1st Grade Reader – Dan’s Pet
As some of you know, each Thursday I assist in a 1st grade class. I really enjoy my time there and have learned a lot from the experience. The teacher has noticed that the kids like having me in the classroom and that my skills as a teacher are improving.
This past Thursday the teacher decided to give the children a quiz from the standard reader’s notebook. The story, “Dan’s Pet” was read aloud in class and then the students were given the quiz.
The story is about a boy, Dan, who is allowed to have a pet chick that he named Pam. Dan helps feed the chick and the hens. One day, Dan can’t find the chick. His mom shows him that the chick is in the barn laying eggs and some of them have hatched so there are more chicks.
Some of the quiz questions involved selecting the correct word to properly complete a question.
Other questions dealt with reading comprehension and memory. For example, What did Dan name the chick? I had a problem with two of the questions in this section. One question was:
I did what the teacher instructed and none of the children who selected hen questioned my explanation. I wonder what the children would have said if I asked them why they selected hen.
The next quiz question that bothered me was the last one. The last question was, “What was Dan’s surprise?” Each child had to draw a picture or write a few words on what Dan’s surprise was in the story. The correct answer was that Dan’s chicks had other chicks. However, several children wrote that the surprise was that Dan got to have a pet. The children who wrote the wrong answer were ones that don’t have pets but would like to have one. Once again, I think that the children are being forced to fit a certain mold rather than be individuals. I would have worded the question differently and asked, “How did Pam surprise Dan?
On Thursday, the teacher I work with had recess duty so I went out with her to observe the children play. There is a nice patch of mature fir and pine trees behind the school that have carpeted the ground with dry needles. This time of year, the children use the needles to create forts by pushing the carpet aside with their feet and creating piles that represent walls. Some children are protective of their forts and only allow certain friends to enter. Other children play complicated games of keep away or capture.
I noticed that there were two older children with bright orange vests roaming the playground. The teacher explained that these were 4th graders who were assigned to mediate disputes between the children. The system worked well because sometimes the first and second graders felt more comfortable talking to another child rather than an adult.
Later that day I got to read a story to the children. This is one of my favorite activities with them. They all sit around me on the carpet as I read from a book and show them the pictures. While they look at the pictures I let them talk about the story and ask questions. The children are great at relating the story to themselves and the world around them. This also helps with reading comprehension.
At the end of the school day I was leaving the building and saw one of the children from my class waiting on the steps for her mom. She reached out and gave me a big hug. That’s probably one of the best things about being in an elementary school. There are lots and lots of hugs.
This past Thursday the teacher decided to give the children a quiz from the standard reader’s notebook. The story, “Dan’s Pet” was read aloud in class and then the students were given the quiz.
The story is about a boy, Dan, who is allowed to have a pet chick that he named Pam. Dan helps feed the chick and the hens. One day, Dan can’t find the chick. His mom shows him that the chick is in the barn laying eggs and some of them have hatched so there are more chicks.
Some of the quiz questions involved selecting the correct word to properly complete a question.
For example:The answer is (a) feed. On one of the questions some students confused the word brown and down. Both have the same ending and it is easy for a 1st grader to differentiate between the b and the d. Most of these questions and answers were straight forward.
Dan helped _____ the hens.
(a) feed (b) look (c) fly
Other questions dealt with reading comprehension and memory. For example, What did Dan name the chick? I had a problem with two of the questions in this section. One question was:
What was Dan’s pet?The answer was (b) chick. However, a child could come to the conclusion that the chick grew into a hen and then had more babies. So, I really think this is an unfair set of answers. If option (c) was a dog or a horse then it would be easy to answer. However, this text is forcing children to dumb down their thinking and to figure out how the author wants them to think. I pointed this out to the teacher but she said that (b) was the right answer and I should show the children the page that said Dan has a chick.
(a) cat (b) chick (c) hen.
I did what the teacher instructed and none of the children who selected hen questioned my explanation. I wonder what the children would have said if I asked them why they selected hen.
The next quiz question that bothered me was the last one. The last question was, “What was Dan’s surprise?” Each child had to draw a picture or write a few words on what Dan’s surprise was in the story. The correct answer was that Dan’s chicks had other chicks. However, several children wrote that the surprise was that Dan got to have a pet. The children who wrote the wrong answer were ones that don’t have pets but would like to have one. Once again, I think that the children are being forced to fit a certain mold rather than be individuals. I would have worded the question differently and asked, “How did Pam surprise Dan?
On Thursday, the teacher I work with had recess duty so I went out with her to observe the children play. There is a nice patch of mature fir and pine trees behind the school that have carpeted the ground with dry needles. This time of year, the children use the needles to create forts by pushing the carpet aside with their feet and creating piles that represent walls. Some children are protective of their forts and only allow certain friends to enter. Other children play complicated games of keep away or capture.
I noticed that there were two older children with bright orange vests roaming the playground. The teacher explained that these were 4th graders who were assigned to mediate disputes between the children. The system worked well because sometimes the first and second graders felt more comfortable talking to another child rather than an adult.
Later that day I got to read a story to the children. This is one of my favorite activities with them. They all sit around me on the carpet as I read from a book and show them the pictures. While they look at the pictures I let them talk about the story and ask questions. The children are great at relating the story to themselves and the world around them. This also helps with reading comprehension.
At the end of the school day I was leaving the building and saw one of the children from my class waiting on the steps for her mom. She reached out and gave me a big hug. That’s probably one of the best things about being in an elementary school. There are lots and lots of hugs.
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