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I feel that the Texas A&M masters program in just really, really helping me
even now, because
everything that I learned in the courses, I am able to apply in my classroom.
Through A&M and GreenvilleISD, they have the Listo Grant,
and I am more than thankful for that. I was able to, you know, order number posters,
color posters, to decorate my classroom for my kids so they could have visuals and
it'd be a stimulating environment for them.
Also, one of the biggest things was the Jose Luis Orozco cd
packet with the books,
and we have that,
and we sing that every morning during calendar.
And every morning you know we're singing, and dancing, and using the gross motor
skills, and
you know, just social skills with the kids and they love it. When I do my small group,
we always pick an activity like sequencing or, you know, writing letters,
sounds, things like that, and because of the Grant, I was able to purchase
the Estrellita program,
which has all that stuff. And so, I'm able to use at large group and small group.
So, I have one student
and his name is Noah, and
I noticed from beginning that he was very on level, and he was picking up everything
very quickly,
Once we started the Estrillita Program,
he picked up those sounds so quick, and now he is actually blending his sounds.
I'm so excited to see that, and
I'm actually working with him, one-on-one, on starting to write small words.
Carmen,
she has just blossomed. I mean, at the beginning of the year, she was so quiet and very shy,
but you ask her the sounds, and of the colors that we do on our charts, and
anything like that, and she is just on the ball. So, she has really, really just
picked up that information, you know, from the visuals and the songs and the music
that we do. They have to have their hands
touching something, seeing it, you know, just being able to to manipulate it so
that it will stay with them longer.
Right now, I feel that this material is helping them achieve that by keeping
them on level or above,
and helping them, you know, just experience things hands-on, and just being able to
share that with people that,
you know, other kids that speak Spanish, that speak English, that are all learning.
So, I feel that my students are just benefiting
more than me. You know, being able to learn all the things that I need to
teach them, but them
just being well-rounded, by having the literature,
the music that is cultural, which is so important to
nurture that culture at this moment, because
right now
they're so young and they don't understand the value of, you know,
having two languages. And so, as a teacher I think it's my job to help them see that.
And so, by having this music that is deep cultural by Jose Luis Orozco,
and it sings songs that were in Spanish that I've heard in Mexico when I
was little, that my mom knows. So this is helping them say, "Oh! It is okay to
learn Spanish and English." Also, the Listo Grant pays for us to go to TAVE and
NAVE, which are the teacher association and the national associations,
and we get to go, and they have the most amazing workshops because there is people
from everywhere doing workshops. So, we're learning about writing, and reading, and
hands-on activities, and arts and crafts that we can do with them. That is
things that I bring back implement. That makes me feel good because I'm not just
static, and I'm not doing the same thing
over and over and over but I'm able to use that material, use the information
and really, I feel I make a difference in the way I teach and my kids learn.