Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Kindergarten is Great
Every year there are a few kiddos that I always seem to be talking with. Reminding them of rules, questioning their current choices, etc. Last week I overheard one of the students from another class make a 'discouraging' remark about school. Without skipping a beat, one of my 'challenging' students piped up and said, "No Way! Kindergarten is great. I love it here!" Amazing how different his perspective was from what I thought it would be. That's why I LOVE Kindergarten! <3
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Today was St. Patrick's Day. It's always a fun time in Kindergarten and a chance to spark their imaginations. Whenever St. Pat's Day comes around I'm reminded of my first few years of teaching and the extra effort Mrs. Walton put into making the day memorable for the children. Maxine Walton was my cooperating teacher for half of my Student teaching semester and later my teaching partner. She was forever young at heart and a wonderful mentor. Each year the Leprechauns would come and mess up her room before the children came in the morning. One year she surprised the little green buggers and they ganged up on her, tying her up with a jumprope to a little chair and stashing her in the classroom bathroom. When she wasn't at the door to greet the children, they went looking for her and finally found her. They released her from her bonds and proceeded to clean up the room so help out their beloved teacher. I have to admit I copied her idea a couple of times and the dramatic effect was similar with my students.
For several years we found a note from the Leprechauns that gave us a riddle, resulting in a scavenger hunt to the media center to locate paper shamrocks attached to 'gold' (butterscotch candies). A few years ago we had an inservice day on March 17th and a few traditions were forgotten by the next year. The excitability of the children over the last few years has also grown, so adding more to their excitement meter wasn't mat with much enthusiasm on my part.
Today we worked on several Leprechaun and rainbow themed pages and the children talked about things that they had experienced at home or at preschool last year. Overall, though, they were pretty calm. So after gym class, they discovered the paper shamrocks with butterscotch 'gold' in their desks. They were thrilled! About this time I discovered I was missing my cell phone from my pocket, so I asked if anyone had seen it in the room (thinking it might have fallen out of my pocket during the day.
The children immediately decided the Leprechaun's must have taken it as a prank when they were delivering their treats to the children. They vowed to chase the theives down on the playground as they went out for recess. Reports of seeing Leprechaun and their immediate demise were rampant after recess. How I love their ability to accept mythical characters and report adventures with them without batting an eye.
Lucky for me, the little visitors did return my cell phone. (I found it after the children had left) I'm working on my story about how the Leprechaun's returned it for tomorrow. I only hope my imagination can be as convincing as the children's! :-)
For several years we found a note from the Leprechauns that gave us a riddle, resulting in a scavenger hunt to the media center to locate paper shamrocks attached to 'gold' (butterscotch candies). A few years ago we had an inservice day on March 17th and a few traditions were forgotten by the next year. The excitability of the children over the last few years has also grown, so adding more to their excitement meter wasn't mat with much enthusiasm on my part.
Today we worked on several Leprechaun and rainbow themed pages and the children talked about things that they had experienced at home or at preschool last year. Overall, though, they were pretty calm. So after gym class, they discovered the paper shamrocks with butterscotch 'gold' in their desks. They were thrilled! About this time I discovered I was missing my cell phone from my pocket, so I asked if anyone had seen it in the room (thinking it might have fallen out of my pocket during the day.
The children immediately decided the Leprechaun's must have taken it as a prank when they were delivering their treats to the children. They vowed to chase the theives down on the playground as they went out for recess. Reports of seeing Leprechaun and their immediate demise were rampant after recess. How I love their ability to accept mythical characters and report adventures with them without batting an eye.
Lucky for me, the little visitors did return my cell phone. (I found it after the children had left) I'm working on my story about how the Leprechaun's returned it for tomorrow. I only hope my imagination can be as convincing as the children's! :-)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Welcome to Kindergarten
Welcome to my world of 5 and 6 year olds. I have been lucky enough to spend over 30 years teaching and learning in a Kindergarten classroom. I have seen many education and economic and emotional changes through the years, but one thing has always remained constant. Children have always be there to make my day a little better just by giving me a smile or an unedited opinion of how they view the world around them. I hope this blog will do the same for you by giving you a peek into my busy and sometimes chaotic Kindergarten room.
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