthy. The next week we talk about community helpers that keep us safe, such as firemen and policemen. I'm very excited to help them learn more about health and safety. I talked with most of you at parent teacher conference about starting up a store. They are really working hard on learning their money and it has been fun to see them grow in this area. I am excited for the next two weeks and will try to post another blog toward the middle of the week.

P.S. sorry about all the posts for classes! It has been quite the month!

First Reflection on Field Experience

I am teaching over at Geneva and love it. We just kind of observed on Monday and then yesterday didn't do a whole lot more. Today was a little bit more exciting we were able to do some organizing and put some art together to put up in the hall and then I had the opportunity to do a little literacy circle with the students. I really enjoy 4th grade. We wont start our actual lessons until Monday but we should have a fun rest of the week with the activities laid out already! Hope everyone else is having a great experience! Good Luck!!

Parents I'm sorry this is so big but this is just a lesson plan for one of my classes so you can just look past this if you would like. This is a 4th grade lesson.

Utah Valley State College
Teacher Education Program
Lesson Planning Guide

Name: Emily Schroeder and Jennifer Frehner Date October 30, 2008 Time 3-7 pm
Grade Level: 4th Subject: Social Studies

I. Utah State Core Curriculum Standard(s)
Standard 2Students will understand how Utah's history has been shaped by many diverse people, events, and ideas.
Students will understand: How Butch Cassidy was defined as a hero.

II. Lesson Objective(s)/Goal(s)
a. The student will know: What heroes are.
b. The students will do: Given information about digital storytelling and about heroes, like Butch Cassidy, students will create a digital story using the rubric.

III. Preparation (teacher materials, student materials, etc.)
Teachers Materials:
-Websites to help teach digital storytelling
-History of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
-Computer to show digital story
Student Materials:
-Websites to learn about digital storytelling
-History of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, also access to computer to find other “heroes”
-Computer to create digital story

IV. Technology Use:
a. Computer for:
i. Viewing digital story
ii. Creating digital story
b. Digital Storytelling Websites:
i. http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/
ii. http://www.atschool.org/digidocs/
iii. http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/
c. Digital Story:
i. Butch Cassidy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Z3kkzKNjk

V. Instructional Procedures:
a. Ask students if they know what digital storytelling is.
b. Have students go to the websites is groups to learn about digital storytelling. They will learn about digital stories and creative commons.
c. Students will view digital story Butch Cassidy
d. Students will be able to play around with Photo Story 3.
e. Students will put in groups and given heroes.
f. In their groups they will create a digital story about a hero that they have chosen.
g. When stories are completed we will share them in class.

VI. Evaluation of Student Progress
a. Pre-assessment: Students will know about heroes and how they effect who we are.
b. Formative: Observe the students as they, play with Photo Story 3 and visit the websites to learn about digital storytelling.
c. Post-assessment: Students create digital story based on rubric (see below)


Rubric for Digital Storytelling:

1. Must be 2-3 minutes in length 15
2. Must narrate the pictures 15
3. Must have credits pages 10
4. Must customize motion of pictures 10

Total: 50

Halloween

I'm so excited for tomorrow! This should be a pretty relaxed day in Kindergarten. We will be doing some Halloween activities and I'm so excited to see all of the children's costumes! They have been talking about them for weeks so it should be fun for everyone to see each others and do some Halloween activities! Anyway your children are still doing great and I will be making a couple posts over the weekend kind of updating you on what is coming up for November. If you need anything please feel free to call or e-mail! Thanks for all you do!

Thank you Parents

I really enjoyed meeting with all of you this last Friday. I'm happy that we were able to look at your students progress and set up a couple goals for us to work on over the next couple months. Class is going great and I really hope that you all take advantage of the resources I gave you to get a hold of me. I really want to make sure your child is learning all they can this year.

Like I mentioned to all of you, the next Unit we will be starting is Health and Safety. I'm really getting excited for the plans that me and Tammy have in mind. We are looking at going to a Fire Station and learning how they run things there, also we hope to get a Dental Assistant in to talk with the kids about how to keep their teeth healthy. We should have a lot of fun and learning experiences this November. This Unit will begin on November 3 and take 3-4 weeks.

Thanks again for coming and letting me be a part of your children's education. I'm excited to continue watching them learn!

Parent Teacher Night

Friday we went to the farm! It was so fun to be able to go and have a learning experience outside of our classroom. I hope we have a lot more opportunities for this in the next couple months! I just want to remind all of you about our Parent teacher night that is coming up this Friday. I'm excited to share your students progress with you and set goals that we would both like to see them reach! We are having a great year so far and I'm looking forward to what we have to come. Thanks for all your support and if you have questions please let me know!

Farm Unit

Hey We have been having so much fun talking about farm animals the last couple weeks! Our class play is tomorrow and the kids are getting so excited for our classes version of The Little Red Hen. We have had a lot of fun cooking, exploring and reading about the farm! Next week is going to be our last week in this unit. We will be visiting a farm next friday and at this farm they are having a scarecrow contest. We will be working on making a scarecrow during class this next week and will take it with us to the farm. If any of you parents have supplies or suggestions that can help us please let me know. Thanks for all your help so far this year! Im excited to get to know you all better at our parent teacher night. Thanks for letting me teach your children!

History of Pumpkins

Come inside my Halloween page to learn about the history behind Pumpkins and Jackolanterns.

Welcome to Kindergarten

My name is Miss Jenny. I am so excited for this school year! We are going to have so much fun in our class. We will be working on reading, math, and everything inbetween! Learning is such an exciting thing im very excited to share this adventure with you! I hope that you as parents will keep in touch with me on here and through email so that we can make sure that your children are getting the best education we can give them.