Field Experience: The Last Visit

Besides the class learning how to read and count, I see the kids are learning so much more. Every week I have noticed that they have been learning how to be respectful which means listening, not interrupting, being kind, etc.

This was such an amazing experience and today was a very tough day knowing that this was my last visit at Regina Huda School, in the Kindergarten classroom. These kids have taught me a lot about relationship building. I never thought I was going to have such a great relationship with all of these kids. Visiting once a week, I thought was it was going to be tough to get the students to get comfortable around me and build a liking to me. But every visit our bond stuck and got stronger. In ECS 100 we talked about loving our students, in the most professional way of course, and I thought I would never love students. But I love the kindergarten class at Regina Huda School. I could not have asked for a better class.

I wanted to thank the class for making this experience for me so amazing. I made all of them gift bags filled with treats, a pencil, and an eraser. It was so heartwarming seeing their faces when I gave them their gift bags. I was so incredibly thankful and happy when the class presented a gift for myself. It was such an emotional day and I am going to miss those kids very much.

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Field Placement: Week 6

In the Kindergarten classroom, the kids are learning all the letters, how to count, and how to read. The teacher, Mrs. Kilback, came up with a task that makes reading for the kids fun and exciting. All the students got to colour a face to make it look like them then glued it on a mini popsicle stick, their names were then written on the stick. Every ten books they read, they move to the next hot air balloon. What a fun and creative way to learn! Observing this classroom, I learned how you can make teaching and learning, for the students, so much fun!

 

Field Placement: Week 5

The kindergarten students all have a chance to bring something to school for show and tell. I love the fact that they bring items from their home country and share it with their class! This is such a fun way for the kids to represent their culture and where they are from.

After leaving the Regina Huda School this week, I started thinking about how much I’m going to miss all of the kids. The bond between the students and I has gotten so strong throughout this field placement. It makes me so happy hearing how much the students enjoy my presence. Even though I am enrolled into secondary education, this experience has made me realize that I am not opposed to teaching younger grades.

Diversity & Difference

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, I got placed in Regina Huda School. With this school there is a lack diversity, for it is an all Muslim school. It is very awesome how this school makes sure that the students get a chance to learn about their culture. Everyday the students say their prayer in Arabic, right in the morning and right before they eat. During the day the students will learn English, math, reading, etc. At the end of the day when the teacher has prep time another teacher comes in and teaches the students more about their culture, for example the Arabic language. Regina Huda School is doing an amazing job at respecting the different diversity and making sure the kids know who they are.  This has been such an amazing experience and I have been learning so much from this school. It is good to see that it is possible to teach students their culture and have them learn about who they are.

 

Teachers & Knowledge

I see that teachers understand that students have different ways of learning. Being in a kindergarten classroom, there is not much lessons for the kids to follow along to. Everything is mostly games including letters, numbers, words, rhymes, etc. What I have noticed is if a student in the classroom  is struggling with something, the teacher is not opposed to spending some extra time helping the specific student with whatever they are struggling with.

Being a teacher is challenging and it is nice to have support from the students. It is the students listening, studying, participation, and hard work that keeps a teacher a going. During my visits I see amazing support from the students to their teacher and it makes for an amazing classroom environment.

Today the class was split into four stations, each station having something to do with rhyming, writing, or spelling. The teacher tries new games/strategies to help her learn what works best for each student so all students have a chance to learn in a way that works best for them. Trying new learning strategies is a great way to build your professional knowledge and that is something that I’ll carry with me and bring to my future classroom!!

In front of Regina Huda School

The School Environment

Everyone in this school is very welcoming. The staff are all so kind and made everything less nerve racking. The students are so sweet! During my first visit I already had students within the kindergarten classroom hug me. I loved the vibes I felt entering this school. I am so happy to have such a great school environment for my field placement.

Regina Huda School has a great way of communicating with their community and showing the community what they are up to. The school uses a website called Seesaw. Each student has their own profile on it so when it comes to more private things like projects and school work the teachers can post it on their profile. This way only the parents of the student can see it.

100 DAY!

I wanted to add this into this weeks blog because today was such a fun day. The students are opening up more and today was a great day of communication. For 100 day the kids made 100 day crowns, made 100 day snack mix, and got to write in their journal. It was so much fun taking part of this eventful day!

*I GOT PERMISSION TO TAKE PHOTOS*

Entering the Classroom

For the field placement in ECS 100, I got placed at the Regina Huda School in the Kindergarten classroom with Mrs Shea Kilback. The kindergarten days start at 8:20 and end at 11:30. Throughout the school there is two classes of each grade! All the students that are in Kindergarten did not know any English entering this school and now they all speak English so well. It is such a cool and interesting thing to learn about the students. Regina Huda School is broken up into two buildings. From what I gather the one building is for elementary students and the second building for high school students. The second building is a newer building. During my first visit the kindergarten class and I got to go over to the new building and check out the new library, they were all so excited.

Learning Corner

 

This classroom is quite similar to my kindergarten classroom. When I was in kindergarten there was no individual desks, we all sat in groups, just like this classroom. Back then my class didn’t have a smart board but one thing that is similar is the learning corner. In this space the students talk about what month it is, what day it is, and what the date is. They talk about what the weather is like outside that day and they count how many days of school it has been. Next week it is 100 day!! When I was in Kindergarten my class would also discuss the weather, the day, date, month, etc.

This space made me very happy and took me on a trip down memory lane. It was very cool to see that some kindergarten classrooms do the same thing as my kindergarten classroom did. It also got me very excited when Mrs. Kilback told me about 100 day because my school would celebrate that too. I am so excited and very happy to see where else this takes me and it has only been one day!!