Centaurus P2T 2019-2020

9/26/19           Today was the official day that we met the students; We said our name and grade number. Ms. Montoya asked us to play a game with a student in the halls and then switch once someone won. The game involved rolling dice at the same time as the student and rounding to the nearest tenth, whoever had the highest number got to move up. At first I was nervous on how to talk with the girl I saw; She was sweet; She wore a hijab and was shy but so was I. She beat me and it took a while she was all about the rules. The last kid I played the rounding game with was a kid who at first looked irritated with the fact that he had to play with me, he later than got competitive and I felt bad because he was so happy and was close to winning, then for the first time I won a game after a couple students. Overall, I would say that i'm excited to be friends with them and get to be part of their elementary experience, because those where my favorite years of school.

I worked with many different personalities today. We were told to go out in the hallway and play a game with one student at a time. The group of fourth-graders seemed to know what they were doing so I didn't have to explain the rules too much. I was a little nervous with my first kid but, I ended up enjoying my time with him. He was nice and outgoing. Some of the kids were timid and did not want to speak very much. I found that every kid had their own way of rolling a dice, some slammed it on the table, while others let it roll softly. The goal of the game was to get to the finish line. In order to move up a space on the board, we had to round our dice number to the nearest 10th. Whoever got the biggest number in this case, 10 got to move. Overall I liked working with them, they were interesting and I look forward to seeing them again.

Today I was moved to a 5th-grade class from my original class. The teacher was my 5th-grade teacher, Mrs.Saltz. The class was all very happy and very kind from what I observed. Today they were reading during the time I was there. When I came in it was a read aloud, then individual reading along with putting together a human heart. I sat with one of the boys in the class, as he read me a book. He was very excited to read and was very expressive while reading to me. He had read the book before but loved it. The book was about a boy who collected words, then used to use them in all different types of ways. He was in the hallways because he was overwhelmed in the class and needed a breather. and seemed to calm down after reading. All the students worked hard and were able to get time to read books they wanted. They all were very energetic and social. Many of them came up to me and asked about me and Centaurus. I did feel a bit lost when I first came in. I didn't know how to help or

Today during pathways, there were more students that I was introduced to in the classroom setting. There were also more activities planned. I left with Mr. Henry, River, and Teddy to go to P.E. and help out with the kindergarten class. A lot of the other kids were observing me while I observed them, confused as to why a high school student was present in their class. Melissa and Wendy left with another student to go to music class. Then, before the buses came to pick them up, we had about ten minutes to run around outside. The only frustrations I have so far are the kids being non-verbal, because it makes it harder to have breakthroughs with children when the conversations are one sided.

During our time at Ryan, I briefly got to observe the mannerisms of the special ed children and learn more about the program. I discovered that the program consists only of children on the spectrum of autism. Most of them were out at the assembly for the majority of our time, but the kids I met were too overwhelmed to be participating. The three kids in the room were Stanley, Jason, and River, and they had snack and quiet time before going out to recess, where we met some of the other students. The time was short but sweet, and it made me very excited to work with these kids for the rest of the year.

9/19/19 First grade art class Today we went to Ryan elementary to gain experience working with elementary students, we all got assigned a classroom I got Ms. Montoya's fourth grade class. unfortunately they were in a assembly looking at some eagles and hawks. I got the chance to work with first graders while they were in art class. I was told to go around and talk with the kids but that made me feel a little nervous, so i decided to start coloring with a student that had to dealt with a language barrier. he spoke Spanish and was very shy, I showed him a technique on painting and it was cute how he got excited, from there i started having a conversation and he told me he had an older brother and his favorite part of the day was art class. I would say that it was a pretty good day, i got to talk with Ms.Montoya and she was very excited to have Josie, Gloria and me in her class.

All children are different, many were shy, and some were outgoing. Figuring out the right way to talk or explain things to them could be tricky. Today a kid refused to talk to me during art class because of how shy he was, I tried being his friend but, at the same time, I knew how he felt. I decided to leave him alone as I didn't want to make him feel too uncomfortable. I then moved on to other kids, one girl kept asking me questions. I spent a lot of time with this girl as I felt no tension between us talking. I even drew a picture for her which she then kept. In a way, I felt kind of intimidated by the kids since they have no filter. I didn't get any weird questions today but I feel as if by the end of the year ill have many stories about kids asking me strange questions. 

My favorite relative would have to be my grandma. She was my go-to person with everything I had on my mind. She was my best friend. We called her ̈crazy nana ̈ kinda self explanatory about her personality. She was always up to do anything. She would always give the best advice. Although she passed when I was 11 she really played a huge role in my life. I always looked up to her. She always had a smile on her face even through her chemo. She always knew what to say and when to say it. She always kept everyone on edge. She was always wanting to do the next thing. She was satisfied with life. She was content.

We worked with one student. We are in a little resource room.  It went really good in my opinion. The teacher was super kind and I got to know her a little bit. The student we worked with was super sweet. She likes unicorns and giraffes. She drew on the whiteboard of what she envisioned.