It's been almost a month since our kindergarteners arrived at school, I know my master teachers and I feel as though we've scaled a mountain.
The first week was energy-consuming for everyone. Kindergarteners must be trained and drilled in even the most everyday things: unpacking backpacks, checking mailboxes, washing hands. I was very tense before classes began about what this process would look like. How do you coach a new student through the workings of a kindergarten classroom?
The answer was much simpler than I though, but also much harder work. The answer: coaching, and repetition. Our classroom encompasses a huge range of learning. We have eighteen kindergarteners, twelve of whom are boys. For the first time in several years, my master teachers are also teaching first graders. There are six first graders, three of whom are new to Paul Ecke.
One of the most special opportunities that this semester has afforded me is extra time instructing our small group of first graders. The kindergartener classrooms at our school are separated and enclosed from the rest of the campus. Kindergarteners have their own arrival gate, their own playground, and their own schedule that is separate from the rest of the "older kids." In order to allow the first graders to eat and play with the rest of the first graders in other classes, my master teachers have asked me to work with them during the overlapping parts of the day. While kindergarteners have morning break from 10:00 to 10:30, the first graders are on the upper playground from 10:00 to 10:15. After leading the first graders out to break and collecting them afterward, we typically head back to the classroom and read a book, or begin a writing lesson. Simultaneously, kindergarteners begin lunch at 12:00 and are out of the classroom until 12:50, while first grade lunch extends from 11:30 to 12:15. From the first day of school, I have been allowed to establish some of my own classroom norms with the first grade students, and I have learned so much!
There are many quirks to working with a small group of students. To begin with, as they have gotten to know each other, the first graders sometimes act less like classmates, and more like siblings. This past week, after the third day of students shouting out at break and lunchtime about who could hold one of our class mascots during reading, or who could be first in line, I decided to make a rotating list of "jobs" for each student for each day of the week. This has helped to quiet some of the internal disputes, but it taught me a great deal about how much students equate personal contributions with being a part of a group. In summary: students want to know that they are important, to their teacher, and to each other.
The first week was energy-consuming for everyone. Kindergarteners must be trained and drilled in even the most everyday things: unpacking backpacks, checking mailboxes, washing hands. I was very tense before classes began about what this process would look like. How do you coach a new student through the workings of a kindergarten classroom?
The answer was much simpler than I though, but also much harder work. The answer: coaching, and repetition. Our classroom encompasses a huge range of learning. We have eighteen kindergarteners, twelve of whom are boys. For the first time in several years, my master teachers are also teaching first graders. There are six first graders, three of whom are new to Paul Ecke.
One of the most special opportunities that this semester has afforded me is extra time instructing our small group of first graders. The kindergartener classrooms at our school are separated and enclosed from the rest of the campus. Kindergarteners have their own arrival gate, their own playground, and their own schedule that is separate from the rest of the "older kids." In order to allow the first graders to eat and play with the rest of the first graders in other classes, my master teachers have asked me to work with them during the overlapping parts of the day. While kindergarteners have morning break from 10:00 to 10:30, the first graders are on the upper playground from 10:00 to 10:15. After leading the first graders out to break and collecting them afterward, we typically head back to the classroom and read a book, or begin a writing lesson. Simultaneously, kindergarteners begin lunch at 12:00 and are out of the classroom until 12:50, while first grade lunch extends from 11:30 to 12:15. From the first day of school, I have been allowed to establish some of my own classroom norms with the first grade students, and I have learned so much!
There are many quirks to working with a small group of students. To begin with, as they have gotten to know each other, the first graders sometimes act less like classmates, and more like siblings. This past week, after the third day of students shouting out at break and lunchtime about who could hold one of our class mascots during reading, or who could be first in line, I decided to make a rotating list of "jobs" for each student for each day of the week. This has helped to quiet some of the internal disputes, but it taught me a great deal about how much students equate personal contributions with being a part of a group. In summary: students want to know that they are important, to their teacher, and to each other.