April Post

So today I went and volunteered at Mrs. Chan's room. I helped with the children who were being especially rowdy today. She had told them that if they behaved they would get cookies, at the end of the day they didn't because while we had all gone to the library they were running, and they were not using their inside voice. So when I told they to go in a straight line, quietly, Mrs. Chan followed but at the end of the line because I was leading it and I had to watch the kids in the middle and front and make sure they behaved. Later when the kids went home I was in Mrs. Chan's room conducting my interview with her.

February Post

So today I helped out by passing the activities for Valentine's day that the kids were going to do. I helped the teacher by telling the kids to calm down and checking over their work during class. I also helped by helping the teacher organize her classroom before school started and set up the tables for when the kids were going to come in. I also helped by making sure the the candies used in any activity for "Valentine Day" themed that the kids didn't eat it so I had to count for every kid that the same amount of candy I had passed out came back.

January Blog Post

So when I went to volunteer, I just basically helped the kids in class who still have to catch up in writing down in their agenda the homework. I just sat with the individual student and told them the next word they needed to write and after I finished with one student I went and helped the next student until they were all finished and I had checked their agendas so they could go and sit down in the carpet for the end of the day activities. 

November Month Post

So, I have gone and volunteered with Ms. De La Pena and the last time I went before break was Friday. Ms. De La Pena had me doing the children's folders. I would pick their folder in alphabetical order of course, and then organize the contents in the folder in the order that she wanted them. It was all the picture classwork, then all the math classwork, and then all of the spelling test according to the easiest words spelled to the hardest. There are about 30 children in her classroom, so it took me a while.  For right now all that I have been doing in her class is just organizing especially because for the month of December they only have two weeks of school too so, she would rather get ahead in all the "paperwork" for the month of January. So, I will be doing a lot of printing, stapling and stacks of paper so all she would have to do is pass out the worksheets.

Activities with the Children

So I have been volunteering, well mentoring with a 1st grade teacher. The kids are so cute. I however, do most of the activities with the children; I act as a TA. I do laminate posters and pages, print out worksheets, print and make copies of activities worksheets. During major holidays we spend a part of the day doing the holiday theme. For Halloween the kids will probably be coloring in a pumpkin and cutting out- I will need to help them with using the scissors. The kids will also probably get little goody bags when it is Halloween. Like the kids I have my own little clip that shows how I've been doing- and I'm on the best there is. However I don't get the "gum ball", the little rubber ball (as all the other children do) from the candy machine. It is very fun and helpful for me that I volunteer with my mentor and she answers all or any questions I have. As I do my Individual Component 1 , I will start to post up images of what I do in the classroom. 

Senior Topic Finalized

         So , I have not come to a concrete conclusion as to what exactly my senior topic is going to be. I know I wanted a mentorship and senior topic where I could work with children. So originally I was going to choose 1st grade teacher, however as I started to do research and read the articles I gathered which were mostly about early literacy. So how children think, comprehend and basically how their minds "cope" with the information given to them. I found this interesting so I might do something like how children (youths) learn and understand how to read, write and the other basics. I learned that if a child is frequently absent during 1st grade a lot that they are more limey to drop out of school in the later years. I asked this question specifically in my interview with Ms. De La Pena. She responded that this was correct because in the 1st grade is where most or all of the children learn the basics or " foundation" that their later skills will be developed on and if they miss a critical part then they won't comprehend  something later in their life in school. Then they will drop out of school because they were not fully equipped with the necessary tools to succeed in their later school years.