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 :)

Week 6

Small Group Reading Instruction

I cannot believe I am nearing the end of week 6 in kindergarten. Wow, how time flies.

The past week has been great so far. The students are really starting to develop and are starting to feel comfortable in kindergarten. Mrs. Swann decided this week would be a great review week, I agree. There is a very wide range of ability levels in our classroom. This week was designated to review and assess, review and assess.

The key componets of this week have included: Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, I, am, little, the (in reading) and one, 1, two, 2, three, 3, blue, red, and green (in math). The students not only need to know the letter but the sign and sound for each letter in phonics. Some of the lower level students are still struggling with some of the concepts, but are progressing. It is very exciting to see one of those children really get it and know those letters!

I am still doing math time with the students. This week we are working on graphing (picture graphs, real graphs, bar graphs) and patterns. I am still working on the best teaching methods and ways to teach the material. I do have a hard time with the large group instruction, and I am considering better ways for classroom management during that time. I also want to be better at allowing the students to be actively involved in the large group instruction, but also be able to keep the students under control. They tend to get out of hand quickely, especially in the afternoon. Math is always before or after a specialist, so the students are always pretty wound up during math time. :)

I am excited to be taking on Morning Circle time next week. I am also excited to have my Action Research under way starting this week! (See Action Reasearch posting for more info).

Our Word Wall

Kristin,
I enjoyed reading your blog and can tell you are learning a lot about classroom management and kindergarten! Let me know how your first week of AR goes. Mrs. Morris

Action Research

9/16/08
I sat with Mrs. Swann today and discussed my project that I will be doing in her classroom. Be discussed areas of which I need to change a bit to make it fit four our classroom and specific children.

Over the weekend I will be considering the following areas:
the 6 students I will collect data on (2 low, 2 middle, 2 high)

• the timeline of the project



• the time of day in which we will work on the project (3 times a week?)



• the 6 books I will be using
  


• comprehension questions (setting, characters, beginning, middle, end, etc)



• motivation?



• project ideas?

9/24/08

This week I started my action research project which asks the question:

How does the use of integrated arts instructional activities affect comprehension detail use in stories used in Kindergarten?

This week I began with "Caps for Sale" as the storybook that will be assessed for reading comprehension detail. I created a rubric and data scoring sheets for the 6 children that I chose for the study. The schedule is as follows:

Monday: Reading of story (ask 6 students questions individually)

Wednesday: Reading of Story and do arts project

Friday: Reading of Story and complete arts project (ask 6 students questions again

Here are some pictures from todays project. We made "caps."

Sept 29-Oct. 3

This week for Action Research we read the book, "The Giant Jam Sandwich." For the arts activity we listened to violin music and did "bee' movements....first sloooow, then FAST! Each student had a di-cut bee and moved the bee to the music and listen to my directions. The students loved it! Afterward, we had Jam Sandwichs for snack time. Inside there was a little surprise....smashed bees (raisinettes). They thought it was funny they were eating "bees."

October 10

"Make Way for Ducklings"

This week for Action Research we read the book, "Make Way for Ducklings." The students really loved this story and fell in love with the cute little Ducklings in Boston. For our Arts integration activity we created fancy "city ducks." I made a di-cut duck for each student and they were able to decorate their duck with feathers and sequeins and gems. They were very excited to use these different materials. Then we used the ducks to decorate our classroom door. (See above)

October 13-17

WHERE THE WILD THINGS DANCE

Week four of Action Research, we read "Where the Wild Things Are." Following the story, I instructed and directed the students to do a pantomime to retell the story. First we put on our "wolf suit" then our room grew and grew and GREW! The we sailed off to land of the Wild Things. We did the wild rumpus and we were crowned kings (and queens) of the Wild Things. We said goodbye to our monster friends and got back into our boat and bend back home and ate our dinner, that was waiting for us...and it was still hot!

The kids did a great job using their imaginations as we acted out scences from the book. Afterward we danced to a song called "Monster Boogie" by children's singer/songwriter Laurie Berkner. The song was perfect for the book. Mean monsters with a playful side that liked to dance! This was such a fun activity.

The students seem to really like the art activities we have been doing from week to week. Just 2 weeks left of Action Research.

Oct. 20-24

"The Dot"

This week was week 5 for Action Research. We read the story called "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. THis is a story about a little girl, Vashti, who thought she couldnt draw anything. She was very down and frustrated with her art work. She has an inspiration teacher who helped her to use her imagination to let her artwork come to life. The teacher made sure that Vashti always signed her work.

This week the students painted dots! We used potatoes which were cut in half. They made perfect sized dots. When students were finished making their dot project, I instructed them to sign it with a black marker. The students felt very proud of their artwork. The really liked painting with potatoes!