Catie Higgins

Professor Galloway
Small Group plan reflection from PPLC
November 1, 2015
Notes:

When I walked into the room the children were already sitting at the tables

Next, I explained to the children that syllables are the parts of the word, the number of chunks that a word breaks into when
you say it. I asked the little girl to my right what her name was. She said Emily. I clapped out Emilys name. The other three
children didnt want to participate again.

After, I showed the children the math chart and explain to them that they were going to look at pictures of different things and
they needed to help me clap out the syllables then put them in the right number category.

I held up a picture and asked the children what they think was in the picture. They yelled butterfly. I said yes. I asked them to
help me clap out the syllables. They didnt. I clapped 3 times then said the number 3.

I asked the children to help me put the butterfly picture into the math category that they believe it went in. The boy to the left,
snapped the picture out of my hand and put it in the number 1 category. I said him why he thought it belonged there. He didnt
answer. After a while, he moved the picture to the number 2 math category.

I held up another picture and asked the children what they thought was in the picture. The little girl said turtle. I asked her if she
could help me clap out he syllables. She did. I asked her if she would put the picture into the right math number. As I was
handing her the picture, the little boy to the left, snapped the picture out of my hand and put it down in category 1. He picked
up the first picture (the butterfly) and put it back into the container.

I showed the children a few more pictures (2 or 3) and they were able to get livelier and name the animals. I noticed that they
became more talkative and energetic towards me and the other children in the small group.

The children started snatching the picture word cards from my hands and from the container and putting them wherever they
wanted on the cardboard math area.

One of the little boys asked if there was a picture of a dinosaur. I said I believe so and told him to search through the pictures
and I handed him the container.

The little boy dumped the pictures out of the container and were all over the table.

The two little boys began fighting over the pictures and the two little girls told me they didnt want to play anymore.

I quickly cleaned up the area and thanked the children for play with me

There were 4 children in my small group

When I sat down and introduced myself the children just sat there
I did my warm-up poem and then children just sat there again. I asked them if they wanted to participate and the little girl to my
right shook her head no. Then I asked the two boys and they said no. Lastly, I asked the little girl to my left and she just shyly
looked away

I noticed that the children were not understanding or getting the syllable part of the plan but they were looking at, noticing, and
naming the different animal pictures so I let them go with whatever made them comfortable.
I asked the children to help me clean up the picture cards but they didnt. The children began fighting more and not listening to
my words.
I walked over to the teachers and thanked them as well
My small group plan was only about 11 minutes instead of 15

Pictures:

This picture is me doing my warm-up poem with the children. I wanted to give the children a good background of what syllables were and
how we can figure them out by clapping.

In this picture, we were discussing how many syllables were in the picture/word card butterfly. This is where the little boy to my left
snatched the picture out of my hand and placed it in the number 1 category. He couldnt give me an answer as to why he thought it went
there, when asked. I tried correcting him but he wanted it in the number 1 math category. Awhile later, he moved it to the number 2
math category.

In this picture, we were working on the lion picture/word card. The children decided it needed to go to the number 3 category. I clapped
again (only twice) but the children didnt pick up on it. In this photo in where the little boy moved the butterfly picture to the number 2
math category. I kept asking the children why they believed it went there and they didnt respond.

This picture was when the picture/word cards were dumped out and the children were observing and naming each one they saw or
thought was it. This got the children moving up out of their chairs and talking. They became very energetic and rowdy at this point and
were all over the place.

This is the point of the small group plan when they were helping a boy search for a dinosaur picture/word card. The children began
fighting and not listening so we cleaned up the game.

Describe which materials, strategies, techniques and tools were appropriate and why. Describe the rationale for
any changes you would make to materials, strategies, techniques, and tools.
I felt that my materials were all appropriate. All the picture word cards were interesting, easily defined and very sturdy. The
math board was good but maybe having the children count the syllables and then put into a category was tough. I felt that I
should have just had them counting the syllables and once they got more aware of syllable counting, the math category board
could be introduced. I felt it was hard for them to even grasp the understanding of syllables and I was asking them to do too
much. I also felt going into my small group teaching that I had a good warm-up poem but once I did it with the children, they
werent really impressed nor were they interested in it. I should have done something a little more appropriate or done a book
about syllables. I did like my technique of ending the small group plan earlier than 15 minutes because the children became
uninterested in the game and became very unresponsive, energetic, and rowdy. I dont mind children getting rowdy or energetic
but they began fighting with one another and not really learning anything.

Reflect on your own practice in relation to the childrens learning outcomes. How did your plans and
implementation promote learning?

I felt that my game was a tad over the childrens heads. I am not too sure if the children were ever introduced to syllable counting before
I walked in the door. It was hard to teach them something for 15 minutes in a room where other adults were talking and the children
didnt know who I was. My plan wasnt a total fail. I felt that the children were able to identify each animal that was in the word/picture
card. Some of the children clapped with me but I didnt really see them understanding why. Even though the children werent putting the
number/word cards in the correct math category they were still showing signs of curiosity and interest in counting even if the counting
wasnt correct. The children were not able to categorize the picture/word cards by either counting the number of dots or identifying the
numbers. The children also were not able to understand that words are made up of syllables. I usually am more confident while teaching
a lesson then what I was last Wednesday. After doing my lesson and then watching and observing Noel do the same lesson with the four
years olds, I was able to conclude that the four year old children were able to do this lesson and understand the lesson better. It is crazy
what an entire year does for children not just cognitively but socially and physically too. The children were able to do so much more than
my three years olds that I taught.