Blog Entry #2

This week I had the opportunity to work in a small group of Kindergarteners.  I was working with them on writing their names and letters.  It was interesting to sit there and watch them as they tried their hardest to remember just how the letters went.  I notices a little boy get sad as he couldn't remember how to right  a g.  So I thought of how I could make it fun for him with a rhyme.  I told him to go around town and into the garage.  Its so funny because he light up and started saying the rhyme.  Now that it has been a couple of days I have notices that every time he writes his name he and his whole table say " Go around town and into the Garage".  This whole incident just reminded me that students learn differently. 
We also worked on our numbers.  Some students get the numbers no problem but there are others that struggle.  I noticed with the ones that got finished first they suddenly got bored and didn't want to do the activity anymore.  The teacher suggested to put them into groups of two and if one finished faster they were to help their partner. To be honest I didn't think that it would work but it did.  Once the faster child finished they were the support team for the other students.  It was great to see them help one another and to make it even better they got to know each other a little more.
I have had the opportunity to work one on one testing some of our ESL students.  We went over some basic questions and it was interesting to me because I could tell right off the bat the students that spoke fluent Spanish at home and those that used both English and Spanish.  I had to tell them a story about a girl that went to the pet shop with her mom and she could only get a fish.  The students had to repeat the story back to me.  There is the cutest littlest girl that I was telling the story to and her version was about how fluffy the animals were.  She didn't repeat anything I said. I just laughed and had to tell her the story again. 
I like working in groups and one on one with students,  I hope that I can work with them more and more.  I feel like I get to know the kids so much better and they get to know me as well.