My Experience and Reflection on Teaching Kindergarten Social Studies

Social skills - By playing independently of adults, children have the chance to practise their social skills. They might squabble or raise their voices at times, but most children from 3 years or so are able to work things out themselves. Learning to take turns and cooperate helps children’s social skills.

So I didn't join team, knowing from my old team who was in my class while I was a student in, but instead joined middle school Faith Formation, doing my best to assist my old teachers so that the younger students would have fun and learn at the same time. By my senior year I decided to teach third and fourth graders, but this time I am a teacher rather than a student teacher. I am a teacher in the class and I work with third and fourth graders to teach them about God, how the Church works, and how treat other people. One of my students has mild autism, and is distracted rather easily. He gets bored and starts to do other things when we don't have full attention. I have only just started teaching with one other teacher, but my goal is to continue to both teach and entertain the students, but to make sure that this particular child associates the Church with good feelings and has fun while learning with the other

Introduction: My kindergarten learners are very diverse. It is comprised of twenty-one 5 and 6 year old students. There are 11 boys and 10 girls. In my class, there are children with ADHD, severe learning disabilities, multiple ESL learners, Cerebral Palsy, Severe Behavior, and other assortment of needs.

Most of the time, the children were responsive and followed the rules after the teachers offered feedback. Several children did not respond the same, but after a few attempts, it was effective. The difference in certain children, from what I have observed is how the teachers approached the child. Therefore, the different approaches of how the teachers came to the child made a huge impact on how those children responded. They all were appreciative of the praise and encouragement they were

This is a 1st grade class made up of 12 first grade students. There are 7 Girls and 5 Boys. There is 1 male student with general academic IEP that covers all subjects as well as 1 male and 1 female student that have speech IEPs. The classroom is arranged in table seating with a large carpeted area in the front of the classroom for group learning. This lesson will be taught in a group setting at the carpet.

My observation this semester is in a self-contained classroom for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The class is taught by one special education teacher who is assisted by a teaching aide. The desks are spaced out from one another, allowing each student a lot of room to move around. I believe the desks are arranged this way so that the students have limited contact with one another. There are books and games on a shelf that the students are allowed to use during break time. There are also two computers that they may use during breaks or after they have completed their work. In one corner of the room, there are two bean bags and a sign that says quiet zone. The students are taught reading, math, and language arts in this room. They go to an inclusion room for science and social studies. They eat lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the fifth-grade students. They also leave this room every day to attend related arts with the rest of the student body.

The setting is Washington Elementary School in West Orange, NJ. The grade I picked is first grade. The age group in the class is between the ages of five and seven. The subjects they learn are math, language arts, social studies, and writing. But they focus more on reading and math throughout the day. There are 8 girls and 8 boys in the classroom which makes 16 students in total. The class is divided into three racial and ethnic groups which are Latino or Hispanic, African Americans, and Asian American. There are about 1 Asian American, 6 Latino or Hispanic, and 9 African Americans.

I learned the day before my visit, Miss Suzy threw a pizza party for the children. The day of my visit they were going to make their own individual pizzas (I did not get to view that part of the day). I noticed that during circle time, two children seemed uninterested had wandered off. Miss Suzy did not do anything about it, she just let them be. I thought that was wrong of her because the two children were not being involved. The children could of already known what they were speaking about. If that was the case she should of given them some work to do. When circle time was over, Miss Suzy asked each child which part of the room they wanted to play in. Students chose dramatic play, arts and crafts, reading, and playing on the computer. Miss Suzy walked around each group asking them questions, expanding their imaginations. Morrison states "that teachers work with gingival children, small groups" (2003, p.232). Watching Miss Suzy, you can see she really enjoys what she does. She never once ignored a student who went up to her. She seemed genuily interested when the children shared stories with her. She always welcomed them with a hug when walking into the room in the morning to begin their day, and the children would come in running to hug her.

I appreciate when you say, “The teacher can aid the children in meeting and playing with each other by setting up projects and activities in small groups of children.” However, I think my approach would be a little different in the fact that I would want to foster their abilities to make decisions and not so much if forcing them into friendships they do not want. I believe that using a Social Emotional Learning model in my classroom will teach children to understand their emotions and form friendships/relationships that are best for their development. If you found a certain child does not get along with another would you want them to work together more often to create a friendship or stay apart to develop other healthy friendships?

When focusing in on the specific classroom that I am working in, there is a 1-23 teacher to student ratio, with fourteen boys and nine girls that are all considered general education students. The class consists of 15 students being Hispanic, 4 students being Asian/Middle Easter, 2 African American

Diversity encompasses numerous characteristics including socio-economic background, ethnicity, special needs, gender, and giftedness (Cazden, 2001). Today, classrooms are getting more varied and diverse with students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and students with a disability. It appears that teachers must meet the needs of all students successfully and individually to effectively teach a classroom of diverse students. This paper will first identify three challenges involved with ensuring that teaching strategies are

There are various instructional methods I will use within my classroom. I have been trained by Cleveland Clinic Children’s Autism Development Solutions incorporates ABA as well as using task analysis techniques to help make the student successful in what you are trying to teach them. The process starts off small but then as they master the smaller steps, they increase to larger steps and can become longer within the activity to show increased task duration. This helps the student become ready to perform certain jobs they may like. I would also have a behavior plan in place for each student so when they have their behaviors then there is a step by step plan to help myself and whoever comes in contact with the student to know

a. One community factor I would address is the diversity. In the contextual factors chart I reported that the area of these students come from are not diverse at all and is predominantly white. My chart state that there are 85% white that attend this school. To teach my classroom about diversity I will use this knowledge to have some lessons about diversity. Since they are preschoolers it will not be as easy getting them to understand the context of the lesson, but I can teach majority of my subject area using diversity. For example I will read a book in their level called Bright, Eyes Brown Skin so will know there are people out there with different color skin, hair, eyes, and etc. This will also help our classroom community because teaching the students any races can be friends and we can come together as one is a big factor.

During the preschool years, they start to interact with each other by creating complex story lines together. As they do this, they learn to negotiate, cooperate, and share (though some kids don't master the art of sharing until they're 4 to 6 years old). When children disagree about who gets to be the daddy or who will wear the purple dress, they're actually developing important social skills, says Sara Wilford, director of the Early Childhood Program at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. How you can boost social play: Once your child

The context of the classroom is a 6th grade math class. The students are at varying developmental levels from below level to advanced/gifted. The types of learners I have are the auditory, visually, and mostly the bodily/kinesthetic learners. I have students who are from multiple ethnicities such as Hispanic, White, Asian, Middle Eastern, and African American. I also have students with varying exceptionalities.