Mother Goose

One of the most wonderful things is an in-school field trip! Every year we teach nursery rhymes and poems, and we finish the unit with a visit from Mother Goose. Mother Goose tells many wonderful rhymes, and she has many puppets and old wooden toys. The children sing songs and participate all throughout the lesson.

Math Workstations

Two years ago I was part of a teacher lab group that was piloting math workstations in our district. Debbie Diller's Math Workstations book helped our group gain an understanding of how math stations work in a kindergarten classroom, and the lab setting allowed us to be hands-on with gaining a deeper understanding of math workstations over time. Together we read the book, shared ideas, and slowly implemented math workstations in our classrooms. We organized materials, used PTA funds for additional math materials, and we made many games that could easily be taught or shared with other teachers. We each made a math workstation board, and we made a point to keep things simple. The overall idea would be that the children could do the activities independently or with a partner. The children meeting with the teacher would be high-risk or needing extra help with certain activities. It was a great way to work with children that were struggling in any area. At first it was really hard to come up with a system for partners, so I have been using small groups, instead. The groups are put together based on behavior at this time. I didn't think that leveling the groups would be as important as the children being able to work together...

So here I am two years later. I love math workstations and so do the children in my class. I will show some of the games and activities that the math groups complete, and I hope to hear some of your ideas, as well.

Reindeer Food

On Christmas Eve my children put magical food out for the reindeer. We put out carrots, too! We make reindeer food by combining dry oats, glitter (any color), and sprinkles used for cookies/cupcakes. We mix it all up and put it into a plastic baggie. Before bed we all go outside and sprinkle reindeer food in our lawn and on our porch. We talk about how the magical food will help to guide the reindeer to our house! My children love making reindeer food!

This year one of the holiday party centers was making reindeer food. My kindergartners were so excited to take their own bag of reindeer food home. I can't wait to ask them if anything magical happened!

Santa Beard to Christmas

This is a simple way to count down the days until Christmas. This Santa was colored by my four year old son, but you could print out a colored copy or draw your own! Every night in December my son would glue a cotton ball onto Santa's beard. We let him use liquid glue and regular sized cotton balls. This particular copy had circles drawn for where each cotton ball should be glued along with a printed number in each circle. This was a simple activity that promoted number sense skills.

Where To Begin

Since it is the holiday break, I am finding time to actually write in this blog. I am not sure where to begin with my kindergarten news because it is the middle of the school year; however, I thought that it would be best to write about some of the things that I will be working on when I return to school. Of course, in kindergarten it will feel like the first day of school all over again when we return to school, but I believe that the kids will adapt quickly (fingers crossed).

I currently have 20 children in my classroom. There are 14 boys and 6 girls, so that is a little bit of a challenge in itself. Luckily, most of my boys are older, and they seem more mature than what I originally expected. I believe that I cried when I originally saw my class list way back in August! Overall, the children are a great group, and they add many creative thoughts and ideas to our class discussions. I have found that some of the girls are starting to play with the boys during play time, and they are really getting along. I tried to encourage this earlier in the year, but some of the girls only wanted to play with the other girls (which was extremely limited). In order to build relationships, I switch the seats daily. What I mean is that when the children come into the classroom, I place their namecards in a different location every day. Part of the child's job is to find their own name and work quietly at their seat. I try to mix up the boys and the girls, but that has been very challenging this year. Over time I learn what children work really well together and what children to not. In my class there are a few personality clashes, and I am trying to help those children problem solve or ignore each other during work experiences! Overall, this has been helping the boys and girls build relationshis; therefore, they are choosing to play together more often!

When I return to school I have some goals in mind: create guided reading groups, assess all of the children in my classroom (using MLPP and Fountas and Pinnell), decorate the classroom with winter pictures (right now it is mostly holiday stuff), and create new math and literacy groups (these are groups of 4 children). I am hoping to have 2 sets of guided reading groups: one leveled, one not. I believe that the children can learn a lot from each other, which is why I think that a mixed level will work. We shall see! If you have any creative ways that you run guided reading groups, I would love to know. :o)

Introduction

Hello All! My name is Erika Diener and I teach kindergarten. I didn't always want to be a teacher, but as I went through college and I started to grow up, I realized that I enjoyed teaching. I can remember visiting a high school class and envisioning being a English teacher, but that vision quickly changed when I was asked for my hall pass one day as I was leaving. I knew I would never be taken seriously in that setting, so I decided to volunteer in an elementary classroom, and it was like everything clicked. I had ideas and I liked being in the classroom, and I liked the children. I decided to get an elementary teaching certificate as well as a ZA endorsement. I had my heart set on teaching kindergarten and I was lucky enough to complete my student teaching (well actually only some of my student teaching) in a kindergarten classroom. I had a great experience with student teaching and all was fine and happy. Soon after my student teaching was completed, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and I took some time to be a mommy and enjoy all of the small moments. I interviewed many times before I finally landed in a part-time kindergarten teaching position, and it couldn't have been more perfect. I only worked part-time so I was able to spend time with my son. I taught part-time for three years, and I was able to learn a lot about myself as a teacher, mother, and as a person during that time. I learned many things from the other teachers in the building and during numerous professional development sessions. During my fourth year, I had my second baby (a girl this time!) and our district transitioned to a full-day kindergarten program. I had a wonderful long-term substitute, and it was a seamless transition from her to me! The hardest thing (besides leaving my children each day) was attaching to the children that loved and adored their other teacher. I felt like it took months! This is my fifth year teaching and I have had to learn how to be a highy effective teacher in a full-day kindergarten setting. There are many obstacles, but I have a very supportive school family and principal. I also think that the parents of the children in my class are very supportive! I am hoping to share some of my ideas and challenges with all of you, and I would also like to use this blog as a way to build relationships with other kindergarten teachers. I think that I have learned the most from other kindergarten teachers! This year I am hosting a teacher lab. Other teachers from the district have been watching me teach and giving me feedback! It has been a very rewarding experience. In addition, we are reading, "Pathways to the Common Core" and we are sharing our thoughts and ideas from the book-similar to a book club. Furthermore, I was chosen to be a K-2 science rep for the district this year, which is way out of my league (I am a language arts gal). I will share some ideas from those meetings, as well. Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have about teaching kindergarten. I am looking forward to sharing ideas with you.

Ah! The long awaited Christmas break! The last week in kindergarten was bananas! We were so busy making ornaments and crafts that the week flew by! On the last day before break we had a nice holiday party in the morning, and a school sing-a-long in the afternoon. We were able to sing Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas songs. It was an amazing gathering. At the end of the day the power went out, and we walked around with flashlights to help with dismissal. After the break I will be back to blog about all of the wonderful things that are happening in kindergarten! Stay tuned.