I would like to introduce my student.  Her name is Suzie and is currently in 2^nd grade. She is an average student. She has brown hair and blue eyes she loves to read; listen to music.  She loves school.  She likes to be with her friends, play on the playground and twirl on the bars. Right on task where she is suppose to be.

Second graders are just starting to figure things out.  They are learning how to count money, tell time, read more fluently, write better sentences, building there vocabulary and learning about current events.  They are also learning how to get along with each other. . According to Crain (2011) Students construct their own understanding through experience, interactions with content and others, and there curiosity gives them opportunity to work out their solutions on there own. In Suzie’s class they have a lot of activities to help engage them in learning.  They do a lot of group work so they can discuss with each to figure out the answers.  Also they have centers where they can go and do an activity and be able to physically do it on their own without the teacher helping them. They also have whole group where the whole class is working on the activity with the teacher. According to Crain (2011), Learning is the interaction between what students know, the new information they encounter, and the activities they engage in as they learn.

Every afternoon Suzie tells her mom all the things that she learned that day. One day Suzie was super excited when she got home to tell her mother that they did a science project about planting watermelon seeds in the garden at school. They were going to watch the seeds grow into watermelons. They discussed how soil was needed for the seed; that they also needed water and sun. At the end of the experiment when the watermelons were ready to be pulled off the vine they were going to enjoy eating some of them in the grass at school.  According to Crain (2011) that real learning comes from experiences that arouse children’s curiosity and give them opportunities to work out their solutions on their own.

As a 2^nd grader she loves making up plays , reading chapter books, drawing pictures, playing dress up with her sister. According to Crain (pg229) Vygotsky believed that our ability to talk to ourselves to think with the help of words contributes enormously to our power of thought. When Suzie reads books she is able to retell the story, tell about the characters sometimes she needs help with getting the setting right but she can put the events in order. If she has to write a story she does well with punctuation, capitalizing the correct letters and she can find more information if she has too sometimes with a little help. Math is a little more difficult for her one of the other students in class usually tries to help her while they are in groups working on their equations. She is doing all the things that a girl at her age level is supposed to do.

 My opinion at this grade level most of the children are demonstrating all of the learning styles.  They respond to visual cues, auditory music, and kinesthetic movement hands on.  I just have to stimulate them in a positive way. According to Crain (pg150) Other children can stimulate and challenge the child’s thinking and it would seem that adults can do the same.

Crain, W. (2011). Theories of Development (6th ed.). New York , New York: Prentice Hall.