Intro to Education Blog #4

Intro to Education Blog #4

I joined kindergarten these last two weeks. It has been a real eye opener. It has made see that the teacher really does set the tone for the classroom. She is a new teacher but older (like myself) she know how to handle kids and keep them engaged.  Our kindergarten is only half day so she really keeps it moving to get everything she needs to teach them into two and a half hours. So she had rotations set up which she was very organized about and a very smooth transition. She sat all the kids on the carpet and explained to the kids what each table would be doing. Listen station which I loved. It had a book and head phones so they can listen quietly. After the story they played a game about the book they just listened to. The next table had  art project to work on about the presidents because of Presidents day.  Which was all age appropriate activities that the kids could do on there own. Then a table that got to play learning games on an ipad. And then she took the last table with her so she could do a smaller group of letters, writing and reading. All I had to do was help with at that time was few little things, like cutting or tracing.

Some other things I liked about how she kept the kids engaged was she sang a lot. Singing helps you learn she told me. She let a helper be the pointer when they went over calendar but then still picked other kids to help the helper. She had learning songs with actions for the months weeks, days it was so fun to watch. She had a song for coming in from recess, a song for lining up to go home, a song for go to the carpet.

She had fun computer programs that did songs and actions that would introduce new words like flee, and texture. The kids had to do dance to describe what the word was.

Another thing she did was a word of the day. The word was "up" because they are getting ready for Dr. Seuss's birthday ,so they read a story about "up" and then that was the magic word for the day. She would tease them and say lets sit up...the class would say no it's up.

For story time she invites a mom into read a story to the kids and they are the special person. That was fun for a child to see their mom or dad come in.

She has a couple kids that refuse to do anything. They wouldn't do the project or go play outside. Very stubborn. He eventually went to the office. This has always been hard for me. Kids in general want to be pleasers so when you get one that is so defiant it makes it hard on the other class.  I think the teacher did an amazing job of not making a scene or showing him to much attention for being defiant. She gave him options or choices. Both which were fine for her but when he refused both he eventual went home with DAD. He was not excited about that.

I think boundaries need to be set starting day one. So they know what they can and can't get away with and know the consequences right away. But sometimes that doesn't even work and all they need is food and sleep.

She really was so well prepared that there wasn't any down time or times when they got bored or started acting out.

Intro to Education Blog #3

I have been working with three different teachers for my service learning hours. They all do things a little different but they all made their kids feel welcome. Some things I noted was they stood by their door  in the morning and greeted their students by name as they came into the class room. Sometimes asking how their morning was or how an event went the night before. Something personal to show they know who they are and what they are doing. Another example is during a test the 6th grade teacher knew the kids that got over whelmed with to much reading or all the problems on the math test so she was ready with a paper to cover most of the paper so they would not get anxiety.

In the 6th grade class she made it about their behavior. When they were ready to start they would show her. However if it was taking to long there was a consequence like the time would come out of their recess.  Another example was getting ready to go to lunch they could leave when they were quiet. She was very patience with them and didn't get angry or yell she just waited on them to make the choice. 

In the 3rd grade I went into they are more structured and had a more set routine. During transitions she would tell them class in 2 minutes we will be moving on to math so lets finish up reading. So the kids were mentally prepared to move on. I know some kids don't do well with change but if you give them warning they can prepare themselves and not have a melt down. In my daycare we have a very structured day. We eat breakfast, go to school, play, do a project, read stories, pick up kids, eat lunch, movie time, play, snack, go home, We do the same thing every day in that order so the kids know what is coming next and when mommy comes.

I do choices all the time with my preschool kids. I took the love and logic classes (twice now) a few years ago and they taught me the importance of choices. I give choices I can live with and I give the kids as many as I can. This should stop the power struggles and when I need something done it should be less of a battle. Some examples in my classroom is do you want to go down to the toy room to play or stay up stairs and play with the babies? Would you like to sit by Susie or Sarah? Would you like the red mat or blue mat?  Pick a blanket? Pick the movie? Then when I need them to do something they are much happier about it.

A positive class room idea I noticed were table parties. In third grade she allowed the kids to earn good behavior points but it had to be all four kids behaving to get the point. Then when the points were earned she would send a note home and then the kids could bring a treat to share with their table group. And then you could earn class points and go up against the teacher. The winner got extra recess or something cleaned in the classroom..