The Big Show.
Mar 31I love spring student led conferences. It’s what I affectionately like to call, ‘The Big Show’ because it takes us weeks to prepare and practice for the day. In addition to getting all our materials together (it’s a long extensive list of items, including work from the first day of school to compare against recent work and entire Goldilocks and the Three Bears setting and puppets for...
Shoe Club.
Mar 30Ah Spring! With the melting of mountains of snow comes the buying of new shoes… usually with laces. As the number of sprouts requesting their shoes tied increases, I feel the need to introduce the Shoe Club. Basically a ruse to help me with all the tying, the club is quite exclusive. To gain membership a sprout must: Tie their shoes three different times on three different days. If a...
Julius.
Mar 29With a sprout in class expecting a new baby brother or sister any day now and many friends with younger siblings, I decided to pull out one of my all time favorite books – Julius The Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes. One of my favorite author/illustrators, Kevin Henkes’ books are sweet stories that always prompt amazing discussions. I suppose that is why I love his books so much…...
Lap.
Mar 28Martin and I have a problem. He’s small. He’s young. He’s extremely affectionate and loves giving hugs and holding hands. Apparently, he also loves sitting in laps. Everyday at bus time, when I sit in the Rest Stop he approaches me for a hug… problem is, he tries to somehow turn the hug into lap sitting. He literally tries to climb into my lap. Each day I gently push him off and...
Bravo!
Mar 27The other day, as I walked back to my room from dropping my sprouts off at a special, a second grade teacher stopped me. “I have a story to share with you about one of your students,” she began. Uh-oh. I wasn’t sure this was going to be good… second grade teachers don’t often get kindergarteners… I know, I used to teach second grade. “Yesterday, when you were walking your class to...
Cough.
Mar 26During Quiet Time, sprouts often come up to offer hugs, ask for their shoes to be tied, or whisper sweet nothings (‘I love you,’ ‘You’re my friend,’ and ‘You’re the best teacher in the word’ are some of my favorites). Sometimes, when they all have something to share, a small line forms. They stand quietly waiting their turn for a little one on one attention and then go back to...
Elf.
Mar 25Every year brings new revelations and growth for me as an educator. This year, I’ve learned to say ‘I love you’ back to my sprouts when they tell me they love me… which is quite often. Most of the time it’s whispered as they pull away from a hug. Other times, they come up and say it softly, just loud enough for me to hear. Then there is Luther. A few weeks ago Luther began saying...
Charmer.
Mar 24Friday afternoons in kindergarten are always challenging… for me. My energy is spent and I’m just down right exhausted. We usually plan extra long Choice Time and I relish the opportunity to just observe and play with my sprouts instead of pulling them one on one to read or assess. Last Friday was no exception and with the lurking super-sized full moon, the entire class was quite...
Night Worker.
Mar 23This week our theme is building and construction… a favorite of mine. In addition to all the fiction stories, I bought a set of construction vehicle books last summer that I’ve been itching to read. They are amazing! My sprouts adore them and I’m even learning some of the names of parts of the vehicles I didn’t know. Each day we usually pair a fiction and non-fiction book. They’re...
Effort.
Mar 22Ah Writing Workshop. As we move closer to the end of the school year, we are beginning to ramp up our writing. Most sprouts are flourishing, but there are always a few who resist… they scribble, crumple, rip, and stare… but they don’t really write. We redirect, guide, and try, often without success, to steer them back on track… we also praise those authors who put their nose to the...
