December 6th

Looking back on the semester, I don't think I could explain all the ways I learned and grew over the semester in a simple blog. I feel a big difference in myself from just a few short months ago and I learned a lot about myself in the process. I learned that the classroom is so much more fun when I make sure that I am animated and engaged. I learned that planning was probably not one of my strongest points in the beginning of the semester, but I feel that I improved over time. I learned that I actually know more about the children than I thought I did. Being in class with them every day, I began to see what they liked and what they didn't like, and how to adapt plans to different children based on their abilities and personalities. I learned that progress hard fought for is really worth it in the end. And I also learned that I think I may want to be in the special education field one day. But for now, I have to see where early childhood takes me. I will be in the K-3 blocks next semester leading a whole classroom, which is what I enjoy a lot about teaching. I also will learn how I fit in a general ed classroom since I have been in special ed settings for the last 2 semesters.

December 1st

As the semester and my lead teaching come to a close, I am looking back on what I have learned and what I know about the children's abilities. I see that the knowledge of children's specific abilities comes especially during specific parts of the day. For instance, I may occasionally have to change the difficulty for each child at smart board based on their abilities. When we do the counting boards, I ask the children who can count how many of each object there is, and then to choose the correct answer. For mainly the ASD children who cannot count, I would count the objects on the screen for the entire class and then give the child a one step command to choose the correct number we counted to. One of the students observing out in the hall today asked me how we are able to plan lessons that incorporate both the ASD and typical children. I had to stop and think for a moment because I realized it was really a difficult task. I told him that you really just had to know the children well and think of activities that they both generally liked, or take an activity and adapt it for both groups. I know that knowledge of the children in the future will be a valuable thing acquired over time and one of the biggest influences of my daily planning.

November 29th

Going into week 3 of lead teaching, I feel like I have learned a lot. I feel like I have a good grasp on who each of the children are, their likes, and their dislikes. This knowledge has accumulated over the semester, but it is very helpful during these weeks. Surprisingly, the children actually adjusted coming back to school better than I did after the long Thanksgiving break. I feel good about the way the classroom has been running for the most part, and the feedback on it is definitely helpful. After reflecting back, and reading the feedback, I think one thing I need to work on more is my communication with the rest of the team. If I am going to leave a child at art, or set up story or song and wait for the children to come in, I need to let the other teachers present know so that miscommunications do not happen. However, I do feel that I am doing a better job of knowing what I want to see out of my lessons and communicate that during the huddle. Planning the activities and communicating them to the rest of the team helps me think more critically about why I made the lesson and the results I would like to see. I also feel better about setting up the room because I know exactly what I want, and although I do forget details sometimes, it helps to have control of the set up of the activities. I hope my last couple days of lead teaching continue to go smoothly, and then I can experience the planning and implementation of Drew and Joey's teacher tables.

Feedback

Don't forget to continue to reflect in your blog.
I think Smartboard was very succesful. I felt liked you know the children's abilities. The pace was good. The few suggestions is to include a video modeling board in addition to song, counting, and book. We always want to work on physical imitation. Giving a few extra seconds of wait time to see if Gavin can touch the screen instead of doing HOH once when he is up there. Also when calling on Gavin, get closer when you call his name the first time and then hold out your hand when you call on him the second time. This also goes with story and song group. This calling structure can apply to Joey, too.
Today's art was successful. All the children stayed for a good amount of time. I was wondering why you didn't take Michael? The art leader should always take the child that will be there the longest. Also last Tuesday art, you and Erin need to give more attention for the children with ASD. Amy ended up with handling all the children with ASD. One teacher can be with both Bodhi and Kennedy. This will probably help Bodhi in the long run. I think sometimes we give too much attention to his refusal of art than we need to.
For story, work on your intonation when reading. Books should not feel like they are being read in monotone voice. Using your intonation will help the children understand the book and be more interested in the book. Also why did you go to story group so early? It was good that you gave the 5 minute warning and then set up, but as soon as you are done, come back to the classroom if there is extra time. We did enter the classroom late because there was miscommunication. Everyone was waiting for you to come back to initiate the clean up. Either come back to the classroom or tell another teacher that group is ready.
Overall, the classroom has been running smoothly. Keep up the hard work.

November 15th

My first couple days of lead teaching have definitely flown by! I kind of feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off trying to get everything ready before each transition. It is very busy, but fun to finally take the lead of everything. I am still forgetting a few small things here and there, but everything seems to be running smoothly enough, so I must be doing OK. I am really happy about how the firefighter theme is working out. The kids are so into it and it seems to have promoted a lot of interaction and imagination. Being so busy leading the classroom is bittersweet though. Since I always have to watch the clock or set activities up, I don't always catch what is going on. Having to leave to set up art, or Smartboard, or group unfortunately causes me to miss some time in the classroom. However, being group leader, I have the opportunity to see things from the head of the classroom and simply being able to see all the children's facial expressions from group or Smartboard definitely clues me in to how the individual children are feeling about the activity. Coming to the Monday meetings helps too because it allows me to see what is going on at the home visits, be aware of the interventions for the children, and see some of the data collected. I am also able to contribute what I am seeing to the group as a team member.

November 8th

I think that leading smartboard with the extra time available because of the new schedule is going to take some getting used to. Yesterday when I was with the group of 3, it took longer for them to take their turns so the extra time was helpful. However, 20 minutes was a still a long time to fill. The group of 2 took their turns really fast so it felt like we went through a lot of boards. Today, the first group of 5 did well, except we had the fire drill, so I did not really get to see how everything went with the extra time. Unfortunately, the group with the shorter time slot ended up having the longer time slot because we switched groups after the drill. This is where I started to have problems because after so much time, the children in the second group began to get very restless. For the last few minutes, several of the children were laying on the ground with their feet on their chairs and Michael was becoming very hard to control. Also, we did "If you're scary and you know it" and when it came time to do the howls, the children began howling so loud that Wyatt started to get upset because of the noise. I think I will try and do a story on smartboard when I have a chance because the stories last a while and keep the children engaged, especially with the extra time we now have.

November 3rd

This was the first time I supplemented my own story with additional props. I felt like I got a really good reaction out of everything. Once again, a couple of the children counted and named the sides and corners of the square in the very beginning, but I felt like I got really good reactions from bringing out the real live squares. When I cut up the first one I heard a couple of the children (especially Kennedy) say things to the effect of "Oh No!" or "You're cutting/messing it up!" which is good because it tells me that I grabbed the children's attention enough for them to comment on what was happening. I seemed to get a second wave of reactions when I started punching holes in the square. I also acquired a single hole puncher by the end of the day today, so I hope that will get better reactions when I punch one hole at a time. Every time I did something new to the square, I always got a reaction. I think the children felt bad for the square, so I made sure to emphasize what the square made itself into next. I also decided to use construction paper today because the colors matched for the most part, and it was more sturdy than tissue paper so I could hold it up. I am curious to see the atypical children's reactions tomorrow when I only have to focus on them.

November 1st

Today was the second day of leading story. The children seemed pretty interested by the colors yesterday, and I felt like I got a pretty good reaction today from the entire class. As I mentioned the 4 sides and corners and pointed them out, I heard someone counting "1-2-3-4" as I pointed to them. Also, I heard a couple times where a child shouted out what the square became. The example that sticks out in my mind is Kennedy calling out that that the square became a mountain towards the end of the book. I have seen evidence of Kennedy enjoying shapes at one of our specials. When the book talked about the square being crumpled and the picture showed it ripped into two triangles, Kennedy also pointed out that the square was now in the shape of a triangle. I think I am going to ask more questions about the colors of the square since one of my favorite things about the book is the vivid colors.
Speaking of colors, art went well today. I was surprised and impressed with the way that the children in the first group decided to dip the paper in the water to change the colors of the water. I know that the activity was really messy, and that water was spilled everywhere, but it was kinda fun to see them take control of the activity, and how the idea caught on. I did not see the idea repeated in the second group, but at least children like Bodhi, who didn't initially want to do today's art stayed the entire time and ended up enjoying it. I saw that both he and Kennedy saw the way the colors mixed and commented on it.

October 28th

I had fun doing art today. I am glad I was able to mix up the regular art I had been doing and include a sensory experience that the children were able to help make too. Michael was really into it as always and Wyatt seemed to be interested with it too. Michael told me that the mixture of blue water, oil, and a ton of green glitter reminded him of a frog. It was cool to see that the experience triggered those memories or associations. He also told me to put food in it, so I could tell he wanted to expand upon the experience with his own ideas. When the second group came around, it seemed to me that the plain water sitting out caught everyones attention. While Joey did not last long, Drew stayed a pretty long time and stirred the mixture and examined it. My favorite was Gavin who stayed the entire time. I know when I interviewed his mom she said that he has trouble focusing on anything for more than a few minutes. Once Gavin was engaged, he was there for the entire 15 minute art slot. He got up from his chair at one point, and I thought he was done, but he sat down at the chair next to him and started looking at that container of water. Whenever we had to clean up for song, he would not get up until the art was taken away. I was happy to have found an interactive activity that he was drawn to for so long. I made sure his mom knew about it when she picked him up today.

October 27th

As I was setting up art today, I felt like I had way too much paper included in my lesson plan. The lesson plan called for 30 pieces of paper and tin foil. I felt like that was a little much (I don't really know what I was thinking when I made it that way), so I put 10 pieces of the regular paper, and used a few sheets less of construction paper and tin foil than I had planned. It worked out though, because I found that the construction paper allowed the color of the doppers to bleed better than the regular paper the first round. The second round, I put out construction paper first, then gave children tin foil if they wanted. My favorite interaction with art was Bodhi today. When he came in and sat down, he said he did not want to get his hands messy. I told him to start with the doppers because those would not get his hands messy. As he did that, he got move engaged, and was excited to use the water dropper as well. He even used a piece of tin foil after he was done with the construction paper. He stayed the whole time, and was worried we would not keep his work as we were leaving for group. I reassured him that we would. I was happy that he became involved in the activity despite his worry of getting messy, and ended up staying the longest. In hindsight, I would have put newspaper down on the table because the dopper ink mixed with the water bled everywhere and stained the table.

October 25th

Today we didn't have a chance to do art due to trick or treating, but I can just recycle that lesson plan for some other time. I feel that yesterday went well. Having only 4 children yesterday worked out well because there was one child per teacher and I was able to spread myself out between children a little more being the 5th. I was actually really surprised by Gavin yesterday. I was not sure if the leaves would really do anything for him. He notices leaves outside if I bring one over and hold it in front of his face. He normally tries to take it from me, so I hold it tight and he rips off little pieces one at a time. He was actually my inspiration for the art. I was happy he held his attention as long as he did. I dropped some leaves in front of him and let them float down, along with crinkling them near his ear and that all seemed to catch his attention. After he left, I helped Michael glue and tried some of the same sensory tactics as I did with Gavin. Looking back, I probably would have taken out the glue and just allowed the children to freely explore the leaves. I feel like most of the activities I make up involve glue, so it is beginning to become too repetitive. Also, I probably should have planned the activity for when the leaves were freshly fallen from the trees. I planned on pointing out the different colors of the leaves for the children, but the only leaves I could really find were all brown instead of multi-colored like I had planned.

October 21st

   Overall, I feel that this week went really well for me with art. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to switch the trick or treat bag activity in for the bingo dopper/water activity. I'm glad I did the trick or treat bag activity for several reasons. First, it will be just in time for trick or treat on tuesday. Second, I was able to modify it for the better (I feel) because I had the last activity from tuesday with the gluing and coloring scarecrows fresh in my head. On tuesday, I saw that the children went straight for the glue, and I wanted them to color a little first before they used the glue. If any of the children tried to color after using the glue, it never turned out good because the glue was too wet. My solution was to hide the glue and tissue paper for a few minutes and bring it out as a "surprise" for the children. I feel that this worked well, and that the overall project was a success. The only thing I would have changed would have been to have the children open the bags while they were still wet so that the bottoms were not stuck to the rest of the bag while the bag was still folded.
   I actually feel like today went well too. All of the children seemed really interested in the sensory experience that the tin foil provided, and their responses ranged depending on the child. For instance, Michael stayed at the table during the whole time we had for art playing with the tin foil. He used the scissors a lot, and I helped him hold the regular scissors. Towards the end of our time, Michael said he had an idea. I asked him what it was, and he told me he was going to make a tractor. I prompted him with questions like, what do we need to make a tractor? He responded wheels, so I asked him how many. Gavin was also very engrossed in the art. The tin foil instantly caught his attention and he stayed in his seat and remained engaged for a lot longer that I thought he would. He explored the foil, shook it, and I helped him rip it. I am glad that he was able to be so engaged in my art lesson.

October 18th

I feel like my first couple days of leading art went really well. Especially yesterday. All the children seemed to be engaged with the playdoh and some of the children really surprised me. For instance, Joey stayed at his seat the entire time we had art and never once tried to get up. I was happy that the activity was able to hold his attention the entire time. I have seen this before, but the pasta roller might be the biggest hit of the entire activity. The children loved using it, and I sometimes had to get them to take turns because multiple children wanted to use it at the same time.

I felt like today was good too. It was a little harder to manage groups of 4 and 5 opposed to groups of 2 and 3, but the typical children seemed to like the activity. Observing what they were doing for the most part, I think that the first group was much more interested in the glue than anything else. Some of the children would pile on the glue, and not stick anything to it. Looking back, I think that glue sticks weren't the best idea because they kept coming apart or just didn't really work. I was also really pleased with how many of the children used the scissors. I had not really observed the children using scissors too much before, and I wasn't sure how that process would go. The first group used them a lot, and the second group used them before I could even tell the children to cut the hay. The only downside was that the second group seemed to be more interested in cutting the hay than anything else. However, it was a good process for them to practice with scissors and glue, and thus far I have been pleased with the way that everything is going.

10-13-11

Today was my last day leading song for awhile. Looking back, I think I have gotten a lot better at leading the group than I was at the beginning. There are so many random little things to remember that are still important nonetheless. Fortunately, after doing this for a couple weeks, the repetition finally helped me get almost everything right. I saw a lot of differences between leading the group of 10 students opposed to the group of just 5 students. When there was only 5 students who are nonverbal, I felt like I was pretty much singing alone up there with a couple of the teachers helping me, however it was fun to try different things to get them involved.  A benefit to the 5 children group was that it was definitely a lot easier to manage. With the 10 group, a lot of the children were more involved, so it definitely was fun to lead the group when you saw some singing along or being engaged. One thing I would change if I was leading song next week would probably to add a visual or something to involve the children more with Oats and Beans and Barley. Monday it was kind of a dud, and I really wanted to see how Thursday would go with the whole group. I added the part with clapping our hands because I felt like it would be able to help the children stay more involved. It helped to a degree with keeping the children involved, but that is something for me to look at next time I try to do a song like that when I am leading.

Oct 7

I agree that songs went well. There can be many factors like the ones you mention that made group more successful. I also really like Wyatt new seat, because it gives him room if needed to get up. Joey can see better which will help his engagement. Michael seems to be adjusting well to his new seat. I think it also helps control his impulse during weather to be further away. All the children are also now maturing into the routine. Don't stress about the little things that got you fluster like weather in the box or not collecting the pictures the for story. Those things can be easily fix. Usually, you just make the mistake once and it never happens again. Just like how you remember to collect the pictures at song today. Thanks for taking care of the transitions. You did a good job sticking to the schedule. See you Monday and good luck on being more efficient in setting up in the morning!

October 7

I felt like today at music went very well. None of the children seemed to be upset when we came in. They also remained in their seats. It probably had to do with some of them just being changed out of wet clothes from the art activity today, as well as being able to spend a longer amount of time outside without an extra transition between playground and songs. Or maybe it was because the water activity soothed them. Regardless of the reason, it helped everything go smoothly. I took off a couple of the songs so that we had 5 songs for 5 children. Today, I simply went from my right to left when picking children to choose a song. A saw a few extra children doing the motions who normally don't. Michael was vocal, but not disruptive. I feel like I am really into a rhythm with song group. Song definitely went better today than story group went. Obviously I had never done it before, and was a little under prepared and messed up with a few things (like having Michael put the cloudy visual up on the window instead of the "No" box). Although, I don't think story group was particularly bad either, I just felt like I kept forgetting or leaving things out. It kind of made me realize that I spend so much time worrying about executing the things we do in group, interacting with the children, being animated, timing, and everything else, I get a little flustered and end up making little mistakes like the ones I made today and the ones I made over the past couple weeks in song. Today for song, I felt like I had enough of a hold on the routine that I was able to freely think and keep a flow to the whole thing, so I just think all these things take time to get down and feel confident about it. I've seen that confidence is also very important when leading groups like this. See everyone Monday!

10-6-11

Today, we were missing a couple of children (Joey and Max). Only having 8, it was a little easier to set up the room to where everyone could see. I wanted to try sitting down cross-legged today because I am not sure some of the children on the far left are able to see very well with me kneeling. Sitting down actually worked really well because I feel like I was able to be more animated (because I was not focusing on staying balanced like I do when I am kneeling), I was on the children's level, and I could still get up and move if I needed to. I feel like most of the children were engaged in the songs today, especially as time went on. I think adding the visual book for "Down on Grandpa's Farm" was a great tool, and helped the engagement levels of the children. I also like the new set up of the room with the children's new seating arrangements. It seemed to have a good overall flow to it that was reflected in group time in general. One thing I keep messing up on is I am so focused on trying to remember the sign language for all the letters of the alphabet (because I do not know much sign language), I keep forgetting to push the buttons on the screen to change the letters. Other than that though, I felt like the last few days have run very well with group. See you tomorrow.

group leader

After group today, Amy & I tested which side the group leader should be on. I did this because I knew Joey had a hard time seeing the computer screen. The group leader should be closest to the window that way they are not blocking the computer. I think this will help future groups.

9-3-11

Today was my first day of leading song during week 2. I added in Old McDonald and Down on Grandpa's farm and took out Wheels on the Bus. I wanted to keep with the farm/fall theme so I added those songs. In the interest of time and only having 5 children, I skipped the Tiny Turtle song and Shake your Sillies Out. I think I am doing better about knowing when to pick each child. Something I did different today was sitting on my knees and not on a chair. It was kind of uncomfortable for me, but I was able to move and be engaged a lot easier. I'm considering sitting cross-legged on the ground too so I do not block anyones view. Tomorrow Judy observes me, so hopefully everything goes well. See you tomorrow.

Monday songs

If we are going to keep, "Down on Grandpa's Farm" we need to either have a visual with the animals or hand motions or props. I think it was hard for Wyatt to stay in his seat for this song. Gavin loved patting his knees along with his teacher. I might suggest moving to the other side of the computer song so Gavin could have had a better view. Always play it by ear, which side for you to be one is the best view for the children in the group to see. Think about this when you setting up the chairs.

Feedback with songs & Smartboard

Smartboard:
Things you did well: All the children participated by pressing the Smartboard or singing along. It was good when you ask Bodhi & Max predictable questions about the colors of the shoe. I like that you added the sign for love. Next time, try to ask what the sign is before group because I couldn't think in the moment. It also looses some flow. I like that you gave all the children a warning that it's their last turn.

Things to try next time: Show the visual of playground & group. This makes the end clearer for the children. As group leader, think about where best to have the children and guide them to the seat. It was hard with Michael and Nicholas sitting together. Maybe having Bodhi sit next to Michael instead. That way I can still be in between Gavin & Michael. Maybe moving the computer cart a little more towards the door, so your chair won't be in front of the Smartboard. It made it hard for Max to see. I had to quickly move all the children down for him to be able to see better. I didn't think you reach your potential of your animation today. I think if you were more animated, you could have had the children's attention more. Recognizing sooner that it was okay for Joey to take his turn. When a child is calm for everyone turn, then they are probably ready for their turn. To help Nicholas and Max recognize you are asking a question, quickly state, "Max, I have a question..." I think Max was so concern for his turn, that he couldn't focus on your question. If you notice that children are consistently picking the same animal, you can take a turn to press a different animal to see if that sparks any of the children's interest.
Songs:
Things you did well: Great flow. Remain calm with our technology difficulities. It was good that you took initative to take over singing the ABC. You remember to collect the turtles. Overall, you had all the children's attention. I especially like the flow with little frog when you said, "again."
Things to try for next time: Try to check the props quickly as group leader. There should have been for verse for the Wheels on the Bus. Always use a shorter sentence when you are getting ready to call on the child. "Bodhi, it's your turn. You are sitting so nicely." instead of saying, "I'm looking for someone sitting nicely in their seat, Oh Bodhi you are." It takes too long for the child to recognize it's their turn when you use it in the middle of the sentence or at the end.
Hope this help. If you have any questions, please ask

9-29-11

Today was my 3rd day leading song. At this point, I am really starting to feel comfortable being animated in that position and calling on children for their turns. I try to see which of the children are sitting nicely to pick them to choose a song, but if I see a child (especially atypical) who is getting restless, I try to give them a turn too to hopefully help with that restlessness. Today, the cord came out and the computer turned off right before the rest of the class was about to walk in the room for song group. We plugged it back in and turned it on, and I think we all recovered nicely by singing the "Hello" song and the "A B C's" without the aid of the computer as we were waiting on it to turn on. Today was a good lesson that often there will be technical difficulties, and we need to be careful to not depend on technology too much, as well as be able to react to different situations when there is technical difficulties. I am still debating on what to do next week as far as song goes, but I will be listening to the Raffi CDs and use that for influence. See everyone tomorrow!

9-27-11

This was my second day of leading song group. I am really starting to enjoy it, especially with the full class. The typical children actively participate in the songs, and especially in my new "little green frog" game. Overall, I feel like everything is going well. I am looking forward to feedback tomorrow. Today, I did not forget to recap the day, however I forgot to collect the turtles at the end of everything. The only thing I noticed that was negative was that almost all the children were standing up or walking around towards the end of song time. I guess I can expect this because it is the end of the day, and they are obviously ready to go, but I wish I could hold their attention for just a little longer. Also, having a full house today probably contributed to the restlessness at the end. I do feel like the further we get into the year, the more comfortable and used to the routine the children are.

9-26-11

Today was my first day leading song group (and smart board). I was a little nervous, but I know that the children are not too concerned with my level of musical skill, so it was not a huge issue. I implemented two new songs, The Little Green Frog, and Mr. Golden Sun. I think everything went pretty good, especially for my first time, however I did forget to do the recap of the day at the end. I felt a little lonely singing the little green frog song, however I know that only Amy actually knew the words to the song. I am curious to see how the typical children respond to me as a leader, and my new songs. The typicals really seem to enjoy song time, so I think tomorrow will go well (knock on wood). After I see how both groups react to my leading song group, and with feedback from my mentors, I think I should be able to tweak certain things to hopefully improve the experience for all the children.

Children with Autism tend to be visual learners. Letters and numbers seem to be very concrete early on for the children with ASD. Whereas, letters and numbers are very abstract for typically developing children until they learn the meaning of them. I wonder if Gavin like the visual letters. Maybe look to see if he notice any letters within the classroom. Last Friday, I think he was able to recognize the word, "Disney" on Wyatt's bookbag.

9-23-11

After watching the children over the week during song time, I am starting to see the impact that music has on these children. Yesterday, Gavin was having a really bad day from about snack time on. He cried a lot, and was really hard to console. During song, he stayed in his seat, but still cried some. When we started singing "A B C's" He got out of his seat, and was about to walk to the center of the circle, but the music caught his attention, and he literally stopped in his tracks, and stood in the same spot for the duration of the song. He also stopped crying. However, as soon as the song ended, her started crying and walking again. I don't know why that song caught his attention, because we sing it very slow because of the sign language, and it is not very catchy that way, however it did catch his attention and that's what matters. As I begin to implement songs, and lead song time over the next couple weeks, I need to continuously watch what grabs each child's interest and try to capitalize on it.

9-20-11

Today I had the opportunity to lead the songs at Smartboard. Amy came in late, and allowed me to continue doing the lesson. I had Michael, Kennedy, Drew, and Max in my group. They all responded very well to the songs on smart board and were very cooperative. I feel that now we have been in school for a few weeks, both the atypical and typical children are beginning to get in a routine, and with that comes familiarity with our songs for many of the children. We have been doing "Old McDonald" during both smartboard, and song group, and I feel like the children are starting to become more comfortable during song group by being familiar with the songs. I like the strategy the teachers have used all this year of giving each child a prop to contribute to the song, such as the monkeys or the tiny turtles. Being an active participant in the songs seems to enhance the children's enjoyment of song time. I noticed today that as soon as we got the turtles out, Drew immediately jumped up and down in his seat and giggled with excitement.

9-19-11

I decided to keep the materials in my sensory table the same for at least half of this week so that I can gather better assessments over the week. We sing frequently throughout the day. We sing during transitions, during play, during story/weather, during smart board, and of course, during group song time. Different children seem to react differently to song time. The typical children appear to enjoy song time a lot, but the atypical children react differently. I feel that Drew is almost always behaved during song time, Michael behaves pretty well, Wyatt sometimes acts up, and Gavin and Joey often have trouble enjoying song time. A teacher strategy I have seen during song time is to give each child a turn to pick a song to keep them involved. I will begin to assess song time as the week goes on.

9-16-11

Today, we only had two children come to school, Gavin and Drew. Because of the small attendance, I was worried about how much interest the children would have in my sensory table. It seems like the children's interest in the sensory table has declines since Monday. It turned out the children were hardly involved with the table today at all. I believe Drew came over for a few seconds and walked away when I tried to get him involved with the table, and Gavin also only came over for a few seconds. I am planning on using the same materials for at least the first half of next week again. I did not get a very good chance to document the children's involvement with the table this week and I would like more time for assessment, and also give the children more opportunities to explore and hopefully get used to and enjoy the sensory table. Let's hope it works out.

9-15-11

Today I added cotton balls to my sensory table along with the feathers. I wanted to see if the mixture would generate any different responses among the children. There were both atypical and typical peers here today, so I tried to take time to be at the sensory table even though there were a lot of children I needed to spread my time between. I did not use the whole container of cotton balls because I felt that there would be too many materials in the table at once, so I only put about half of the container of cotton balls in the table. For the amount of time I spent at the sensory table, I felt like the children spent less time at the table today than they did yesterday. Bodhi and Karson definitely had a lot of interest in the table, as did Drew. Karson wanted to have another tickle fight, and took a few feathers around the room with him. One of them separated the balls from the feathers and asked what they were. Personally, I think the combination of the cotton balls and feathers are so soft and comfortable that the children would enjoy them. I hope to see more activity around the table tomorrow

9/13/11

Today was our first day with all peers. I was curious to see how the typical children would react to the feathers in the sensory table. It turns out that the typical peers really enjoyed the sensory table. Not only that, but it seemed to me that the atypical peers also seemed to become more involved with the table because the typicals seemed so interested in it. I tried to sit by the table as often as I could and engage in play with the children. Bodhi and Karson came up to me and asked what the table was. I told them feathers, and dropped some from high up, and blew them so they would float towards the children. Others came over and also tried to blow the feathers, although most children held on tight to the feathers, and they would not blow away when they tried. They also ran their hands through the feathers, and picked up handfuls and observed the feathers closely. One child made a comment about how colorful all the feathers were. After so long of observing the feathers with our senses, we inevitably got into a tickle match together, and the children giggled and kept coming back for more. I am looking forward to seeing if there are any changes when I add the pompoms on Thursday.

9/12/11

Today was my first day setting up a lesson with the sensory table. I chose to use Feathers for this first day. While trying to spend an even amount of time playing with each child during free play, I was not able to watch the sensory table for all of free play, but I was able to check on what was happening there. I believe that just about every child spent at least a little time at the sensory table today. They all came up to the table of their own free will this morning. I know Drew loves to spell, so I took the letters F-E-A-T-H-E-R-S and spelled them out in the table among the feathers to help him learn the meaning of these letters. I remember Joey was very interested in the feathers and stuck his hands in there to play with them. I also remember Michael running his hands through the feathers and throwing a lot of them on the floor. I saw Mike blowing the feathers on some of the children and they really enjoyed it. I also noticed that some of the feathers even caught Gavin's eye. I am planning on adding pompoms later in the week to add to the sensory experience, and hopefully being able to spend more energy and focus towards observation of the children at the table.

9-9-11

Over the past week, I have been able to see some of the children's sensory interests. I have noticed that each child reacts to very specific things. For instance, Gavin loves to be at the sand table. He loves to feel sand between his fingers. I have also noticed that he plays with the shape sorter machine, and all of the gears on the side of it often. Handing him a shape seems to catch his attention. I also see him feeling the textured blocks in the playroom. He also enjoys the bubbles, as do several of the other children. I have seen Wyatt enjoy some of the textures used during art, especially our "mixers" in the paint like coffee, glitter and powdered sugar. I have also seen Wyatt feeling the textured blocks in the playroom. During art time, Joey definitely enjoys the feeling of the playdoh. Joey also enjoys feeling the spinning gears during free play. I often see Michael playing with and feeling the cars and monster trucks during free play. Drew's tactile interests also fall in the sand box. I see him spending a lot of time playing with the sand, and feeling it.

9-7-11

Hello,
   This is my first blog about myself with FCLC. Over the past couple weeks I have been able to observe and get to know the children. I am starting to learn about each child's likes, dislikes, and individual personalities. Today, the children were getting used to the typical routine of the classroom again after the long weekend, and I feel like today's class went very smoothly. Right now, I am just interested in how I can better myself as a teacher as I work with children with Autism. I am an Early Childhood Major, so I do not have much experience with children with special needs, but I am starting to learn more about the children and starting to recognize effective teaching methods and strategies for each child. My hope is that as the semester goes on, I am able to deeply understand each child and develop my own strategies that help them learn the best in this environment.
   More later,
      Eli