Logbooks

Final Reflective Paper

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B7ajG2cA8vdnODFmOGZkOTEtODQ5NC00YWE4LTgyN2YtZjQ1ZTNjMzFmYTBk&hl=en

Final thoughts...

As I head to my last official internship day at CPS this morning, I am so excited to know that I actually managed to complete an internship that I thought was next to impossible given my work schedule. Somehow I managed to accumulate the necessary hours, but I know that Summer had a great deal to do with that. Having completed the MLS journey just three years ago herself, she remembers all too well the stresses and frustrations of raising a family, working full-time, and taking classes. She was more than accommodating and understanding, and it was easy to work out a schedule to meet both of our needs. After today, I will be off for the holiday weekend, but I have told Summer to expect me back in the library for the final two or three weeks before school is out for Christmas break. Now that the internship experience is over, I know I can still benefit from time spent observing and volunteering, but it will be nice to not have any time pressures or constraints to deal with!

I hope this portfolio is informative and slightly entertaining, as it has been an enjoyable experience documenting my time at Chocowinity Primary School. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving, etc.-Nov. 15-19

This week I am switching gears and attending the afternoon classes since my work schedule will allow afternoons off this week. This is a welcome change, as it will allow me to observe and work with a whole new variety of classes in the third and fourth grade. The morning classes are mostly for the K-2 grades, so I am excited to see how things are similar or different with the older students.

One of the afternoon class activities involved the reading of How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting, along with a thorough discussion of the Thanksgiving holiday and what it represents. Summer discussed the pilgrims and early settlers and asked the class to think about comparisons as they were listening to the story. Also, at various points within the story, she would stop to ask questions relative to the story line at any given moment. I was extremely impressed with the attention span of these students and their ability to answer the questions so easily and with so much thought. It was fun to see their brains working and trying to reason Summer's questions and answers. Everyone loved this story, and I was proud of myself for recognizing the author. We learned about Eve Bunting in a previous course, so it was nice to make the connection for a change.

The other class activity involved research and collaboration to find out specific facts about three different cities-Raleigh, Charleston, and Seattle. The groups had to work together to find information from the Almanac and Encyclopedias to answer the following questions relative to their city:
1. What is the population?
2. What is the average temperature in January? July?
3. What is the average yearly precipitation?
4. What is the geography of the city?
5. Name an interesting fact about the city.

I worked with each group as they struggled with some of the facts, but all in all, they were pretty self-sufficient. Of course everyone was most interested in the information about Raleigh, and I was surprised to learn that none of the students I spoke with had ever been there before. Most of the students finished the assignment on time, so I will be anxious to see what the second part of this project is next week. Also, next week will be my last official week in the media center, as this portfolio will be turned in on Tuesday. Of course I plan to continue volunteering there until the end of the semester, but my blog entries will end as of next week. Where has this semester gone?

Turkey Time! Nov. 8-12

This week's lesson plans focus on the book Turkey Trouble by Wendy Silvano, along with a coloring activity following a discussion of the book. I remembered this book from the book fair, and I was glad this was one of Summer's purchases for the library. It is so cute!

I was so excited when Summer gave me yet another opportunity to read and conduct this week's lesson. By now the students have become pretty familiar with me in their library, so it was comfortable and natural for them to allow me to perform the story and help with the activity afterward. We talked about the upcoming holiday, along with everyone's input as to what their favorite Thanksgiving traditions are. These kids are hilarious! Everyone loved the story, and the discussions that followed with each class were both lively and entertaining. A few of the classes were pressed for time (Kindergarten, specifically, as they are still struggling with checking out books), but most were able to check out books, hear the story, and complete the coloring activity. Next week Summer will focus on the history of Thanksgiving, so I know this will be a fun and informative lesson as well. I look forward to spending as much time as possible in the library next week, since my internship experience is soon coming to a close.

Catch Up-Oct. 29

Since school was out this Friday, I decided it would be a good time to update, edit, and review my portfolio as we are only about a month away from turning it in. I went through the required/suggested documents and came across some of these loose fliers in my notebook. There really is no rhyme or reason to them, but I wanted to include them in sort of a miscellaneous blog. The first is a flier I had from last summer when I volunteered in the library. It was helpful to me that they kept the library open so I could both earn hours and complete assignments for my summer classes.

The next document is the Access to Confidential Electronic Information form to be signed by all of the teachers. It highlights what is expected of the teachers and must be signed before any teacher is granted access to this type of personal information.

Next we have the application for e-mail accounts for teachers and staff.

Lastly, I included one of Summer's library surveys to better understand how the library is serving the teachers and students.

Halloween Fun-Oct. 26

The spirit of Halloween is definitely in the air at CPS. The kids were lively and excited, discussing Halloween costumes and where and when they would be trick-or-treating. Friday is also a Teacher Work Day, so they are even more excited to have the three day weekend.

When I arrived this morning, Summer was just finishing up her first class and set me up with a task I have helped her with in the past-alphabetizing the students' Playaway permission slips. It's that time of year again for the students to check out the popular audio books, and it was my responsibility today to make sure every child was accounted for. Here is something that struck me as odd. A few of the parents actually signed the permission slip indicating they DID NOT want their child to be allowed to check out these items! Did they not want to be bothered with it, or did they simply not trust their child to care for the items properly? I'm not sure, but I feel sorry for the kids who will miss out on this neat form of technology. I finished up this task pretty quickly, and once her class was finished, I had a few moments to update Summer on both my portfolio and the in-service presentation scheduled for tomorrow. She helped me find some important documents to add to my portfolio, and together we discussed the plan for tomorrow. I will meet her at 3:00 in the library, and then we will walk down to the 1st grade meeting together. I will present first, and then the teachers will continue on with their meeting. Here is an added bonus: Some of the first grade teachers attended some sort of technology training last week and they received free Flip cameras! This is so perfect considering my presentation for tomorrow involves the Flip camera and how it can be applied to the classroom, media center, etc. Now I know the teachers will definitely be interested!

Summer's next two classes came in after that, and I was able to watch her read Bony Legs to them. She did such an amazing job with this scary story, and the students were completely into it! Also on the agenda for today's classes was to make a "bone" necklace out of yarn and pasta noodles. Unfortunately, each class ran slightly over, and there was not enough time left to make these necklaces. I did make a mental note, however, to buy the supplies for my son's daycare class to make them this week. It's a shame they ran out of time, but maybe one of her other classes this week will have time. I told her to tell me how it turns out. Other than that, I am just preparing for my in-service workshop tomorrow and sweating bullets until it is over. I have never been a big fan of public speaking and presentations, but at least this is a crowd I feel comfortable with. Really, that is half the battle. Wish me luck!