Easter Excitement

Monday

The golden pin

Today was, for the most part, a typical Monday at Lawn Manor. The kids were a little rowdy but they were still bummed about not winning the golden bowling pin in gym class. Still, we worked our math by skip counting by fives and tens. My coop uses a program on the computer for math. The kids are generally quiet as they watch and then they return to their seats to fill out their accompanying worksheets. Kind of boring, but they learn from it.

Guided reading groups went well today. We had two new books and a phonics warm-up that the kids seemed to enjoy. It's still frustrating, sometimes, to watch the really struggling readers suffer through each word while their classmates are reading pretty fluently. But, my teacher and I agreed that it's benefiting them even to be listening and following along. My coop also showed me the section in the computer lab where the guided reading books are kept and organized by levels (A through L). She invited me to look through and switch the books out as I see fit. I thought this was cool :)

The school mascot! And the majority
of the play revolved around bees

We also got the opportunity to watch the second grade play during our normal music slot. The kids loved it and I enjoyed watching the kids act and sing too. The catch was: I was essentially responsible for watching two classes during the performance and calling out kids who were chatting or misbehaving. The only small problem was that I didn't know the names of the kids from the other kindergarten class. Luckily, the kids were great most of the time and I only had to call out a few kids. That was a fun change in the routine, though.

On the way back from the show, my coop let me lead the kids back without her. Not a huge deal -- but she made it sound that way. There was a class behind us so I had to keep the kids moving, even if I would've waited otherwise due to the noise. But, overall the kids responded to me pretty well. My teacher was sitting near her room but the last stretch of the walk is a little turn to the left. So, she couldn't see us coming and she mentioned that she couldn't hear us approaching either. Success! She seemed impressed!

Quotes from today:

"My mom always wants me to brush my teeth but I don't want to" E.

Me: "Did you have a sticker on your forehead? There's a little mark there..."
Student: "No. I ate too many strawberries" M.

"If my hair was straight, I would look like Justin Bieber" A.

Student: "I don't take bath-es or showers"
Me: "Oh. How do you get clean?"
Student: "In the rain" G.

"One time, I got 4 shots on the chubby part of my legs" J.

"Remember that St. Patrick's Day hat we made? My brother ate it" M.

Tuesday

The little character
in Lexia

Computers today. The kids were working on Lexia (a computer program that focuses on phonics) again. They don't really enjoy that program. They're quiet for the first ten minutes and then they just get antsy. I've been bringing the kids to their specials though, which has been fun. They're pretty good. I sometimes stop and make sure they're quiet before we keep walking. It's just so hard to watch the front and the back of the line. But, I figure that I should probably start a little more strict at the beginning so the kids know that they have to listen to me. Otherwise, I'll have a tough time when I'm full-time teaching because they'll think I'm not actually in charge. I need to start out strong and then loosen up a bit when I know they respect and listen to me.

We also had gym in the afternoon. I guess the gym teacher started his little competition again so the kids earned two stickers today. They were pretty excited. We'll see if they can keep up the behavior as time goes on.


My coop teacher let me look through her Easter folder and make copies of some of her hand-outs and resources there. I did that for quite a few of them. Even if I don't end up teaching kindergarten, I still want to have the resources and opportunities. Plus, some of them can be used for different grade levels and academic ability levels.

In the afternoon, my coop went down to another classroom to ask the teacher there a question. She left me in the class with the kids. It went really well. For the very most part, they were quiet. There were a couple who talked and I had to call out names a few times, but they were generally good. Although, three students 'dropped' their pencil boxes filled with crayons. When this happens, about three other students race over to help -- I think it's all about competition and getting out of their work. So, I had to put an end to that. Other than that, it went well.

I think I'll be in good shape for when I student teach in a few weeks.

Wednesday
The schedule today was a bit crazy. Because the second graders are putting on a little play, their dress rehearsal overlapped with our music class time slot. So, instead of having it in the afternoon, we had ours this morning. This threw off our day just a bit. Then, after music, we went down to the library to check out the scholastic book fair. Only a couple of the kids brought money but everyone got the chance to look.

As a first grade student walked in to deliver Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (a movie for Friday), my teacher got really excited and asked him to show the kids how to make a LEGO man. Apparently there is only one LEGO man in my coop's entire box and the kids all fight over him everyday. To avoid this, she wanted this particular student (who was in her class last year) to show the kids how they could make their own people. It was funny to watch all of the kids swarm around this little guy.

We finished our bunny projects in the morning before lunch. Because tomorrow's schedule is a little messed up too, the kindergarten teachers decided to do Panera today instead of our usual Thursday tradition. And whenever we order Panera, we always eat in the tech room. After lunch, we did our second Easter bunny project before finally squeezing in our centers and guided reading. The kids love the centers and were asking about them all day.

One thing I'm definitely learning is how important routine is for kindergarten students. These kids eat it up. They expect their whole day to be exactly the same as the previous one.

So, needless to say, it was a question-filled day as kids wanted to know:
-- when we were doing centers
-- if we had gym
-- why we had music in the morning
-- when we were doing guided reading
-- why they couldn't drink their milk at 10:30
-- when we were going to the book fair
-- why we were going to the book fair
And the list went on. Today was a great day to practice patience.

So, when I finally got to pull kids for guided reading, they were a bit confused but mostly they just wanted to get back to their center activities. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking, but I've been told that it's fine to switch my two groups up a bit. So, today I decided to only pull three for each group instead of four. This would allow me to focus more attention on the students there instead of trying to keep all four on the right page in the same place.

These groups have definitely been challenging so far. Every time someone walks into the room or we turn the page in our story, someone gets distracted. Some students need to constantly be reminded to point to the words they're reading. Others rely solely on the pictures in the book and don't even look at the words. It's a constant battle. But, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm in a kindergarten class. It's fantastic that these kids are reading already at all!

Thursday
The kids were nuts today. We think it has something to do with Easter or spring break or something. They came in the room loud today.

This morning, the kids had another chance to check out the book fair in the library. If they brought money, they could walk down to the library to buy something; if not, they had to stay in the classroom. Of course, this was a pretty big deal.

About half an hour after this, we walked down to listen to Officer Friendly. He's a police officer from Alsip who comes to talk to the kids about what policemen do, what an emergency is, and how to respond to one. The kids really liked it and were generally good throughout the little talk. They liked seeing the handcuffs, the badge, and the flashlight. You'd have thought it was their birthday or something. We also received a little survey for the kids to fill out -- apparently they're being accredited or something. My teacher thought this was funny and annoying.

Easter eggs hidden throughout the room

When we came back from this, my coop had hid over 100 Easter eggs all around the room. After a lot of explanation and rules, the kids were set loose to find the eggs. Honestly, I think I would've done this differently. In simple terms, it was chaos. Kids were running around the room, holding multiple eggs in their little hands, bumping into people, and essentially screaming. While they enjoyed it, there must have been an easier way to handle this. It was crazy.

After that, because the book fair is still set up in the library, we had this special in the classroom. The kids basically just watched a movie and colored bunnies. I cut out little fish.

After lunch, we painted big Easter eggs. Again, there was a deliberate process set up for this, but basically the kids were everywhere, running, getting paint everywhere. The noise volume crept slowly upward. I was 'in charge' of the little cups of water for refreshing paint brushes. They each had their own and I was honestly a little impressed that there were only four spills throughout the activity. The eggs turned out cute though. And, of course, the kids had fun.

The bunny bags we made this week (now filled with eggs!)

Finally, it was time to go home. They all sat on the rug waiting for directions about how to pack up since we were sending every little Easter project we've made so far home with them. This was no easy task. As they were waiting to move, one little boy got a bloody nose. I've never had a bloody nose and this incident reminded me that I have no idea how to respond to one. Luckily, I'm not full teaching yet so my coop handled it.

Today was honestly exhausting. It was fun in that it went beyond our normal routine -- something I'm finding that I like. But, I felt myself slowly losing patience as the day went on. This doesn't happen to me much. I'm generally pretty good about illustrating patience to little kids. But, it wore thin today. Basically, it was just crazy. What an insane day.

Friday
Overall, not too bad today. It could've been a lot worse with the break coming up and whatnot. It was actually a pretty normal day for the most part.

Guided reading went okay today. I pulled three for each group again instead of four. The kids really don't understand this and always ask why the fourth student isn't coming with them. I try to explain that we're just switching it up but they always ask again anyway. But, surprisingly I thought it went pretty well. I did a lot of individual reading with them -- so instead of all reading together, I call on one student to read at a time. This helps me to figure out which kids are understanding the books and which are just following along with their friends and not actually reading at all. I was actually pretty impressed by the kids who were reading well today. It was just a good day for reading I guess. Half the battle is just making sure the kids are on the right page, following along, pointing to the words, sitting up in their chairs, and quiet. Honestly, reading with kindergarteners is exhausting. I really do enjoy it though.

Throughout the day, kids were being pulled to see their siblings in the play that the second graders put on. Apparently it's a big deal. They were all excited about that. We also watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory during milk and lunch. Oh! And I found out that I'm allowed to drink a milk whenever I feel like it! The perks of being a teacher :)

Surprisingly, though, the kids weren't really into the movie. Some were talking, others were messing around, a lot just weren't paying attention. It might be because we watched the older version -- the kids probably just didn't connect as well with it. They've probably never seen this one before.

During the movie, my coop asked me to walk one student down to the office. He had an accident :( Poor kid. I tried to walk quickly and kind of shield him from kids in the hallway. I can only imagine that he was embarrassed. He didn't seem like it, though, but how could you not be?

After lunch, but before gym, the kids worked on their book boxes. They each have a box in the back of the classroom with a bunch of different books for them to practice reading. Apparently, part of the common core is for students to practice silent reading. My coop says we'll probably start doing this more often. I think it's a cool idea. She also said that the books in there now are mostly at the first grade level because that's what she used to teach. I guess we'll see how that goes.

Then, I walked the kids down to gym. I guess they were okay in gym but they were noisy on the way back. We had to stop several times to wait for it be quiet again before we could move on. Anyway, because of the delay, we didn't have time to get a drink of water. Apparently this is a BIG deal to the kids. They were really upset about it.

The behavior plan used for classroom management: kids pull
a star when they're not listening, not following directions,
or misbehaving in general.

Because it's Friday, we did our prize box which is part of the behavior plan that my teacher uses. The kids with at least one star left get to pick a prize from the little box. They're nothing special though. My teacher says it's more of a status thing than anything else. I've already learned a lot about classroom management from this placement. I feel like it's going to be big in a class full of six year olds.

One of my kids colored
this for me today :)

Anyway, my coop has been really helpful in illustrating effective and consistent management so far. She is constantly reminding me through actions and words about the importance of teaching the kids to behave, but also helping them to learn about the importance of working in a group. This reminds me of Illinois Professional Teaching Standard number 3 of the Learning Environment category which states that a competent teacher "understands how to help students work cooperatively and productively in groups." The kids can't stand walking over to the wall to pull a star when they misbehave. Anyway, do to the lack of time, my teacher let the kids vote if they wanted to do the prize box or get a drink of water. Some kids were upset when the prize box won. One child started crying. Oh man.

Welcome to kindergarten, I guess.