Kindergarten Today

Amazing Minds

Each of my students has a journal in which to draw or write whenever they have free time during the day. Many choose to draw in their journals rather than play with games or puzzles. I think they create some amazing artwork and I’m proud to share a few samples with you.

 

Parents

We just finished our parent-teacher conferences and the attendance was outstanding. I know parents are pulled in a dozen different directions no matter when we schedule an event at school, so I’m always thankful when they take time to sit down and discuss their child’s education. And this is my first chance to examine family dynamics and get clues about the parents’ expectations of kindergarten.

We’ve had a few behavior problems this year and some challenging situations involving personalities, so it was reassuring to me to find out that all of my parents are in agreement about finding solutions to the problems. They are all aware of their responsibilities and we talked about their child’s ability to make better choices. This is a difficult age for many parents. Kindergartners are still cute enough to prompt us to help them -sometimes too much-and yet they are old enough and capable enough to exhibit some self-control and discipline. So we should expect them to take some responsibility for their own behavior. I always tell my students, “If you know better, then do better.”  After a rocky first quarter they are settling down to business!

I hope that parent-teacher conferences also give my parents the opportunity to ask questions, and assess how I approach my responsibilities as their child’s teacher. I want them to feel confident that while I have high expectations for achievement, I also understand that this is a difficult transition for children and may be their first real experience with work, procedures, and following directions. It is so important to me to set a good foundation for their future!

Fire Safety

Spent some quality time with some of our heroes! Thanks guys!

Report Cards

I’ll be sending home report cards this week and I’m generally pleased with what my students have accomplished during the first nine weeks of school. They have worked hard to learn the letters of the alphabet and the sound made by each one. We have begun to read simple words and phrases. We know some words by sight. We recognize most of the numbers from 0-20 and can say the days of the week. We’ve talked about school and fall and farm animals and weather. We’ve played games and sung songs and learned how to complete a puzzle.

However, the most important concept we have learned in the first nine weeks of school is how to behave and work and respond in a group. Many parents tell me how different their child acts at home: “he never talks back, he doesn’t get rowdy, and he doesn’t get distracted”. Most of the time I believe them. They aren’t asking their child to behave well and pay attention and follow directions and be quiet in the company of fourteen other children! So we have learned to walk in a quiet line down the hall, sit in a group for story time, follow along with lessons, and do our work without looking at our neighbor’s.

Today we will find out how to take a standardized test and fill in a little “bubble” under the correct answer. Oh the joy of accountability! Some of my students will do quite well and will give this task their full attention and answer with their best brain power. Others will be fascinated by the little bubbles and fill in all of them or they will be distracted by a noise outside and skip an answer or they will forget everything they have learned in the last nine weeks because they didn’t get any sleep last night. I try to re-direct the distracted ones and watch for those who are decorating the bubbles. If a child’s test score is vastly different from their normal skill level and I suspect they didn’t feel well, I will give them another test later in the week with the group of children who are absent today. And no matter when we schedule the test there are always at least two students absent!

So here we are…nine weeks completed and twenty-seven to go.