Kindergarten ABCs of Gratefulness

 As I read and commented on slices Saturday morning, I knew I would find something to love at Linda's blog, Teacher Dance.  There is always something great to find there!  On this particular day, she wrote an ABC poem of gratefulness.  I nodded in agreement (daughters and sons) and chuckled at some (underwear) as I read through the list of things she was thankful for. My first thought was: I should try this for my own slice. It sounds fun!  My second thought was: I bet my students would really enjoy this too!  

Fast forward to today!

I had a few minutes of extra time this afternoon.  Don't ask.  I'm not sure how it happened either and I'm sure tomorrow I will figure out what I left out today, but I'm glad I forgot it, whatever it was.

We spent a few minutes talk about what grateful and thankful meant.  I'm sure you can imagine how that conversation played out in my kindergarten classroom, but we got the general idea.

I pulled up Linda's blog post on the screen and read them the poem.  (They really liked the photo of your grandkids, Linda!)  They agreed with many and lost their minds in fits of giggles when I got to the "U" word.  We even made some guesses about Linda based on the things she is grateful for...she likes to eat oatmeal, apples and eggs, yellow is her favorite color and she is a mom and a grandma.  

I wrote the letters on the white board and off we went.  We each took a turn adding something we were grateful for and discussing which letter that word started with (a great review!).  Some things were silly, some were reaching a bit (notice all the zoo animals?) but some were exactly what I expected (mom, dad, family). 

Apples, boots, cousins, dads, everybody, family, God, horses, ice cream, Jesus, kangaroos, lions, moms, noses, octopus, puppies, quilts, rain, school and sisters, toys and teachers, umbrellas, vacuums, water, xylophones, yo-yos and zebras.

Pretty excellent, right?

Maybe tomorrow I will try it myself.  Thanks for the inspiration Linda!

Write On!

I received this picture in a text from a parent yesterday.

She said: This is what L wanted to do during his sister's basketball game.  :) What?!?!

This picture made my heart smile!  It was exactly the kind of encouragement I needed to hear to let me know that what I am doing is working.  It shows me that the time investment I am putting into creating writer's within my classroom is working and impacting my students in a positive way.  What more could I ask for?

Write on, L, write on!

My Wheels are Turning!

I had the opportunity to visit an early childhood special needs classroom this afternoon to visit a student that will be in my classroom in the fall.  It was fun to see this different environment and to meet her in her surroundings.

The wheels in my head are spinning out of control as I begin to process the adaptations, accommodations, preparations, all kinds of -ations, that I have ahead of me.  I heard today about ipad apps that will help her become a writer when her hands cannot, technology and accommodations for reading, environmental adaptions to prepare the classroom for her convenience and growth. 

I am so excited to begin this new journey with her next year.  I know this sweet smiling face is going to teach me in so many amazing ways and I can't wait!

Day 19 - My Wish

I always feel like parent teacher conferences are a double-edged sword.  On one hand, I really look forward to sitting down with parents and sharing the progress their child has made.  I love telling them stories about great moments in the classroom, showing them samples of their child's work, etc.  On the other hand, while to be able to share the good stuff, but there are also times when I have to share the not-so-good stuff.  I don't enjoy those moments.  I don't enjoy  telling a parent that their child may need to repeat kindergarten.  I don't enjoy telling parents that their child is really struggling with his/her attention span. 

I had a conversation with a parent this evening that just made me sad.  I have noticed that as the year has progressed, his attention span and ability to focus has dramatically decreased.  For example, I sat with this child one-on-one for 20 minutes to complete a task.  I had to redirect his attention back to his work 16 times in those 20 minutes.  Yes, I counted.  I made a tally mark every time I said, "D, back to work."  16 times in 20 minutes.  That is almost one reminder per minute.  Can you even begin to imagine how frustrating that must be to a child?  I was frustrated giving the reminders.  Imagine if you lost your train of thought that many times while trying to complete a task.  The work was easy for him, he had no trouble with the skill; it was completely about being able to focus!

I ask his parent if there was something that had changed in his life that could be contributing to this problem he was having.  His parent couldn't think of anything at all.  So, I decided then and there that I needed to be this child's advocate...even with his parents!  I bluntly asked about his medication.  This child started kindergarten taking medication for ADHD. 

"I remember at the beginning of the school year D was taking medication to help him focus.  Is he still taking that medication?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah he was but he isn't anymore and hasn't for a while," dad replied.

"I'm sure that is the change that we have seen.  D was able to concentrate at the beginning of the year and focus long enough to finish a task.  He has not been able to do that for some time now and it seems to be getting worse," I explained.

At this point, just as I was really feeling frustrated and irritated that a parent would be so lax about something so important for his child, he dropped the bomb.

"My wife has to fill out some new paperwork with the insurance company for them to pay for the medication.  We don't have a computer or internet so she has to go to the library to do the paperwork online because that is the only way they accept it.  She works so many hours now because I'm off work for disability that she has a hard time getting to the library to get it done.  We tried to pay for it ourselves but it's over $200 per bottle and we just can't find a way to pay that much.  I'll get on her to get it done this week though.  She's just going to have to figure it out if it's so important for him.  I just thought maybe it wasn't so important for him to have it anymore.  I didn't know it made it so hard for him."

Sigh.  Ok, there is part of me that has to disagree.  We have talked about this before, I have told him how much he has been struggling with a lack of focus a few times in the last couple of months.  However, I see why they are struggling to get it taken care of now.  And to top off the insurance issues and the cost issues, Dad is afraid of the medication making D act like a zombie.

I tried to ease his mind somewhat by telling him that other students I have had have worked with their doctors to make adjustments to the dosage to get just the right amount to allow the child to maintain focus and attention without turning into a zombie.  That isn't what any of us want for D.

No one taught me what to do in this situation.  No college class covered this one.  No professional development session covered this one.  I wish there was something more I could do to help, I just don't know what it could be.

 

A Day to Remember

In my thirteen years of teaching I have attended a lot of professional development and training sessions.  I’ve been fortunate to attend sessions on writing, reading, math, spelling, assessment, first aid, CPR and even proper ways to restrain someone.  I have not, however, attended a training that was ever more beneficial than the safety training I attended today.

There was not a lick of academics or a whiff of best practice involved.  What I learned today was how to save lives.  I had a safety training today that taught us about school shootings.  I learned about the emergency procedures pre-Columbine and what has been learned since.  I learned about the Virginia Tech shootings and what has been learned since.  I learned about the Sandy Hook shootings and what has been learned since.  I learned what to do.  I learned what not to do.  I learned how to take action.  I learned what it was like to have a gun in my face, and let me tell you, even knowing it was a fake one didn’t make it feel any less threatening.  I learned ways to keep my students and myself as safe as possible in the event of an emergency. 

I was able to participate in actual drills to practice the procedures and ideas we were taught.  I was able to practice my learning on the spot and in my own school building with the people who taught us.  I was able to practice my learning with my co-workers, the people I would be surrounded with in the event of an emergency.

I heard statistics and 911 calls and saw pictures that will probably give me nightmares for a while, sometimes made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and at times brought tears to my eyes.  But, I learned about keeping my children safe…and they are my children after all.  I think of the 18 little ones in my classroom as my children.  I am responsible for those precious little souls whose parents believe that I will do my best to teach them to read, write, and play nicely with others.  What I learned today is how to also protect my babies, because their parents have also trusted me with their safety and well-being and I don’t take that lightly, I can’t take that lightly.  As I was told today, no one as Sandy Hook woke up that morning thinking “today is the day tragedy will strike me,” but it did anyway. People at Columbine believed that a school shooting would never happen in their town, but it did anyway. 

I hope to the moon and back that I never once have to use the training that I received today but if I ever do, I feel more prepared to handle it and more confident that I would make good solid choices for the safety of my students.

I don’t know who was responsible for arranging for the professional development we had today but I can’t thank them enough.  I am thankful for the instructors who have dedicated their lives to teaching others in this way.  As one detective pointed out, they don’t teach this stuff in education classes, do they?  And even though the reading and writing trainings I have had have been great learning experiences, they don’t even hold a candle to today’s learning.  After all, it doesn’t matter if I have taught my students to read or write if we aren’t here to do it.

Join in more slice of life fun by visiting the Two Writing Teachers blog today. 

Bittersweet, My Little Birds

Some thoughts on the last day of school...

Last day
Bittersweet
images flood my mind
as I gaze around the empty room
remembering laughter
and frustration
hopefulness and love
20 little bouncing bodies
yearning for more knowledge

Through ups and downs
bumps and bruises
we found out way to smmer

I'll miss you my friends
your smiles
and hugs
your giggles

You will always be apart of me
My heart will smile
as I watch you take wing
and fly

Have a wonderful summer
my little birds

Working On My Workshop...Growth to Follow

In my classroom, I have reached the time of the school year when I need to re-evaluate the writing environment.  It's time to step back and take a look at how things are going.

This is what I've been doing for the last week.  Trying to decide what is working well, what needs adjustment and if anything needs an overhaul.  The first thing I did was move children around.  They have seats at the tables that don't change.  However, I've noticed that during writing workshop, these are not the best seats for all children.  My first order of business this week was to change the workshop seating.  I spread the kids out all over the classroom.  I would ideally prefer for the kids to make these seating choices on their own but with this particular group of children, if I allowed that choice, writing workshop would turn into chat workshop!  :)

In order to move students around, I have had to rethink their writing tools and caddies.  I made it work last week by stretching what was available the best I could (kids that sit on the floor got clipboards, some students sit on the counter, some are at small tables around the room, etc.) but it ended up meaning that a few kids were walking around the room to locate an item (a certain color crayon, a colored pencil, a regular pencil, etc.) rather than just being able to get comfy and absorbed in their work.  To fix that problem, Monday we will be switching to a combination of tool caddies.  There will be some caddies that stay on the tables...for children that sit there during writing workshop.  For students that are on the floor, at a small table elsewhere in the room, or sitting on the counter space, I will be putting together pencil boxes that have the pencil, crayons, and colored pencils that they will need.  I know there will still be supplies that they will need to get up for, but at least it will be somewhat more contained to allow them to get caught up in their work.

I have also been doing some rereading of my professional books. I spent time this summer reading Katie Wood Ray's book: The Writing Workshop - Teaching the Hard Stuff (and it's all hard stuff). I've gone back to that book to review some of her ideas that really struck a chord with me. I also pulled out a book that I purchased recently but hadn't yet begun to read. It is Marcia Freeman's Teaching the Youngest Writers: A Practical Guide.  I have to share a quote from this book that resonated with me as I read from the chapter on creating the workshop environment this morning.  "Your first big step is to expect your students to write.  Act on that premise.  In the beginning, treat them as writers, call them writers, make them believe they are writers.  Have faith: Build it and they will come."

I think that is what it all boils down to...build it and they will come.  If I make sure the environment is in good shape (and of course, my teaching as well), they will come...or maybe more to the point, they will write.

My OLW for this year is grow.  I think I found my first opportunity to reflect on this word.  I am pushing myself to grow by doing some reflection and professional reading right now and I am expecting to see my students grow in their writing as a result.

Because it is also the time of year when assessments are high on my list and report cards are on the horizon, I am looking forward to collecting a writing sample from my youngsters.  I can't wait to see what kind of growth they have made!

Game On

Read other Slice of Life stories at the Two Writing Teachers website.

Surviving parent-teacher conference week is a badge of honor, both as a parent and a teacher.  As a parent, I get to experience the joy and satisfaction of hearing about my children through the eyes of someone else.

I am pleased to say that my two oldest children are doing very well in school.  They enjoy school, they love their teachers and they are happy.  Even more satisfying is listening to their teachers and feeling the genuine care that they feel towards my children.  It does my heart good to know that when I'm not there, my kids each have another adult with them who looks out for them, encourages and nudges them to be their best selves and who honestly cares about them.  They are both in good hands.

My two younger children are also lucky like this.  They have a wonderful daycare - a place where they look forward to going each day, a place where they don't want to leave in the evening, a place where they feel at home.  They love their sitter and she loves them.  She is calm, kind and she knows my children as well as her own.  She searches out new foods for my one-year-old who doesn't make feeding time easy.  She cares for my four-year-old's food allergies as I do myself...carefully, vigilantly, but with respect.  She always makes sure that she has a yummy alternative if there is something she can't eat like everyone else and she has searched her cookbooks for things to make that are safe for my daughter.  Needless to say, we love her.

While reflecting on these important people in my own children's lives, I started thinking about my students and their families.   As a teacher, I have always enjoyed meeting the parents of my students.  I met families this week that are strong and resilient and supportive.  They have faced adversity and challenge and haven't given up.  Instead, they have pushed on and have repeatedly sought out the best help for their children that they could.  I also met parents who don't understand or don't want to understand that their children are struggling, no matter what they see and hear.  How will I reach them?  I met families who regularly see counselors in order to deal with and manage their daily lives.  I heard stories of adoption and stories of health problems.  I heard about little problems and big problems.  I heard about success stories - babies who weren't supposed to walk or talk but who are active kindergarten students today!  I met parents who are well established and stable.  I met parents who are so young they are still learning to take care of themselves, let alone their children, and everything in between.  How will I reach them?


I've been thinking of all of these families and how I am linked to them. I keep thinking about how lucky my own children are each day to share their days with amazing people and how I hope that my students and their families feel the same way about their kindergarten experience this year. 

I have some very difficult children in my classroom this year.  I have children that try my very last nerve each and every day.  I can't help but think that these are the same children who need my love, caring and kindness more than all the rest.  I need to find a way to get through to those kids.  I know that if I can win over those children, I can win the game.  It's time to huddle up and strategize and do this!  Game on!

It's All Good

I am finding it a bit ironic that while I'm working so hard to establish writing routines in my classroom, my own have completely fallen to the wayside.  I haven't written a new post since September 11.

 It reminds me of my own children.  Each time they were learning something new, an older skill began to lag.  My one-year-old is becoming very verbal.  She is jabbering almost constantly, learning new words every day (hi, bye, mine, yeah, huh-uh, mama, dada, boo) and now she is singing!  She sings Twinkle, Twinkle so well you can tell what she's trying to say!  This is all awesome stuff, but there is a trade off to be made.  She's putting all her concentration and growth into language skills and in turn, she has started waking up in the middle of the night again and wants a bottle...just when I was thinking 2 a.m. feedings were done and maybe we should be phasing out the bottle.  I know she will settle back into her normal sleep routine again.

It's had me thinking about my students.  School is a new "skill" for many of my kindergarten kiddos.  I wonder what is falling to the wayside right now while they are learning how to "do school" and do I know them well enough yet to figure it out?  Will I be patient enough while they even back out? 

In the meantime, I'm going to continue to teach my students writing routines and do my best to be patient with my baby girl when I find myself making a bottle in the middle of the night because I know that it means growth and learning are in progress.  I'm going to be patient with my students while they even out and get the school routines under their belts.  I'm also trying to be patient with myself...I will get myself back into my writing routine when I can and until then...it's all good.  (Pete says so!) 

Find more Slice of Life stories at Ruth and Stacey's Two Writing Teachers blog.

My New Cracked Pots

I'm in the midst of the second week of school and I'm already home with a sick child today.  The upside is that I am able to post my SOL before 10 pm.  I am also cautiously optimistic that my daughter is finally on the upswing...she's been playing with her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toys for the last hour and is thoroughly enjoying having the house and mommy to herself today.

I have been a bit absent from my writing world for the last month or so.  I've been able to sneak in a couple things but with the start of school for myself and three of my four children...well, it's been busy.  I've missed it!

I have been watching my new crop of kindergarten students closely during our time together.  I am optimistic about the year ahead with them.  I have an interesting mix of students this year that should keep me challenged, laughing and learning. ( For a little extra challenge, I also have a student teacher on board for the first semester who is awesome!)  My mix of kiddos includes everything from immature four-year-olds to mature six-year-olds and everything in between.  I have children with ADHD and those I suspect have it, children with speech and language issues, a child with a significant hearing loss, children who like to talk (with loud voices!), children who hardly talk when asked a question in a one-to-one setting, a child who struggles not to cry in the morning, a child who thinks she can walk home whenever she feels like it (and doesn't bother to let anyone know before leaving), children with severe food allergies, children who know all of the alphabet letters, children who barely know their names, children who live with two adults in a stable home, children who don't know from day to day how they are getting home, children who can count to 100 and recognize numbers and children who think numbers and letters are all the same thing.  I have a pretty typical class.  I have a class that likes to play and have fun...and they have no idea that they are learning at the same time!

I have been watching their interactions with each other.  I have been watching their smiles.  I have been watching to learn their interests.  I have been telling stories with them.  I have been reading with them.  I have been helping them make new friends and giving them the time to do it.  We had a good first week and have approached the second week with a good attitudes.

As I was reading my email recently, I came upon an email from my sister about the "Cracked Pot."  Initially, I read it as a sentiment from one sibling to another.  Then I read it as something I wanted to share with teaching friends at the beginning of a new school year.  Finally, I read it as a teacher who is getting to know her new students.  I look forward to learning more about my new "cracked pots" each day and I am trying very hard to be positive as I look for the unique flaw in the children that are harder to connect with; that unique thing that I can use as a tool to build connections. 

I tried to find an author for the story of the "Cracked Pot" but only could find that it was an anonymous source.  If anyone knows a name for the author, please let me know so I can give proper credit.  I had to share it anyway.  Enjoy and have a great school year!

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. 
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. 'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.' The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?' 'That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.' For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

What a Wonderful World

I'm going to be very honest and say that the all-day early childhood professional development day planned for today, though it is something I feel very strongly about, wasn't high on my list of want-to-do's for today.  School hasn't started yet but the last two weeks have been a whirlwind of getting the classroom prepared, teaching a summer program for incoming kindergarten students and ending today with this pd opportunity.  Next week starts district pd days and open houses and preparing my own children for returning to school.  Like I said, it wasn't high on my list of wants today.  But, I went anyway like a good little soldier and I was very happy to listen to an excellent presentation.  

Linda Jordan's presentation, Neuroscience and the Preschool Child, didn't grab my attention from the title, but as soon as she opened her mouth, I was hooked.  She is a dynamic speaker, knows her material and is able to share it in a way that made me want more, more, more.

Here are just a few snippets that tickled my ears today:

• The muscles in our bodies have more memory capacity than our brains.
• As a child, I learned things in order to do things.  Today's young children do things to learn.
• Vocabulary should be taught by handling and seeing the actual objects, not by talking about them.  Not a new concept, but a good reminder.  She said she believes that each book should have a box of objects that accompany it in the classroom. 
• Teachers are brain sculptors.  We impact our students' brain growth (dendrite growth) by teaching them and then providing at least 20 minutes of actually doing/working with the skill to commit it to memory.  We are responsible for providing a safe environment so that students can learn and grow dendrites, not shut down.
• You can only talk to/teach a child for 6 minutes maximum before they need to move and you need to move, they need to talk about what they are hearing.  After that, you can begin another 6 minutes of teaching.  This includes read alouds!  Begin a story on one side of the meeting area, stop to talk and process thoughts, then continue reading on the other side of the meeting area.  Have students turn their bodies around to face you again to promote physically being in a different position and looking at different surroundings...good for the brain!

My personal favorite thought of the day: Our brains are not wired to read.  According to Jordan, reading is the single most difficult thing that our brains learn to do.  It is so difficult because we aren't wired to read. Our brains are instead wired to tell stories.  I couldn't help but connect this idea to Ruth Ayres.  I had the opportunity to see Ruth this summer at the All Write Institute and she presented about the importance of story.  Our story.  Sharing our stories with others.  Turns out, it isn't just something we think is important.  Now there is scientific proof!  Sharing our stories is good for our brains.  

Even the children who come from the worst situations at home can be positively impacted by us.  We can provide a safe environment and help them make connections in their brains while they are at school with us.  You may think that one teacher can't make enough of a difference to that child, but think about the impact of having good teachers who do this year after year in school.  That impact alone could be enough to get that child out of a bad situation.  If we teach children to think and problem solve, they will have the capability to make the kinds of choices that would remove themselves from the negative situations in their lives.

Linda ended her presentation with a photo slide presentation of kid-drawn pictures set to the song "What a Wonderful World."  Indeed it is and thank goodness we have people to teach us and remind us about what we can do for the children in our world.

Nonfiction Writing!!!

 Slice of Life Challenge - Day 29 - hosted by Two Writing Teachers

I have been taking a class called Crafting Nonfiction as Readers and Writers for K-2 teachers.  It has been awesome!  I have been learning not only from a master teacher, but also I've had the opportunity to see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms regarding nonfiction reading and writing.
The "homework" for us is to try something new, nonfiction-related, and bring samples or pictures to share with the class.  I spent time last week taking pictures of all the things we do during a day in kindergarten.  My kids each chose a picture (that they starred in, of course) and wrote a caption for it.  Some chose to say exactly what they were doing in the picture (i.e., I was reading with Tyler in the library.) and some were more general (i.e., We go to music class.).  I left the door open for them to choose how they wanted to write their caption, what they wanted to say and then sat back to see what they would do.

My purpose for this activity was three-pronged.  First, I needed to have something "nonfiction related" to share in my final class.  Second, I wanted to be able to finish up their last "normal" writing pieces and not leave one hanging out there half-finished over spring break.  Third, I wanted to have a display to show parents during our kindergarten round up meeting because they always ask the question: What will my child do in kindergarten all day long?  One activity...three problems solved.  Nice!

The kids really did well with the captions.  Most wrote one simple sentence.  A few wrote a longer 2-3 sentence caption.  Three kids had minimal sound support for writing (ONLY because I wanted the parents to be able to read it) but the rest figured out their sounds and I'm confident that parents will be able to read them just fine.  A couple kids needed support to remember the spaces between words...popsickle sticks and gentle reminders did just fine for this purpose.

The kids loved it!  I loved it!  It was a nice way to wrap up our writing workshop during this crazy week.  I grouped the pictures and glued them to construction paper with titles to further explain to parents what they are seeing.  The kids oohed and ahhhed over the display!  They are so excited to help the parents of the "new kindergarten kids" and they feel so grown up thinking that they are writing for this big, real world purpose.  It really was the highlight of the week!

Here are a few pictures to show their hard work!  Enjoy!

I rolled the ball through the tunnel.                      We can read.  Books are fun when the teacher reads them.



 I play with Bristle blocks.                                                 We write stories.

Kindergarten Kind of Busy

Slice of Life Challenge - Day 21

Hosted by Two Writing Teachers blog creators, Ruth and Stacey

I believe the children are our future,

     Lincoln log fortress!

Teach them well and let them lead the way,

"Purchases" in our store.

Show them all the beauty they possess inside,

A puzzle with a friend.

Give them a sense of pride to make it easier,

Mo Willems! There's Pigeon!Duck and Cover

                                                                                      by Jackie Urbanovic

Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be.

Block creations!

I heard this song on the radio this morning. It was stuck in my head all day and each time I looked around my room, taking a status of the class glance, I couldn't help but notice that this was the soundtrack to what I was seeing. I love my job!