Monthly Archives: October 2016

October 31, 2016 · 6:45 pm

Happy Halloween!

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Happy Halloween!
Sarah, Vicky, me, Noah, and Priscilla

This my first Halloween while in a classroom setting and it was full of energy. Naturally there were many princesses, batman/women, a couple dragon/dinosaurs like myself, and even a fish! I carved a pumpkin with the students, however, I quickly learned that many them did not want to touch the ‘guts’ of the pumpkins. It wasn’t really until we were deciding what face to put on it that the students became more interested. Each eye, the nose and the mouth were drawn by a different student. Due to this, it turned out a little lopsided but the kids were happy.

After lunch everyone bundled and headed to the forest behind the school for nature school. It was very interesting to see the kids exploring in the designated area. Despite the cold weather, no one complained, there were not tears, everyone was getting dirty and everyone was having fun. I saw children challenging themselves by balancing on a log and climbing stumps while simultaneously exploring the vegetation and insects.

Overall, I had a great first day of my short 2-week practicum!

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Tagged as halloween, nature school, NRP

October 20, 2016 · 4:07 pm

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October 15, 2016 · 3:17 pm

Family Math and Science Day at UBC

Today I volunteered with the Family Math and Science Day held at UBC. It was free and the said they had about 800 people register online but the last count I took was around 350 people. I was assigned to the registers table, we had people sign in, write down how many people were in their groups, sign a photo release form is they wanted, and directed them to the rooms.

I noticed there were a lot of younger kids, around age 4 to 6, which was not what I expected. Some of the kids from my practicum were there, it was cute to see them outside of the classroom. After visiting the stations (there was math, physics, chemistry, biology and physics and music) I was amazed at all the different games and activities which the children loved. Some were more popular than others including the station that made a type of goo to take home, the chemistry one which blew the lid off a container and the liquid nitrogen presentation.

It was nice to see parents interacting with their children while simultaneously learning new things themselves. It was also interesting to see how the various volunteers interacted with the kids.

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Tagged as family, math, science, volunteer

October 6, 2016 · 8:26 pm

Day 1 of Practicum!

It’s actually day one of school visits before practicum but it rhymed so it was much more appealing as a title.

Oh Kindergarten, you loud, crazy, energetic, creative, exciting and ‘insert more adjectives here’ how wonderful you are.

The biggest difference I have noticed, so far, between kindergarten and the upper grades is that the students often do not particularly care whether you interact with them or not. Some do really want your attention, most use you as a reference for their million and one questions, but they are just as happy while playing with their peers as they are when you read them a story. It truly is amazing to watch them find joy in everything they do.

The two stand-out features for my practicum placement are first, the community aspect of the classrooms and the entire school. This is something I have never encountered in my schooling or volunteer experiences. Being that I have only spent one day in this type of environment I am not quite sure how I feel about this set up yet, so stay tuned. Second, is the amount of English Language Learners. Again, I have never encountered this. I have experience with shy kids or ones that don’t want to speak very often but it was never because they didn’t have the words to do so. I can only imagine what these kids are going through. Being on the opposite side I found it frustrating to not be able to communicate with them effectively to be better able to understand their needs and attend to them.

Overall, I am grateful, excited and still a little nervous about being in a kindergarten classroom.

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