Just Like Me.

If I didn't know it by now, I'm always being watched. I quickly discover what kind of teacher I am when I see my little ones mimic me. I see the direct influence of how I act as a teacher, when I allow them to play the role themselves. This opportunity comes when they read a book to the class, lead calendar time, or present their show and tell. They know how to play "teacher" so well, in fact, it tends to sound just like me.

I noticed it twice today with two different children. One dear friend led circle time. Towards the end, as the recess teacher came in, all the sprouts jumped up and ran to the door. Without any hesitation she quickly shouted, "Come sit back down, I didn't dismiss you yet!" She then waited until the entire class showed her their perfect and quiet listening before she dismissed them one at a time. It was sweet to see that although she was never coached on this, she knew exactly how to be the teacher.

The second occurrence was when another friend was presenting her show and tell. Before she began she did not say a word. She stood there, staring at her class mates, and held her presentation behind her back. After waiting a bit she finally spoke up, "I'm waiting for you to show me five ways to listen." That's my girl! She demanded their attention, as she rightfully should, and again waited until the whole class was quiet before she began.

As their teacher I have a power influence over their lives. They are watching my every move and I am happy to set a good example. This particular technique is used by me on a daily basis. And now, as they watch me wait for them, they in turn wait for their friends. I couldn't think of an easier way to teach them the valuable lesson of respect.

Thomas the Tank Engine.

Our Thomas the Tank Engine toy set is quite popular during choice time. The most valued pieces happen to be Thomas the train himself. Luckily, there are two. It makes sharing easier. Yesterday I became the honorary member of this center. I was invited to not only play with them, but I was also given the other Thomas. Now this is quite the honor, as the Thomas trains are in high demand and always in use. Usually when I am invited to visit this center, I am only given Harold the Helicopter or Sir Topham Hatt to play with.

I was excited to get to play with a train for once, and drove the train at the top of the hill. My fun didn't last for long as my attention quickly became needed elsewhere. At this point, I left my Thomas unattended.

It wasn't but moments later I heard my dear friend with whom I was playing with shout, "Miss Molly! Get your Thomas under control!"

I was then informed that my Thomas had rolled down the bridge and had an accident with hers. I gained control of my Thomas once again and asked if I could then snap a picture. When finished, I showed the picture to another friend who asked to see it. "Thomas takes good pictures," he delightfully told me.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because he doesn't blink at all!"

I came to realize how delighted I am to have so many little lessons shared with me on a daily basis. Whether it's details about train accidents or how to be perfectly photogenic for the camera, my sprouts know quite a bit. It is a blessing to be a part of this wonderful experience and contribute myself to their bursting growth and development.

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.

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.

Together, We Love The World.

It’s a pleasant feeling knowing that you are loved. It’s an even more pleasant feeling knowing that those same people you love in return know that you love them back. There's no doubt I love my students, so I am quite satisfied knowing this feeling is recognized by them as well. This morning’s journal entry may have seemed like nothing out of the ordinary, yet it make me feel loved in an extra special way.


Decoded, this story says, “We love each other; actually teacher and me love the world.” This picture delicately portrays me, the teacher with glasses, and my dear friend together walking under a sky of hearts with pumpkins at our feet. Why she decided to draw pumpkins in February gets me, but I can only assume that our field trip to the pumpkin patch was a more than memorable event.

Seeing this picture of her and I loving the world together showed me that with these five-year-olds I don't have to be "extra"-ordinary. I don't have to try to be anyone I'm not. I only need to love on them and help them succeed the best way that I know how. Just being in the classroom and guiding them every second I get makes them feel secure and loved. For that simple reason I am blessed to be called their teacher and friend. Friends that together, love the world.

Back To The Basics.

It came to my attention today that there is a need to get back to the fundamental reading skills that my Kindergartners have acquired from the start of the year. I was encouraged to see how quickly these bursting buds picked up basic reading concepts this year. They began to read much sooner than I anticipated. My overflow of encouragement boosted their eagerness to read and their confidence that they can do it.

As they have dramatically improved, however, it seems like we've all of the sudden hit a wall. I'm not sure if I'd call that wall 'laziness' or 'over-confidence' but they have started to develop bad habits. They begin to guess words they think they know based upon the beginning letter and sometimes the end, rather than taking the time to sound out every letter and not forget about the middle letters. So today, I implemented a new rule. We must go back to the basics and sound out ALL letters of every word, even the ones that are labeled easy. It's time to implement some new techniques so our middle letter friends are not forgotten!

I suppose this laziness or over-confidence can be found in any of us. As humans, we tend to fall into monotonous routines that run our everyday lives and sometimes forget the need to keep things fresh. It therefore becomes important for everyone, not just five-year-olds, to get back to the basics. Who wants to get stuck creating bad habits? Just a thought, but this appears to be something we all can learn a life lesson about.

Bigger Than a Box of Crayons.

It is a known fact of life. Sharing is one of those life lessons that we all will continue to perfect for the rest of our lives. For a five year old, the tolerance for the practice is much more difficult to maintain. They are slowly beginning to understand the concept of sharing and face issues on a daily basis that allow them to discover the benefits of sharing on their own. They find out that it's easy to share when there's plenty to go around and become truly tested when there is a need for a specific sacrifice to be made. They must make a choice to share something bigger a box of crayons.

We were all happily playing a game in circle time today when I slowly watched a boy pull back from the class. He was enjoying himself one minute, and it seemed like within a few more moments he was doing his best to not let his sad countenance be seen.

"What's wrong Michael," I asked.

I could tell that he really wanted to be tough about it. "Nothing," he replied.

"We care about your feelings, and we wont make fun of you for feeling any certain way. If you want to tell us we will help you settle whatever is bothering you," I said trying to reason with him.

"It's nothing," he said again as he was at this point almost fully in tears.

"It's OK if it's something. You are our friend and we don't want you to be sad, " I encouraged.

In the saddest voice he could make and with the biggest heart-broken look he replied, "I'm not sad. I'm mad. I wanted to sit on the blue mat."

Ahhh, yes. The blue mat. One of the three circle carpets we have. The only blue one and clearly the most popular. Somehow I wasn't surprised this was the issue, but before I could say another word one of two boys who happened to already be sharing the blue mat said, "You can sit here Michael." The other friend gave in as well and said, "Yeah, I'll scoot over."

At this point, we had three boys cramming onto the tiny mat that was clearly not meant for three growing boys, but who was I to stop them from sharing? Apparently I wasn't the only one to recognize this choice of sharing. Before I could even attempt to make it public, a friend decided to share her opinion of the situation, "I think they both should be on purple for being nice and sharing."

Wow! We now have a first time nomination of a friend for purple. I didn't even know that was possible. "What a great idea!" I replied.

I'm glad we took those few moments to settle the situation. It turned out to be a big lesson for all of us, and put an extra smile on our faces.

Glasses.

It had only been a few minutes into class today before my sprouts noticed something different about me. I wasn't wearing glasses. I mentioned to them that today I happened to be wearing contact lenses so they didn't need to be concerned. I could still see the same. They were not impressed.

I could see their minds working until one student boldy stated, "You look different."

Intrigued to see where this would take us I prodded, "What do I look like?"

"You look weird."
"You look like an alien."
"You look like the hulk."
"You look like your mom."

I suppose it's no question which of these answers were from boys, yet I still can't help but think, am I looking a little green today? Letting their minds think a little more I just smiled.

"How do you get them in?" another asked.

"Well," knowing the process was a little more complicated than one might explain to a five year old, I decided to keep it simple and continued, "I put the lense on my finger and then put the lense directly onto my eye."

The look on their faces at this point amused me. I saw varying looks of pure confusion, disgust, and fright. I'm not sure if I heard an "ew" or an "ouch" next, but more than likely both were said. To them, the process seems quite gross and painful. I knew they would interpret it like this. After all, I suppose shoving your finger in your eye never did sound quite pleasant to anyone.

Tomorrow, I'm wearing glasses.

Purple.

In my classroom I have a pocket chart that helps keep track of discipline with individual color-coded cards. Every day the Kindergartners have the opportunity to stay on green for good behavior. After an initial verbal warning, they must flip a yellow card for further reminders, orange for a last chance warning, and red for the more necessary removal of class and possibly a trip to the Principal’s office. Luckily, I have not had to go as far as red.

The colors work as a great visual for them to assess their own behavior. They can see when they need to keep up the good work, or when they may need to work a little harder at doing their best. But what about those students who aren’t just “good” but “great?” What about the ones who exhibit above and beyond behavior, even when the rest of the class isn’t? I want the students to have some thing to work towards; therefore, for these special circumstances, the students have the opportunity to flip a purple card. Noting excellent behavior, purple earns a prize from the prize box, and a note home to parents showing just how they earned it.

Today, I noticed one boy in particular, who for the first hour of class was showing exemplary behavior. Noting that his behavior needed to be recognized, I announced to the class that I was moving to him to purple. To no surprise, he knew he deserved it. Before allowing me to explain why he earned it, he declared proudly to the class,

“You know why I got purple? ‘Cause I wanted it.”

This statement itself taught a valuable lesson. Determination. He set his eyes on the prize and determined that he would do whatever it took to get there; even if that meant sacrificing valuable talking time.

This was a good lesson to share with the rest of the class, but his remark did not end there.

“Today is my mom’s birthday,” he continued, “and I want to get that necklace in the prize box for her.”

Had he left it at determination I still would have been proud, but he decided to share with us one more lesson. Giving. He has discovered that it is much better to give than to receive. So much in fact, that later, I overheard him telling one of the girls,

“Tomorrow, if I get purple again and you don’t, I’ll get you the other necklace.”

I think we can all learn something from this five year old's tender heart. With a little determination we can do anything and be just as happy when we choose to give.