Year in Review

I had such high hopes about keeping up with blogging this school year and basically completely and utterly failed at that endeavor. I spent a good amount of time last summer posting about what I was planning to do in the upcoming school year, but then never got around to posting about how those things played out in the classroom. As I mentioned here, in yet another post where I talked about how I hadn't posted in awhile, I had a good excuse for not having the energy to blog....I was going through first trimester pregnancy exhaustion while I was also experience beginning of the school year in Kindergarten exhaustion and the combination left me wanting naps more than I wanted to rehash what happened during the school day on my blog.

In a nutshell, I think I had my hardest class ever this year and it was by far the biggest class I've ever had. I started the year with 25, then got a new student maybe 1 month in,  gained one and lost one on the same day in January, then got two other new students in March making a grand total of 28 kids.

That. Is. Too. Many. Kids.

I know that class size is a huge problem for many teachers, but this year was my first experience with a class that I considered just WAY too big. I struggled so much with just trying to gain and hold everyone's attention, which was a tiring exercise every single day. I didn't even have any kids whose behavior was awful, yet several students had attention issues, and overall it was just tough.  By the last new student, I was literally running out of supplies and space. I am very hopeful that our large sizes were just a fluke this year and we will return to class sized of about 23 next year.

Highlights of the year include:

• Presentations at three professional conferences including the Creative Teaching Conference in Paris, the Northwest Council of Computer Education's Conference in Seattle with my colleague Leslie, and at the Globalization, Diversity, and Education Conference in Spokane, Washington. The presentation with Leslie was about how we use iPads in Kindergarten and was the most exciting out of the three because not only was it the longest (2 full hours compared to 15 minutes at the other conferences), but it also drew the biggest audience. We love talking about how we use iPads in Kindergarten, so we had a blast gabbing away about what we've done with technology and our students' successes. The other two presentations came from my dissertation research and focused on home visits. 
• Publishing an article about iPads in Kindergarten this year through the International Reading Association. 
• The birth of our second daughter Sammy who turns 1 month old today! 

This summer, as always, I plan to spend some time reflecting on this past school year and planning for the upcoming year. We are facing some changes at my school including a new principal and new counselor. I will also be moving to a new classroom, which is both exciting and daunting at the same time. I hope that moving helps me get more organized. I always start each new school year with fresh ideas and always make changes of one kind or another. I never do things exactly the same, so it will be interesting to see how a new room changes things up. 

I am somewhat doubtful that anyone will actually read this based on my looooong absence on the blogging scene, but if anyone is out there reading, keep checking back! Summer seems to be my blog revival time because for some reason I am more interested in talking about school during the summer than I am during the school year :0)

It's Been Awhile

But I have a good excuse for not posting...

Baby Sneaker (who isn't such a baby anymore) is going to be a
BIG SISTER.

So, instead of blogging, I have spent my free time napping along with my little one because when I get home from teaching 26 little kinders, I am all worn out. I typically spend the first hour of her nap time getting my lesson plans ready for the following day and the second hour of her nap resting or sleeping. First trimester of pregnancy and the beginning of the school year herding cats in Kindergarten is a tough combination!

 I had high hopes for blogging more about using iPads in the classroom this year, but that hasn't really come to fruition. I will, however, be doing a presentation called Accelerating Reading and Writing with iPads at the NCCE conference in Seattle with one of my teammates on March 12th.

I will also be presenting at the ACT 16 - 16th Creative Teaching Conference in Paris over New Year's with my adviser.

I'm very excited about both and will hopefully muster the energy to post about them!

The Kid Who's Driving You Crazy

I am a tad bit too exhausted to come up with an interesting post on my own so I am sharing something I just came across that I feel like I need right now. Definitely has some good reminders. The title is a link to the original posting. 

When a student is driving you crazy, don’t start building up a wall of defense. Try these ideas instead. 

1. Love them. We know we are called to love our students, but it’s not always easy. What we need to remember is that love is a choice, and true love is given even when it’s not deserved. God loves us even though we are undeserving, and we must do the same for our students.
   
2.  Pray for them.  Praying for a student accomplishes two things. Obviously we are praying that God will work to change their heart, but God also uses our prayers to change ours – to give us a love that we didn’t think we could have.
   
3. Pour into them. Be intentional about showing them you care. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey gives the metaphor of an emotional bank account. If we are going to be making lots of “withdraws” in the form of correction and discipline, we need to be making plenty of “deposits” by encouraging them, complimenting them, and showing them we care.
   
4. Find out more about them. Talk to their former teachers and parents to try to discover what makes them tick. Is there a particular challenge that they are facing? What do they enjoy? What helps them succeed?
   
5. Talk to them.  Talk to them as often as possible. Yes, talk to them about their attitude and behavior but also find time to ask them about their interests. During these conversations, try to do more listening than talking. They probably don’t need another lecture, and you’ll find out better how to help them by truly hearing what they’re saying.
   
6. Speak to their heart. Don’t just always get on them for their behavior. Seek to get reach the root of the problems by speaking to their hearts. 
   
7. Seek advice. If you’re at your wits’ end, seek advice from a fellow teacher or administrator.
   
8. Be consistent. Don’t lower your standards or let them get away with misbehavior. Be consistent in your expectations and your follow through. But show them you care every step of the way.
   
9. Be patient. Sometimes we forget that growth takes time. Our students are works in progress, and we should never give up on them.

I have the feeling I am in for a hard year. With 25 kiddos in all and about 7 or 8 that need significant help understanding school expectations, I found this piece helpful in remember that challenging students are not out to get me and that I can certainly put my best foot forward in helping them learn the ropes rather than getting frustrated.

I do have to share though, that I was just about at my wit's end today when I was trying to explain the directions for our mandated narrative writing pre-assessment (which is totally developmentally inappropriate to administer to Kinders when they have been in school for only 7 days, but that is aside the point). My kiddos were beyond their capacity for daily listening and I had three girls right by my feet fighting over a beaded bracelet, tugging at it until it broke and the beads went flying all over the carpet. So needless to say, there was no way that their attention was anywhere near focused on me because they were enthralled with beads on the carpet. I even tried encouraging them to listen by offering up recess following the writing task, but alas, after the bead incident I just postponed the writing until tomorrow. Hopefully it goes better...

How is your class so far? 

Angelic worker bees or chatty patties giving you a run for your money?

I have a few boys that I refer to as "too cool for school" because no matter whether it is Pete the Cat, A Tootie Ta, Shake Break, or the Exercise game, they don't want to participate :0(

Turn and Talk

I am getting ready to teach my class Turn and Talk tomorrow and I came across this video, which is really helpful for preparing to use them as a language and learning tool. I introduced my kiddos to their assigned carpet spots today and I am going to give them some opportunities to share with partners tomorrow so we can spend some time practicing that routine before we officially start reading the week after next. I definitely want to use Turn and Talk a lot this year to help my ELL student advance their language skills.

I also like this information about Turn and Talk I found from Teacher Toolkit...

How to Use

1. Question

Pose a question or prompt for students to discuss and tell them how much time they will have. A one-to-two minute discussion is most productive.

2. Turn

Have students turn to a specific partner. Pair students using Eyeball Partners, Shoulder Partners, or Clock Partners (see variations below). Partner assignments should be set up beforehand so that students can quickly and easily pair up.

3. Talk

Set a timer for the allotted time, and have students begin discussing the assigned question or prompt. When time is up, ask partners to share out thoughts and ideas from their discussion.

When to Use

Use Turn and Talk at any time during a lesson to encourage accountable talk:

• As a warm-up activity to discuss previous lesson or homework assignment
• After five to seven minutes of oral or written input, to help student process what they have just heard or read
• During class discussions as a way for students to discuss ideas before sharing them with the class
• As a closing activity so that students can review what was learned in the lesson
• As a clarification tool for a complex problem or new guiding question posed by the teacher

Variations

Eyeball Partners

When students are seated at tables or in groups, “eyeball partners” are students who are facing in front of each other.

Shoulder Partners

When students are seated at tables or in groups, “shoulder partners” are students who are seated next to each other. This may also be done when students are seated in rows.

Clock Partners

Using a clock template, have students “make appointments” with four other classmates, one for 12 o’clock, one for 3 o’clock, one for 6 o’clock, and one for 9 o’clock. Partners may not be repeated. When ready to use partners, simply say “Work with your [choose one of the times] partner.” In Primary Grades PK-1, partners should be assigned by the teacher.

and this information from Responsive Classroom 

Simple Beginnings

To start, I set aside a few minutes after lunch each day for working on partner chat skills. I begin by showing the children how to do the most basic things, such as sitting "knee-to-knee" and looking at their partner. Then I pair them up and the pairs sit together to practice.

Our first conversation topic is "What did you have for lunch?"—a question I know each child will definitely be able to answer. At first the partners simply tell each other, one at a time, what they had for lunch. We work up to something that looks more like a "real" conversation:

Partners Susanna and Brendan sit facing each other.
Susanna asks, "What did you have for lunch today?"
"I had chicken nuggets," Brendan replies. Then he asks, "What did you have for lunch?"
"I had chicken nuggets, too," says Susanna, "and chocolate milk."
Once both partners have shared, they move to the rug and take a seat in our circle.

After a few days, I also start having students report back to the group. For instance, after partners share with each other, we'll do a quick around-the-circle share about what our partners had for lunch. This gives the children an added reason to listen carefully to their partners and remember what they heard. It also gives each child a chance to practice speaking to the whole class.

Building More Complex Skills

I build on these simple beginnings all year with additional mini-lessons and lots of chances to practice. Students talk with a partner many times each day: during Morning Meeting sharing, during read-alouds, during math when they compare solutions, etc. I scaffold my teaching so that when the children begin talking with partners about academic work, they are ready to do so independently. By the end of the year, they will become skilled conversationalists—able to engage in rich dialogues with each other, with the older students who are their book buddies, and even with adults.

Day 2

I was super proud of how well my kiddos remembered our arrival routine. I am using numbers on their coat hooks this year because 1. I share my room and it reduces the amount of labels in the cubby area and 2. Using numbers means I don't have to make any changes when kids inevitably move and I receive new students. We use numbers on our iPads, so I figured why not use those same numbers for their backpack hooks and mailboxes. So, given that it's tougher to remember their particular number, I was impressed with how many kiddos actually did remember exactly where to put their backpacks. Yay!

We covered more rules today and read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? I introduced our class bucket and the kiddos were very excited to learn how they can earn recess since we don't typically have recess. They also liked the animated version of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen that I found online.

And, they were very excited to Tootie Ta. Giggles galore!

I started a teenie tiny toe dip into reading instruction, which will continue to increase little by little until we truly start Journeys curriculum the week after next. Tomorrow I am assigning carpet spots and partners and I am very interested to see how that goes. I spent a long time this afternoon figuring out how to fit all 25 bodies on my carpet and who will work well together. It's tough to know who will click after only knowing the kiddos for two days, but I did my best. I laminated a color printout of the carpet I have and used a Vis a Vis pen so that I can easily change spots and rearrange partners as needed.

The end of day departure routines were a bit more chaotic than I would have liked in terms of getting everything put away, getting backpacks, and lining up in bus groups, but the kiddos did pretty well once we got outside for dismissal. I always line the whole class up on a crack in the sidewalk and dismiss pickups one at a time to make sure I actually make eye contact with parents and release their children to them. Then I take kids to the bus. This year I am the only AM class, so I have really been taking my time with that so the kids stay organized.

I have to turn in my professional goals by Friday so I need to spend some time working on those. There's never enough time during my actual work day. I have been spending between 1.5 and 2 hours everyday after school at home to get caught up. Par for the course I guess. Half time doesn't really mena half time.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the school year!

Day 1

Today was our first day and overall I think it went pretty well. I don't really like the beginning of the school year as much as I like that comfortable place that we get to by October and a lot less than that fabulous place we get to by spring. I love it when we've settled in and we've gotten into a groove. At that point, I always think back on the very beginning with a sigh of relief and thankfulness that we can go about our day and it's not all brand new and overwhelming.

But right now, we're just smack in the middle of brand new and overwhelming.

So far I have 25 students. I say so far because I have a feeling that our numbers in half day are going to keep growing. Our full day classes are capped at 25, so they don't get any additional students unless someone leaves, which isn't all that common. I started today with 24 and already got an email after school that I will have an additional child starting Thursday. Although I appreciate the extra day to get ready for said new child, I'd also like for that child to not miss another day of learning routines and procedures. Missing the first few days is crucial even though we continue to practice and repeat everything many time for the immediate future. I know that many would consider me lucky because class sizes are absolutely insane and in the grand scheme 25 is actually quite small. Yet, when those 25 are Kinders, it doesn't seem that small to me. I am already out of backpack hooks and my new student results in a shortage of iPads. My tables are filled and the thought of more kiddos being added gives me anxiety. I guess I will just be thankful I don't have 30. Where would I put them all?

I ofte hear teaching Kindergarten likened to herding cats. That's exactly what I felt like I was doing today. Repeating instructions over and over only to be met with blank stares. Asking children to form a line and showing them exactly where to stand only to be followed by a clump resembling tangled spaghetti.

I can already tell that I have several students who don't understand a lot of English and I have 14 boys which is more boys that I have ever had in the past. Although it's only day 1, I can already tell that my teaching will be different this year. I need to find ways to engage active boys who are smart but want to play and be silly and I need to ensure that I am really focusing on language in the classroom and making my instruction comprehensible for beginning English speakers. I need to find a way to inspire one little cutie to listen and follow directions in a way that doesn't involve saying "please sit down" 47 times every half hour. I spent 2 hours after school today planning just for tomorrow trying to make sure that I balance sitting time with movement. For some reason this year just feels different to me. Maybe it will be a hard year and a great year for personal reflection and learning. Maybe it will be a great year. It's hard to tell from just one day.

In any event, I am relieved that the first day is over. None of the first day disaster dreams I had over the summer came true and I think the kiddos had fun. They loved Pete The Cat and we played the Exercise Game to get the wiggles out. Tomorrow I am going to blow their minds with A TootyTa after we read Howard B Wigglebottom Learns to Listen and Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

I highly recommend A Tooty Ta.

Take a look....