Patterned Paper Snakes (Cooperative)



I hanged the snakes outside the classroom with children's help



During this activity I tried to integrate numeracy with literacy, the numeracy target is to complete a  pattern and the literacy is to Identify different letters in  (Snake) word e.g. I say the /s/ sound and the child have to point at the letter. It’s  simple and the children enjoyed it.

Materials needed :

·       Colored card papers

·       Tape

·       Yarn

·       Googly eyes

I did this activity in pairs because through my observations I noticed that most children cooperate better while they work in pairs. I showed the children a model and then I asked them to do it independently each child choose a color and then I started the pattern for them and they have to complete it to create a patterned snake. They were talking and when they finished they had to glue the snake eyes, they decided that each will glue one eye!

 

two children  making a snake



After they finished the task I asked them to play cooperatively with the snake and I added two tales for the snake so they can play with it. During this activity the children were familiar with cooperative activities because they were experiencing it during the three weeks. They cooperate very well and my mentor noticed that too and she add cooperation in her activities too.



   

children playing with the snake togather





   I think  that this activity was good because the children were doing the activity together and they play with it afterwards. This adds to the activity more interaction not just during the task. This activity can be done with the whole class during the circular time by giving each child colored papers and start the pattern and let children complete it and then we can add yarn ends for each child and they can play with it all. It sounds risky but why not !

 

Finger Paint

Another pattern activity that I did was the finger paint cooperative activity. I started the activity by asking two children to work together in one paper. Each have to choose one color and they have to make a pattern by finger painting, they have to take turns in order to complete their pattern.

After each pair finished their pattern, I asked them all to do a finger paint pattern in one paper. Each choose their favorite color. My target was to encourage cooperative learning and review pattern. The children cooperated well, they were taking turns in order to complete the pattern the activity was very simple and they knew how to work with each others. It was more challengeable when I asked the whole group to work together in one paper and they missed the pattern however, they were excited about doing this activity together.

 I could take this activity a step further by differentiating it. The low ability children choose one color but the high ability children choose two or more colors because I noticed that the activity was easy for the high ability children so by differentiating it  would  be more challengeable.

Cooperative Handprint Flag

Another activity that I did for my action research and it was observed by my mentor teacher was the UAE's flag hand print. First of all I thought of doing it on the ordinary way were each child put paint on his hand and then print it on the sheet but I felt there will be no   cooperation and interaction between students. Therefore, I decided to do it in pairs, I called two children and each child had to paint the UAE flag colors on his friend's hand and then the other child paint for that child. I did this activity outside and children were very happy to do it there.  I was amazed how the children were talking and when a child put a wrong color on his friend's hand he was correcting for him and then they saw a house in front of the school were the flag was on the roof, they were looking and copying the colors.

  They were discussing and talking about the colors. The activity went smoothly and I think the reason is that they had clear instructions, I modeled the activity with one child and showed them how they should work with each other's and be good friends and the new place played effective element in this activity.  Another reason why I think the children cooperate well in this activity because the activity cannot be done individually they understood that they have to paint each other's hands and help each others to put the colors in the right place and print their hands.

 In future lessons I may do pairs activities in the same way and link it with numeracy or literacy. In my opinion, for this age group children we should not just provide activities and expect them to work cooperatively, they should have clear activities that encourages cooperative learning.

Hide and Seek !

There wasn't enough time to do whole lessons during this week so I did some activities during play time. I suggested for children to play hide and seek so that I can observe them and they were very excited. I asked two children to hide their eyes while other should hide together.

It was a very fun game children enjoyed playing it and they were playing cooperatively. The girls who were searching for others were talking and making plan of how not to let the other children  win. Also the children who were hiding they decided to hide in one place and they were talking all together where to hide.

I noticed that this kind of games which encourage children to play cooperatively and it has physical movements seems to be more effective with this age group. Such games children cannot play it individually they have to interact and cooperate to play. Whereas, other activities that I encouraged children to do it in pairs while it can be done individually most prefer to do it individually. I will try to do such games and include some learning with it.

Numeracy Cooperative Activity

The activity is about putting the UAE’s flag colors in a pattern.  There were three children in the group. I asked them to work together to put all the colored balls in a pattern.

I did this activity for two groups one group did the  activity very good they cooperate and when one of them put a wrong color they were correcting for her maybe this activity worked for them because they were close friends and they accept each other’s help. On the other group  one of the children was a high ability child she played the role of the teacher where she was stopping them and showing them the pattern when they put a wrong color. However, the lower ability children did not accept the high ability child to explain for them and they told her that they want to do it the way they want!

It would be better if I introduce the activity by giving each child a role. It will also will be more affective if I put a  reward children who cooperate well during the activity. Children need more cooperative activities and instructions to be able to do cooperative activities independently

The Weekend with Tutu the Turtle




Afra with Tutu during the weekend



I started a project with the children where they can take a toy home for the weekend and take pictures with it. Children present these pictures during the circle time and talk about their photos. When I  started the project the letter of the week was/t/ therefore, I brought a turtle. I asked the children to give it a name that starts with the letter t, and they named it Tutu.

since then every weekend one child take Tutu home and play with it and bring it back on Sunday for show and tell activity during the circle time.

 

I tried to integrate this project with my action research which is (cooperative learning) I tried to add to it a sense of cooperation by asking children to ask the child who had the toy about their weekend with the turtle. The children are very excited about this project and Tutu became an important member of the class. It also affected children's behaviour positively because the good behaved child get it. I label children's photos on the wall and I noticed that it trigger their curiosity and they go and look at the photos and ask that child more questions about them. They also discuss what they will do with Tutu if they got it.

In the future lessons I will make it more cooperative by putting Tutu in the home area and I will choose three children to play there cooperatively. I will observe them and see how well they cooperate. It will be also good to teach children cooperative manners during play time.

Letter for children's parents send home with Tutu





First Week

The first week went very well. I taught, observed and I gained a lot of experience.

I discussed a lot of things with my MST. She told me that the teaching profession

 is wonderful but it’s difficult and requires a lot of patience and effort. The most

 important thing this career requires is honesty and passion. Through my practice

in different schools. I noticed that the teacher’s performance was at different levels,

 due to the level of a teacher’s love and her passion for her work.

I planned activities for next week and we decided in which way I will teach the 50%.

 I observed a lot this week and that helped me to know the children and to think

deeper about my action  research.

I did different activities during the whole and the small groups related to the theme.

I read them  stories and did small group activities  the children were excited

and they enjoying learning through different activities. One of the most things that

 benefited me is the focus activities. They  were really helpful for me because through

 these different activities I communicated with the children well and I tried to figure  

their levels, because they are not grouped according to their levels, so that will help

 me to differentiate the activities.

I am looking forward to teach next week and I planned to take risks and try new

things with the children. I hope that it will be good .

first days of TP

My first days at Al Twaya kindergarten were really interesting and a little bit hard but I know that I need time to adjust in the new environment. I did some activities related to the theme (my family)  such as making family member using finger print, making a chart during a numeracy lesson and sorting family members.

 

That was fun and increased my motivation by feeling more willing to come to class and teach. Moreover, it helped me to know more about my MST and the children. My MST is really supportive she kept giving me useful instructions and advises. The class is very active and there are a lot of independent learning activities and I liked that a lot. However, the negative thing is that there was no clear rules or routine for the children to follow. I think that lead to  chaos in the classroom and that in my opinion affected the children’s learning.  

Tomorrow I will teach a lesson about (rooms in my house) I hope everything will go well. Wish you all the best in your lessons =)

Observation schedule & interview questions

Name :                   Date:                    Class:                      Time: Observer:              Subject/theme:

Aim: Observe my strategies of letting children work cooperatively and the effectiveness of activities that enable them to work together.

Pre-task

While task

Post task

Other comments:

Interview questions about my topic (cooperative learning)

What teaching methodologies do you follow ?

What are the advantages and the disadvantages of cooperative learning?

Are the children used to individual work or cooperative work?

What do you think is more effective in teaching young children?

What kind of activities do you use to encourage cooperative learning?

How do you balance between individual and cooperative  learning/teaching?

Does the class environment  encourage cooperative teaching/learning?

Reading 2

Name:  The complete ESL/EFL Cooperative & Communicative Activity Book                     Date:     23-Sep-2012                           Source Number: 2

Reference (APA): Sloan S. (1991) The complete ESL/EFL Cooperative & communicative Activity Book. Illinois: NTC Publishing Group

Summary: A book about how to teach children in ESL classroom using different activities like jigsaw activities, matching, strip stories and other activities

Evaluation:    This is really useful book that  contain  useful quotes and detailed activities.

Notes (could include specific quotes) “Cooperative learning is  a set of teaching strategies that puts the learner in the center of the learning process.” P.1

Cross References No references

Reflection

	Practical
Self-awareness	Select During the circular time the children were not setting or listening to me.
	Describe During my first lesson teaching in kindergarten, I started the lesson by trying  to motivate the children to attract their attention and what happen that they were over motivated! I did not start the lesson by giving the children the instruction or tell them the classroom rules!  The activity included pictures of the children and all of them came to me and were shouting  to see their pictures and they didn’t give me the chance to explain the activity and it took a lot of time to let them set and explain the activity!
Deliberative	Analyze I learnt from this lesson that before motivating and engaging the student the teacher should know how to control them. What I did not do  and I have to make sure that I will do in future lessons is that I should start the lesson by telling the children the classroom rules and model the activity for them instead of starting the lessen introducing their pictures.
Problem solving	Appraise It was not appropriate to start the lesson showing the children their pictures. I also should gave each student a task and make sure that each person in the mat have something to do  in the activity.
	Transform I think I learned a lot about motivation in that day, I will be closer to the students and I will show them my enthusiasm but I will always manage their behavior first  to gain a good learning calamite. I think that the control of students and motivation are  skills every teacher should master in order  to give them the  positive spirit and make them engage  feel comfortable.

                                                                             

Mind Map

First reading (literature review)

Name:        Child Development                             Date:            19-9-2012                    Source Number: 1

Reference (APA): Berk,L. E. (2009) Child Development. Boston: Pearson Education

Summary: A book about all the stages of children development which have a section about social development .

Evaluation:  (connected to Questions 1 to 5 above) There are many studies and theories about children’s development of social skills which might help me in establishing the activities during the teaching practice and support my report with quotes .