On paper, her school and my school look nothing alike. My mother’s school has been an A school for 12 consecutive years, and my school has earned an average of a C grade over that same time period. Additionally, my mom’s school has only about 24% of students on free or reduced lunch and a 27% minority rate, where as my school has about 98% of students on free or reduced lunch and about a 91% minority rate. Seeing that there is such a difference on paper, I was curious as to how different it would look in the classroom.
I visited 3 other kindergarten classrooms on the team, plus spent some time in my mom’s classroom. The first classroom I walked into was making Indian tribal hats using sticker shapes to make patterns on sentence strips. When they were done, they were doing a math worksheet that was also related to Thanksgiving. The students knew what had to be done and were working at their tables discussing their hats with their table groups. The teacher walked over to each table, looking at each student’s hat and either giving constructive feedback or a positive praise. She talked to them about their patterns, and where they should be “breaking their train,” (separating their pattern with lines). The students were really enjoying making their hats, and it was easy to see that there has been a lot of instruction about the Thanksgiving holiday in this classroom.
In the next classroom, a reading block was taking place. At guided reading with the teacher, they weren’t reading guided reading books, but instead, a Thanksgiving poem. I am so used to only seeing guided reading books used in guiding reading, that it was first a bit surprising to me to see another text being used until I realized—why not?! We should be exposing students to all sorts of texts, not just some tiny book. After all, reading happens all around us, and it doesn’t just come out of a tiny book! Some students were writing in a quarterly writing journal about Thanksgiving at their seats. These notebooks were set up differently than the ones we use at my residency—they had a place for students to draw a picture and lines to write about what they drew. This is something that we have discussed in our writing coursework and love the idea of (especially in kindergarten), but have not seen it taking place in our school. It also had a space at the top for students to write the date, and circle what the weather is like today. Students knew where they needed to be and were working, but also taking pride in their work. One student was very excited to not only show me her writing, but also her neighbor’s writing.
In the last classroom I visited, I also observed several activities taking place. Some students were painting a Thanksgiving picture, some were making pattern block necklaces, and some were working with the teacher to make a Thanksgiving picture frame. This teacher had more available time to explain in more detail some things to me, and I took away some great ideas:
· Sight word BINGO: Each student receives a blank bingo card. Using the word wall, they choose sight words to fill in their card with. The teacher than randomly reads off the sight words. The first person to cover their entire card gets BINGO! A great, quick activity that has students practicing reading and writing their sight words!
· Labeling: This teacher creates labels for most (if not all) of the students artwork. The students cut out the words, then place them on the appropriate place in the picture. (For example, students made turkeys and labeled their feathers, legs, etc.). This exposes them to more words, but also helps to build vocabulary and make it meaningful. An idea so simple, yet so helpful to their learning!
· Scholastic “Let’s Find Out” series: This teacher enjoys this series to enhance science and social studies instruction. She often uses them as a filler in guided reading. Not only does this expose the student’s to different kinds of text, it also helps build vocabulary and is an easy way to integrate subjects.
· Behavior Log: As part of her classroom management, she has a behavior log on a clipboard. When students are not following directions or are misbehaving, she has them sign in on this clipboard and check off the consequence they have received. This was a more private way for students to take responsibility of their actions, and it also serves as data for the teacher’s records and can be used during conferences if need be.
Back in my mom’s classroom, students were getting dressed into their Indian outfits: paper hats made out of sentence strips and cut out feathers, brown shirts that were fringed and decorated with beads, and dyed macaroni necklaces. It was time for a Thanksgiving celebration with their 5th grade reading buddies. Even the 5th grade buddies came dressed in pilgrim hats! The kindergarteners read to their buddies a Thanksgiving poem and sang them Thanksgiving songs, then bonded over pumpkin pie, popcorn, and juice boxes. Each class took a picture in front of the life-size teepee that the kindergarteners decorated. It was a fun way to come together to read and give thanks to each other!
One thing that really stood out to me that I saw constant in all of the classrooms was the integration of social studies in both math and reading. I noticed on their schedules that only a half hour each day was devoted to science/social studies. While this was upsetting to see at first because I LOVE both of those subjects, it brightened me up to see that these student’s weren’t lacking social studies instruction one bit. In fact, walking around listening to the students and observing their work around the room, I was afraid these students might actually know more about Thanksgiving than I do! I was so impressed that with my quick visits to four kindergarten classrooms, I saw social studies integration in every single classroom, no matter the subject.
Another thing that also caught my eye in all four classrooms was that I only saw one worksheet—and it was used as an activity for students who finished early. Every single classroom had students doing an activity where their minds and bodies were at work. These activities also allowed for creativity, something that is sometimes forgotten in the stress of trying to teach a standard. With their minds and bodies busy, there was hardly any misbehavior that I observed in my time being there. Teachers did not have to remind students of behaviors or redirect their attention—students were engaged and therefore teachers were able to engage with them. Each teacher in all of the classrooms was working with students on some level—whether it was individual, small group, or whole group—and learning was actively taking place.
I could write so much more about what I observed, but what really stood out to me the most were the attitudes of the students. They were all happy! They were smiling, taking pride in their work, and making those kindergarten memories that we all once experienced years ago and cherish till this day. These classroom visits truly captured what we all enjoyed about kindergarten and more—learning, making memories, and being a kid. After these classroom visits, I can see how this school has been able to stay an A school for 12 consecutive years. This made me think more about how learning was being portrayed at the school I am at. Here, learning seems so effortless, yet it’s constantly taking place. Students are learning in so many ways without having to pick up their paper and pencil. If our learning looked more like this, how much more would students be taking away? How would their attitudes about learning change? How would it improve student behavior? I truly feel that this is what learning looks like. I am so eager to take what I learned back to the classroom with me and one day [soon!] incorporate them into a classroom of my own.