DAILY JOURNAL

EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDENT TEACHING

BENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
4K MRS. FRENCH

WEEK 1
Monday, January 26, 2015 NURSERY RHYMES- today, was the first day
of Early Childhood student teaching. I observed calendar time, story time,
snack time, and outside play. This weeks theme is nursery rhymes. The art
project we did today was Marys lamb (from the rhyme Mary Had a Little
Lamb). The children had to stretch cotton out to fit on the outside Im
focusing on learning the routine and the childrens names. I think I have
most of them memorized already! Mrs. French and I discussed my obligations
as a student teacher for the first week-observe and learn the routine.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015- this week I am observing calendar time, story
time, snack time, and outside play. I am noticing that Mrs. French is doing
the same routine for calendar time and story time. This seems to help the
students follow directions better since they know what they are expecting.
Im not sure if I like the routine of calendar time yet. It feels WAY too
repetitive but Im wondering: Is this what the children need at this age?
(Repetition) or is there a more interactive/exciting/fun way to make calendar
time? The art project we did today was from the rhyme Shoo Fly, Dont
Bother Me. Children had to paint a fly swatter and press the image on a
piece of paper and then add fingerprint flies to the swatter. This turned
out super cute! Children loved it and could sing the song with the activity.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015- Im noticing that there are 2 children that
do not say words when trying to communicate. They point, make noises, and
only sometimes use very short sentences. We read Goldie Locks and the
Three Bears we didnt only read the story but the children got to hold
facemasks to represent each character. They enjoyed the interaction of the
story. Even the non-verbal children wanted to participate in the play.
Todays activity was making humpty dumpty out of construction paper.
Thursday, January 29, 2015- Today we read the same kind of story as
yesterday with the face masks of the different characters in Little Red
Riding Hood. The children who didnt get a turn yesterday had the
opportunity to do it today. We also did a letter sheet where the students had
to write the letter of the week Uu and then color which of the 8 pictures
started with the /u/ sound. They do this every week for the letter of the
week.

WEEK 2
Monday, February 2, 2015- Yesterday was Groundhog day. We had library
this morning. In the classroom we read On Groundhog Day and talked
about what happens on this day. We are also beginning to prepare for
Valentines Day next week. Our new theme this week is feelings. Today we
talked about what the different feelings looked like by using a face chart.
Todays art project was a paper groundhog puppet that came out of his hole.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015- Today we talked about feeling angry as we
read Feeling Angry the book was about what happens when were angry
and how to handle it. It also talked about good ways and not so good ways
to express that youre angry. Our project consisted of making their valentine
bags with read and pink hearts that were glued onto a white paper lunch bag
that had every childs name on it. We also practiced writing our numbers 15.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015- Today we read Tim Feels Scared we
talked about why Tim feels this way, and how to overcome being scared.
Our project was making a paper bear made out of only hearts. We also did a
sheet on sequencing winter stories.
Thursday, February 5, 2015- Today we read Feeling Happy and Sad We
did our letter of the week worksheet Ll. Our project for the day was to
draw a feelings face. Children had to draw how they were feeling today.
They needed to make sure they included two eyes, a nose, eyebrows, and a
mouth on their face.

WEEK 3
Monday, February 9, 2015- This week is all about Valentines Day! The
kids are starting to bring in their valentines cards for everyone. Im helping
them recognize their friends names by looking at the first letters and seeing
who starts with that letter sound. Today we had library. I went with today to
see how this time went. I noticed that they were very squirrelly and didnt sit
well while getting ready for reading time. I wonder if they are like this all the
time for the librarian? Is it because they dont have specific spots on the rug
mapped out the way they do in the classroom? During our story time we

read The Best Thing About Valentines Day. We also made valentines
cards for the childrens parents to take home.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015- Today we read Ten Little Kisses. The
children really enjoyed this book because they could predict which number
would be next. We also made a tree off hearts for our project. The children
got their hand and arm painted brown and put that on the paper. Then we
used heart shaped cookie cutters to make the leaves on the tree.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015- Today we read The Night Before
Valentines Day which paralleled with The Night Before Christmas some of
the students have read that book. We also made heart cards where the
children made their hands look like a heart and then glued a smaller heart in
the middle. The caption in the card (which I thought was super cute) was
Children hold our hearts in the palm of our hands
Thursday, February 12, 2015- VALENTINES DAY PARTY! Children have
continued to bring in Valentines Day cards for their friends. We read, Today
is Valentines Day. The children got to open up their valentines cards and
eat some of their candy. They also watched Charlie Browns Valentines
Day and made paper valentine headbands. We did their letter Ff sheets
as well today.

WEEK 4
Monday February 16, 2015- This week I start to explain the art project
with the class. Im worried about this because one of my weaknesses is
giving directions clearly to a larger group of students. I do very well with one
on one instruction but struggle with whole group. We will see how it goes.
Todays art project was a strip of paper and they had to cut out 4 pods of
peas and 4 cookies and make it a ABAB pattern. We read a book about
different vegetables, fruits, meats ect. Where the children had to come up
and point to the foods that the page asked for. They loved the interaction of
the pages!! I also began putting out a math station each day for the children
to use. Today, I put out a game where they had to put plastic ladybugs on a
cardboard leaf with a specific number on it. They loved it! In order to stretch
their thinking I asked some of the students to add two leafs of ladybugs
together.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015- today we read a book about our bodies and
what they do. This goes along with our new nutrition/health theme this
week. The book we read, My Body talked about our bones, skin, muscles,
hair, heart, ect. Todays project was making their own pizza out of
construction paper. Children had to cut out a circle for the crust, a circle for
the sauce, and then glue green peppers, cheese, sausage, and pepperoni
onto their pizza. They liked to put a lot of pieces onto the plate at one time

which made for a very messy and lumpy project. I think next time we will
have to only give them a few pieces of ingredients at a time so they do not
take a big handful from the bowl at the table. My math center for today was
a peg number counter. Im not sure the exact name of it, but it was a strip of
pegs 1-5 and had the respected amount of squares that went with each
number of pegs. For example, the 4th set of pegs had 4 pegs, 4 holes on the
squares (for the pegs to go into) and 4 squares for that number. Children
had to count the number of holes on the square and match it with the
number of pegs. For struggling students, they were able to simply match up
the pegs with the holes. For advanced students I challenged them to pick
any two squares and add the holes together. They did well with this.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015- Im thinking of a way to help some of the
students with writing his/her numbers and letters. Some really struggle with
that. I think Ill put some sand in a shoebox cover (or something similar) and
make letter/number cards for students to follow. This way they can trace the
number/letter in the sand using their finger to get a feel for how the
number/letter is supposed to look. Todays art project was to make his/her
own Mr. Potato heads. They used pipe cleaners, construction paper, ice
cream scoops, and tooth picks to use their imagination on how they were
going to design their head. They loved this activity! My math center was a
set of foam puzzle pieces. One piece had the number on it and the other
piece had the amount of dots on it. Objective was to match the two
together. Children did not take to this activity. To continue our nutrition
theme, we read, Skin and Bones. Each book briefly talked about those
parts of our body. After we read the books, I dismissed the children, one at a
time, to go to snack. To do this, I told them they had to show me what their
body would look like with bones (standing straight up tall) and without bones
(falling to the floor in a puddle of mush). The enjoyed being silly with how
they toppled to the ground. One student got sick today and threw up on Mrs.
French. We called mom and she came to get her. Note: kids get very cuddly
right before theyre about to vomit. >.<
Thursday, February 19, 2015- 2 Kids out sick today, made for a small
class. Pulled out a tray and put sand in it to make my letter tracing activity.
Had some of the children come over and try it out. They loved it! Today, we
read Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The children had never heard the
book but many had seen the movie -surprising! While we read, I made sure
to stop and check for understanding such as asking questions like, what is
Snow White doing now? Who is this lady again? (wicked witch). They loved
the character Grumpy he had quite a personality! We finished our letter of
the week Bb letter sheet as well as practiced writing numbers using a
Number Fingerprint packet. Children had to rewrite the number on the given
page and then make fingerprints all the way around the number. One of the
parents came in to read today. We have a Parent Reading Program running
through March where parents can come into the classroom and read their

childs favorite book/s to the class. Its always neat to see how the children
react when their parents are reading their favorite books! This is a great
activity to incorporate into my future classroom!

WEEK 5
Monday, February 23, 2015- This week Im starting a science center. I
made a board with different pictures (Air, water, paint, cotton ball, noodles,
pennies, beads, sugar) and filled balloons with each material. The children
have to feel what is inside the balloon and match it to the picture. However,
I forgot the stuff at home so I will be putting that out tomorrow. I also began
the music center this week as I introduced the song Action Alphabet at
group time. It was rough! But it was the first day, they will get the hang of it
soon! They seemed to love the singing and actions of it. I am putting things
together for next weeks full Dr. Suess theme. Its so time consuming to put
everything together from start to finish!! A lot of preparation time is going
into this! I have taken on almost all responsibilities and I love it so far! While
it makes for a long day, I know that this is what I want to do when I grow up!
F & L have been talking much more! Its great to see progress in the few short
weeks Ive been there.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015- I brought the science board with the balloons
today! The kids absolutely love it! They are able to feel what is inside and
guess what they think is inside. Im surprised that the lower leveled children
struggle with this task. They can not distinguish between the texture of the
sugar balloon compared to the paint balloon. This game is great for children
who need work on their sensory skills. However, this game leaves very little
room for differentiation. I wonder if there is a way to tweek the game so that
it is more effective for those who struggle, and also more challenging for
those who do well with it.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015- today we read Airplanes and Ships
The activity that we did was sequencing a car wash. There was a picture of a
dirty car, clean car, soapy car, and rinsing car. The children had to put the
pictures in order. I thought I was helping them describe the pictures. It
wasnt until Ms. Sandy corrected me by telling me that I had two of the
pictures confused. I guess even adults need help sometimes! I was able to
accept that I missed up, apologize, and they helped correct me.
Thursday, February 26, 2015- Today we read The Little Engine That
Could I didnt like this book for several reasons. 1. All I could think about
was the scene from the movie Major Pain when Pain was retelling it to a

little boy and it ended up being extremely tragic where boy lost his legs! As I
read the book I also didnt like that the words and thoughts ended in the
middle of the page to the next page. This made the fluency of the book very
choppy even for me as the reader. I cant imagine what it was doing to the
sequencing in the childrens heads as they listened. Mrs. French chose this
book to read today. I would not use this book in my own lessons. The craft
we did was a paper leprechaun where the students had to color the outside
of a paper plate (making his beard) and then cut out his hat and attach it to
his head. Then they had to cut slits in his beard to make hair and add a face.
It was a cute idea for March and St. Patricks Day but I felt like the activity
was very random and had nothing to do with what we were currently talking
about. Again, I would have chose something different if I were in charge of
the curriculum.

WEEK 6
Monday, March 2, 2015Tuesday, March 3, 2015Wednesday, March 4, 2015Thursday, March 5, 2015-

WEEK 7
Monday, March 9, 2015Tuesday, March 10, 2015Wednesday, March 11, 2015Thursday, March 12, 2015- LAST DAY