Flattered.

I feel incredibly blessed to be continually encouraged by my five year old Kindergarten students. I never knew I needed it, but the confidence they have in me puts a huge smile on my face.

Yesterday, while singing a song that I didn't know the hand motions to, I stopped in the middle of the song and pronounced, "I have an idea!" One dear friend seemingly shocked that I could come up with ideas on my own carefully questioned, "You have an idea!?"

Assuring them I did, but that they would have to sit in their seats to find out, they cheered in awe, "Yay! Ms. Lawson has an idea! This is going to be so good! Hide your eyes everybody!"

And just as I turned around to put in the hand motions spelling DVD, all ten friends were hiding their eyes with giggles and excitement. It turned out that my idea was so good they actually wanted to keep singing every spelling song on the DVD. I couldn't help but them them sing a few extra.

Then again today, while preparing their science lesson in front of them, Jennifer smiled, looked up at me and said, "You're a genius Ms. Lawson." Caught off guard, all I could do was beam with joy and say thank you. With compliments like this all day, it's sure hard to stay humbled.

While finally participating in the same activity which helped teach primary and secondary colors through hands-on discovery, Natalie said with so much love in her heart, "Ms. Lawson, this is a great center idea." Flattered again, I smiled and said, "I'm so glad you're having fun."


They pour into me as much as I do to them. Full of giving compliments to me all day long, I can only hope that this was led by my example. The positive environment we share together certainly makes learning fun and hearts happy. I am thankful everyday to be a part of it.

Forever.

Today we worked more on patterning. This is something that we have been practicing since the start of school, and the kids are starting to get very creative with their patterns. To test their skills, I had the students come up with a pattern of their own and produce it by connecting some colored linking cubes. I mostly had the AB pattern portrayed with these cubes, as it seems to be a favorite, but I got some interesting ones, too, like Katie's for example.

She decided to go all out with her pattern and make it go on forever. Her pattern went something like ABLKASJGKJELKJASJFKLDJSG - no repetition, just a really long line of colors. Being the teacher I am, I had to say something.

"Katie, that's not really pattern if you don't repeat it," I corrected.

Without any thought she boldly announced, "But YOU said a pattern could go on forever!"

I suppose my lesson about patterns repeating themselves "over and over and over and over and over" again really stuck with her. Not quite what I meant, but at least she's listening!

Fractions

Today I had the pleasure of taking part in a sweet breakthrough moment of a to-be fourth grader whom I've been tutoring over the summer. He's a bright student, although he does process things a bit differently. Things like word probems are really challenging. For the past four weeks I've really gotten to know the brilliance of his mind.

During our last tutoring session on Tuesday, I discovered how difficult fractions were for him. The worksheet I gave him had pictures clearly drawn out with segmented and shaded boxes. This stumped him. What number was he supposed to write on the top? Which one on the bottom? Do you count the white ones or the dark ones? He wrote down a variety of interesting answers and explained unique ways as to how he got the answers. After showing him a few different ways of looking at it, he came to the point of faking understanding. We moved on.

I was a bit perplexed after that session and was trying to wrap my mind around how difficult this was for him. Something as simple as "two of the shaded three boxes equals 2/3" did not make sense to him. How was he seeing it that I wasn't? More so, I wanted to figure out how I could show him in a way that would make sense to him. Nothing brilliant coming to me, I let it be.

Days later, while driving, a time where all my greatest ideas seem to come to me, I remembered something about this boy that might help him understand fractions. He is musically talented and severely more so than most. "Talented" would be an understatement, considering this boy is a phenomenal drummer and has been since he was three. So I came up with a way to portray fractions to his musical oriented mind.

During our session today I asked him to get his hands ready. Not knowing what I was talking about he looked at me confused. I told him, "We are going to drum." His eyes lit up, and I could tell he was trying to figure out what fractions had to do with drumming. Taking our two thirds example, I told him to make a continuous base beat with one hand that emphasized every three.

He begin to tap out, "one, two, three... one, two, three... one, two, three..." on his right hand.

Once he had that I then told him, "Now we are going to make our left hand only tap out two of every three beats." He looked at me, smiled, and started. Before long, he was tapping out his fractions on his hands with the sweetest smile and brightest eyes a boy can give.

Coming to the moment of truth I asked him, "What fraction of the time is your left hand hitting the table." I nearly held my breath in hopes of him answering this most likely confusing question. Without much delay I heard, "two-thirds" come from his lips.

"And what fraction is your right hand doing the work?" I threw in just for fun.

"Three......(pause) no... ONE."

In that moment, I don't think either of us could have been much happier.

Brain Vacation.

Daily, after recess or P.E., which both generally come mid-class, it is time for a much needed R&R. I turn out the lights, have my bursting buds rest their heads on their desks, while listening to soft music playing, and sipping on a bit of water to rehydrate their little bodies. It's both the perfect and worst time to do so. They are all wound up from their most recent exercise, and the last thing they want to do is "rest." However, it is for this very reason why it becomes entirely important for them to settle down.

Our rest time isn't always considered a likable activity. They want to be viewed as "big" and in their minds big kids certainly don't nap. I try to find ways to make it enjoyable, or at least bearable, so they aren't reminded of their younger siblings during an afternoon nap. Reminding them that even Miss Molly takes naps sometimes helps, but sharing that daily gets old quick. When doing some reading I discovered some teachers who call this rest time a "Brain Vacation." Seeing this, I was immediately inspired and eager to try it out.

"OK everybody, it's time for Brain Vacation! You're brains get to rest, and don't have to do any amount of thinking if you don't want them to!" I said in excitement.

It was a lighter way of saying "put your heads down," so they all greeted the new phrase with pleasure. After one enjoyable minute of quiet, one busy thinker just had to break the silence with a pressing question.

"Miss Molly? Are our brains leaving our heads?" he asked inquisitively.

I may have said it before, but Kindergartners have this unique way of taking everything they hear literally. Their minds wrap around the precise details of each word you say, and lack the necessary skills to interpret it differently. Knowing this, I try to filter everything I say through the suspected literal translations I figure will occur. However, there are times like these in which particular phrases slip by that need further explaining. In these cases, including our brain vacation moment, I am happy to oblige and make every effort to explain as carefully as I can so the phrase may be continued to be used.

Now it's your turn to think about it -- Brain Vacation. Odd word combination, right? Naturally, when he heard this phrase, he imagined his brain literally jumping out of his head and running away to catch some vacation time. I wanted to ask him how his brain would leave his head in the first place, where would he go, or how would he even get there. Would he climb out the mouth? Would he go to the beach? Would he grow legs and hop on a bus to get there? I decided that after my initial explanation, further questions were better left alone, as it was interrupting valuable quiet time. Afterall, we all know that brains are exceedingly smart, but somehow I don't think even the most powerful of brains would be capable of completing such an extraordinary task.

My Successful Secret.

Today we did a written phonogram review of all 26 letters. It was an exciting experience to see the progression of writing that they've gone through since the start of the year. However, I noticed one small detail that many of my students continue to keep doing. They insist on writing their letters from bottom to top. We've gone over this many times, yet no matter how creative I get with the way we write them, they always have their own way of writing letters.

Since my previous techniques were not working out so well, I decided to try a new technique to hopefully get some better results than the ones that I was previously getting.

Before I continue, I must admit that this technique was largely inspired by Mr. Halpern, a fellow Kindergarten teacher, whose blog I simply admire. This idea came from one of his recent blogs, Secret.

(Back to my story...) "I have a secret to tell you," I whispered, "but you have to show me you really want to know first before I can continue." At this point they all got intently focused as they were more than determined to hear my secret.

"I know the secret, Miss Molly!" a friend shouted. He was right. I've told him it before, and I suppose he accepted that it really was a secret.

Now, the rest of the classmates were especially intent on knowing the secret, for they couldn't be left out!

"If you write your letters from top to bottom instead of bottom to top they will be straighter," I said enthusiastically. "If you don't believe me, then try it with our next letter L."

They got straight to work and before I knew it I heard all sorts of excitement, "It worked! It really worked Miss Molly!"

"Can I tell my mom?" a little voice asked.

"If you think she must know, then yes, I will allow it," I told her.

"How about my sister? She doesn't even know this one!" another added.

"How about you choose to keep it to yourself or share it. I'll leave it up to you."

"Ok, but I think she needs to know this one!"

Success! I am happy with the way this "secret" technique turned out. Hopefully I'll be seeing some straighter letters coming my way.

Facing Your Feelings.

Feelings is one of those things that there is just no way getting around of. Everybody has them and whether good or bad, we all must learn to face them. For a Kindergartner, learning how to both process and respond to feelings, as well as deal with them appropriately becomes an especially difficult task, yet a vital part of their personal and social development.

It is my goal for the Kindergartners whom I have a large influence over, to be put in a secure enough environment where they know they can express their feelings freely without feeling put down. I want them to understand that everyone has feelings of sadness or even anger and that by expressing them we can together solve them appropriately.

During our first week of my newly implemented Team Time or class meetings, they were given an opportunity to express their feelings with the complete attention of their peers. I brought out my feelings faces chart, and as each of them held our Talking Monkey, they were able to share their I-statements in a safe environment.

Our structure for the I-statements goes something like:
“I feel____, because _____, and I wish _____."

When these tender sprouts would share with us a feeling in which they felt earlier, I noticed them starting to grasp empathy and how their actions truly affect others. Some of the feelings shared were expected, yet others came as a complete surprise. It was a unique discovery to see that the more outgoing ones in the class had already let everyone know how they felt, whereas the more reserved ones didn't feel bold enough until the Talking Monkey was in hand to express their feelings. That physical stuffed animal gave them a sense of ownership and allowed them to immediately have the respect of others as we listened intently.

It is delightful to find my sprouts learning how to cooperate and listen to each other in ways that they haven't before. It is obvious that an awareness of others is especially starting to take place, and resulting in a much more enjoyable classroom.

Developing Mutual Respect.

Last week I walked into Barnes & Noble Bookstore to kill time before my next appoiment. I walked in convincing myself I would not buy anything. With my general love for teaching and education it is hard to come across the areas of the store that apply to this subject without adding to the list of books I feel the urge to buy. First stop: Children's Books. I spent some time in this section smiling at all the books I'd love to have. When I left, I managed to avoid any books in hand. Next stop: Teaching & Education. I flipped through the pages of many books and wrote down titles of interest for later reads. Then I came to one that sparked a particular interest, "Positive Discipline In the Classroom." The subcaption reads, Developing mutual respect, cooperation, and responsibility in your classroom. Just what my class needs. Determining this book as a "need" rather than a great want, I purchased the book, and dove into its inspiring contents right away.

This week I have started implementing many of the techniques shared in this book and am already experiencing more than positive results. The book shares "Class Meetings" as one of the ways for students to have a say about their feelings and together solve problems of concern, but before you can jump right into these meetings they must have practice in communication skills. As an introductory to these brief meetings which I will call "Team Time," we sat in a circle together and practiced the basics of listening.

Each student had the chance to tell the class a story that they wanted to share. I first had them walk out of the classroom to come up with their story, while the rest of us came up with a plan that would exhibit poor listening skills. While the storyteller came in excited to have their turn holding our new "talking monkey" friend, we listened most intently. After three seconds we then did our poor listening action. Things we came up with were: covering our ears, talking to our friends, hiding under the table, walking away, turning our backs, closing our eyes, clapping our hands etc. I was surprised to see that even though each child knew that we would probably do something rude or distracting, they were stilll thrown when we did and felt sad. We all had the opportunity to share our feelings of how this made us feel, and then execute proper listening skills the second time around.

I don't expect listening skills to be mastered right away, but we will continue to practice, practice, practice and get better in time. We are taking small steps to developing a mutual respect in our classroom, but in the end will make a big difference.

Danny Dog Delivers Delicious Doughnuts.

It wasn't but a week ago that I wrote the blog "Back To The Basics." It was here that I shared one of my discoveries for the need to go back to some simple concepts that will help enhance their reading skills and strengthen their phonemic awareness. I have since then come up with new activities to build these skills and went back to some of the early fun ones that we stopped working on. While working on strengthening awareness of the initial consonant we brought back our alphabet alliterations. They remain up in my classroom all year under our alphabet line, yet somehow these fun little friends and phrases were forgotten.

While working with these alliterations and ultimately tongue twisters I decided to record on mp3 their hard work of practicing them. They had a blast repeating their one phrase was recorded at the point of near perfection and enjoyed learning each other's phrases to help friends out. Afterward, I did some editing to the track, so that listening to themselves stumbling over phrases would not frustrate them. I then let them hear their individual voices for this fun class track. They were in awe as they tried to guess every one's voices, and we ended up in all sorts of smiles and laughs. I have yet to stick it on a CD or my iPod for us to listen to during snack time, but I have no doubt they will be excited to hear their voices once more when I get around to that little surprise.

Busy Bees.

As humans, we are all seekers of personal independence. We want our voices to be heard and our opinions to be known. We desire to be self-governing beings who are not subjected to the control of others. We find it is a great thing to feel respected by others, and value feeling like important and useful members of society.

The need for gaining independence starts at a very young age. Children desperately seek to do everything themselves and have a need to be recognized for their successes. The phrase, "I did it!" does not run far from their lips. Although they still need guidance in the way they think and act, it becomes the responsibility of caretakers to nurture this need. This nurturing comes by teaching something that goes hand and hand with independence—responsibility.

To become independent one must first learn how to be responsible. Responsibility is not learned by having things done for you, but by having the opportunity to make the right choices. It is very important for eager doers to positively be thought of as capable. They are capable of making good choices and will often exceed expectations when their caretakers believe they can do it. If young people see themselves as the ones making choices, they're more likely to take responsibility for their choices. If they own up to the choice, they own up to responsibility.

I strive to allow my Kindergartners to develop this necessary tool through every area of planned curriculum and presented learning opportunities. I look to give them opportunities to develop responsibility and think for themselves. One of the ways I find success in this area is by giving them something to take ownership of. Each week my Kindergartners receive a classroom job from our “Busy Bees Job Board,” where they learn the importance of responsibility and self-worth. Taking pride in their job is what they love best because of the outcome given by the completion of their specific task. This simple poster brings so many special gifts to our classroom: responsibility, cooperation, and respect of eachother just to name a few, with added opportunity for growth in self-worth by feeling like important and valued members of our classroom.

Better Than Video Games.

I feel like there is a great deal of trickery going on when teaching my students. We play a variety of learning games. They find it fun and entertaining, and alternately learn a great deal in the process. It should come as no surprise that learning doesn't have to be boring. It's especially easy when teaching the younger ages to surround them their specific learning style: FUN.

I have discovered a great need in the review of writing numbers. I have targeted it from many angles already this year, yet decided a new type of game was needed in hopes to promote their learning in this area further. I ended up developing a game just for them.

The game focus: Tracing numbers 2-9. Normally, I am not a big fan of general "tracing" numbers, but because many of our number writing activities have already involved a primary large motor skill connection, I was in support of trying it from this new angle.

The primary task: write numbers 2-9, not once or twice, but fifteen times in less than two minutes. I put the practice sheet with 15 outlines of the same number in a page protector, gave them a dry erase marker, and hit the play button for a short song on our Alphabet CD.

The process: race to see if they could finish all 15 numbers by the end of the song. It became an alternate task in promoting teamwork. When one finished, they encouraged their friends to get done. "Come on, you can do it!" they would encourage. If they were successfully ALL done with every number, I threw in an extra compliment in our compliment jar.

To finish, we wiped off our boards and passed our papers to our neighbor, ready to conquer the next number.

The outcome: Their numbers have been better ever since. I found that one of the reasons why it worked so well was because we were able to make a race of it-- not for bragging rights, but for the sole purpose of "I did it." They felt accomplished and encouraged that learning to write letters doesn't have to be so laborious. I can assure you that if I had given each of them a page to trace 15 numbers they would not have been so motivated to finish in a timely matter. Every number wouldn't even be completed in the less than 20 minutes it took for this activity.

The bonus: They loved it! "This is better than watching the movie Ice Age," someone happily shared. "This is even better than video games!" a boy added. OK, now if I can come up with an activity that's better than TV and video games, then we have a real winner. They are looking forward to the next time they get to practice their numbers in this fun and memorable way.

A Silly Story.

Dr. Seuess wrote, "Every day, from here to there, funny things are everywhere." One of the reasons why I love teaching Kindergarten is because you get to be silly. In fact, you practically have to be silly if you want to be most successful. The other day, I gave my students an opportunity to write and illustrate their own silly stories, after reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Suess. If you've ever read it, it's full of rhyming, nonsensical short stories that the kids love to laugh and laugh about.

After giving them a moment to think creatively, I handed them their papers and let them run with their imaginations. Here's some of the silly stories they came up with:

1) My funny is a girl on the potty. And a rainbow was shining at her.

2) Goop and the Vilgaks. Goop is fighting Vilgaks with a sword. But Goop won.

3) Play, play, play, play until it was dark.

4) She went to the restroom. Mariah is her name. It was the boys.

5) Pop. He is on the cap. He is cool. He has three eyes.


6) My snack is Ed. Ed jumped.


So what's your vote on the funniest?
1. The girl on the potty?
2. Goop the Vilgaks?
3. Play play play play?
4. A girl in the boys restroom?
5. Pop with three eyes?
6. The snake that jumped?

Meet my friend, hani-tizer.

Germs, more commonly known as "practically invisible little monsters that can make you very sick." They seem to be a teacher's worst nightmare. (Okay, I could think of worse, but it's definitely up there!) They can spread so quickly that pretty soon half the class is missing within a day. And if you're not careful, you just may be too. I made the decision from day one to not let germs get the better of my class this year.

The first day of school day came, and I made sure to cover all the basics. You know the simple practices that keep those germs away like: wash your hands often, how long to wash them for, how to wash your hands properly, sneeze or cough into your sleeve, use facial tissue, clean shared surfaces, what not to share, etc. If it had to do with germs we talked about it, I modeled it, the Kindergartners practiced it, and then some more, repeatedly.

I still remember the first time a princess used the bathroom in my class. I heard her in the bathroom washing her hands while faithfully singing her ABC's. Yes, this was something I modeled to teach an appropriate length of time for hand washing and was quite proud that I had made such an impact that she remembered herself from the start.

Hand sanitizer was formally introduced as "my friend." Now, I know that washing hands often is the most efficient way of keeping germs away, but there are a lot of little hands to wash, and to be honest, we just don't have that much time in a day. That said, I made a big deal out of how wonderful my friend was. I was happy to share my friend with them, and they we re more than eager to let "our friend" help out. Hand sanitizer became so much our friend that I would catch my little ones giving hugs to that bottle, and with shining faces saying, "Hani-tizer, my friend!"

I believe that if you build something up from the beginning, making it fun and memorable, they are far more likely to stick with it and remember it themselves. But I will also tell you, that this technique would never be as successful if it was not followed up by routine. In my case, routine has been so much built up that friends are more than happy to hold each other accountable if one ever were to forget.

Half-way through the school year now, I had a student eagerly shoot up his hand out of nowhere while teaching a lesson. Thinking that this random outburst had to be important, I called on him, "Yes?" In abrubt panic, he precisely informed me, "Yesterday, at school, Kyle forgot to use hand sanitizer!"

I could barely contain myself from bursting up with laughter. He was so serious about this issue, I could certainly not laugh in return. After all, I happened to be the one who made this topic such a delicate matter. Holding every smile within, I said "Oh no! That's terrible..." and continued the lesson.

"Hani-tizer" (the shortened name one of my munchkins gave when the length of the name was found difficult) has saved my class on numerous occasions, and kept those nasty happenings of large numbers of students missing down to the number zero. Thank you, I owe you one.

Birthdays.

When doing a review of our birthdays, I had one boy couldn't remember when his birthday was. A helpful friend ran to our birthday calendar to look.

“June 11th,” she announced.

“That’s not when my birthday is!” he replied, positive his birthday was on a different day. “That’s when it was last year!”

It became apparent to me that even though a five-year-old may know when his or her birthday is, they might not know what their birthday is. There is no need to be concerned, however. Now, if you ask any one of my students what a birthday actually is, I can be proud to say that they will be able to tell you.