Blog Entry #5

Teachers have many roles that they play each day.  The most important role that a teacher plays besides being a teacher is being a caregiver.  Mrs. Wolf is a great example of caring for her students.  She knows her students parents and mostly about their home life.  She knows their allergies and what they like and don't like.  She even knows which student needs to have a little extra attention.

An example that comes to mind is snack time.  I know that may sound so stupid but this is a great example of Mrs. Wolfs care giving skills.  There are Three students in her PM class that cannot have milk with their snack.  She makes sure each and every day that they have something to drink.  whether she gets their juice or gives them water.  As a teacher if you didn't care about stuff like that those kids would be sick every single day. 

Teachers have become one of the most important people in children's lives.  If you don't care about your students they will sense it and either act out or stop caring themselves.  The roles of a teacher are important for the teacher and their students success.

Blog Entry #4

I feel like this blog entry is perfect this week.  I have just had a day full of assessments.  Mrs. Wolf  manages her assessments by taking her students one by one out in the hallway or somewhere where they don't feel pressure from the other students. Right now because these kids are in Kindergarten the assessments seem easy.  They are learning the Spalding phonograms.  Each student is taken out one at a time to test the knowledge and understanding of the ABC phonograms.  I always thought that the ABC's all just had one sound until I was introduced to the Spalding way.

The students are also assessed on beginning, middle and end of the story.  this is the one that I help with.  I love listening to their little voices when I ask them to tell me the story of  The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  some of them really get into it and then there are some of them just make it all up.\

I can tell that assessing students for report cards can be stressful to a teacher.  But in the end it seems that it is worth it because you know where each child is and what needs to be done to help those that are behind catch up.

Blog Entry #3

There is a lot that goes on in a classroom full of five year olds.  Sometimes I wonder how Mrs. Wolf handles it all.  In our class there are about four or five children where English is their second language. There are some strategies that she uses for her students that are English learners. I have noticed that there are times when Mrs. Wolf asks them a question and when they look puzzled she tries to ask the question in the little Spanish that she knows.  I know this helps the kids.  Lately they have all been tested into the ESL program and we are waiting to see what is going on there. 

Mrs. Wolf is amazing at what she does.  I have noticed with those English learners that she is spending a little bit more time making sure that they understand the directions, rules and procedures in the classroom.  Our school also has a class that they call imagine learning.  in this class the students play on the computer that tells things in Spanish and translates them into English.  This has helped some students in the years past.  Especially those that are in kindergarten and are still confused on some things.