Caterpillars, Elections, and Trains

Monday
Today was quite the transition. Mondays are just tiring. By lunch I'm ready for a nap. Luckily, everything went pretty smoothly.

The kids were introduced to manipulatives in the form of red counters. They did pretty well with them overall. Some were confused but I tried to give one-on-one where I could.

Guided reading went pretty well. I showed the kids the new books and they absolutely loved them. The student who loves dinosaurs was thrilled. We did a quick picture walk (where the kids just flip through the pages and look at the pictures to make predictions about the book) and then I read it to them. I figured that they could follow along and hear it read to them. On Wednesday I think we'll slow it down and see if they can read (parts of) it. I just love to see their excitement about the topics. That's more of what reading should look like. Next subject to look for: motorcycles.

After this, the kids finished their caterpillar art projects. They turned out really cute. On the caterpillar's 'tummy' are pictures of the foods he ate throughout the book. Then, my coop read them The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I'm finding that I'm a huge fan of his :) Most

The finished product!

of the kids had already read the book at some time, but they all enjoyed it anyway.

After milk, they made their own mini books about the caterpillar by coloring pictures of fruit and some of the other foods that the caterpillar ate throughout the story. Again, since I had nothing else to do, I sat and colored with the kids. I'm finding that these are good times to really get to know the students. It also helps illustrate that you want to get to know them and they have an easier

time trusting you. It's also fun to color!

After lunch, I led the calendar activity, as I have been for a while now. Then, we had music at 12:35. I did some grading, passed out papers, and then the kids were back. We did folders and then the kids wrote in their journals. My coop and I were talking about having students write a little prompt down and then fill in the rest of the sentence. Today, the journal was: "Over the weekend, I..." The idea was for the kids to write a few words about what they did this past weekend. Even if their spelling isn't accurate, at least they're sounding out words and getting an idea for how sentences are set up. For some reason, this did not go over well. Some students got it quickly, drew their accompanying picture and were done. Others had a really hard time and asked me how to spell all of their words despite my constant reminders to just do their best.

It also got really noisy really quickly. While I tried to maintain a quiet room for this 20 minute lesson, there always seemed to be some kind of noise. And, of course, pencil boxes were dropped. At one point, I saw a student intentionally dropping his box. I was very frustrated and he pulled a star. Let's just say, it wasn't my best lesson. Next time will be better.

Tomorrow is election day so the kids have the day off. The teachers are required to be at school for various reasons. The kindergarten teachers will be screening incoming kindergarten students for next year. That should be interesting to see.

Tuesday

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Today was election day for the kids so they didn't have school. The teachers, however, had to be in school either for planning or for kindergarten screening. Since my coop is a kindergarten teacher, I got to observe the screening process for the current preschool kids.


I got to school at eight, as usual, but we didn't actually start the process until nine. So, I spent some time laminating and doing other miscellaneous stuff.

At nine fifteen we had our first little girl. She was precious and very, very quiet. At first I found myself wondering if she would talk at all throughout the little test. She did.

The test itself is pretty basic. The whole thing takes about twenty minutes and is really just a collection of questions for the students. The first section tests kids on their color, number, and shape recognition knowledge. The
second part is a variety of environmental questions. This determines the student's knowledge about everyday vocabulary and processing skills. It was really interesting to observe that the majority of the kids we tested got the same few questions wrong.

However, that's not to say that they all tested the same way. Some students struggled on certain areas more than others. I had a fun time trying to determine what that information told us about those students.

Other sections of the test involved concepts such as writing their name and drawing pictures, determining the difference between 'same' and 'different', words and their sounds, reading comprehension, etc.

I found the entire process fascinating. What a cool Tuesday.

Wednesday 
Today was my first day teaching the reading lesson. The only subject I'm now missing is math. It was a good day overall. We had one student out so things were a little more quiet than usual.  It was also storming this morning so the kids were wound up from that.

During math, my coop gave the kids a subtraction page. I sat at the table of kids who need a bit more help than everyone else and worked with them on the page. Two of those students actually really understand the material, they just have a hard time staying on-task and they fall behind quickly. They almost always finish later than everyone else. So, I sat and helped them at their own levels. For instance, for those who just needed affirmation, I was there for that (although, I'd like to get them off that somehow...). For those who  needed to have work checked because they work too fast and are often inconsistent, I could glance over their shoulder for that. For those who needed a better understanding of subtraction, I could walk through the problems with them. It was really interesting to see where each child was at with the math because they were at such different places in their understanding of the material. Next step: determining how to bridge the gaps in what they know and don't yet know so they can 'catch up' to the rest of the class.

Reading itself went fine. I read two similar stories to the class and then we discussed similarities and differences. We also reviewed the 'ot' word family endings as a class. They enjoyed this part, but
after a bit, they got antsy and noisy. For next time, I will definitely need to incorporate more hands-on and active learning to keep them engaged.

Lunch was a bit later today because of the hot lunch option that they have once per month. Today was Burger King. Of course, since things were out of the ordinary, the kids were confused and had a hard time waiting the extra half an hour. They kept asking how much longer until they could eat.

Since lunch was later on, that pushed the entire day back a little bit. Once they got back, we went right to music (although we were late because eight kids had to use the bathroom). After, we did folders quickly and then calendar. It was then time to go home. It was a quick day overall. Classroom management went pretty well. I'm finding that it's easier when I remind myself to be patient and to allow the kids to be a little chatty at times. To expect all 20 kids to be quiet most of
the day is just silly. They love talking and they should be able to talk and play sometimes. I'm learning that my attitude about the classroom environment really impacts my own levels of frustration and stress.

Thursday
Today was a bit crazy, but I'm starting to find that most days in kindergarten are. First of all, on my way to school, there was a light out on Ridgeland Avenue due to the lousy weather. Because of this, the roads were all backed up and I was a few minutes late to school. Not a big deal. I let my teacher know and she was fine with it; however, it was still a crazy start to my day.

Math went okay today. I tried to help some kids with the subtraction but I ended up feeling like some were just asking for help because they liked being helped. Not all of the students act this way -- some really need the help. So, I answered a few questions but gave the kids some space. It frustrates me when I know the kids can do the work but they just get distracted or they don't want to do it (by themselves).

Some of our new guided reading books

Guided reading was fine today. I accidentally switched up the groups by getting two of the kids confused. I thought one student was in the lowest group when really he's in the higher of the two groups. It ended up working out just fine; the kids who switched got along well in both groups and the differences in ability were not very noticeable. It's always nice for a change, too.

Since we had library at 10:30 today, we only had about 15 minutes for reading today. So, even though I'd planned a good

45 minute lesson, we only just started a book. Because we are discussing wheels, cars, and other forms of transportation, we also brainstormed what kinds of things have however many different numbers of wheels. My kids did a pretty good job! Many of them even know what a unicycle is.

After lunch, we had computers, in which the kids did a phenomenal job, probably because they got to play whatever kinds of educational games they want -- it's Thursday after all.

Finally, we did a spring art project in which kids made flowers. It was a cute project that I found on pinterest and really liked. It was fairly easy to figure out and gather materials. The project went well overall. The kids seemed to enjoy it and it fit

The example I made for students

within the time limit I allowed for it. I definitely discovered that i need to give much more clear direction, though. I should have had a system figured out for cutting the paper plates into the flower petals because the kids just didn't get it. Although I was able to refrain from getting extremely frustrated and the kids were, overall, pretty quiet, I definitely could change a few things about this lesson. Also, one student straight out refused to use a certain color pair of scissors. That was fun.

Overall a fun but crazy day.

Friday
Today was generally a good day. The kids were great for most of the day. Math and guided reading went just about as usual. Since I'm now teaching reading, I had a full lesson planned for today. Only to find out that we had Mr. Friendly again today. He's a police officer who comes to talk to

the kids about various topics -- today was trains. And how they're dangerous. Seriously. If I was in kindergarten, I probably would've started crying. They even showed a cartoon in which the little (talking) fox gets hit by a train in various different ways. I remember learning about stuff like this -- house fires, visiting the dentist, etc. -- and I always walked away from those little experiences with a new sense of fear.

Anyway, I was really impressed with how the kids did in this half an hour session. When we got back to the classroom I told them how happy I was and that I was going to give each of them a high five. Bad decision. Complete chaos. One kid got two by 'accident' and then they all wanted two and they were crowding around me. Etc. This whole situation reminded me about the importance of finding ways to maintain effective classroom management. According to the Illinois Professional Teachign Standard, the competent teacher "understands principles of and strategies for effective classroom management" (IPTS #5: Learning Environment). I definitely need to continue working on this one. I need to find a new way of showing them how proud I am of their behavior. This teaching thing is just full of learning experiences :)

Reading went fine, though. We started a project about wheels. That's what we've been reading about. They were pretty excited about it. And, you know what, they were pretty good. They got a bit noisy, but for the most part, they got it together.

Around this time, one student started coming up to me to inform me that her stomach hurt. Well, she'd been doing this for the past two days. And she'd told my teacher that she hasn't been using
the bathroom because "it comes out like water." She was out on Monday (due to sickness) so this makes sense, but she straight up refuses to use the bathroom. I encouraged her to try but she doesn't go for it. She must just not enjoy it. Anyway, my teacher and I talked about it, but we don't really know what to do about it. She won't use the bathroom and half the day she acts just fine: chatting and laughing as usual. She does enjoy attention. Well, regardless, I was definitely reminded of my summer spent at camp. We had a few of those situations.

After lunch but before gym, I got the kids all pumped for earning stickers during gym class. It's the behavior management policy that the teacher uses. Instead of 'threatening' and acting all mean about it, I used a different philosophy -- one I started with. I got all excited and spoke really softly,

The flowers my kids made yesterday :) I loved how each
was unique to its owner.

getting them interested in what I had to say. The approach you take with these kids really makes a huge difference in how they act. I've been trying to keep my patience and just have fun with the kids. They respond better and I don't get as frustrated. Turns out they got five stickers! Pretty good. I was happy. They were happy. And now all wound up.

The last half an hour of class was rough. But it was a good day overall. I had fun. And I learned a lot. And I'm hoping they learned a lot.