One Paper, So Many Possibilities

I took this picture earlier this week and wanted to share it with you.  The image shows one of the students in my class writing on a class list.  I had outdated copies of my class list from the first week of school.  Rather than putting these papers in the recycling bin, I decided to place them in the Creative Minds Centre (aka, the art centre).  The students quickly found these lists and were curious about what was on them.  Ms. Marrella and I purposely didn't tell the students they were holding copies of our class list.  We were curious about what the children would do with this new type of paper. 

As the students were looking at the paper, trying to figure it out, one child was able to recognize his own name.  Excitement was in the air as a few more students were able to find their names on the list.  The children quickly realized they were holding a paper with everyone’s name on it.  Ms. Marrella and I noticed that the students used the class list for a variety of purposes.  Some students walked around the class asking other students to identify their names on the list.  For students who couldn't identify their name on the list, they began to search for the first letter of their name (These students were engaged in reading and letter and sound ID).  Other students used the class list to take surveys related to favourite toys in the class (These students were engaged in writing and math).  Some students ignored the class list and used the paper for their own cut and paste creation (These students were engaged in creative expression and fine motor development).

It was great to see how one piece of paper could be used for a variety of purposes.  The children discovered the class list on their own, were naturally curious about what it was, and were able to use it for play (play-based learning).  Play looked different for different groups of children, and in the end, learning was taking place! 

Alphabet Project

Last year my colleague Ms. Johnston and I had the great fortune of visiting the classroom of Joanne Marie Babalis.  The first thing I noticed when I walked into her kindergarten classroom was the beautiful handcrafted alphabet.  Each letter of the alphabet related to the item that was glued to it.  For example, aqua coloured stones were glued to make the letter A and pasta was glued to make the letter P.  What a beautiful art piece for the classroom, but more importantly, what an amazing project for students to have experienced.  

Ms. Marrella and I introduced the Alphabet Project to our students a few weeks ago.  We asked them to look around their homes for toys and other objects that they were willing to donate for this project.  We were truly amazed by the excitement and enthusiasm our students showed for this project.  Each day the the children would come to school eager to donate and show off their found objects.  Because the students were responsible for the creation of the classroom alphabet they were interested. 

Here are two images of students gluing objects to alphabet letters.  

Our Alphabet Project is now completed.  I believe the learning experience during this project was truly invaluable for the children.  The students are aware of the alphabet in the classroom and have an appreciation for it because they were part of its creation.  Rather than going unnoticed, the alphabet now has meaning to the children.  The best part of this project was that students who seemed to have little interest in learning the letter names and sounds are now interested and can even identify most of the letters.    

We are looking forward to showing our handcrafted alphabet to our parents on Curriculum Night.  We want to thank the parents and guardians of our students for helping the children collect items for this beautiful work of art.

The Giant Zucchini

Ms. Marrella and our kindergarten friends.

Today I brought to school a giant zucchini my grandmother had been growing.  

Ms. Marrella and I purposely didn't tell the students what the large green object (zucchini) in the room was.  We wanted to give the students a chance to be curious.

At the end of the day Ms. Marrella and I told the students they were looking at a zucchini.  Some students were quite familiar with this vegetable, however not in such a large size.  

We then decided to measure the zucchini.  When we asked the children what measuring tools we should use, they came up with…

The students using tape rolls to measure the zucchini.

The students counting the number of tape rolls used to measure the zucchini.

This is 21^st century learning.  It can happen anywhere, anytime, and in all shapes and sizes!

What Does Writing in Kindergarten Look Like?

Parents are often curious about what writing looks like in Kindergarten.  Should a kindergarten student be able to print letters correctly?  Should they be able to write a sentence?  Should children be able to spell words correctly? 

Writing is a skill, and just like any skill there are several stages of development that one goes through.  For example, when babies learn to walk they go through several stages of development which include sitting, rolling over, crawling, etc.

Writing in kindergarten is all about guiding children through the stages of writing development.  It is important to provide young children with encouragement and confidence while they develop the skill of writing. 

A few years back I received a resource titled Kid Writing written by Eileen Feldgus and Isabell Cardonick.  This excellent resource outlines the stages of writing young children go through.

I have received permission from the author Eileen Feldgus to share with you the stages of writing development. 

STAGES OF WRITING DEVELOPMENT

Level 1: Emerging/Scribble

This is the beginning level at which your child scribbles.  You may not be able to tell what the picture is about, but it’s important to praise your child’s beginning drawing. 

The flower is growing.

Level 2: Pictorial

At this level, your child begins to draw a somewhat recognizable picture and may not tell about it.  He or she may also imitate writing. 

There are webs in Spidertown.

Level 3: Precommunicative

Your child may now be printing his or her own name or an occasional known word and may be writing strings of letter like forms or a series of random letters.  Sometimes he or she may attempt to read the message back, but you probably can’t read it. 

I have a goldfish named Arielle.

Level 4: Semiphonetic

At this level, your child begins to use some letters to match sounds, often using one beginning letter to write a word.  He or she usually writes from left to right but may reverse some letters.

I found a lamp and a genie came out. 

Level 5: Phonetic

Now your child writes most words using beginning and ending consonant sounds and spells some frequently used words correctly.  He or she may begin to add vowel sounds, but they are often not correct ones.  At this level, your child may begin to leave spaces between words.  It’s getting easier to read your child’s writing. 

Once upon a time, there was (were) four butterflies. They went on an adventure in the woods.

Level 6: Transitional

At this level, your child is writing words the way they sound, representing most syllables in words.  He or she may sometimes be adding an extra silent e at the end of a word or doubling letters when they’re not needed while trying visually to remember how spelling works.  Now your child usually leaves spaces between words and is spelling many words correctly as he or she writes more than one sentence. 

Please note that for this blog post I have included six of the nine stages of writing development.  I have found the first six stages to be of most use for me when teaching kindergarten. 

One of my students during a shared writing activity. 

Tree-rrific Values

Today we decided to hang our tree above the Religion Table.  Ms. Marrella and the students came up with the name Tree-rrific Values for our tree.  Together as a class we discussed the meaning of values.  We then asked the students to think of some values that are of importance to them.  Here is what the students came up with. 

Cicada Bug and Tree

What a fantastic surprise!  Yesterday as Ms. Marrella and I walked outside to greet our kindergarten students and their parents, we noticed a cicada bug on the doorstep.  We gently placed the bug into a bin, and gave students a chance to observe this insect for the morning.  Once in the classroom the students quickly noticed a new leaf, an orchid leaf, left on the Discovery Centre table.  The students thought that the cicada bug might be hungry, and decided to give it the leaf as food. 

After the lunch period it was time to release the cicada bug back into nature.  We thought that the front of the school might be a good spot to release the bug as it is a quiet place and has a large beautiful tree.

Once we were in the front the school, the students quickly noticed the beautiful surroundings.  They noticed some leaves that had fallen from the tree, woodchips and some rocks.  We decided to collect some of the beautiful surroundings to create a tree for the classroom. 

Here are some images of the tree the students created.

 

 

The Third Teacher

This past year I learned about the third teacher.  Simply put, the third teacher is the learning environment.

My understanding is that the third teacher is rooted in the Reggio Emilia approach of learning.  In this learning approach students learn and develop from interactions with their parents, adults and peers, and the space around them.   

Over the past two weeks Ms. Marrella and I have been observing how the students move, work and play in the classroom.  After some thought, we decided to reduce the space our own materials used, in an effort to increase the learning space of the children.  Though it wasn’t easy at first, we did decide to take the teacher’s desk out of the classroom.  We made this decision after noticing that we rarely sat there.  Furthermore, it was unfair of us to have a large permanent desk taking up a lot of room when we have been telling our students to share the classroom space.  

Space with teacher desk

Space without teacher desk

Once the teacher’s desk was removed, we were able to redesign the classroom layout and create new pockets of space.  Our classroom has transitioned again.  With the third teacher in mind, we have a variety of spaces for large and small group instruction.  We were conscious not to clutter the classroom.  We intend for furniture to be moved and reconfigured for inquiry projects and other small group investigations.  We have tried to create active and quiet areas for students to work in and explore.  Finally, materials are easily accessible for students to use and develop independence.  

Below is a video about the third teacher. 

Toy Mixing

I wanted to share this picture I took earlier this week during a self-guided activity period.  I noticed a group of students “mixing” two bins of toys.  Initially, I wanted to stop these boys because I wasn’t sure if they were ready to explore a variety of bins simultaneously.  Rather than stop them however, I took the opportunity to watch them play.  When I listened to them, they talked about a subway station they were building.  When I asked them about their structure, they were excited to show me the bridge, stoplights, and the train cars.  It was at that moment that I realized it wasn’t the children who weren’t ready for toy mixing, it was me.  By mixing the two bins of toys the students were exploring, constructing and creating.  

Apple Inquiry

This week we began our first inquiry of the year, an inquiry about apples.

How Our Inquiry Began

A few days ago, Ms. Marrella and I placed some small green apples and pine cones on the Discovery Centre table.  Rather than announce the new materials to the class, we decided to give students a chance to visit the Discovery Centre on their own.  We watched the children to see if anything caught their attention. 

Wonder Wall 

At the end of that day, the students were introduced to the Wonder Wall.  The Wonder Wall is intended as a place for students to share their wonders and questions about, well… anything!  That day, one student in the class wondered if all apples were green?  Another student wondered if apples rot?  Throughout the week other students wondered how many seeds were in apples, which led another student to wonder what would happen if we planted apple seeds?   

The Inquiry Process

With all those wonders about apples, our first inquiry was underway.  This week our students began to explore a variety of apples.  They began to learn about the different parts of an apple.  The students touched and counted the number of seeds in an apple.  They are currently observing how an apple rots in sand, soil, water, and by itself.  Finally, the students planted five apple seeds, and are waiting to see if an apple tree will sprout.  

Reflection

Looking back to the first day of school, Ms. Marrella and I would have never guessed that our class would be inquiring about apples.  As educators we have definitely learned a lot about the inquiry process by actually participating in one with our class. Though we still have so much to learn about the inquiry process, we were definitely impressed by the wonders and questions the students had.  There is no doubt that when students are actually curious about something, learning is fun!

The Inquiry Process in Early Learning-Kindergarten Classrooms

(The Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program, Draft Version, Pg.15)

Initial Engagement – noticing, wondering, playing

Exploration – exploration, observing, questioning

Investigation – planning, using observations, reflecting

Communication – sharing findings, discussing ideas

The Early Learning Team

  

Teacher and Early Childhood Educator Partnership

The Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program (FDK) is taught by a team comprised of a Kindergarten teacher and an early childhood educator (ECE). 

Just over a week ago I was introduced to Nadia Marrella, the ECE who I will be working with this year.  Excited as I was to meet Nadia, I wondered what our partnership would be like.  I wondered how we would share the classroom space and program planning.  Most of all, I wondered if we would get along.

I realized that Nadia was coming into a classroom space that has traditionally been led by the teacher.  When I really stopped to think about it, I recognized that there were things I could do to help Nadia feel welcome and make this partnership a success. 

Here are a few things I did to begin nurturing our partnership.

*  I consciously wanted the relationship to work.

*  I recognized and referred to Nadia and myself as The Early Learning Team of the students we teach.

*   Nadia and I collaborated on decision making and program planning.

*  We shared leadership roles.

I have truly enjoyed working with Nadia this past week.  It feels good knowing I have a partner and that we are a team.  Nadia is a smart, kind, and responsible person who the kindergarten students really love.  I look forward to our partnership growing throughout the year.

Below is an excerpt from The Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program (Draft Version), 2010-2011 (pg. 8), of the role of the teacher and the early childhood educator. 

Teachers are responsible for the long-term planning and organization of the program and the management of the Early Learning-Kindergarten classes.  In addition, teachers are responsible for student learning; effective instruction; formative assessment (assessment for learning) and evaluation, based on the team’s assessments of children’s progress; and formal reporting and communication with families.

Early childhood educators bring a focus on age-appropriate program planning to facilitate experiences that promote each child’s physical, cognitive, language, emotional, social, and creative development and well-being, providing opportunities for them to contribute to formative assessment (assessment for learning) and evaluation of the children’s learning.  They are also responsible for implementing the integrated extended day.

Setting Up the Classroom for a New Year of School

This year will be particularly special in that I will be teaching the Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program (FDK) for the first time.  In preparation for this new program I was fortunate enough to visit two FDK classrooms this past May and June. 

Both classrooms I visited were beautiful because student creations, discoveries and wonders were visible.  I noticed that the physical space of these two classrooms did not compete with the inquiries or learning taking place, but rather acted as a canvas. 

When I went to school this week to set up my class, I was eager to create a learning environment much like the FDK classrooms I had visited.  I had to remember though that the FDK classrooms I had seen were transformed into beautiful spaces over a period of a year, and with input from the classroom ECE and the children. 

Here are three things I did differently this year to set up my FDK classroom.

1.  I used craft paper on the cork boards instead of coloured background paper.  I noticed that the craft paper had an earthy colour to it that wouldn’t compete, but would complement student work to be displayed on it. 

2.  I didn’t fill the walls with store bought boarders or posters. I want to create an environment for students that is both authentic and natural looking.  I am making a conscious effort to only put up pieces that are meaningful to the kindergarten children (e.g. their own work).  

3.  I left lots of space for children to move, play and discover.  Creating space in the classroom meant that I had to say good-bye to some furniture I had previously collected.  

My classroom metamorphosis has just begun but is not complete.  I am looking forward to the transformation that will take place throughout the school year.