ELE300-Journal #3

How is the day planned? What is the teacher’s daily schedule? How does it relate to the age level of the group?

The schedule is jam packed in a kindergarten class. From the moment these children enter the classroom to the time when they are walking to the bus, these students are constantly engaged. In a half day kindergarten class, there is no time to waste.
The children have memorized the general schedule of each day. On different days the students go to different specialized classes. Depending on what day of the week it may be, the students will go to wellness, music, or the library. These are gaps in the day that Mrs. Simala plans her curriculum around. There are also daily activities that involve other faculty or even parents. Team reading and writing are done with the ladies from the reading center. Every kindergarten class has time allotted for team reading with the reading center faculty. There are also days when parents will come in to focus on a certain subject with a small group of students. The activity is called “centers.” In centers the students will have a half hour at one of four subjects: math, language, art, or building. In one day each student spends a half hour at two centers. Centers occur twice a week. Mrs. Simala has to plan her other curriculum around the special events and classes. What is nice for her is that these other activities and classes are always at the same time so the schedule is always very similar. This is a very important element for a classroom of six year olds.

How is classroom time used?

Almost all of the classroom time is used for learning. The only time in the classroom where the children are not focused on learning is during snack time. The rest of the classroom time is filled with learning activities. There are usually activities that will keep the students busy enough that the ones who need a little extra assistance can get that from Mrs. Simala or the teacher’s assistant.

What preparations were made to start and conclude various activities?

At this point in the year the students are very familiar with what they need to do in every activity. They know that different subjects require different materials, and most of the students are prepared in a very timely matter for the activities. Other children may require a gentle reminder of what they are supposed to be doing at a given time. So as far as getting the students prepared, it is as simple as asking them to get ready.
Mrs. Simala puts in the time before hand so her activities do not involve stalling and searching for missing materials. It helps that she has been teaching kindergarten for seven years, but she seems to be prepared for all of her activities. There are always options for differentiated instruction. All of her in class activities has extended work for those who are excelling, and she always has ways for those who are not getting the concepts to complete the work to their ability. This is a direct result of the preparation Mrs. Simala has put into the assignments and activities. I know from discussing lesson plans with her, her preparation involves a lot of assessment of her current class on past assignments, and past classes on a particular assignment.

Can you identify the purpose or objective of each activity?

All of the activities in Mrs. Simala’s class seem to have specific purpose. They all fall pretty well in line with the standards of the district which all fall in line with the state standards. The students are given a good amount of games to play, but I have not seen one game that was not teaching them something important. Usually games are used to cement a new technique or lesson into the class.

How are cultural differences considered and needs met?

This question does not really pertain to either the morning, or afternoon class. There are not enough cultural differences in this class that would cause for anything out of the ordinary to occur. Every student is from an English speaking home.

In Relation to the text…

I believe that Mrs. Simala’s use of classroom time goes very well with the goals of our text. It seems that the last few chapters have focused on getting the most out of your students. That includes budgeting your time so as to not be flustered in front of the class. Other factors are finding where your students excel, and catering to those areas of learning. One aspect of Mrs. Simala’s curriculum is that the students are always engaged in the lessons. Whether that is during centers, or during one of her lessons, the students are never without an activity. This is especially important in Kindergarten but as the book shows us, it is very important at all levels.