Nicole Smith

Rock Ledge Primary School

330 W. Hickory
Seymour, WI 54165
Kindergarten/All Subjects
14 hours – 3-29-21 (7 Hours) – 3-30-21 (7 Hours)
Supervisor: Carrie Schulz
Carrie’s Cellphone: (920) 655-4168
cschulz@seymour.k12.wi.us
3/31/2021
Week 7 – Journal 7
Sequence of Events:

This is my final week of practicum. This week I continued to work with students during reading,
writing, and math. This week the students were able to go to the computer lab for the first time. While
in the computer lab the students worked on SplashLearn math. Being in the computer lab allowed for
each student to get individualized math instruction. Carrie had assignments set up for each student that
were geared towards the student’s strengths and weaknesses. This week Carrie also had me take
students into a different room to work on writing during free choice because the students have not been
focusing during work time and Carrie does not have enough writing samples to assess each student on
the unit. This did not make the students happy to lose free choice, but they did focus on finishing their
writing, so they did not have to lose free choice the next day. Carrie explained how she uses this as a last
resort with students, but she had over half of the class who didn’t finish four nonfiction books during
their four-week unit.

Significant Event:

This week the students had their end of unit math assessment. This was very interesting seeing
how hard this assessment was for the students. Seymour uses a worksheet-based math curriculum for
kindergarten students. I had many good conversations with Carrie about how doing multiple math
worksheets each day was difficult for kindergarten students. During the assessment Carrie would read
each problem aloud and give the students ample amount of time to answer each question. It was easy
to see that some students had test anxiety. There were a few students that were not successful at the
test who usually at excel at math when not taking a test. Carrie prefers to use manipulatives for
kindergarten students to assess them because she has observed that students do not have as much test
anxiety and that it shows a better assessment of each student’s skills. Unfortunately, based on the
curriculum, Carrie has to give the students a four-page worksheet test at the end of each unit. After
being in the classroom for 7 weeks I could see that this math assessment was not a true testament of
each students’ mathematic skills.

Awareness and Growth:

How you feel you are making a difference:

Throughout the last 7 weeks I have been working with mainly the same eight students during
reading, writing, and math time. Although these students are below benchmark, I was able to see
improvement in most of them during my time in their classroom. One girl I worked with went from
knowing four letters when I started my practicum to know twenty on my last day. This girl was taken out
four times a day by an instructional assistant and twice a day by me. Although I cannot attribute all of
her progress to my work with her, I do believe that I made a difference in helping her gain letter
awareness. Overall, practicum has been a rewarding experience watching how much the students
learned over my seven weeks in the classroom.

Weekly Journal Checklist – Week 7 – Journal 7

Did I include Journal Heading Information? Yes NO

Did I summarize the Sequence of Events? Yes NO

Did I share and reflect on one Significant Event? Yes NO

Did I pick and reflect on one Area of Awareness? Yes NO

Did I submit this on time? Yes NO