This month, I found myself trying to find a consensus for my highs and I found quite a few things that I would like to highlight:
One thing that made my month with the kids so enjoyable and interesting was the incorporation of so many activities that the kids loved and I loved doing with them. I've been inspired by Nurturing Inquiry a lot this past month, because the weather has been amazing and my school is lucky enough to have an awesome playground with a lot of opportunity for kids to explore their surroundings. In his book Charles Pearce discusses hands on learning opportunities, "at last, with the hands-on philosophy spreading among educators, children have been able to touch, manipulate, and see close-up many of the amazing things previously reserved for the teacher herself" (1999, p. 4). It's been so cool to see how the kids respond to getting outside and doing some hands on learning. From the beginning of the school year I've had a lot of worm scientists. Every day, a bunch of kids would bring me a handful of earth worms, eager to explore and observe the worms. I'm a big believer in protecting and honoring living things, we we made sure all our exploring and observations were worm-friendly. Another cool thing we did outside, was take a nap outside. CRAZY RIGHT?! They LOVED it. Check out this video of the SILENT nap we took outside!
Finally, we delved into more mathematical areas and I'm beginning to see the need for more engagements with my students. Even though they are just 4 and 5, I think they still need to have a lot of support and opportunity to interact with math on a productive struggle level. My hope is that students would begin to see math in all parts of their world and that it wouldn't become this unattainable area, but rather an area of interest.
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| Counting different sets of items |
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| Will a big pumpkin float? |
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| Counting |
My lows are some of the same things I struggle with, but in a different way. I have students that have huge social/emotional needs and I want to be able to work with them and help facilitate healthy interactions with their peers. I have one student in particular that struggles with coping mechanisms and if there is a conflict, it generally takes 15-30 minutes to help him calm down. However, I'm a teacher of 23 four and five year olds. I'm really struggling with the tension between helping my less capable students and working with those students that don't have a lot of conflict. There just simply isn't enough time. I worry that I'm not giving enough attention to my students that are performing at a more developed social/emotional level. Sometimes the balance is off and I feel as if I've neglected helping a student work through a problem by telling them to take a break in the cozy corner to help another student work on writing skills. Becky Bailey says, "anger management requires teachers to implement stress reduction activities in the classroom"(2005, p. 35). I wonder if I am providing enough opportunities for students to learn about relaxing, focusing, and breathing. I want to revisit some of the ideas Bailey suggests in the chapter on composure, so I can support all my students with conflict resolution.
As I look towards November, I'm excited to engage more with my students in mathematics instruction, more focused and explicit literacy instruction and a general excitement for the upcoming holidays by bringing in family cultures and traditions to our classroom. Onward!
Also, check out my tumblr if you want to see how I photo-post almost daily to communicate with parents!
Lindsey!
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome month you have had. I love reading your post each month because it gives me a peek into your Pre-K classroom where it is always acceptable and encouraged to wonderful example of a place where students can learn and explore. I think it is great that you are encouraging hands on learning experiences for your students this month. Hands on engagement was something I worked on this month and I think it is great when students are able to make connections even through hands on exploration and without it being in a structured classroom environment.
I think it is great when we give students opportunities to explore outside. Especially with all the beautiful weather we have been having as you mentioned in your post. As you know my school started using a new reading curriculum, Super Kids. While Super Kids provides structure for students it does not leave a lot of room for exploration outside of the content. So, this month I worked on getting the girls outside and giving them the ability to explore the same content but in a way that lets them bring in nature outside of the four walls. That is why I LOVED your outside nap time. What did the kids say about it? Did they enjoy themselves? Do they want to do it again?
As a 2nd grade teacher I also want to thank you for exposing your kids to numeracy activities at such a young age! I think if all kids were given that foundation to understand that math IS fun then by the time they get to 2nd grade or a higher grade Math would not be some ominous subject that students fear. By the looks of it I can tell your students enjoyed the activities and were extremely engaged.
Thank you for sharing your work this month!
Kyla
Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! Where do you teach again? I need Makenzie in your class next year! You are so awesome. That outside nap idea, I LOVE it!!!
I too have students who I find myself having to tend to more emotionally so I understand your frustration. Just imagine having to do it all by yourself, it's definitely a struggle. However, you have CD down packed so I'm sure you are doing an amazing job. Can you help me please :)
I also love your hands on math activities. Every time I look at your blog, I miss the freedom that came along with teaching pre-k. You are finding so many amazing and creative things to do with your babies and it just all looks so natural. Keep on rocking it!
WOW Lindsey!! You are seriously amazing. First of all, thank you for pointing me back to Nurturing Inquiry because I really need some science inspiration lately. Seeing the pictures of your students and hearing how fired up they are with their science questions makes me a little envious and a little guilty as I think back over our science-sparse month. I want so much to get my kids embracing their curiosity like that, and who knows, maybe your little guys are just the role models we need! As for that feeling of not having enough time in the day, after reading yours and our other peers' blogs (including my own), I am definitely seeing that emerge as a theme. Not very helpful, I know, but at least you are not alone! And it certainly raises my spirits to know that an energetic achiever like you who even manages to keep up an awesome tumblr for the parents struggles with the same feelings I do! Just know that you are anything but inadequate and that your students are certainly going to thrive in your warm and respectful environment. Kudos to you!
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