Horseman Four.
Oct 31Like many of you, I grew up with The Peanuts. I’m going to go out on a limb here and confess that I slept with a Snoopy stuffed animal until about the fifth grade. After that, he systematically moved from my nightstand to my dresser and finally a shelf… point is, he never left my room. My brother and I always relished the television specials relegated for each holiday. While my...
Halloween Sharing.
Oct 30Yesterday, during our Morning Meeting, the sharing was almost exclusively about Halloween. This was fully expected. We heard about everyone’s costumes, a few plans for Halloween parties, and even some of the members of trick-or-treating groups. With a holiday like Halloween, this is anticipated. What’s also expected are a few totally random, and quite unexplainable sharing moments. About...
3 words.
Oct 29Working with Mrs. D. this year I’ve already learned many things… of all the gifts she’s given me, there’s one that rises to the top. Last year, when I began teaching kindergarten, something happened to me for the first time in my professional career. Students began saying, ‘I love you’ – something most teachers don’t hear unless you work with the real itty bitty ones. Unsure...
Sucker.
Oct 28Yesterday my school held the (cue scary music) flu clinic. About half my class was signed up to receive their shot at school and in solidarity, I decided to get my own flu shot with the kids. I planned a big speech about my ‘magic secret’ to ensure the shot doesn’t hurt… look away! Well, as luck would have it, the clinic was running a little behind and our time to go as a group came and...
Pants.
Oct 27The uniform of a kindergarten teacher is a curious thing. As a teacher, I want to command respect and wear clothes that show my reverence for my students and job. On the other hand, as a kindergarten teacher, I’m moving, dancing, stretching, kneeling (a lot!), running, bending, and sitting in all manner of ways. Much of my day is spent on the floor. The floor of a kindergarten classroom is...
Mummy.
Oct 26Oh, Halloween week in kindergarten. The excitement of the impending tricks and treats is palpable. We’ve been hearing a lot, I mean a LOT, about costume ideas, costume purchases, and costume quandaries. An avid lover of all things candy, I also adore Halloween. If we can harness the enthusiasm and channel it into some literacy and math activities, more power to us. Today we read a shared...
Heroes.
Oct 25Ok – I know, waiting for Superman is all the rage today. Just for the record, today I had not ONLY Superman, but also Spiderman in my classroom. Yes, I had a boy wearing a t-shirt with a big ol’ S on it AND another with Spidey. So, stop waiting for a hero and come on down to my kindergarten class. We’ve got heroes to...
Foresight.
Oct 25One of our sprouts jobs when they arrive each morning is to move a magnet with their name on it. This serves a dual purpose. First, it quickly shows us who is present. Second, it lets us know who is having a school lunch and who brought their lunch from home… this is critical information for the cafeteria. When you’re making popcorn chicken, you’ve got to know how much to pop. But I...
Styles.
Oct 24When I did my education coursework many years ago (ugh, it wasn’t that long ago…) one of the buzz terms flung about was ‘Multiple Intelligences’ more easily understood as learning styles – apparently every person has multiple ways of accessing their education. Some children prefer to see everything, others need to hear it, still others need to use their hands, etc. You can go a little...
Chairs.
Oct 23When non-kindergarten teachers enter my classroom for the first time, one of the first things they notice and comment on are the chairs. Kindergarten chairs are small. Some of them are downright tiny. If you’ve ever seen a four-year-old you’d know why. They don’t take up much room and to sit comfortably, their chairs need to be sized down. In our classroom, we’ve got a mix of chairs,...
