Jen's Notebook

Expectations for behavior, and following or adhering to limits is a very individual skill for children depending on their personalities and the influences they have had from their families. There is no right or wrong here. Whatever is working for your family is great. That said, I do have a but to go with that statement. Your child will need to be able to adapt to classroom behavior and expectations for both the class and the school. Happily, most children have no problem meeting these expectations. The first few weeks are sometimes hard as they learn where they fit in to this new environment, but they almost always find their place to fit in and do a beautiful job of living up to the expectations.

Some conversations you may want to have with your child before they come to school can include: 1.) Remember that we have different voice levels and ideas of ways to sit and walk in class and out on the playground. 2.) Behavior at home will be different in some ways than at home. Children will need to learn how to wait their turn, not interrupt, sit still for periods of time and work as a group rather than as an individual. 3.) Teachers will expect children to move along with activities and transitions. There is always so much to do in a day and never enough time to get it all done.

That all said, please remember we know this is your childs first time in an elementary school setting. We do not expect them to be able to rise up to every occasion beginning on the very first day. Kindergarten has a huge learning curve for little ones. I am always amazed at how much they have grown in just the first month.

Ideas for you to try at home: Show your child different ways you will expect them to act at school and how they differ from home, a restaurant, the park, a store, etc… Take them to your local Libraries children’s program. They can practice sitting, listening and sharing with other kids while listening to great stories. Talk to your child about the behaviors they are likely to be expected to use at school (especially sharing, asking for help from an adult, the difference between tattling and getting help when you have a problem. ( I always tell my kids they need to come to me or another adult at the school immediately if someone is hurting them with either their body or their words). And finally make sure your child knows that there is an open line of communication between yourself and the teacher. That way, students are not surprised when they find out you know they did not meet the expectations at school that day, but it also means that you and the teacher are a team working together for their best education.

I love beginning a part of a families team in education, and so will your childs teacher.

When I sent my first child to Kindergarten many, many years ago, it never crossed my mind what types of developmental skills he had or didn’t have that a teacher would be looking at. I mean, he could read, knew his colors and shapes, and could count. What else could there be? When that same wonderful child was in high school I became a teacher and found out there was a world of skills and experiences that his kindergarten teacher was introducing him to in school that I didn’t ever think of. Don’t get me wrong, my child was top of his class, and had picked up all the skills he needed naturally through play and talking with his family but it wasn’t anything I had taught him. It was just us going along and like all of you, trying the best we could. But in the 25 years since I sent my first child off to school, many, many thing have changed in education. First of all, school is much harder for today’s students than it was for my own. The common core standards have pushed harder skills down towards our lower grades. Can the students live up to these standards? Absolutely, but not on their own. They need guidance and direct teaching both from the school and at home. For the most part, we kindergarten teachers have found that the students that succeed in school now a days come to us with a huge bag of skills on their first day of school.

As a parent in today’s society, I know that you would love to know all of the things a kindergarten teacher is looking for before you take your child to the kindergarten screening required of the school district in august. By the time August comes around and you find out what your child needs to work on there isn’t enough time left to teach it to them before the first day of school. The school districts of my state look not only at reading and math but at social emotional, physical, and cognitive skills and a childs language abilities. I am going to give each of you an inside view of what I look for each August as a student comes to the kindergarten screening. As well as some small, fun activities that you can do with your kids to help them build their skills before that first day in August.

Remember, any skills your child brings with them on that first day is a wonderful gift you have given them and the more they bring the better they will succeed.

This question is a huge issue for both families and schools. Every year as I meet with my future Kindergarten students and their parents at least one family will tell me they are concerned about whether or not their child is truly ready to come to school. And then they ask “What do you think?” This is not an easy question to answer. In fact there really isn’t one great answer to give. It all boils down to what everyone involved in the child’s education can agree on. That being said, here are a few suggestions I have that I hope will help you with your decision on whether or not to send your child to Kindergarten this year.

First and most importantly follow your instincts on this subject. You know your child better than anyone else. You know if they can handle social situations, being away from you for the day while having to show lots of independence and continue to grow that independence throughout the year and how they learn. If you feel your child is well rounded socially, can handle the new CCSS curriculums and the rigor that comes with them and your child is excited to come to school, please send them.

If you are questioning if you should send your child or not, than your instincts are telling you something. Here are some suggestions we give to parents. 1). Hang in there you still have 5 months until Kindergarten starts. Try out different social situations while working with your child to help them grow a little more independence. 2.) Consider holding your child one more year before you send them to kindergarten. I have met many parents who regretted sending their children too early; I have never met one who regretted keeping their child at home for one more year. 3.) Consider doing a year in preschool, if your child has not previously been involved in a preschool program. Or do another year if they are currently enrolled in preschool. 4.) Ask if your school has a red shirt program. Red shirt programs allow your child to do Kindergarten twice. Giving them that extra year before they jump into first grade. 5.) Keep your child home for one more year. My own grandson stayed out a year and will be starting this fall. It turned out to be a wonderful gift to him to do preschool again this year. 6.) Talk to the kindergarten teacher before school starts. If they feel your child is not ready for the kindergarten experience find out why and how you can help. Remember these teachers have a lot of experience with children that have both succeeded and not succeeded. They are trying to help your child have a great kindergarten year and it’s not a personal jab at you if your child needs more time to get ready for school. They are there to help your child have the best first year in school experience ever, glean their knowledge and use it to help you make your decision.

The most important thing is to remember once you make up your mind, stick to your decision. It is a great choice. What your friends kids or preschool kids you know do is of no concern to your child’s education and whether you made the right choice or not. You are your child’s best advocate. If you are choosing to send your child to school this coming fall, I hope they will have a wonderful year. If you are choosing to keep them home one more year I hope you enjoy your extra time with your little one at home.

So it’s the end of March and my first thought every year around this time is how can I help parents make sure their kids are ready for Kindergarten before the school district screening in August? My district has always assessed and met with the parents and in coming Kindergarten students each year to go over what their child is good at and where they have needs for growth. But let’s face it, August is a little late to be hearing about the things your child needs to be working on. Reality is Kindergarten starts two weeks after the assessments. So I have been kicking around the idea of doing some short blogs for parents on making sure your child has what they need to be successful and give you some time to work on some basic skills. As I thought more and more about what I could write about, I realized I should divide my ideas into three basic groups. First, basic kindergarten skills that every child should be working on or already know to be successful. Secondly, things parents can do to make their partnership with the school and teachers easier for the students and their families. And lastly, how to unpack the CCSS standards at a kindergarten level so every family knows what to expect for the school year and how to help their child achieve their goals.

And so starts my first set of blogs. What every child needs to know before they leave kindergarten. Notice the big leave in dark, bold type. Please don’t read this and think, “We are behind!!! What are we going to do?” My goal as a kindergarten teacher has always been to take your child from where they are on that first day of school and work with them to make sure they can master all of these developmental goals before they leave me. Is every child successful? No! I would be lying to you if I said they were. But these are my goals none-the-less. My little kiddos work hard at trying to accomplish their goals each year.

The bottom line with these goals though, is the closer your child is to each of these goals, directly ties to the success they are going to have not only throughout Kindergarten but throughout their education. Starting out with any kind of educational deficit is a frustrating struggle to a student. And the honest truth is the more they have in their bag of educational knowledge before they come into my classroom, the more successful they will be. I hope my blogs over the next few weeks will help you to better understand what kindergarten teachers are looking for in an incoming student, give you resources to work with your child in a fun, non-classroom style of learning and make you feel confident in your child’s abilities to succeed in their first elementary school setting.

So, Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten!

Every year I seem to change how I do the daily news. When I moved into Kindergarten from First grade six years ago, I had the kids tell me a narrative that I would write up for them as the daily news. I noticed this was a great way to teach narrative and small moment but my students didn’t seem to be able to grab on to the concepts that are the mechanics of writing. I know, I know those dreaded capital letters, periods, etc… Developmentally that seemed so hard for them. So through the years I have been trying to find a happy balance to introduce them both to new writing genres and the mechanics of writing.  This year I have added sounds and a hand motion for punctuation when we reread. I have also changed what we o with the daily news piece each morning when we finish it. Here are a few examples of ideas I have used during Daily news.

In this example from the  beginning of the school year. We work on beginning sounds and the letters they make the sound. I randomly pick letters to underline and make the sound with them from the Daily news each morning. We also talk about the number of the day, which is always the day part of the date.

The second example begins during the second quarter of the school year. I circle ten or so sight words that we have bee working on and then we read then as a whole group. I always include the date as well.

The Third example begins third quarter ( do you see my pattern here. haha) I have the helper each morning pick ten students one at a  time. The student that is picked reads a sight word off of the daily news. The helper then finds the word on the page and circles it.

The fourth example, fourth quarter of course, becomes a team effort to write the daily news. I write part of the words with my color of marker and the helper of the day writes their part with another color. I try not to have as long of sentences this time of year because it takes the students longer to write their part. I say the sentence we are going to write out loud, count the number of words we will be writing on our fingers and then go over it with the whole group before we start each sentence.

At the end of every daily news,  we always reread the entire page as a whole group. And we include the sound and hand motion for each different part of the punctuation in the piece.

I would love to hear from all of you! I love getting new ideas on how to make the daily news a more effective teaching moment. Please share your ideas!!! Have a great Saturday!!!

Every month I change the decorations on my classroom door to match something that is going on that month. I usually use holidays or seasons and always the kids names. But for the last month this year I am going to try something new. I went to the dollar store and bought all kinds of hats, glasses, etc. to dress-up with. I am planning to have each of my kids dress up how ever they want, hold a sign up that states what they want to be when they grow up and take their picture. I am going to hang their pictures on the door under the statement “Class of 2026!” I am so excited to see it, yet dismayed that the year 2026 seems like forever! And I got a shopping trip to the dollar store out of this new idea, which always makes for a great day! Have a wonderful Saturday!!! 🙂 (Here are some of my dollar store finds!)

One of my goals this year has been to work with my kindergarteners on understanding their goals and when they have achieved those goals. It has been a very interesting process. I  started by telling them what their CCSS goals were each time we started a lesson throughout the school year so far and they are starting to understand a lot of the reasons they are learning what they are learning. Wow!! Step one is going well. Step two was to communicate their goals to them and with them. So, I made goal sheets and have been discussing this with them from the second week of school during individual assessment time each week. Step two is going fairly well. Step three was to post their goals on the board daily. OK! That goal didn’t go quite as well. It was to over whelming for both the kids and myself. So I now post the most important goals for the week! Step three is going fine! Step four was to post the goals they have met in the classroom. ( This wonderful idea came from my teaching partner Natalie! She is awesome!!!) We made up goals sheets in student friendly language or the  I Can statements for each goal we were asking them to accomplish! Then we posted the goals for a quarter at a time. At the end of the quarter the goal sheets are moved out into the hallway for everyone to see. The greatest part of all of this has been what happened as each child met a goal for their kindergarten year. As they meet a goal, we take their picture and put it on that goal sheet (first hanging in the classroom and then in the hallway). We have them stand up in class and everyone claps for them as they make each goal (this only takes a few moments a couple of times a week). And the students love it. They talk about their goals all the time. They can’t wait to get up on a goal sheet, they bring their parents down to the classroom or hallway to show them their picture on the goal, and they are understanding what it means to accomplish something and be proud of their work at school on a whole new level. This idea has been a huge hit with both the students and myself. And our principal loves it too!!!Here is a picture of the hallway display I took around November of this school year. Their are a lot more goals posted now!!! 🙂  Here are the I can statements from Kindergarten CCSS that we made to use as goals for this school year. look at me

Math! Math! Math!!! My district is one of the many districts in our country this year that decided we should jump into teaching all of the CCSS’s! Yet they also chose not to provide us with any curriculum! Yikes!!! We were told that the CCSS is our curriculum. So I, as well as the entire staff of my district, have been scrambling trying to find great ideas to teach math while also trying to still use the manipulatives and other resources that were provided to us earlier in our employment. I have been trying to find anything else I could that would match with the standards, and be developmentally appropriate for my Kindergarteners. I am overwhelmed at the amount of work this has taken us, yet my colleagues and I have taken it on as we were asked too and tried our best to get our students all the resources we could find while still trying to smile. With that said, we have found some really awesome websites to use in our quest to match all the standards to activities and lessons.  The following websites are a few of my favorites. I hope they will help you with your quest to teach the CCSS’s in your classroom also.

http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/

https://gradekcommoncoremath.wikispaces.hcpss.org/Kindergarten+Home

http://www.engageny.org/

http://www.mathwire.com/index.html

Lions & Lambs

It’s hard to believe March 1st in already here. That means my students only have 13 weeks left in kindergarten. The year has flown by.  Now comes the big push to see how much we can get done before the end of the school year!  On a lighter note, yesterday in art we made one of my favorite projects. Lions and lambs. Here are a couple of pictures of the bulletin board we made with them. Happy March!!!

Living in eastern Washington gives students a variety of weather to go to school in. Mainly it’s wind!!! The wind blows here during every season but summer!!! We have nice cool autumn breezes that help us feel that it’s time to pick apples and get ready for Halloween! WE have wind chill factors of 5 and below in the winter, which shut down recess of any kind for weeks on end. Causing all kids to ache to go back out and play on the playground. And then we have spring winds. BY spring winds I should say late February and on winds. Gusts of over 50 miles an hour. Winds blowing non-stop everyday and night for weeks at a steady 20 or more miles per hour! Yikes!!!!! The wind makes everyone at school act differently. I’d say I can’t wait for the spring winds to stop blowing but that would also mean the end of the Kindergarten year and my wonderful bunch of students moving on to first grade. Isn’t funny how each thing we wish away also takes with it something we will miss?