Kolb EDUC 461 Fall 2014

Journal Entries: October 13-17

October 13, 2014
Today was the start of a new unit called Farm Animals. We do units that surround
around the theme fall. Students were able to make their own farm animals with pattern cutouts of
a rooster, pig, and a sheep. Students worked with Ms. South and Ms. Bolden to write a sentence
about their farm animal. The farm animals were put with the barn that I made for the wall outside
of the classroom next to our fall trees and scarecrows. The idea of the door and wall was a vision
I wanted to do for fall. Today we started the sounds of initial D which has a chant of
Dinosaur, Dinosaur, /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ spells d. The students will chant after me and use their feet
to stomp on the ground for d sound. I believe the chants will help the students remember the
sounds and also do fine or gross motor skills as well.
With ELA, we did Old MacDonald Had A Farm song for the students on YouTube. I told
the students to watch the animal they talk about as well as looking at the vowels that they
mention in the video. Students had to name the animals they saw in the video as well as the
vowel letters they saw. I also asked them which ones were missing. They were able to tell me the
a and u was missing from the vowels. I had the students starting to write simple sentences in
their journals using the word of day as well as reinforcement of sight words. I believe getting
them started to write sentences would be to let them copy first and let them spell their sight
words. I do reinforce sight words by having them spell them after lunch.
In Math, we are starting the concept of addition for the students. The students had to
make an addition man. We talked about the plus sign as well as other words that mean add that
they may come across. Students have started to add but they did not know the word or the
concept of it fully yet until this week.
October 14, 2014
Today we did the book of No No Titus! Which was about a dog who wanted to know
what his job was when he came to the farm. I thought the lesson for ELA was a good one and I
thought about my cooperating teacher watching it but she was busy testing for progress reports. I
had the students first to turn and talk about what the book could be about. I love the idea of turn

and talk because it keeps the students involved in the lesson and it lets those who love to talk a
lot to let them do that. Turn and talk also teaches students how to collaboratively listen to their
peers and see that their peers have different opinions about the topic. I then had the students
come together and I would read the book and ask comprehension questions about the book. This
lesson also related back to the jobs that each of the animals do on the farm and what they are
responsible for. At the end of the story, the students saw that Titus became a watchdog. After the
story, I explained to the students that each person had a chore or responsibility. I then had them
go back to turn and talk partners and talk about what would be a chore or responsibility to do at
home. The students got to share with their peers and with myself as well.
In Math, we recapped on the addition man and talked about what the t looking sign was
called as well as the word they learned from the before. We used a new tool called addition math
mat where it has a box, a plus sigh, another box, an equal sign, and one more box. Below the
visual representation of the addition problem was also a line where they would write a number
sentence of that problem they showed. I did not focus on the number sentence but more of the
visual representation of a math number sentence. Since Halloween was coming up, I did a word
based on monsters going to a Monster Mash. Each of the students got out their unifex cubes to
use for a visual representation of the math problem. The students had to listen to the word
problem and visually do it on their mats. I do not think they got the concept which is fine for
right now because it was something new but I was going to reinforce it tomorrow.
October 15, 2014
Today in ELA we did one of my favorite stories growing up called The Little Red Hen
where three certain animals would not help bake the cake or the bread. Students were asked
about the story like what is the pattern of what the other animals are saying when the hen asked
them to help her with something. We want the students to continue with patterns because you
can see them in all subjects besides in Math. I reinforce patterns every day during calendar and
morning meetings. After the story, I had the students turn and talk with their partners about what
would they do if someone asked them to help them with a job or chore. I also added the outcome
if they did the opposite. Students were able to share with their other peers. After the ELA lesson,
we did an writing activity where they had to write their name like Madison works hard and fill
in a chore that they work hard at.

I came around with the strips of yellow paper and asked each individual student of
something they work hard at doing. All the students had to do was copy what I wrote down on
the strip of paper. Students then had to illustrate doing that job.
For Math, we worked on the addition math mats and instead I had them get their white
boards, marker, and eraser. I used the Elmo and put a mat on it so they can see it on the
SmartBoard. I used the same words problems but I put the unifex cubes on the mat so they can
see what I was doing. The students at the end of the word problem had to write the number
sentence on their white boards. I did a problem where three monsters arrived at the party and
three more arrived. I then put all of them together moved them behind the equal sign so they
know that you are putting something together when you add. The students were able to get the
concept after two word problems. This is something that we will come back to during the school
year.
October 16, 2014
Today we did a review of nouns. I do not like that kindergarten is being introduced to
terminology such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They do not understand that concept of those
words yet. Instead I did terms that they would understand like people, places, and things. We did
a matching activity with farm and barn like things. The students were put in a circle and each
was given a card with a picture on it. Even though the students cannot read yet, they did have
some help from me if they could not understand the picture. I went over the ones that the
students put in the wrong column and ask the class again to make sure. I had left over ones that
we did together as a class. I already did a picture for each because they could not read people
column, places, and things that were on the barn. If they had a picture of a person on the person,
a place on the places column, and a thing on the thing column, then it would be easier for the
students to categorize without reading the cards themselves. I then introduced the word nouns
to them and it went over their heads. I believe just introducing people, places, and things are a
good start for kindergarten and then have the terminology maybe after Christmas break or the
beginning of first grade.
In Math, I had the students play a game of concentration or the game Memory as we
remember from when we did the game from we played when we were younger. I had the
students to be in pairs and they had to play a game with their tens frame cards and their number

cards. They had to make a match with both of those cards. I first modeled it using another
student as my partner. I showed the students exactly what to do. After that I had the students
paired by ability and I set them in different spots around the room. Afterward, the students were
coming up to me and telling me about all the correct matches that they made. The students
played at least games before they went to centers. I believe this activity is a reinforcement of
counting and matching numbers with pictures.
October 17, 2014
Today was the last day for farm animals and we did some fun things to tie it all together.
I wanted the students to tell me what their favorite farm animal is that we talked about for the
week. We talked about many of the farm animals and I used a lot of turn and talk with partners.
It does help with the ones that like to talk a lot as well as letting students listening to their peers. I
have been getting better with discipline and Ms. South noticed it during my lesson that she was
observing. She was like you got the ones that came on the floor and you got them to do
something while the rest of the students were finishing up with the assignment that you wanted
them to do. I was teaching the initial sound of p and for the students they want to say puh. I
had those students watch my mouth when I would say it. I think that it is important for students
to watch your mouth when you do initial sounds of letters. We do this same strategy that get
speech because you are repeating it to them and letting them watch your mouth lets them see
how to speak in a way that you can understand them. The lesson went well because the students
were ready to learn as well as calmed down after we did the penguin dance from YouTube. I was
on top with discipline. I have my teacher look down to a T.
In math, we talked about the number seven. The students were able to show me seven
with their fingers which was five on one hand and two on the other. One child showed me three
fingers and four fingers which was neat to see that he can come up with that combination to
make seven. Students have been making traditional pumpkins for our pumpkin unit next week. I
have mentioned to the students that we are going to do many things with pumpkins next week.