January 10 - Kindergarten

A captivated student

It's been more than a few years now since I was a student in Mrs. Harrison's kindergarten class, and my days at Fisher Mitchell Elementary School are long passed.  However, I still remember the joy of going to school for the first time and my first forays into learning (most of those memories revolved around the ground on the playground being lava…)

I'm quite aware that times have changed and what kids learn now and how they learn differs greatly, but I wasn't sure to what extent they'd changed.  So yesterday, Elizabeth and I went back to school. To assist in this, I called on a family member with a lot of experience.

My Aunt Debbie has taught kindergarten for 37 years (“Wow!” she said, “that is really LONG!”). She has taught at two schools during her career, both in Wilmington. NC.  Her first was JC Roe, which closed about 20 years ago. The whole staff at that time went on to work at Parsley, and that’s where my Aunt Debbie has been teaching since.

What made you want to get into teaching?

Aunt Debbie: I know this sound lame, but, I really love to be around kids. They are a lot of fun and learn so easily.  It is NEVER boring, and although they can drive you bonkers, I don't ever get tired of being LOVED!

Any wacky stories from over the years?

Debbie: I have TOO many wacky stories!!  How many times have I said "Honey, what are you doing???"  "Where did you get that???"They always keep me hopping, and I love it!

What’s the most rewarding thing about being a teacher?

Debbie: There are too many rewarding things about working with my kidlets!!  Their smiles, their craziness, when the light bulb goes on!  Their hugs and special "drawings" for my art gallery. Being KNOWN at my school.  All my old kids remembering me in the hallway. Hugs from kids I know, but never had in my class.  They are not like grown-ups.....they smile for no reason at all.

Kindergarten kids remember you even when they are grown.  I know, I have met LOTS  in the work place.  It is so much fun when you hear "Are you Ms Farabee? You were my kindergarten teacher.  We had so much fun in kindergarten!"

Have you thought about teaching other grades?

Debbie:  I have taught K-1 three times.  It is ok, but kindergarten is my love.

Debbie sent along a rundown of what a typical day in her kindergarten class looks like:

8:00am

Calendar Binder

This is a lot of math skills! We learn months of the year, what month of the year we are in currently, days of the week, and we sing songs to help reinforce those lessons. We count the days we have been in school, by 1's, 5's, and 10's. 

In addition to all of this, we learn how to do tallies.  We keep track of birthdays, lost teeth, things like that, by filling in more bar graphs and discussing how they work.

After we finish that we use manipulatives and paperwork to learn patterns, adding and subtracting.

8:45am

"Specials"

These are different directed activities throughout the week. They include art, music, PE, library and Second Step, which is a character building program.

9:35am

Reading program -"Fundations"

Here, we learn letters, letter formation, and learning their Kindergarten "core" words (the, and, a, I etc.). There are thousands core words that they need to know before leaving kindergarten.

10:35

Snack time

(This would be my favorite part of the day)

10:50am
Literary time 

Here, we read a story, discuss aspects of the story, such as characters, setting, what happens first, next, and last.  This is a year long task. 

11:10am

Stations

These are differentiated tasks for building independence while they work with letter sounds, writing stories using a story starter, working on the computer, using an iPad to read pre-selected stories and take small tests after.

We change these stations every two weeks.  They have a folder where they put their finished work. It is checked and sent home.  This is also the time when we have individual work with all of the kids. Basically "reading group" but it is only 1, 2, or 3 at a time.

12:10- 12:35pm

Lunch

12:35-12:45pm

Group Bathroom time

12:45pm

Outside time

1:15pm

Writing time

All the aspects of letter formation, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, as well as how to organize your thoughts to make a "story".

1:50pm

Pack up

2:00-2:20pm

Science or Social studies

It depends on the day and the time of year.  For example, Christmas fell under the heading of social studies.  We are now studying "winter", so that would be science.

2:21pm

GO HOME!!

Debbie also sent along some of the lesson plans that she uses in her classroom.  I can’t duplicate them here, but I can let you in on the book that Elizabeth read to Elliot last night as a part of that lesson:

A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon

  

It’s definitely a book that was way over his head (he’s a few years out from kindergarten). But it was very well drawn and had a good message about being who you are and not caring about what other people have to say (Elliot got a somewhat opposing message with the second book last night, Green Eggs and Ham, which is all about giving into societal pressures and eating obviously rotten food).

First and foremost, I don’t remember having this much going on in kindergarten.  I remember reading some books and walking around the perimeter of the school building.  And lots and lots of recess. That’s about it.  It’s amazing how much they cram into the day now.

Another thing that I noticed was that it was full day.  My kindergarten was half day, and we swapped halfway through the year (I think I had the morning session the first part of the year, and the afternoon session the second half of the year).  That’s a long day for those kids (it was a long day for me and I was just reading it!)

We’ve got some time before Elliot will be in a classroom like the one my Aunt Debbie teaches in (and even more time before Eleanor gets there). But it was fun to get a glimpse into what awaits us down the line.  I only hope they'll end up in a class with a teacher like my aunt.