Making Blankets

I loved the time that we were able to spend making blankets. It was fun being able to interact with classmates but it was also more than that. Knowing that making such a simple gift was going to impact a child in such a large way was remarkable. It's crazy to me that so many children in Sioux Falls need blankets. I felt honored to be able to help out a child/family in need of a blanket. Who knew that such a small guesture could go such a long way?

Project Warm-Up

It is very disheartening to know that there is such a large population of homeless people within Sioux Falls; Adults and children without a shelter, without the necessities they need, without warmth, and without having a place to call home. Project Warm-Up was a wonderful experience to reach out, help, and show love to the people in our own city that are in need. Personally, I take many things for granted, especially blankets. This project opened my eyes to the simple things we can do together to help each other. It was very heartwarming to unite and show love and compassion to these individuals in need.

"It is not how much we do,

but how much love we put in the doing.

it is not how much we give,

but how much love we put in the giving."

-Mother Teresa

Blankets

I had a really great time making blankets. It's weird to think that for some kids that will be the only warm thing they have this winter. At my house we have stacks and stacks of old blankets, plenty of coats/mittens/etc. I can't imagine someone going without all of those things, especially during a freezing SD winter. Although we didn't make a lot of blankets, I think for those few people our actions really meant a lot and that is what's important.

Project Warmup

It is hard to imagine never being warm enough in my own home or not having a home to protect me from the harsh winter weather. I was very excited to have a chance to serve to children without proper shelter to keep them warm. It breaks my heart to think about them but it also makes me happy to think that I can help them out. Unlike much of our class, I had never made a fleece blanket before so this was a new experience for me. I enjoyed making the blankets and am glad that kids with no control over being cold in the winter can be at least a little warmed up by our efforts. As a teacher, I hope that I can help students with these needs in similar ways.

Blanket Making

I think blanket making for Project Warm Up is a really easy thing to do. It doesn't involve a lot of time or effort, but can make a big difference. Since we live in South Dakota and have days like Tuesday and Wednesday, it makes me glad that I have a warm home to go to. I just think that blankets and prayers can truly make a difference in these children lives.

Project Warm Up

Being apart of Project Warm Up was a great service project to be involved with. I was also surprised to hear that there are over 1,000 homeless children in Sioux Falls. I would never have guessed that. That breaks my heart to know that children are suffering to live here. I'm glad that we were able to help even with the limited time we had, we still helped a lot of children keep warm this winter! It makes me wonder what else I can do to help someone in need during this cold winter. I hope this project continues to be successful next year.

Project Warm Up

I enjoyed doing project warm up and being able to make some nice fleece blankets for those who are in need. I cannot imagine being out in this cold over night possiable, or for part of the day even, with nothing warm. Blankets are something that are often taken forgranted and I think it is great that we were able to recognize the need for them. This project has now made me in the mood to make my son and my self some nice, warm, fuzzy blankets!

Tie Blankets

Making the tie blankets was really fun and a new experience. I have never made a tie blanket before but I was surprised on how easy it was to do. I also know that the tie blankets will be going to children in need, so it's for a good cause which makes the experience that more enjoyable. It was also fun bonding with some of the girls in my class and joking around and having fun with them also. This was a very fun project that I would definatly do again.

Blanket Making

I really enjoyed making those fleece blankets today. I had no idea that there were that many homeless children in Sioux Falls, and it really broke my heart to hear that. As I was making the blanket, I just kept thinking about how it will help someone in need. I wish we could do this more often because if you think about it, it took less than an hour for two people to make one blanket and yet it will make such a huge difference to a family. I hope that this can catch on to more people in Sioux Falls, and we can really make a difference.

Observation 3

The observation 3 report was a really fun and exciting experience. I liked to sit and watch Jacob and Ehren interact with each other. The teacher did a wonderful job communicating with the two boys and also having them communicate with one another. The boys had lots to say and also had very good vocabulary, meaning that I could understand what they were saying for the most part. The kids were laughing and seemed to be having a very fun time playing with the tractor and ball, this made the observing a lot more fun and exciting for me as well to do the assignment.

Observation # 2

I had an amazing time going to Bee Hive and observing Haleigh and Cooper. They were so fun and energetic that it made the observation so much pleasurable. Haleigh is so cute and she was growling and babbling so much that she developed the hiccups, it was precious. Cooper on the other hand didn't make many noises at all he just crawled all around the room giving anything and everything kisses, it was adorable. I had a very nice and pleasurable experience at Bee Hive observing the kids, the caregivers do a wonderful job looking after all of them.

Fridays conference.

I was only able to attend and help out with Friday's activities. I don't know what I was expecting, but I think I thought it would be a lot more informational than what it was. I thought that both the ladies who talked were very nice and I'm sure very knowledgeable about their topic. I was mostly in a group with ladies who were in home daycare providers and since I want to be in a classroom our stratagies are a little different. So some of the ideas that my group had or talked about didn't apply to me. I thought the overall experience was fun, I had a good time. I was kind of dissapointed that I wasn't able to help out Saturday. I love interacting with kids and think that I missed out on the best part of the conference.

Friday & Saturday

I thought Friday went pretty well. I was excited that my hours there counted as inservice hours for work! I actually didn't introduce any of the speakers in my rooms. I thought it was more of an informal setting, and I guess the speakers did too. Overall, I think it went pretty well. There were some technical problems in my second class, and the speaker in the first class seemed to be stumbling through her presentation, but it was still a good experience.
Saturday was good too. The kids really seemed to like our booths, as well as other USF booths. Although I think the hours got a little long toward the end, it was nice interacting with the kids and seeing who had read our book and who had never even heard of it! It was also nice getting two breaks throughout the morning.

Day at the Reading Festival

I had an amazing day at the reading festival. My group was great to work with and we had a blast. Seeing kids coming to our booth and being able to draw their very own dinosaur was awesome. Kids love to put their ideas on paper and express their feelings. Even though some kids were hestitant to draw at first, they came around. I remember one boy in particular that came and sat by me crying because he did not want to be at our booth. After a little coaxing and seeing what his brother was able to draw, he finally picked up a marker and drew a couple dinosaurs. When it was finally time to go, he wasn't ready to leave. :)

No Fries!

It was so much participating on saturday! The kids were awesome and really had fun doing our project (Cloud Mobile)! Some children did get frustrated with our activity.
I remember one child in particular who was so frustrated with the fact that we had hamburgers, but no fries. He sat there and questioned me as to why we did not have fries.
I felt bad for the kid, but later found it very clever of the child to be able to associate fries with hamburgers. I surprised he did not want a can of soda to go with it too.
In the end, I found the situation quite comical, but still feel for the child.

The reading festival was amazing on Saturday! I had so much fun working with the kids. I helped with the booth that used the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I was surprised how busy we stayed in the morning. One of the best moments was when a parent asked me for a copy of everything so they could use it at their preschool. This was a huge compliment to us for our hard work and was glad that not only the kids loved to booth, but preschool providers and parents were wanting to use the idea for their own kids and classrooms. We also had some parents taking pictures of their children with the background of the painted scene of the book. No matter what age the child was they all had different abilities and ways of thinking. It was so much fun to hear what they had to say about the movie and book. I also found it very interesting the reasons why they colored the objects the different colors they did. I had a blast!

Surprise! :)

This last Friday was one of my little brother's last high school football games. He is a Senior this year and with my busy schedule i've found it very hard to be able to come home and watch him play. So, i happened to get a Friday off from cheerleading and decided that i would drive the 3 hours home and surprise my family and more importantly my little brother. When i showed up at home, no one was more surprised then him! He had the biggest smile on his face and he gave me a huge hug. And for my brother that's a big deal cause he's not a hugger. Well needless to say they lost the game, but my brother scored the only touchdown for his team! I very happy that i could be there to see that. After the game he came up to me and hugged me AGAIN and thanked me for being there and said it was the highlight of his week!

Reading Festival

Since i was only able to attend Friday night of the Reading Festival, i don't have any good experiences with children but i did learn allot from the secessions i did attend. I attended a Science secession where i happened to learn about effective activites that you can use in the classroom. My favorite activity was one she mentioned where all the students were asked to bring all different sorts of balls to the classroom. She asked them to be balls that they could keep in the classroom. The teacher then picked up a paper plate and asked the students if it was a ball and the class said no but couldn't explain why. So then they proceeded in a discussion about a sphere is and how just because something is a sphere doesn't mean it's a ball.

Also, I enjoyed this presentation because she showed how to incoorporate literature into science. I liked this mainly because i find science to be a rather boring subject, therefore, her giving good ways to make science fun was benefical to me!

Reading Festival

I had so much fun working at the reading festival. I will admit that I was getting a little overwhelmed with cutting ice-cream cones, hamburgers, strawberries, and other foods out, but once I started working with the kids that came to our booth, it was totaly worth it. Most of the kids that came to our booth had never heard of the book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but after we asked them if they had heard of the movie, they often recalled seeing it advertised on TV or the computer. It was a great experience because we got to work with children of all stages. I worked with kids that simply scribbled on their food as well as students that wouldn't leave a single spot of white when they were coloring. Our backdrop is what took the longest so it was so fun to see parents and children looking at it, commenting about how cool the book was, and taking pictures by it. I think the reading festival is a great way to get kids excited about reading!

Proud Dad

My favorite story from the reading fesitive was getting to talk to a Dad about his son, and using the knowledge I'm learning in classes. His son was about 3 and was coloring for 15 to 20 minutes and his Dad was patiently waiting, which was rare that day. I told him his son has a lot of stamina to color the entire mitten, and he said he colors for hours at home and also looks at pictures in books for hours. I asked, "Does he hold the book the right way and turn the pages the right way?" He said, "Yeah." I told him in my children's literature class that if the child is handed a book upside down and turns it the right way and then turns the pages the right way, then they are getting ready to read, and if he has a lot of stamina that will make the process a little easier. The Dad started glowing with pride, and I was glad what I'm learning can really affect people and the knowledge and information should be shared and not kept for my own personal usage.

Moving Day!

This week I helped a friend move into her new apartment. She was having trouble finding people to help so I volunteered. We used my station wagon because her car was not big enough to move her couch. She was very stressed and I did the best I could to help her out. She bought me pizza and watched a movie afterwards. It made me feel good to help a friend in need and it was a fun way to spend an afternoon. I also got to help her arrange her new apartment, which was always fun!

My favorite part of our booth was our felt mitten activity, and it seemed to be the kids' favorite as well! The kids were able to roll the large dice, then we would help them count what they rolled. The number they rolled was the number of animals they were able to stick to the felt mitten. The kids absolutely loved the large dice and just playing with the animals on the mitten. The other favorite activity at our booth was the coloring pages! Some kids really got into it and took a long time to color, and I was very impressed with their stamina! Overall I had a great time at the reading festival and I know the families did as well!

Reading Festival

Designing and running a booth at the reading festival was good experience. I enjoyed watching kids draw their dinosaurs and writing their name. It was cool to see how well scaffolding works because when me and my group memebers helped little kids draw a dinosaur we would tell them to draw a body or add features that a dinosaur might have. There was one little boy that I sat next to and told him to draw a dinosaur. He took the marker and made a spot of scribbles and then I asked "Can you add a tail to your dinosaur?" and he drew a strait line coming out of the back of his spot of squiggles. It was so cool to see how kids can excel when you sit down with them help them realize their capabilities.

Reading Festival Experience

I enjoyed the reading festival immensely. I had a lot of fun talking with the children about their favorite books, all the fun characters they had met or saw, and about "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." It was refreshing to see how excited these children were about books and literacy. Not only was it great being able to talk and spend time with the children, but it was a lot of fun getting to know my classmates and create this project with them as well. Overall, the reading festival was an enjoyable experience.

Literacy Festival with a Chance of Meatballs!

The Literacy Festival was a ton of fun! I loved seeing kids get excited about making a food mobile and then getting really interested when we told them about the book and movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I think all the kids who came to our booth want to see the movie after visiting! I think this festival is an awesome way to get young children and parents involved and excited about literature. Although we worked super hard to help kids make their projects, it was very rewarding working with the
children. I was also very proud of our backdrop that the parents
and kids all loved!

I had an excellent time at the R.F. I enjoyed talking with the children and working with them as well. I also really enjoyed working with my group, they were all amazing!! They were just good partners and made the day so much more enjoyable, I thank you all for that! My favorite thing to do at the festival was being "slide master." It was a great privilege helping the children out on the slide. All in all it was a great experience that I enjoyed very much and would love to do it again someday!

Reading Festival

The best part of the Reading Festival for me was to see the kids that came through the festival be able to do something kinetically connected to the book. I thought it was really great that we were just introducing the book and not actually reading it to them. They could be interested in the book and then go home and read it with a parent. It was fun coming up with activities to match our book and it is so important to get kids excited about reading and by coming up with activities is one way we were able to do this. All ages were able to put up letters on the felt tree. The younger kids liked seeing the letters stick and the older ones we asked questions about the identification of letters or words. One particular little boy did not know his letters but he loved putting them up on the felt tree because they would stick.

Reading Festival

At first when we received this assignment, we were frantic about finding a book and activities to go with the book. As the week went on and we worked on our booth for Saturday I began to feel really confident about our work. By the time Saturday came, we were ready for the kids! At first we didn't have the big dice sitting out and I noticed that it was a little tough to get kids to come to our booth. But once we were holding the dice and rolling them on the floor, they were practically running their parents over to come play with us! All the children loved the game where they got to put the animals on the felt mitten, and I wasn't surprised that they also loved coloring the mittens. Our third activity, where children could try on different kinds of mittens was a hit and miss activity. The children that loved it, really loved it and others didn't care to try them on at all. But I'm still glad we had that activity for those that really enjoyed it! Overall, I think the festival went very well and I was really happy with how our booth turned out!

When this assignment was introduced at the beginning of the week, I was nervous as to how we were going to get everything done in time. Luckily, everything was completed and ready for the reading conference on Saturday. I had a lot of fun hanging out with the kids and talking with them about literature and the conference. The majority of them were so excited to be there, and so excited that they were able to see their favorite book characters - I don't know how many kids excitedly told me they got pictures with Clifford the Big Red Dog! Not only was it great to be able to talk to kids about their experiences at the conference and their favorite books, but also, to get to know some of my classmates a little better through this project. Overall, this project was a great experience for me. 

Reading Conference

I wasn't sure what to expect from this reading conference, but pondered how we were going to make activities for 600 kids! Luckily with excellent team work The Mitten booth turned into a success. The United Way was impressed by our booth and we were able to educate parents and children on our book, which was the most rewarding part. We definitely spread the love of reading to our community, which is exciting.