Nicole's Blog

My Name is Nicole

greyan — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:08:15 +0000

I am the oldest of two children. My brother is five years old and his name is Nicolas. There is sixteen years, six months, and 1 day between me and him. My mother and father named him after me. Because my name did not have an “h” in it, they did not put one in his name. His name is masculine and is French. My mother named me Amber Nicole because she liked the name. My name is from French, English, and Dutch origin. Nicole is the French feminine form of Nicholas, it is commonly used in the English-speaking world since the middle of the 20th century. There are 433,310 people in the United States with the first name Nicole. Statistically, Nicole is the 131st most popular first name. There are 14,106 people in the United States with the last name Grey. There are 20 people in the United states named Nicole Grey

Week 5 Reflection

greyan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:55:51 +0000

Wow!! What a wonderful experience we just had interning at Forest Hill Elementary School in Burke County. I wish we could go back. It has been neat seeing how different things come together to give you the information on how and what the students know. I really can’t wait to go back into the classroom next semester. There was a lot of student interaction today and it was great. Having the student come to me and asking me questions about their work was amazing. I felt like a teacher and like I really belonged in the classroom. I can’t wait until I have my own classroom. It was very sad leaving today. The students didnt want us to leave. It was sad leaving the teachers and the students.

Week 4 Reflection

greyan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:33:21 +0000

This week was very hectic because the students were very excited about Thanksgiving break. During class, the students engaged in “Thanksgiving Math.” This was very neat because each and every student had problems that were related to turkey, food, indians, and or pilgrims. The teacher used these things in the classroom very effectly because the students learned and understood what was going on. I have had a great time being in the classroom and I enjoyed working with the students while they did their Thanksgiving math because it was fun to them. The Smart Board was also used for review. This was fun and I got to work and learn how the use the Smart Board in the classroom. I can’t believe our last day is next week. Im going to be sad when we leave.

Book Reflection #15: “There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly”

greyan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:29:37 +0000

Title: There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly

Author: Runnells, Treesha

Illustrator: Rueda, Claudia

Publication Date: 1997

ISBN#: 0670869392

Grades: Kindergarten-Third Grade

Summary: This book is a classic story that is always enjoyable by anyone who reads it. It is an American folk song where an old lady with an interesting appetite. She eats all kinds of things that start off with a fly, then a spider, a bird, a cat, a dog, and more. It is a great book that builds on the item before. It can be sung to lyrics or just read like a book.

Why I liked this book: I do not know anyone who hasn’t liked this book. It is a wonderful way to build a story and a great way to have children understand beginning, middle, and end. I loved reading this book and I still love reading this book even at an older age.

Classroom Ideas: I think it would be neat to have my students make up their own story all while building on the item before. I would have them read it, then make up their own tune. This book is a great way to have students learn about beginning, middle, and end

Book Reflection #14: “Spooky ABC”

greyan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:20:44 +0000

Title: Spooky ABC

Author: Merriam, Eve

Illustrator: Smith, Lane

publication Date: 2002

ISBN#:

Grades: Kindergarten-Third Grade

Summary: Spooky ABC gives a great and spooky adventure through the ABC’s. It is great for little kids to see how this different book talks about the ABC’s. Children are used to happy ABC books and this is a great way to put a spin on a common topic.

Why I liked this Book: I thought this book was a spooky for young children, but I think it would appeal to them because I liked scary things when I was a younger. I believe that this book was on the Banned book list, or the Challenged list. I thought that this was a little harsh; it was just a book bringing a different view on perspective on the ABC’s.

Classroom Ideas: You could use this book as a way to have children learn different ways to portray the alphabet. I would use it as a guide to have my class make our own alphabet book about something that would normally be looked over. IT would be neat to see how different my students views and ideas.

Book Reflection #13: “Tree Frog Hears a Sound”

greyan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:12:50 +0000

Title: Tree Frog Hears a Sound

Author: Johnson, Rebecca

Illustrator: Photographer- Parish, Steve

publication Date: 2006

ISBN #: 0836859766

Grades: Kindergarten-Third Grade

Summary: This is a wonderful book about how tree frogs find their mates. It starts out with a small red-eyed tree frog. She hears a sound and goes on a trip to find it. She started out sitting on a leaf when she heard the sound, she sat very quiet and listened in the hope that she would hear it and be able to follow it. It showed cute pictures of how she jumps and wraps herself around tree limbs to get from place to place. She heard another sound, it wasn’t the first sound. She discovers that the sound of coming from a white-lipped tree frog. She was disappointed. She heard the sound again and went back after it she leaped from leaf to leaf and she almost fell. She then head a Roth’s tree frog laughing at her. At one point she jumped from a limb and landed on the back of a big green tree frog. She heard the sound once again and she then found her lovely tree frog mate. She now hears her tree frog every day.

Why I Liked this Book: I loved this book. Not only did it talk about how tree frogs find their mates by following the sweet sound, but how she travels from leaf to leaf, and limb to limb to find what she looking for. I loved the pictures they were very close up and very colorful. I love learning about have the little tree frog travels around the rain forests.

Classroom Ideas: This book could be used to explain how animal find other animal by just following their sound. I would have my students gather around in a circle and have some of the student’s blind-folded so that the only way they could find the other student it to listen closely to the sounds. It could also be used as a way for the children to tell their own animal adventure.

Book Reflection #12: “What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?”

greyan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:02:53 +0000

Title: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Author: Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

Illustrator: Steve Jenkins

Publication Date: 2003

ISNB #: 061899713X

Grades: Kindergarten-Third Grade

Summary: The book is about different things used by different animals. It shows you a picture of a nose, ears, tail, eyes, feet, and mouth. This gives you the opportunity to guess what they do with that certain part, but when you turn the page it tells you what they actually use the part for. For example, they picture a mole’s nose and on the next page, how a mole uses his nose to find his way while underground, or how a rabbit uses his ears to keep cool. There are many different animal used in this book anywhere from land animals to sea animals, to birds to insects.

Why I liked this Book: I love books that teach you thing while you read them. This book is a great book to learn about different animals and how they use what they have.

Uses in the Classroom: I would use this book while teaching about animals in science. The first time I read this book I would ask the children what they think the animal uses that specific thing for. It is a way for the children to think before they actually know that it is. This may be a great way to have children learn on their own. It also show them that what they think may actually be used for something else. The children may write in their journals about how they learned something or added to what they may have known before the book was written.

Book Reflection # 11: “Are we there yet?”

greyan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:48:44 +0000

Title: Are we there yet?

Author: Lester, Alison

Illustrator: Lester, Alison

ISBN #: 1929132735

Publication Date: 2004

Age Range: 4-6

Summary: This book is set up like a comic book with more than one picture on each page. It is about Grace and her winter term long family trip through Australia. They took an old camper trailer as their home. Grace tells about all the places they go. She talked about the Head of Bight. A cliff on the side of the sea, that looked down into the deep. They then traveled through the desert and went snorkeling at Turquoise Bay. They explored the coral reef there and looked at the fish. She talked about The Outback and how everything looked really pretty. They even got stuck in the sand and a football team helped push them out. She explained how the Uluru is the heart of Australia. It is a huge red rock sticking out of the ground. They go through the whole continent of Australia. Grace tells about how her brother keeps saying “Are we there yet?” They even saw the Twelve Apostles, a beautiful place with twelve rocks sticking out of the water. She tells about the last place they went, Sydney. She loved Sydney, and she was sad about leaving. But she was happy to be home.

Why I Like this Book: This book was very informative and I loved the way it was written. Grace took me on a trip through Australia and it is one of the places that I want to go to before I die. It just made me want to go there even more.

Classroom Uses: I would use this book to have my class write their own story about a family trip that they had went on. I would have the children write and draw pictures that went along with what they did. It would be neat to see what differs, and what is the same about the children’s stories.

Week Three Reflection

greyan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:38:53 +0000

It is very tough being in a fifth grade class. I feel as if I am in our teachers way and I wish I could help the children do things other than just sit there and observe. I have been able to do some interactions with the children. For example, when we did our one on one reading assessment, I got to get down on the student’s level and see what he see’s. I really do want to get up and help so it is felt as if I am needed. Our teacher is very busy and is always doing things which makes it tough to talk and approach her. At the end of class, we did get to help some of the students with a difficult math problem. It was very cool to help and show the students that they do know how to do the math problems even if they believe they have no clue. We also got the chance to see a ESL pullout class. I really enjoyed seeing the students interact with the teacher. They were having a lot of fun and actually understood what it was they were learning. At the moment, They were learning different terms for words like mountains and waterfalls. This class was very helpful in watching how the students from different places come together to learn a common subject.

Week Two Reflection

greyan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:32:02 +0000

This week started off very fast. We did our individual assessment which was very interesting. My student was six-year first grader. It was very neat to see how my student reacted to the different parts. He was very excited and energetic towards the beginning. As the assessment progressed, his energy level went down. He started to hesitate and started to get very frustrated. I could tell when he started going down as the stages progressed. Later on into the day, we did out classroom assessment. It went very smoothly, except a few students asked us to slow down. I guess this was just because we were nervous.