Week 11 - 100%

A Week in Pictures

Spiders have 8 legs.

First, we glued on 8 legs.... Then wrote#1-#8 on the legs..

Then, we glued on googly eyes. Finally, we counted the legs aloud.

Ordinal Numbers aren't easy. But we can do it! First, Second, Third...

Here Mea and Acelyn are using thier -at word family slider.

cat, mat, pat, sat, hat...

We learn about setting in "Armadillo Orange." The students drew the setting around the Armadillo. Look for the BIG orange and the green trees!

We hung them to show everyone that we know "Where Armadillo is..."

Week 10

Graphing Fall

I feel as though I am getting classroom management down for kindergarten students. I have been learning that smooth transitions from one activity to another are important. I have also been learning that you must be prepared for anything in kindergarten. The students will always keep you on your toes.

This week Neal observed a math lesson on Thursday. We worked on graphing to answer the question "What do we like to do the most in Fall?" They had to options: carving pumpkings, playing football, or playing in the leaves. (See above picture) Students did a great job making this picture graph to determine most and fewest. Thanks for your constructive feedback and encouragement Neal!

One thing I am contonually learning and working on it having meaningful discussion about the concepts that we are learning. I want to be able to ask the students questions about the concepts to challenge their thinking. I like to use "What if..." questions. What if we had one more here.. or one less there.. would the outcome still be the same? These kinds of questions help with the students Depth of Knowledge.

Thanks Mrs. Swann and Mrs. Morris for helping me through this learning process. You are inspiring me to be a teacher who is well prepared!

Week 9

Week was my first full week of teaching reading. I am now at 75% teaching. Teaching reading has been a challenge for me. I try to really mentally prepare the night before for our 90 minute reading block. The Basal Reader is very structured and I think I really like it. It tells me exactly what I have to teach that day. When I am preparing, I mostly think of how I can keep the class activly involved in learning.


Here are some of the questions that I am constantly thinking about:
How am I going to teaching blending of cvc words?

What is my classroom management going to be like during each section of our morning?

How will I transition from one activity to the next?

How will I make sure my lower level students are paying attention and comprehending the concept?

Do I have to be sure to ask them comprehension questions throughout the morning?

What about motivation?

What is going to be a "treasure chest" question?

How will I keep the students attention?

What activity can I do to help these concepts stick in my students heads?


These are all things I have to think about to ensure a productive and positive morning.


This is really a learning process for me. I feel more confident teaching Reading now than I did 2 weeks ago, although everyday is a new challenge. There are some things I am still figuring out and I am constantly reflecting on how I can improve my teaching strategies and classroom management.


I cannot believe there are just 6 weeks left!

CVC sliders I made for our class.

We are working on the -am and -at word families.

Here is one component of our Reading Series:

The trade book "Armadillo Orange" and the song Orange Grove

to the tune of Here Come Peter Cottontail.

Kristin,
I can see you are learning a lot about kindergarten. Your AR research activities sound great - I especially liked the activities you used with Where the Wild Things Dance. I'm sure the kids loved it! Even after your official AR time is complete, do you still plan to do similar activities?
I also like how you add pictures to your blog. They make it interesting to read and give you a feel of what is happening.
I noticed in your blogs you mentioned classroom management. It gets easier given experience -- at least most days. Don't get discouraged and remember they are just five years old.
Mrs. Morris

Week 8

Pattern, Patterns Everywhere

Week 8 was a week of patterns in math class. Above are pictures of my students creating Pattern Placemats. The students were to create their own pattern using color strips. Some made ABAB patterns, others made ABCABC patterns. A few of the students even created AABAAB patterns. I was very impressed with the results. I even laminated them, so they can be used for many years to come on the kitchen table!
The students took their math test at the end of the week. Many did very, very well. The test included patterns and graphing. Many had more trouble with the graphing. But in all, I was very impressed with the scores.

This week I picked up Reading on Wednesday. I was a little nervous to start teaching Reading, because Mrs. Swann does such a good job with it. I felt like I did okay for the first time teaching it. I am still wworking on gaining confidence while I am up front and other teachers are around the room, watching as I teach. I am also still gaining confidence with using "sign and sound" for the phonics part of the lesson. We are blending sounds already! /b/ /a/ /t/. BAT.
I am also still working on the best techniques for classroom management and for keeping the students attention and keeping them involved in learning.
This coming week I am continuing at 75% teaching. I am teaching everything now except afternoon phonics and the unit (Mrs. Swann is doing an Apple Unit). I will be full time by the end of October.

Week 7

Week seven was a hard week. On top of being sick, I was exhausted (physically and emotionally). We had a rough beginning of the week with one of the students. Mrs. Cummingham, the guidence counselor, said to me "Honestly, if you can do kindergarten, you can do anything!" I laughed and replied, "Seriously."

I was at 50% this week, teaching Morning Circle time and Math, while also doing my Action Research 3 times a week. Everyday is very different from the day before, and I am starting to understand that anything that I expect will always be different! I have to go into the day prepared for anything and try to keep positive (and to remember they are 5 years old). Mrs. Swann and I chatted a bit about my strenths and areas of improvement thus far, which I appreciated. Classroom management will always be an area to develop, especially at this age level.

This week in math we have been working on patterns. One of the concepts the book wants to the students to understand is where the pattern repeats. It has proven to be a hard concept for kindergarten students to comprehend. I started to question if I was teaching the lesson well enough, and Mrs. Swann was supportive and reminded me that it is very hard for these children to understand and to give them time. That was comforting and I didnt feel like a failure.

Next week, Week 8, I will be starting to teach Reading from Mrs. Swann's plans. Just to "get my feet wet." This will take me to 75%. I will be 100%, starting the last week in October.

I am hoping for a good week. Only 4 days this week :)