Jacqueline DiPaolo

3/29/21
Internship #2 Summation

I interned at Franklin Township School in Franklin Township where I was in Mrs. Kosci’s
classroom on the dates 1/29, 2/26, 3/ 5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26. I was there for a total of six Fridays,
equaling twelve hours altogether. I was unable to attend the 2/ 5 and 2/12 internships because
Del Val went online for a few weeks due to a rise in coronavirus cases. However 2/19 did not
have an internship because that was Presidents’ Day weekend. Mrs. Kosci teaches all subjects to
one first grade class. Her first grade class has twelve total students, and no online students. The
hours that I attended each Friday (10:00am through 12:00) had mostly the same schedule and
always the same students. Mrs. Kosci was absent on my last internship day 3/26.

Franklin township school is a very welcoming school with lots of student work all around on
every corner you turned. I observed different aspects of Mrs. Kosci’s classroom each time I was
there, she always had new student work hung up on a different wall each time I would arrive.
Since Mrs. Kosci teachers first grade her classroom is extremely colorful and full of different
students' drawings. Her classroom consisted of lots of posters with simple math problems and the
letters of the alphabet which are for her students. One thing in her classroom that she consistently
uses is her smart board, she uses it for various activities and for brain breaks so the students can
do dance alongs. The students are also provided with iPads, however these are rarely used and
mostly just for playing games during snack time. What stuck out to me on the very first day was
that each student has a bucket right next to their desk with their name on it where they were able
to put all their belongings. I thought this was very smart because this created a lot more room for
the students on their desks, and the bins didn’t take up too much space on the floor. Overall I
would say this classroom felt like a really nice and warm first grade classroom that I’m sure the
students love to be in and learn in everyday.

Each day Mrs. Kosci would mainly follow the same schedule, however like every classroom
unforeseen obstacles and challenges do occur which Mrs. Kosci would always do a great job of
adapting to. On a normal day that goes smoothly, the schedule usually looked like the following:
I would arrive in the classroom and the students would be washing their hands and getting ready
for snack. This was their first snack on the day so they would eat a little food and play on their
iPads. After snack they would then move onto math where they would usually practice addition,
subtraction, or graphing. After math, they would then move onto science where they would
either read an article or do an experiment. Each day Mrs. Kosci would follow a schedule similar
to this, however some days when it was nice enough outside, she would take the students outside
to play which would affect the schedule (the outside play would usually cut into science time).
There was also sometimes unplanned brain breaks or activities, but overall I’d say Mrs. Kosci
followed the schedule of a snack, then math, then science.
I was unable to teach a lesson of my own, however I did teach a lesson on self-love to the
students with my FCCLA partners Ava and Ashlee on March 5, 2021. This lesson lasted from
10:00am to 11:15am and it consisted of many activities based around self-love. These activities
included a self portrait, a worksheet on self-love, and an activity regarding nutrition. There was
also dancing and lots of questions involved. However, since I did not teach or plan this lesson on
my own I did come up with a lesson that I would’ve taught to the students if Mrs. Kosci had the
available time. For the lesson I came up with, I decided to base it around Dr. Seuss because I
thought that if I were to teach my own lesson it would’ve been during the Dr. Seuss read across
America week. Mrs. Kosci taught the students about one Dr. Seuss book every day, so I decided
that I would’ve thought about “The Cat in the Hat”. My lesson on “The Cat in the Hat” starts off
with me reading the book to the students because they need to understand the story in order to
understand my activities. After reading the book to them I would’ve then had them start off with
an activity where they would have to cut out the cats hat from white construction paper, then
color in its stripes and decorate the hat. After this craft they then would’ve moved on to a partner
activity where they would have to stack a red solo cup then a piece of white construction paper
and repeat. They would’ve completed this activity with a partner to work on teamwork and
balance. Finally I would’ve done an activity where they would have to match the rhyming words
from “The Cat in the Hat”. After all my activities were done I would’ve done a Dr. Seuss dance
along video with all of them, then I would’ve asked questions about the book and what they
learned from my lesson. I think they would’ve definitely enjoyed my lesson, but unfortunately
Mrs. Kosci was unable to find the time.

I absolutely loved this internship. The students and Mrs. Kosci we’re absolutely amazing to work
with and I had so much fun with them. I learned from this internship that I am definitely meant
for younger grades if I do become a teacher. I was very surprised with the conversations I was
having with the students because I didn’t anticipate them being able to hold such a mature
conversation. I think with this internship I definitely found the age group that I’m looking to
work with and I can definitely say I am really sad to leave. While I also like my first internship, I
think I just work a lot better with younger kids. It was also interesting because I had never
worked with this specific age group of six and seven-year-olds and I really enjoyed seeing them
grow and having conversations with them. This internship taught me a lot about this age group
and what they learn about at this age. They are a lot more developed and a lot smarter than I
thought. I hope next internship I’m able to work with a similar age group or even second or third
grade because I think these are the grades I will thrive with.