Posts Tagged “kindergarten”

Is it really all about the “class” ?

As a teacher, you know there are differences in “classes”….not just in a classroom, but the class as a whole. It’s hard to explain to those outside of education who think all students show up for the first day of Kindergarten knowing their alphabet and how to write their name. It’s hard to understand just how much that is not reality; how you can have a class with a child who has never held a crayon and a child who is already reading.

At my elementary, last year’s 5th grade class was a tough one. There were many students with some pretty serious behavior issues, many with very poor home situations and many who were receiving special education services. We knew this class was going to be challenging when they arrived in kindergarten, so many of the students were at risk. Over the 6 years that they spent with us, we tried to build them up, give them strategies and tools, and set them up for success as they moved on to Middle School.

A few years ago I was talking to the social worker at our school after a student in my daughter’s class committed suicide by hanging himself in his parent’s garage. They were juniors at the time. Mrs. K. said something that has stuck with me. She said, “That class has been edgy and intense from the beginning. They want to push the envelope and change things.” She went on to compare that class to the “over-achievers” in the Senior class that year; the “clowns” in the sophomore class and the “socialites” of the freshman class. Mrs. K. went on to say that by the time a class gets to HS, they have developed a “class” personality and it seems to stick - even after graduation. I have often thought back on that and wished she was not so prophetic.

Today my daughter got a call that a young man from her class had shot himself and died. He is the fourth to commit suicide, from her “edgy, intense” class. (This class graduated 3 years ago.) This is a small town folks….4 kids from a class of 120ish. She and her classmates will now come together again, hold one another, attempt to understand and then go on as best they can. I will hug my daughter, tell her I love her and how important she is to me and those around her. I will try to help her get through another loss - too many for one so young.

As I go through this with my child again today - my mind wanders to last year’s class of fifth graders, who are struggling through their first year of Middle School this year. I think about some of the tender hearts, insecure souls and how hard they worked to get as far as they did. Those students, “my kids” that I really didn’t want to send over to Middle School. The hard ones, seem to touch you more than the easy ones. I pray that they do not find this answer….the adolescent years are so cruel, so hard, ……I pray they will all find the strength they need. I hope against hope that Mrs. K will be wrong, and this weak challenged group of students will turn out to be the class of “survivors”.

Kindergarten Logic and Language

As I have said before, I try to stay away from the Kindergarten rooms in my elementary building. Not because the students aren’t adorable, energetic and fun, but because their verbal filters have very large holes. They will and do say anything. Being the teacher, I have to have an appropriate response. Sometimes THAT is just too difficult for me, the laughter erupts before I can stop it.

Mrs. Mc. has been a Kindergarten teacher for many years. She is a bubbly, practical, patient, down to earth lady and I am continually amazed at her ability to live in the Kindergarten zone. At an after school debriefing last Friday(hot fudge sudaes at McDonald’s) she told our close knit group a couple of stories that had us all chuckling….so I thought I would share.

# 1. She has her students bring in photos of themselves when they were younger and their families, etc. Anything they feel is important that they would like to share with the class. One little guy brought in a few pictures, all just of him. As he showed the pictures, he would say, “Dis is jus me.” “Dis is a picher of jus me.” So, Mrs. Mc. asks him, “What’s the story behind the picture?”

He says, “Nuffin.”

She says, “There’s no story?”

Carefully, he turns the picture around to show Mrs. Mc. the back of it and tells her matter of factly, “Dares nuffin on da back, Mrs. Mc., see.”

Yep, figurative language can be a problem in Kindergarten. She did clarify, and then he spent the next 20 minutes telling a story she was pretty sure had nothing to do with the picture he was showing them.

#2. One of her students got in a little trouble at recess for pulling down his pants and shaking his naked behind at a group of little girls. One of the teachers on recess duty relayed the story to Mrs. Mc. and the second delivered the little offender a few minutes later. Mrs. Mc. says to him, “So what happened at recess?”

“I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember, well, I guess I have enough time to wait until you can remember. You think about it.”

At that the little offender says, “Well, I do remember.”

“Why did you tell me didn’t remember then?”

“I think if I tell you how bad I really was you won’t let me have center time. But if I can’t member, then you don’t know it’s that bad, so I can still go to centers. But, now I’m just BUSTERED.”

“Bustered?”

“You know, when your mom says, “Now you did it BUSTER.” And you get it big trouble.”

“Yes, you’re right, you are bustered.”

In Kindergarten you learn new vocabulary every day! I sure hope there is a special place in heaven for Kindergarten teachers because they have earned it.

Welcome to……Disneyland????

No, it’s not Disneyland, it’s the first day of school, with a little Disney flavor. No, not on the lunchboxes, backpacks or folders – it’s the busing plan!!!!!

Ninety percent of the students in my small rural district ride the bus to and from school. When there were two elementary schools, busing was no problem, each building had a tried and true plan to get kids loaded and on their way faster than you can say, “I forgot my homework.” Of course, each building had half the number of students to load. Since the consolidation of the old building into the new five years ago, there has been a new bus plan each year. So, this year at the first faculty meeting none of us were surprised to hear bus plan number 5. But wait, this one is different; they are using a successful program as a pattern. They unveiled, “The Disneyland Plan”.

When you go to the Disney resort you are shuttled from pick up point to pick up point on character named buses. If you want to go to the Donald Duck resort, you get on the Donald Duck bus! The bus numbers have been changed. Instead of riding bus #8, you can now ride the Pink Bunny Bus, the Green Turtle Bus, or the Brown Horse bus just to name a few. This change was made so that all students could be shuttled to a central location and easily spot their bus in the exchange. I know what you are thinking, it’s a school bus, they should be able to read the NUMBER. Seems logical, but, there are Preschool and Kindergarten students in the mix so the animal buses were created. Afterall, getting on the Pink Bunny bus is not nearly as intimidating as getting on bus #22 right?

In order to help the staff shuttle students between buses, colored cards would be attached to all students’ backpacks. Match the card to the bus like some weird form of Garanimals. This would be the first task on the first day of school - to attach the cards. I offered to help a co-teacher in her first grade classroom and she pounced on me. As each of these fresh faces came into her room, I asked their name, found their colored card and explained this would be the bus they would ride home as I attached it to their backpack. One little guy looked at me when I told him he was on the Pink Bunny bus and said, “But I want to be on the Blue Whale bus, I like whales.” At this point I am thinking, I bet he isn’t the only one who wants to choose his bus, this doesn’t bode well. As the attaching continued, another little boy, condemned to ride the pretty Purple Butterfly bus said to his snickering classmate, “It’s only for the bus!” Yep, I can see problems a brewing.

As the day went on, teachers in all the classrooms did their best to explain the bus plan and help the students understand what was going to happen. Not all of the buses would come, some would get on their assigned bus, others would fill in a bus until they were able to board their bus at the exchange. The moment of truth arrived. All teachers put on their best Disney employee smile as they began to load buses. Those who could board their buses did, this didn’t go badly. Then it was time to load the “overflow”.

“NO, THAT’S NOT MY BUS!! I AM A PINK BUNNY!!!!” The screams could be heard all over the loading area. Tears and protests ran freely as teachers calmly reassured children the Pink Bunny bus did exist and they would get on it and get home. And then, there was no more room on any of the buses but 30+ children still needed a seat. Perhaps the transportation manager needed to have a refresher in division. A frantic call was made to the bus barn for another bus to be dispatched as the full buses left to go to the exchange site. That was too much. The remaining children still standing in the loading area began to breakdown. More tears and sobs as they just knew, they would never get home. I promised one little first grade girl that we never kept students overnight, but she was not convinced. In minutes, another bus arrived and 40 minutes after the Disney plan was put into action, all the students were loaded, tears dried.
Instead of heading to the local pub for a drink, which is what we all needed, we headed into the media center for the debriefing. The goal was to get all students to the exchange site by 3:10, we missed that by 30 minutes.
Maybe we should call Disney……me MUST be doing something wrong. I wonder what plan we will have next year…….

I am currently a Title I Reading Teacher in a small rural district that is experiencing big growing pains.  My job is actually two parts, I teach guided reading as a “push-in” in classrooms 1 thru 5 in the morning and have “pull-out” Title I Reading groups in the afternoon for at risk students in the grades 1st and 2nd.  I absolutely LOVE my job.  I came to teaching 9 years ago.  My first degree was actually in Social Work and I did that for 11 years before I finally decided that wasn’t what I really wanted to be when I grew up.  Back to school I went, and the rest is history….being a teacher is definitely what I want to be when I grow up.  I must admit, I do use many of the counseling skills I learned as a social worker with both the kids and their parents, though.  Old habits are hard to break.  There are 3 Title I teachers in my building, and 5 sections of each grade K thru 5, plus a “Jump Start” Kindergarten and an “At Risk Preschool” class.  Each day is the same, but each day is different……that’s the best part!