Thursday, October 31, 2013

Getting Started


My Jumpstart team, team connection, just finished session plan two this Tuesday, and we are starting session plan three this Friday. My experience so far has been phenomenal. The students from my session are smart, funny, and adorable. I have been at puzzles and art for center time and there are always children interested in singing the alphabet song once we finish making the puzzle, or counting the sides of the shapes in art, when making collages. During one of the sessions, after the children and I had constructed the puzzle several times, we all sang the alphabet song together. I made sure to use one of the vocabulary words, unison, multiple times in order to ingrain the new vocabulary from Oonga Boonga into the children. Ms. Johnson, the children’s teacher, was ecstatic this past session with the materials team connection brought to session. I had cut out shapes from tissue paper and it turns out that Ms. J absolutely loves tissue paper. The environment in the classroom is welcoming and comforting, which helps everyone remain on task and productive.  
Team connection is short one member which means we have to combine two of the centers into one. So far this has not been problematic. Having a small group made it easier for us to get to know each other. We have not had many sessions, but I am starting to notice what everyone is good at, and who can handle the more demanding centers such as dramatic play. I enjoy that we commute to and from session together because we can reflect on session and share our individual experiences. For example, the member at dramatic play typically has children all over him or her and they do not notice what goes on at art or writing. When we are commuting back it is helpful to let the other members know what went well and what did not, since they cannot notice other centers during session. This helps prepare them to make the next session flow more smoothly.

~Belen Flores
Corps member
Team Connection

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