Class on 2/24/2011

Students worked individually on Homework Review

In pairs they practiced a past tense story (minimum three sentences each and students rotated to talk to at least 5 others.

Review of  past tense (students received a half sheet of Common Irregular Past Tense). Students took a practice quiz and were told to study for a quiz next class.

Students read their Patty Smith-Hill answers out load to the whole class. We then chose 3 answers and as a whole class we wrote a paragraph. Importantly, we practiced turning simple questions into statements to use as the first sentence of a paragraph.

Students Read about the Kaiser Child Care Centers and individuals contributed important facts. Then as a whole class we constructed a paragraph to answer the following question: "What innovations did the Kaiser bring to the Child Care field?"

Homework: Read pages 25 through 27 about Nursery schools and answer this question: "What  important facts did you learn about Nursery Schools in the US?"
Study for the Quiz.

Class on 2/17/2011

Students corrected last weeks homework in their notebooks.

Students wrote two sentences about themselves and surveyed other students.

Whole group lecture on Simple Present, Past and Present and Past Progressive. In a table students compared the different tenses and discussed the correct situation for using each. Many students were using past progressive to describe events that need the use of simple past.

Simple Past: Regular spelling and pronunciation with "-ed"

I walked home.
I talked to her.
I watched TV.
He cooked dinner.
She turned on the machine.

Simple Past: Irregular spelling and pronunciation


I ran home.
I spoke to her.
I saw that movie.
She made dinner.
He had a good idea.
She drank the juice.
He drove all day.
He taught me nothing.
She went to school.
They slept all day.

Students shared their paragraphs about family and school memories. Review of Paragraph rules with emphasis that the last sentence CANNOT be too specific. If a paragraph about your family ends with the sentence, "My niece love pink cupcakes" then it distracts from the theme/main idea of the paragraph.

Students read one paragraph (top right of page 23) and tired to write a sentence in their own words to describe the main idea. Several examples were shared with the whole class.

Homework:
Read page 25 (about Patty Smith Hill) and write 3 sentences that identify three important facts about this innovator.

Class on 2/10/11

Discussion regarding last homework: simple past and past progressive and HW grading system

Class met Jaclyn  and practiced a dictation of her autobiographical paragraph.

       "My name is Jaclyn N. I have lived in San Mateo my whole life. I currently have 18 ECE units. I have been working with kids for the past three years, and I enjoy it very much. I am currently enrolled in ECE 240 Children with Special Needs as I have an interest in learning about that area further. I look forward to working with all of you."

Small group were assigned a Maria Montessori paragraph. Each individual wrote one sentence to summarize or tell the main idea. Then the small group choose one or modified to present to the whole class.

First Paragraph

MM was able to prove that her technique and materials would work well with children with special needs.

Second P

MM discovered so clearly the needs of growing children and her medical background gave credibility to her findings.

Third P

MM did not lock the cabinets, the children got all of the supplies and the materials were at eye level.

4th P

The most important theory for MM was how the children learn step by step.

5th P

M’s idea was to create an organized place for activities, materials and all lessons.

6th P

In supporting early education ideas of sensory development she made equipment that was tactile and made materials with “self-correcting features.”

7th P

MM emphasized the preparation of the environment, using materials that were self correcting and sequential and her teaching was based on observations, and children’s innate drive.

Whole class preview of paragraph rules

1. Indent
2. First sentence must intro what the rest of the paragraph will discuss
3. 3 Supporting sentences
4. Last sentence sounds like the ending: Give an opinion or a summary.

Homework: Write a paragraph about your family

                     Write a paragraph about your first memory of school (be specific, use colors, smells, names etc.)

Class on 2/3/11

Homework Review of Past tense To Be
Students were encouraged to review and self correct their HW before turning it in and then HW was collected.

Some read two sentences about Maria Montessori. Then students were asked to write a sentence about MM in their own words. Examples were written on the board. Then students read first paragraph of page 41. Chose the best sentence to represent the main idea and copied it.

Then a whole class discussion about

Copying:
Quoting:
and
Paraphrasing

Students took a mini field trip to the Learning Center

Vocabulary Quiz

Homework: Write 20 Sentences about yourself