Last Hoorah

Today was great, we spent our time working and playing with the pre-k students. I was given a game to bring to the students and play with them, I couldn't believe how much they enjoyed it. The game consisted of four animals and a cup like object that asked the students questions. For example it would say "which one of these animals has a long trunk? or which one of these animals is orange?" The student would then place it over the animal and if correct be given a new question. The students waited patently and took turns playing this game and helping each other out. It took a long time but eventually they became board with this and moved on to something else. The immaginations of these young children never stop amazing me, with little cardboard boxes painted like brick walls I helped a student build a house and garage for the toy truck he was playing with, which he sage gaurded for the remainder of the class. Next to me a boy scrambled to collect as many fake coins as he could for his cash register. My time working at St. Mary's with these students has been great and I am thankful for this opportunity, it has been a lot of fun and I know it is going to help me tramendusly down the road.

Takeing it in

Today my group was assigned to straightening up the closet, since its late in the semester that has already been done. Instead of being board and standing around we decided that we would go around the school and take a look at all the other groups. In a given day we are given a specific group of kids who we interact with and fallow around for the day. Today was different, I enjoyed going into the rooms where other groups were working because it allowed me to observe some teaching styles of my peers. I felt that by seeing the way others were interacting with the students not only helped me assess how I interact with them it also gave me some fresh new ideas to try in the future. Although I didn't spend a whole lot of time with my group teaching today I feel that this has been one of the most valuable days in terms of learning to teach.