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The age group that I am studying is between the ages of 6 and 7. My host teacher Ms Hollinger and assistance teacher Ms Harcourt who is bilingual they have 21 students there are 4 children that her Hispanic children, two of them are bilingual. They are preparing her student for their field trip to the pumpkin patch. One of her student Taylor Swift, grandparents has a pumpkin patch.  The Swift family donated about 200 pumpkins to the whole school.  The Swift’s has a farm outside of Crete. Taylor presented pictures of her with her family mom and dad, her little brother Jonas and grandparents while they were working on the farm. Okay, back to the class. Ms Hollinger asks the children if they ever carved out a pumpkin or draw faces on them. Some reply yes, some said no. So the children were provided different art supplies, construction paper to draw a face for their pumpkins. Markers, crayon, colored pencils and moving eyes, pom-pom, glitter, glue, and stickers.

The next day the children view a movie “It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  Good old Charlie Brown, who year after year searches for the Great Pumpkin. This is one of my favorite classic cartoon movies. The children enjoy watching. The four children that are Hispanic children we had special accommodate for them we view the movies in two ways. We view in English and in Spanish. The children had a chance to listen in English, Spanish and watch closed captions. They were placed in groups of four. They painted their picture; they had to explain what they like about the movies.

Guess What!! Today is our field trip. I decided to attend the trip with my host and her students. This was a great experience for me. I have always attended on trips with my own children. This was like a special treat. I look at this as one of our teachable movements.  The children had a chance to ask question. For instance, they ask our tour guide, “How did you get all of these pumpkins?” Can we eat them, how long does it take for them to grow?  As I stated before, Ms Harcourt is our bilingual teacher. the two children who were not ELL. Ms Harcourt explains to the children what was going on.  As she was explaining, I can see the happy smile , the changes of facial expression on their faces.  the sound of laughter, and giggles. They really enjoy the hay ride.

What we all learned; there are different kinds of pumpkins. There actually a number of different squashes in the family Cucurbitaceous, the same family as gourds.  The gourd we commonly call pumpkin is usually orange or yellow, though they can also be white, green or "blue".  Squash, on the other hand, are more commonly thought of as yellow green, though as with pumpkins, a variety of colors can be found.

I attended the trip with the class, we had a great time. All living things have a life cycle and the main thing that a child will learn from their trip to the pumpkin patch is the life cycle of a pumpkin in action. You can teach children about life cycles in the classroom until they are numb but it will stick in their minds much more vividly when they have the opportunity to experience it firsthand. Granted at the time of the visit to the pumpkin patch the pumpkins are near the end of their lifecycle, but the educational director of the farm will typically take the time to explain and illustrate the other steps in the pumpkin's life cycle.

Science Fair

            Today learning experiences with my host teacher and her students were creating a science fair project, it is important to make sure that certain elements are included, and that they are organized in a way that is clear and easy to understand. Planning Your Project: The children were brainstorming on what kind of project did they wanted to do. First the teacher had to student to sit down and write out on paper what you plan to do. They had questions *What are you testing? *What are your variables? *What do you expect to prove? *What will you need for your project and how will you get those things? There teacher last remarks to students were to remember to time your project accordingly for your deadline.

Their report should include the following:

*A title page: This page has your name, contact information (teacher’s name and your grade for example) and the title of your project.

*Table of contents: This page lets readers know what’s in your report and how to find it with ease.

*Introduction: This page should include your hypothesis (your idea), what you expected to happen, what you hoped to achieve, what you planned to do, and why you did it.

*Experiment: This page is a detailed explanation of your experiment, invention or demonstration.

*Discussion: On this page you describe the process and how it went. Challenges you met, achievements, data, etc.

*Conclusion: This is where you sum it all up. What did you find? What did you create? Etc.

*Acknowledgements and References: This is where you give credit to any helpers (for instance your parents) and cite any references you used in your work.

They were using guided inquiry, such as magnetic poles, modeling an ecosystem, making a fossil and the sense of touch and modeling a flood. There were many great ideals. Some were prepared with their materials. I observed one of the students making a chart for her project. The project she selected was modeling a flood. The material she used was aluminum pan, plastic bag, plastic gloves, soil, water, toothpick and beaker. Her questions; what can people do to be prepare for severe weather? 2. What cause a flood? The students have two weeks to prepare their projects. November 22 is District Sciences Fair. I look forward to hearing them explain what is happening and what to expect.  As they come up with theories and ideas of how it could be prevented. This is what science is all about, understanding what happens and how it can either be controlled or utilized!

Interview: School readiness

Insights gained from your interview regarding current advocacy efforts and needs

 My concentration I study at Kendall is Special Education.

 My topic I selected Where we stand on school readiness . Here are my insights I gained from the interview with my Host.

                                                                                                                                           

I ask my host, "What advocacy efforts are currently under way in your area of interest”?

My host responded: We do have an active PTO to try to enlist parents to become more educated on what their children are learning. Also we have monthly Parent Café’s where a parent educator comes and discuss any topics that may be of interest to our community of parents. We also do have two bilingual assistants within our district which help with our non –English speaking parents.

What other issues do you commonly encounter in your work or in discussions with colleagues?

Language barriers with parents who speak another language makes communication difficult and parents who are working two to three jobs to make ends meet make it difficult for the parents to then continue the educational process at home.

My questions are where do you stand on school readiness for your child? Is it the Language barriers, PTO meeting, or parents that working two to three jobs to make ends meet. According to NAEYC, children whose experiences differ from those of the school they enter may be viewed as less ready. Effec­tive kindergarten and primary programs meet children where they are and take extra care to help make mean­ingful connections with each child’s home, culture, and community. What your answers?