The UCF students planned and led a week-long after school program at Crystal Lake Elementary called "Growing Glowing Garden". Each day focused on a nature or gardening theme and included hands-on activities like planting beans, coloring rocks, and making a quilt for Haiti. The UCF students worked well as a team, with each person leading one day of activities. They observed the classroom teacher's strategies for managing students with exceptionalities, including autism and deafness, and reflected on how to support diverse learners.

1. UCF Students Presents: Growing Glowing GardenA week long of fun and exciting Activities all about How We Grow!Provided to you by: Osma CastroAngela MartinElaina HerrinDanelle EvansJason SanchezCaitlin Butler

2. Crystal Lake Elementary After School Program Pre- K and KindergartenMrs. Van Rees (certified ESE) 24 Total Children4 ESE Students 2 ESOL Students 3:30 – 5:30 Mon – FriWe created a program, which initiated from wanting to help Haiti and learn about ourselves in the process.

3. Our Itinerary for the WeekWednesday: Growing and GroovingRead it Aloud

4. Grooving It.

5. Graph ItThursday: Art in the GardenRock Coloring

6. Growing Big Dance

7. Story RockFriday : Jack and the BeanstalkLeaf Mobile

8. Jack and the Beanstalk

9. Have you Filled your Bucket? Monday: Growing by Helping OthersMaking a Name Necklace

10. Making a Quilt for Haiti

11. If Your Happy and You Know It – Digital PresentationTuesday: We Are GrowingPopsicle People

12. Rhythm Sticks

13. Caterpillar ClipsFlyers We Made For Parents & Staff

14. Growing Glowing GardenTIA|UCF Team Members

15. The Following Slides Are Our Individual Reflections about our Day!

16. Elaina HerrinThis was an exciting project for me that was a great lesson in organizing and time management. Since we were working with my daughter’s school I became the liaison between our group and the Administrators . My day was Monday, after we made our Name Tags, we briefly discussed Haiti and how we wanted to do something to help them. Each child took precut pieces of a house and as a group we placed them together on felt. The children were very happy with the outcome, later I took the quilt home and put it together (washable fabric glue – No Sew!) for the finished product. On Friday, I brought it back so all the children could see. Since I knew we would be working with a variety of children I wanted to create a visual project I knew they would all enjoy. With the help of the storybook, “If Your Happy and You Know It” I produced a little digital video that would coordinate with the song.

17. About the Exceptionalities:Elaina: I learned many specific tips from our teacher, Mrs. Van Rees. While she pretty much let us do our thing she consistently monitored Adam, a high functioning autistic in the Pre K program. I noticed how she would see “warning signs” in Adam and preemptively used strategies to keep him from getting to upset. Once he became frustrated with his coloring she pulled him aside and asked to see Adam’s happy face again, to which a larger frown appeared. She tried another approach; she asked him to “smell the roses (breath through nose) and blow out the candle (exhale through the mouth) – a perfect for technique for all children (and adults). He went back to the and seemed to fit back in but I think she saw some other clues that I was missing because she took him away from the table and asked him to take a break on the bean bags. He sat there for awhile playing with the stuffed animals and reading a book. When we transitioned into another activity he came and joined us and completely enjoyed making the next project. He was thrilled when he completed his garden about himself and proudly showed his mother when she walked in.

18. Osma CastroWednesday February 24th Graphing & GroovingTeam Members Osma & Jason

19. Osma CastroOn Wednesday February 24th, Jason and I worked on the following:

20. Osma CastroAs the lesson/activities developed all the children were working at a great pace and were actively engaged in all the planned activities. However, it began with one of the students with an exceptionality (Freddy) who was mishandling the classroom materials and tools such as the scissors. The certified teacher supervising our Teachers in Action Project asked this student to stand at a corner as an intervention method to have the student reflect on his unsafe poor choice. Next, the student with autism had a frustrating incident because he drew numbers with a crayon and accidentally made an error writing #2 and could not move past that error. The teacher approached him to find out what was wrong and interrupted his emotional behavior by assigning her assistant to take him to the reading corner. The teacher and the assistant selected a well illustrated and printed book which kept such student engaged while the other students continued with their learning. Finally, there was a third student who perhaps is a gifted student who had his incident. He was the first one to complete the given activities and was engaged, one after the other, at a much faster pace compared to his peers. He was the first one sitting waiting for the activity to be completed and be modeled by my example. While the other students were trying to figure out the graph game by counting syllables, he was ready to do the challenging words and became frustrated waiting that he began to cry in an outburst that he wanted to finish. At the end, the movement song used by Jason was enjoyed and done by all the students including Freddy and Juan Diego. As to Adam, the assistant and the teacher had to interrupt him from continuing to look at the same book and brought him back to the class activities because otherwise he would just stay sitting in the reading corner by himself.

21. Osma CastroExce07tionalitiesUnfortunately, I felt a bit distress from what I experienced with these specific students. I realized that the first student I noticed was more of a behavioral aspect where immediate attention is needed for that student to reflect on his actions. However, with respect to the possible gifted student, I learned that even when I was giving him challenging work he still held a power to be first in everything. Therefore, as a future teacher, I believe I would have to be consistent in leading him to understand that giving out a bit of his power to the other students will help him develop his social skills and reinforce his own knowledge. As to the other student with autism, I learned that it requires lots of patience, fast thinking when implementing strategies, and setting up the classroom with a specific area that accommodates that student to intervene their emotional behavior. I wanted to learn how the student with autism would be placed the following year. Ms. Van Rees explained that the student may be referred to an accommodating school where there is more adult instruction and assistance and less student ratio to provide the needed attention. I also found it interesting how the teacher uses body movements, dance, and music to allow these students to participate and dissipate much of that energy that blocks their learning. I remember entering the room and the students where singing a song and each student would come on up and show their dance moves and Adam was one who was really grooving it!

22. Osma Castro Lesson & Activity

23. Osma Castro Lesson & Activity (cont.)Growing Glowing Garden“Handprints that Grow”Graph It!

24. DanelleEvans- Friday’s Activities: My assigned day was Friday. I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate a famous literature piece, Jack and The Beanstalk to our Glowing Growing Garden theme. I read aloud the book Jack and the Beanstalk to the children and they loved it! Afterwards we then made our own beanstalks with paper plates and color construction paper. Before Friday I cut the plates in a shape of a spiral and small pieces of construction paper for the children to use. They then designed their beanstalk whatever way they wanted to. It was a great fun activity for the children to be creative. Afterwards we really got hands on and planted our own beanstalk. The children each had a cup where they planted their own lima beans with the soil and shovel I brought to class. They really enjoyed planting their own beanstalk. It was great to see the children's excitement and hope that it would grow as tall as Jack's beanstalk beanstalk. Once we completed the project the children took their craft and plant home for their parents to see.

25. I read to the children Jack and the Beanstalk. This book was a pop up version that I had when I was younger.We got our hands dirty planting our own beanstalk to take home! The kids loved it!We then made our own beanstalks. Each beanstalk was unique with their own choices of color.* Activities planned for Friday by Danelle Evans

26. DanelleEvans – Exceptionalities: On Friday, I had a child who was slightly autistic, his name was Adam. He was great and I made sure he was comfortable and understood what was going on around his environment. I also tried to interact with Adam for a while, since he was a bit unsociable. I asked his friends around him and Adam some questions to get them to socialize together, it seemed to help, since Adam was talking. Adam taught me a great deal of patience. Directions were always repeated for him to follow. Being repetitive helps Adam stay on task. I know repeating can get “old” but seeing the outcome of his projects was really worth it. He truly was a great child to work with and I am grateful to have such an amazing opportunity to work with Adam.

27. Danelle Evans - TeamworkWe all worked really well together as a team. It was a great idea for each of the members to pick a day and plan out activities. Communication and support are sometimes problems when working in a group, but not ours. Luckily most of us are enrolled in courses with each other, so we could catch up. However, even if some of us were not in the same class, we communicated constantly through emails. With that being said no one was left out of the loop. We also had a very supportive group that worked well with each other. We made sure that each member had enough supplies and help on that day. It was great to see what we all accomplished together. It was a great experience that I'm sure we will never forget!