Kindergarten Today

Question of the Day

There is a chart in my classroom for the "Question of the Day" and my students answer it by putting their names under 3-5 possible answers. One recent question was "How many pets do you have?" 

Today I ask YOU a question. 

Are you for or against kindergarten retention?

If you would like to give a short explanation for your response, I would also welcome that. 

Holidays

This is the time of year when kindergarten is a blend of excitement, anxiety, and fatigue. Students are adjusting to the new hours of daylight, thinking about Friday’s Thanksgiving Feast at school, anticipating next week’s break, and yes…getting anxious about what Santa will bring them. There have already been little bits of conversation about Christmas!

So for the next four and a half weeks we will review, make some crafts, have some fun, and enjoy the holidays. When the New Year rolls around we will once again tackle the serious expectations of Common Core. 

Absence

I was at the hospital with my husband Monday and Tuesday. When I returned yesterday my students were happy to see me and I was even happier to see them. By this time in the year we have formed a strong bond and we have genuine feelings for each other that go beyond a “working relationship”. I suppose that is one thing that is very different about teaching as compared to other professions, especially for a woman. As a mother and grandmother I have the emotional tendency of my gender to “adopt” children and I care about them even after they leave my classroom. Once you have spent nine months (irony?) with a child you can’t just say “have a nice life” and forget about them.

So yesterday was filled with questions about my absence and a couple of reprimands as well. Two students were rather stunned and offended that I would even be absent! Surely there is nothing as important as being in school with them. lol

There was also a very different atmosphere in class yesterday. Everyone was well-behaved and hard-working. It was as though they were rewarding me for my return and showing their gratitude in the only way they could. I’m sure by today some of them will be comfortable enough to return to their less-than-wonderful ways.  

It was also reassuring to talk to the substitute who took my place yesterday. Sometimes as teachers we wonder if our perspective about particular students is accurate, and the observations and experience of another adult can be quite helpful. The first three students she mentioned and the problems she encountered with them echoed my own challenges. Good to know! Substitutes are the only other adults who spend more than twenty to thirty minutes in our classrooms.

Today we will return to our normal routine. We are trying to learn as much as possible before the Thanksgiving break. Once my students return from that we will have lots of excitement about Christmas and it will be difficult to fill their little heads with much more than review and practice until after the holidays!

 

Halloween

We survived....sometimes that is all you can say about a day of costumes and candy. lol

A McDonald's Education

We are all about Common Core these days. We are learning, training, exploring, exchanging ideas and finding resources for the program’s implementation.

I applaud the foundational principal behind the adoption of Common Core. The governors of our nation recognized the need for a consistency in education that would allow anyone, especially transitioning families, to feel confident that their children would receive the same quality education in Montana that they would in Florida, or any other state. We all know that our population is not static and that many people face transfers and relocations every year.

Yesterday someone made a comment about the inevitable adoption of a state “pacing calendar”.  For those of you who may be outside of education, a pacing calendar is a timeline for teaching the adopted curriculum standards.

That is where I may have to draw a line.

If we adopt a state pacing calendar then wouldn’t it have to match all the other states in order to be really, really fair to those students who move around?

And wouldn’t our students have to learn at the same pace as all the other students in the state so they don’t fall behind?

And wouldn’t that pacing have to match the skills of the middle group so as not the rush the slower students or bore the gifted too much?

And if we teach the same things during the same week, then wouldn’t a natural progression be to teach the same daily schedule as well? We could all have the same lunch hour and the same recess and the same…

Doesn’t that sound a bit like a “fast food education”?

 

One More Skill

Yesterday, after nine weeks of using only glue sticks we had “the talk” about white glue. Several of my students have asked about the glue bottles stored in their seat pockets. A couple have begged to use them. Yesterday was the day! Oh my….

There are so many new rules and procedures and skills to be learned during the first nine weeks of school that I just don’t want to add white glue to the list. It requires much more control and precision and cleanup than a glue stick. Much more important to learn scissor skills and safety first. And I just don’t want to deal with sticky papers on my desk. But eventually we must have the option of using white glue because it is cheaper and stronger. I do allow the students to use it in art center from the very beginning, so it’s not like they have never tried it. Being “forbidden” for a few weeks makes it that much more desirable. So everyone has used it during centers.

But yesterday in morning meeting we talked about the guidelines for using white glue:

1. Use only a small amount. Demonstrated.
2.  Put it on the piece you cut out NOT the paper you are going to put it on. Demonstrated.
3.  Spread it out with your pointer finger. The glue will wipe or rub off your finger completely. Demonstrated.
4. Close your glue and put it upright in your seat pocket (little pocket at the bottom) when you are finished. Demonstrated.

First opportunity to use the glue was during math. They were to cut out word and number rectangles, glue them on their papers in matching pairs, and draw dots to represent the number.

10

Ten

 :::::

I even set it up so they didn’t have to worry about the “math” part. They had their number charts in front of them, so it was really just about using the glue. Easy, right?

Don’t forget that using the glue is a NEW skill.

Instructions will be ignored.

Demonstrations will be forgotten.

Experimentation will ensue.

I wish now that I had taken photos!!

There were rivers of glue on some papers. I observed and reminded and guided and reassured all through the process. Some could not get their bottle open. Some had trouble squeezing the bottle. Some didn’t want to get it on their fingers.  Some students did everything wrong and then wondered why their paper was a wet sticky mess! Others paid a little bit of attention and were more successful. It was a fascinating insight into how their little minds process new information.

Another new skill in progress! In another week or so they will be adept enough to tackle all the holiday projects that are ahead…maybe.  

 

Parent Conferences

Tonight I have the privilege of sitting down for a few minutes and talking with parents about their concerns and hopefully reassuring most of them that their child will indeed survive kindergarten. There have been so many curriculum changes over the last few years that most parents make the comment that what we do now is equivalent to what they did in the first grade. I agree. But I also think that most children are eager to learn and certainly quite capable of meeting and exceeding our new expectations.

Because our time is limited I will try to stay focused on three key topics: test scores, work habits, and parent questions.

Test scores are certainly questionable at this age and I’ve made my doubts about standardized tests pretty clear. However, yesterday I took my students to the cafeteria, where there are no posters, charts, or desk tags, and asked them to do four things for me: write their first and last name, write the alphabet, write 0-20, and write down the 8 letters we have studied as I made the sound of each letter. Most of my students can do all four of those quickly and accurately. One boy even spells his name aloud for me if I ask him to do so. One asked if I wanted uppercase or lowercase letters. Another can write any series of numbers because he knows the “pattern” of numbering. The majority of my students accurately identified all eight sounds that we have concentrated on these past few weeks. One of my lowest students, who wrote only a few letters of the alphabet, still recognized six sounds correctly. (Those are two different skills.) I will use our little test in conjunction with their August pre-test and the two formal tests to pinpoint areas of concern.  

I consider work habits to be the most important skill learned in the first few weeks of school. Year after year I see intelligent, capable children flounder in kindergarten because they are sloppy, disorganized, careless, and unmotivated. If those behaviors are not transformed before first grade I can almost guarantee they will continue throughout the child’s remaining school years.  We often overlook the power of habits; once formed they are incredibly difficult to change. So I teach my students basic procedures and organizational skills. For example, if we are working on multiple pages, as we would do when making a 4-6 page book, they are taught to keep all but one page stacked under their pencil box. They can concentrate on completing one page at a time and are not apt to cut through two pages accidently or drop one on the floor. If they are cutting out little pictures or letters that will be glued onto a page later, they put the little pieces in their pencil box or a little plastic cup from art center so they will not lose them. After nine weeks most of my students move efficiently from one task to another and still have time for the three “free choice” activity periods in our schedule. Others are still making the same mistakes over and over, losing their work, having difficulty completing their work, and leaving a trail of trash and supplies all over the room. Those are habits I will certainly discuss with parents!

Even though there are daily opportunities to meet briefly with parents (breakfast, conference time, end of the day) and we communicate in writing through student folders and daily work, parents are often hesitant to ask some specific questions until this first formal conference. I know some are waiting to see what progress their child makes during the first nine weeks and hold off on questioning anything until they see that first report card. So tonight I will answer any questions they have about the report card and what they can do to help facilitate their child’s progress. 

I wish I had an hour to sit down with each parent and explain much more of what we do. But hopefully through all of the other means of communication we can work together as a team to educate these little minds and start them off on their educational journey with the knowledge and skills they need for success! 

Fire Safety

Pigs

I love this annual project! I just put the pieces out on our art table and say “Make a pig.” The results are always as unique as my students. 

Making Progress

There are three levels of progress noted on our report cards:

M= Meets proficiency standards.

P= Progressing toward proficiency.

N= Needs more time to meet standard.

 

At this time of year it is too early to measure some skills and knowledge, but they must be included on the report card just for the sake of convenience. Otherwise we would have to issue four different report cards each year. So of course my students don’t know how to “solve addition and subtraction word problems”. I haven’t taught word problems yet, and won’t for several months. However, I am helping them explore the concept in morning meeting by asking things like “If your mom gives you two apples and I give you two more, how many will you have?” Most of my students are making progress in understanding, but a few still look at me like “I don’t even like apples, why would I want more?” You can tell they are not into the “math” part of the question because they raise their little hands and say things like “Mrs. Maurer, my mom peels my apples.”

Next week I will give their parents a report card that is a reflection of testing, daily work, observation, and progress toward proficiency. Every one of my students has made progress these first nine weeks. For some that has meant learning to read a few words. For others it has meant finally learning to write their own name. But progress is progress and each step leads to the goal of an educated mind.