Journal 5
Grade K Time 7:45 – 1:15 Date 10/10/2012
List What occurred during the time you are at your school? What are all the things that happen in the time frame you are in your school?
• Meet with my teacher
• Morning meeting
• Reading centers
• Going to gym
• Prep for returning students
• Checking papers
• Getting students from gym
• Snack time
• Big book circle
• Going to lunch
• Getting students from playground.
• Poems
• Sorting and pattern assessment
• Writing journals
Describe 1 item from the list, in GREAT detail – who, what, when, where, how, why
Today was a great experience for me. With conferences coming soon, formal assessments needed to be done. As part of the learners’ math assessment, I was able to test the students on their sorting and pattern making abilities. The learners were brought to my desk one by one in alphabetical order. Using 15 chips of three different colors, first they were asked to sort the pile of chips into the three different colors. Then they were asked to take the chips, make a pattern, and tell me what the pattern was.
Overall, the learners did very well with the task. Pattern making was a concept they were just starting to work on. All but two of the learners were able to make some sort of pattern and tell me what it was. Sorting been covered for a while and all but one of the learners was able to sort.
The learner, who was unable to sort and make a pattern, set off a red flag. He is a very bright student and was able to do both tasks before in different settings. Also, he seemed very frustrated during the test. I asked Mrs. Huseby about the learner after the assessment. She thought for a moment and got an embarrassed look on her face. The learner is red green color blind and all three colors of chips were in his colorblindness area. To the learner, I had provided chips that all looked exactly the same. After we realized our error, I quickly picked three different colors I knew he could tell the difference between. I re-tested him and he passed with no errors.
Sometimes it is little problems that cause big errors. I felt very bad that I had put the learner through a frustration like that. However, I did not know about his colorblindness. I learned an important lesson about accommodation today. Even little accommodations like color change can have a big impact.
