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  I had outdated copies of my class list from the first week of school.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.