For the Love of Reading

Being an elementary school teacher, I have always believed that reading is extremely important to any child’s education.  Giving students the opportunity to listen to stories and to read books should be a part of any given school day.  Though I believe that books and reading time are an integral part of school, it still amazes me how much students love listening to stories and reading to themselves or with a buddy.  For the past couple of days, I have been noticing how much my first grade students tune into read alouds as well as partner/individual reading.  They are so engaged during reading times, that even when the stories are in a language that is not native to their own, they do not even seem to notice.  I have also recognized that each different type of classroom reading brings about different benefits for my students.  Here are my observations:

Type of Reading	Benefits
Read Alouds	Students are gaining English vocabulary.  Many times, I hear students quietly repeating English words or phrases from the book to themselves. Later, I hear them practice saying these same words or phrases in day-to-day conversation with others.  In addition, because read aloud books are accompanied by many illustrations, students are able to follow the stories more easily even when the words are not in their native language.
Buddy Reading/Individual Reading	I see students work together to practice reading the pictures of books (because they can’t always read the English words).  While doing this they usually speak in Spanglish—a mix of Spanish and English.  That is, they say the English words that they know in order to read the pictures and then they fill in the missing parts with Spanish.  Reading the pictures really gives students an opportunity to practice speaking English.  During buddy reading I have also seen pairs of students look for sight words in the text of stories. Therefore, they practice recognizing and reading words in English.  It is also especially fun to watch them reread stories that have already been read in class as read alouds!
Oral Storytelling	Until this past Friday, I had never realized how much my students love oral storytelling.  At the end of the day on Friday another teacher came into our classroom and told a story orally to the students.  The story was in Spanish and was a variation of the tale of The Three Little Pigs.  As the first graders are a very active bunch, I did not think that they would sit through a story that was told orally.  However, I couldn’t have been more wrong.  The students absolutely LOVED listening to the story and were extremely engaged.  I could tell that their little minds were imagining pictures to accompany the story, as they would all react appropriately to the scary, happy, funny, and tense parts of the story.  I believe that oral story telling is important for students to engage in because it allows them to be creative and use their imaginations.  Before watching another teacher tell a story orally, I never would have thought to do it with younger students.  Now, however, I realize how beneficial and fun it is for students, and I plan to regularly incorporate it into my teaching in the future.

Some Books That My Students Have Really Liked

It has been so exciting for me to see my students love reading so much!  It has been even more fun for me to watch them grow in their English vocabulary through reading books.  I want to continue to help support and foster their love of reading in the days to come! 

Sayulita Public Primary School Visit

On Monday I had the opportunity of going to Sayulita’s public primary school and observing a 4^th grade classroom for about an hour.  It was a really great experience to be able to compare the public school of Sayulita to the private school of Costa Verde.  Now, it is true that my observations may not be entirely accurate since I was only able to observe for about an hour, but here are my comparison notes in a chart format:

Costa Verde School	Public School
Language—students learn both the Spanish and English languages	Language—students learn the Spanish language
Supplies—books, art supplies, paper, pencils, manipulatives, and games (puzzles) are present; there is also a library	Supplies—students each have their own workbooks and pencils; there is a whiteboard in each classroom; no books are present
Classroom layout—information graphics are on the wall; classroom walls are painted with murals and other decorations; chairs, bookcases, and tables are arranged in a purposeful manner to make the classroom kid friendly and conducive to learning; air conditioning is provided, though sometimes it does break	Classroom layout—the walls are mostly bare and are a solid, single color; the students’ desks are arranged in rows facing the whiteboard; the teacher’s desk is at the front of the room; fans are running, but they are very loud and hard to hear over
Philosophy—progressive approach to education; student choice and input is valued; curriculum is flexible	Philosophy—traditional approach to education that is teacher-centered; the teacher must follow the progression of lessons that SEP (the Spanish curriculum of Mexico) provides—no deviation is allowed
Class Size—no more than 18 students in any given class	Class Size—25 to 30 students in any given class
Classroom Management—students are expected to pay attention and stay on task	Classroom Management—it seemed that there were no reminders or consequences for students who were talking and distracting others; such behavior was ignored and these students just didn’t complete their work

Both

Students wear uniforms—it seems to be a positive aspect of both schools, as it helps even out the playing field for students in terms of differences in socioeconomic status

Lunch program—students can pay for a hot lunch if they choose; it is worthy to note that the cost of lunch at the public school was much less expensive

Different buildings—almost every classroom is in a different building

Male teachers—unlike the United States, there is a good mix of male and female educators teaching the primary grades in both schools

SEP—the Mexican curriculum of SEP is taught at both schools; however, at Costa Verde it is a curriculum that is only used part of the day, while at the public school it is the curriculum that is used the entire day

School Day—school starts at 8:00 am and ends at 2:20 pm

 After comparing my experience at Costa Verde School with my short experience at the public school, it is clear to me that Costa Verde offers its students different opportunities and experiences—like learning a second language—that the public primary school in Sayulita does not.  Costa Verde also has a lot more teaching supplies which definitely make a difference when educating students. That being said, both schools have different strengths.  For instance, even though the public school does not offer its students a chance to learn a second language, it gives students the opportunity to become very strong and knowledgeable in their first language—Spanish; this is something that I see is sometimes lacking at Costa Verde School, especially in the younger grades.  In the future, I would be interested to see how academic assessments compare between students at Costa Verde and students at the public school.

 

 Outside of Public School

 

Outside of Public School

 

Mural painted by students of the public school; depicts how we should take care of our world

 

Kinder 3

Today I had the pleasure of observing the Kinder 3 classroom at Costa Verde School during the morning.  Kinder 3 is the equivalent of a regular Kindergarten class in the United States.  The students are all five or six years old.  One interesting fact about the schooling system in Mexico is that there are 3 levels of Kindergarten.  Kinder 1 is for students who are two and three years old, Kinder 2 is for students who are three and four years old, and Kinder 3 is for students who are five and six years old.

The Kinder 3 classroom that I observed was comprised of ten boys, three girls, one male teacher, and one female teacher.  The classroom follows the Waldorf approach to education; therefore, a lot of creative play and socialization are encouraged amongst the children.

The first thing I noticed when walking into the classroom was the calm, peaceful music that was playing in the background.  I thought that the music was very relaxing, and it was a great tool to set the tone of the day for the students as they were walking in.  As students came into the classroom sporadically, there was quiet talking instead of loud shouting—I think in part due to the music.  I thought that this peaceful music was such a great idea that I would consider starting off the day of my future classroom in such a way as well.

Once all the students arrived to school, Maestro Manuel did a short read aloud.  After, the students continued with their theme of “bridges” by working together to draw a bridge on a large piece of poster paper that was laid on the floor.  While they were working, they were continuously reminded that they were “los ingenieros” (engineers).  With the use of this term, I was once again reminded of how important specific language usage is in a classroom; referring to each student as an engineer made him or her feel important, smart, and capable of constructing a bridge.  It also reminded students of the types of careers they can strive to have in the future.  Once they were done drawing the bridge, the students were then able to construct their own bridge using PVC pipes, tables, cushions, blocks, and chairs.  Once their long bridge was built, the students rolled marbles down it and then continuously edited/modified the bridge so that it did exactly what they wanted it to do.  Most of the students participated in this bridge making experience at least for a little while, though eventually some students became bored with it and moved on to playing different things.  Some students read books, others shaped people and animals out of clay, and still others drew pictures.  Students were free to choose whatever activity they wanted; there was no direct, teacher-led instruction at any point in time.

After about 45 minutes of creative play time, the students went outside to play.  While students could choose to do whatever activity they wanted to outside, sack races and stepping stone activities were set up for them as options to choose from.  After playing outside, the students ate lunch.  This concluded my observation time in Kinder 3.

One really neat classroom idea that I took from Kinder 3 had to do with seating arrangements.  Instead of having the students sit on the floor during the read aloud at the beginning of the school day, each student had his or her own little plastic chair to sit in.  These little chairs were arranged in a circle so that all the students could still see each other and share ideas.  I really liked the small chair idea because it allowed each student to have his or her own space.  Students were not hitting each other or distracting each other because their hands and feet remained in their own space.  Furthermore, they all remained in a sitting-up position that allowed them to pay attention better instead of rolling around and lying down on the floor which often occurs with younger students who are sitting on the floor.  If I have enough money in my classroom budget someday, purchasing small plastic chairs for my students to use every so often is something I would be very interested in doing.  It was just a very neat way to manage the class during large group time.

All in all, I loved my observation time in Kinder 3.  It helped me solidify my desire to be a Kindergarten teacher even more!  I hope to be able to teach this age someday!

The little plastic chairs that each student used to sit in during large group time.

Stepping stone activity outside.

Modeling

I am happy to say that the new teachers have finally arrived here in Sayulita!  They arrived on Monday and have slowly transitioned into the school and the school day with the students.  I must say that it has been fun to watch another teacher with more experience take over the classroom and implement new ideas.  I have been enjoying this process so much because it has been nice to be able to compare what I did with the students to what another teacher is doing, especially since I feel like I know the students so well.  Watching another teacher work with these students has helped me be able to evaluate my practice as a teacher more effectively. 

After reflecting on my practice, one area that I realized I could really grow in as a future educator is modeling.  Miss Teresa (the teacher whom I am now working with) loves to do centers, as do I.  However, before allowing the students to participate in the centers this week, she modeled exactly what was supposed to happen.  She not only modeled how to complete the activities that were at each center, but she also modeled the types of behaviors students were supposed to be using.  For example, she would model a student running to a new center and a student walking to a new center.  Then she would ask the students which skit showed the student who was using the correct behavior.  Though her modeling was a little time consuming, I noticed that the students behaved much better at the centers than when I had used centers with them.  The centers were clean for the next students to use, and students were transitioning from one center to another in an organized fashion.  Furthermore, they were accomplishing more of any given activity at each center.  I guess I always knew and learned that modeling was the best way to start off centers, but it felt like I was talking too much while modeling how to complete the activities at each center that I never made it to modeling how behaviors at centers was supposed to look.  However, I know truly believe that it is well worth your time as a teacher to model how behaviors should look, because younger students respond well to this modeling and remember it.  Moreover, once you model activities and behaviors thoroughly the first time, you only have to quickly review the ideas in the future.  Therefore, you are actually saving yourself time in the long run because students know better how to self-regulate and clean up after themselves at the centers.

I will definitely be sure to take the time to model activities, centers, and directions more thoroughly in the future when working with younger students!  I am now more conscientious of that area of my practice thanks to my new cooperating teacher.

Transitions

After working with the little first graders for quite some time now, I have realized how important transitions are throughout any given day.  Transitions not only give the students a brain break, but they also help ease the students into the next planned activity much more smoothly.  When students are so young, they cannot just finish with math, sit on the carpet, and then start listening to a science talk.  Instead, they need to finish math, do a little energizing transitional activity, and then sit down to start talking about science.  A little break (that is educational but fun) between each planned activity contributes to a successful day.

Despite the need for transitions in my classroom, I have also realized how hard it is to do them.  You do not want a transition that energizes the students too much or they become overstimulated and cannot focus well on the next planned activity.  On the other hand, you do not want a boring transition activity either because otherwise students do not feel like they are getting a break from “thinking”.  Furthermore, because you need many different transition activities throughout any given day—especially ones that are educational—it can be hard to know enough of them.  After teaching these first graders, I have realized that I need to research more transition activities for young students.  It is an area of education that I would like to grow in throughout my future.  As a type of professional development for myself, I want to make a list of transitional songs and activities so that when I need one, I can just look at the list and pick one out.  I think this list will be helpful for any future classroom I am in.

One transition that my students LOVE right now is the transitional “Color Song”  It goes like this:

[Teacher shouts out a color]
Red!
Red is the color I see,
If you’re wearing red, stand up and show me.
Stand up!  Turn around!  Show me your red!  And sit back down!

Students who are wearing the specified color must stand up, spin in a circle, point to the color on their clothes, and then sit back down.  It is the most fun when you do a few rounds of this song! 

This transition song has been a great way to teach my English Language Learners the colors in English.  They ask me many times a day if they can sing this song, so we sing it a lot!

If you have any other transition activities, let me know! J

 

The color poster we use when we sing the song!

Classroom Management

Throughout the past four weeks that I have been lead teaching at Costa Verde, one area of education that has consistently challenged me is classroom management.  Though I have seen many different classroom management tactics in my past practicum experiences, classroom management is much harder to implement than it appears to be.  It is extremely difficult to find and choose the tactics that work best for your personality AND for your students’ personalities.  My first week teaching, I felt like I had no control over the students; everything seemed a bit chaotic.  I am happy to say, however, that as the weeks went on, I began to implement some classroom management strategies that worked for my students and for me.  Here are some strategies I have been successfully using:

1.)    HAND CLAPPING—When I clap my hands to a rhythm, the students have to repeat the hand clapping rhythm.  After they finish the hand clapping rhythm, they must have “bocas cerradas” (closed mouths).  Though it sometimes takes my students a few rounds of clapping rhythms to fully engage in this classroom management technique, by the end, everyone is quietly waiting for the next directions.

    2.)    LOS EQUISes (THE X’S)—After noticing that my students were having a hard time keeping their hands and bodies to themselves during carpet time, I decided to place X’s (Equis5es), made out of masking tape, on the carpet in rows.  Whenever it is carpet time, the students must find an X to sit on, and that X then becomes their personal space.  Before placing the X’s on the carpet I was worried that the students would pick at the tape or ignore it.  However, after using it for just one week, it worked wonders!  I never once had a student pick at the tape, and they all enjoyed picking out an X and sitting down on it.  Furthermore, I noticed a lot more active engagement and participation from students while doing whiteboard activities like shared writing or math mini-lessons.  I am so glad that I decided to put these X’s on the carpet.

    3.)    BEHAVOIR CHART—After struggling in the classroom management department for a while, a colleague from the school office helped me develop a behavior chart.  While I was not too keen on the idea at first, I now am so thankful for the reinforcement it provides in my classroom.  The behavior chart has five spaces that say “día fabuloso” (fabulous day), “gran día” (great day), “buen día” (good day), “hacer opciones mejores” (make better choices), and “contactar los padres” (parent contact).  All the students have a clothespin with their names on it, and they all start out with their clothespin on un “día fabuloso”.  The goal is that all the students will remain at this spot throughout the entire day.  However, if certain studetns are struggling with making poor choices such as distracting their neighbors, running around the classroom, yelling in the classroom, hiding under the tables, etc., they are asked to move their clothespin one space lower.  On the contrary, if I find them working hard, helping their neighbors, paying close attention during class, etc., they are asked to move their clothespin one space up.  This classroom management technique works well for my students because it gives them a tactile and visual way to monitor themselves.  They can make whatever choices they want, but they are also aware of the consequences those choices can bring.  I have seen an increase in behavior awareness from the students and an increase in their intrinsic motivation since using this chart.  At the end of each day I write what space the students ended up on in their take-home planners.  In this way, parents are aware of the choices their children are making during class as well. 

Although classroom management is a hard thing to tackle, once you find a system that works for you and the students, the classroom becomes much more productive and peaceful.

Rain, Rain, and more Rain!

Coming from Wisconsin, it was fairly customary to have 1 to 3 days per winter when school was not in session due to heavy snowfall that made traveling difficult and unsafe.  These days were called snow days, and as a child I always looked forward to them.  In Sayulita, however, snow days do not exist.  Instead, there are rain days.

As it is currently the rainy season in Sayulita, last night we had a very heavy rainstorm.  There was not much thunder or lightning, but there sure was a lot of rain!  It poured and poured all night long.  It rained so much that the roof on our house started leaking, and we had pots and pans to keep the floor from getting too wet.  While I was walking to school in the morning, the water on the sidewalks and streets was so deep that I needed to take off my shoes and walk barefoot; it was up to my ankles!

Once at the school, I quickly asked if school was still going to be in session.  From past experience, I had learned that when the rain is too heavy many roads shut down due to high water content and slippery conditions.  Because most of the roads are cobblestone or dirt, rocks and mud quickly become slippery when it rains a lot.  In addition, because Sayulita is located right next to a river, the river can become dangerously high very quickly.  The verdict of the school day was that there was going to be a two-hour delay due to the rain.  Therefore, school was supposed to start at 10 a.m.  Unlike in the United States, it is difficult to make this information known to families.  Cells phone and internet usage was extremely spotty due to the heavy rainfall.

After doing our best to contact families about the two-hour delay, the rain still had not lightened up and the water on the streets was still very high.  Therefore, a decision was made that school would be canceled, and we would have a rain day.  As I was passing the river on my way home, I could see why it is important to be careful about the rain here.  The river had risen a tremendous amount in one night and had developed a current that was mighty.

Despite the heavy rain, it touched my heart to see how many families still made the dangerous trek into Sayulita to drop their children off at Costa Verde School before they knew about the delay and later on, the cancelation.  Many of the students at the school do not live in Sayulita but in surrounding areas that can be at least 30 minutes away.  It was great to see just how much parents and students value their education and their attendance at school.  It is a blessing to have faithful families and students as a teacher!

The deep water covering the roads!

Pots and pans to keep water off the floor of our house!

Mr. Squegeey...our best friend at the school!