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Choose a moment that was important for the students during the lesson. Describe it and say why it was important.

In my opinion, the most important part of the lesson was greeting the students. The teacher made a circle with the kids while they were standing, they sang and then sat on the floor. They sang a hello song and immediately after, the teacher asked how students felt and the kids answered. This shows awareness of emotions on part of the students and affection on the part of the teacher. When necessary, the teacher uses a song to make students change the place where they are seated. It seems that all the children have created a bond with the teacher and it shows.

Include a photo of a moment in the lesson, or a task students did, a picture from the board or any other lesson component you would like to share, and describe it.

On the day of my first observation, students listened to the story “Go Away, Big Green Monster!” The teacher asked what they understood about it, read the story again and made emphasis on the new vocabulary -body parts. I loved this moment because children were so engaged and participative! Then, children played a memory game to consolidate vocabulary about colours.

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Choose a moment that was important for you during the lesson. Describe it and say why it was important.

In this lesson, the teacher retold the "Go Away, Big Green Monster" story with a green monster's face made with plush and Velcro. The parts were removable. As I see it, this class was important because children were highly engaged and participative. Apart from this, the teacher allowed the kids to play with the monster's face and it was absolutely entertaining and fun.

What aspects of the lesson do you consider successful?

This class was a huge success! As children's attention span is short, the teacher included a wide variety of activities and games, as well. Children were highly engaged, motivated and had lots of fun.

Witnessing this made me realize that children need a skillful and creative teacher who can keep them busy as well as entertained. Hats off to the teacher of this course!

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Choose a quotation that represents an event, knowledge, insight in this lesson.

“Education is the key to success”. In this class, the teacher used different resources, games and provided lots of scaffolding which eventually led students to successfully start managing a second language. Education empowers, provides with tools for developing skills, and paves the way for personal growth. Without doubt, these factors will eventually lead to success and it is us, teachers, who will make this possible.

Choose a moment that was important for you during the lesson. Describe it and say why it was important.

I helped the co-teacher in the memory game about body parts. Every time children flipped a card, I encouraged them to name the different body parts and it was a huge success as most children remembered the vocabulary pretty well. The interaction with them was magical.

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What aspects of the lesson do you consider successful?

A set of students were assigned the "monster plush game" in which they had to attach the different parts of the monster (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, hair) to the monster face. Children had to remember the order of appearance of each face part according to the story. I consider this lesson to be successful since students could remember the story, and name the face parts, and they loved the game.

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What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next one?

This was my last assistantship class, and it allowed me to envision the planning of my first lesson. The teacher retold the story by drawing the monster with chalk on the board. Then, a couple of children had to put in order a set of little flashcards which represented the "Go Away Big Green Monster" story. These two aspects helped me to plan my first lesson plan as I've noticed that children learn better when paint, colours, drawings and games are involved.

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How did the students react to your teaching, to the activities and the materials? How did they react to the lesson?

As this was my very first class, I felt that my nerves were about to take control of my body, but after inviting children to gather and greet everybody, I could start delivering the class smoothly. The children were engaged, motivated, they enjoyed the activities, and I had a great time in class too. Needless to say, they truly loved doing the hand-printing activity and making bears with modelling clay.

Choose a moment that was important for the students during the lesson. Describe it and say why it was important.

Judging by the children's reactions, the moment that was truly important for them was dipping their hands in brown paint and printing them on a piece of paper so as to create brown bears. I will always remember one of the children's face expression: at first he looked solemn and rarely spoke, but after realizing they were about to get their hands dirty, his attitude changed completely and from that moment onwards, he received in every class with a smile upon his face.

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Choose a moment that was important for you during the lesson. Describe it and say why it was important.

As children sit at their tables in groups of five or six people, I brought them six different MDF wood animal puzzles for this class, one for each student. As soon as I placed the puzzles on the table, the kids' attention was caught and immediately grabbed one puzzle. This moment seemed relevant to me as children looked eager to solve the puzzles, and even other children approached this table to see what was all the fuss about.

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Crochet puppets and an Eva foam goldfish

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Include a photo of a moment in the lesson, or a task students did, a picture from the board or any other lesson component you would like to share, and describe it.

For this lesson, I had to retell the Brown Bear story by using puppets. As you can imagine, children were excited and curious since all the puppets were hidden in a mystery box, and every time I pulled one out of the box, the children's eyes were fixed on the puppets. The kids' expressions made me realize that the awe factor is crucial to keep children focused and amazed.

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What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next one?

In this lesson, the teacher brought a memory game, a worksheet for colouring with crayons, a monster's face made with plush and Velcro, and different coloured chalks. The class started by having the teacher retelling the story by drawing the different part of the monster's face on the board with chalk. Then, children worked on individual activities on the desks. What I found useful of this class is that it is not neccessary to always conduct it in the same way, that is to say, the greetings and the farewells are important for marking the beginning and ending of a class but what happens in between can be carried out in different ways and adapted accordingly. Bearing this in mind, I can develop my lesson plans taking into account that young learners need to be constantly stimulated so as to keep them engaged in the activities and avoid boredom.

Include a photo of a moment in the lesson, or a task students did, a picture from the board or any other lesson component you would like to share, and describe it.

In this group, children do multitasking, that is to say, while some children work on a worksheet, the rest play at their desks. Here, I'm including a picture of a monster that children had to colour with crayons. In my opinion, this activity is important since the teacher will later prepare a puzzle with the coloured picture of a monster.

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What aspects of the lesson require change/ improvement?

Definitely, classroom management. Dealing with little children is not an easy task, but I strongly believe that I can continue learning the attention grabbers necessary to sucessfully manage a big group of little kids.

Describe this lesson in terms of a metaphor.

"THE MIND IS A SPONGE". This metaphor clearly describes today's class as children remembered most of the names and colours of the animals from the story that I told on my first class! We played a game which consisted in "catching" an animal flashcard with a fly swatter. I was pleased because children could recognise and name the animals.

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What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next one?

In this lesson I included a TPR activity where children had to play "Duck, Duck, Bear". Needless to say, children loved it and so I decided to include a similar one in the following lesson plan.

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What teaching strategies did you use?

This was my last class in Kinder. So as to make memorable, children role played the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?". This teaching strategy, together with question-answer, and visualization through the use of wood cards, were useful for developing an enriching and meaningful class.

Choose an audio / video segment from the lesson, and reflect on what is viewed or heard.

When children were playing "Duck, Duck, Bear", I noticed that they truly enjoyed walking in a circle, patting their classmates heads and then running. Children definitely learn through activities that involve TPR.

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This is not a goodbye but a see you later

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This is not a goodbye but a see you later

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During my Practicum, I worked with the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" written by Bill Martin Jr and illustrated by the great Eric Carle. In every class, I retold the same story but by using different didactic materials (a big book, a flip-book, a song, puppets, flashcards). Children were able to participate in the retelling, and it was during the hands-on activities and games that they could put into practice what they have just learned and make their own productions in a meaningful and enriching context. The picture above demonstrates that with a couple of materials, a bit of imagination and a pinch of magic, it is possible to create wonderful productions and long-lasting memories.

Thank you so much Kinder 4 for making me feel welcome and for being awesome!

This is not a goodbye but a see you later...