One of the most frustrating things about working with kindergarten students is that they just don’t follow instructions.
Yesterday we did a three-page mural project about American symbols. I had an example on the board. I had the “fill-in words” they needed written on the board. I gave verbal instructions- twice. Each “work page” contained two small pages about American symbols so when they glued their three pages together they had a six-page mural. Here is an example of a small page-
The American Flag. (color the flag)
The colors of the flag are ___, ___, and ____. (fill in the color words)
Two of my students had to re-write two pages. Two of my students did every page incorrectly. One of my students glued the pages in the wrong order. One “lost” a page. (Where, how???) One cut out the wrong part of a page. One wrote her name on one of the fill-in blanks about the statue of liberty!
Good grief Charlie Brown!!
This is February. I know the capabilities of my students. Each and every one of them is capable of copying a few words from the board and gluing three pages in order!! In fact, my lowest ranking student completed hers correctly-yep, every page.
The others??
Just not listening…
Not paying attention…
Talking to their peers…
Playing with their erasers…
Tying their shoes for the umpteenth time…
It’s going to be a long spring!
My principal was observing me yesterday during a reading intervention group. She was SO cracking up listening to the kids in the group's responses to some simple questions. I would ask a question, and the answer would be so "5-year-old" off the wall, it was hilarious. All of those things you mentioned come into play, but part of it I think is just developmental, their brains are growing so fast and new connections are being made so fast that sometimes they just sort of short circuit. I've got one little girl who has been going through a reversal stage the last few days, everything is backwards, total mirror image, and up til now, it's all been fine. It's a wonder they can walk down the hall without walking into a wall.
Posted by: teach5 | February 28, 2009 at 11:17 AM