Just another day

This week completely flew by! I had so much fun with the kindergarteners! They are getting so excited about the different things they are learning and it's making teaching them so much fun! Today we actually had centers running so smoothly! I was able to take a breather and help those that needed it and I didn't have a zillion people coming and asking for help! It was so much fun! I love kindergarten! One of the new things that I did was with the abc center...I had banagrams and the kiddos matched the letter tiles with an abc chart! Wth the listening center I had checked out, from the library, books on cd for students to listen to and read... It's amazing how well these students are listening! I love experiencing everything with them and being there for their learning! This past week we also introduced a new letter every day and I hope this really helps students in learning about different letters and their sounds. We have a lot of work to do this year! It will be fun!

Survival Week

Well I am happy to report that I survived the first week of kindergarten!
It was so much fun to meet all of my kindergarteners in my class and get the year started! It was also really nice to meet the parents during our Open House night! I'm really excited that our class is already on a roll and already working!
This week consisted mainly of repeating various school and classroom procedures over, and over, and over again! I saw a huge improvement over the week and so did many other teachers! By Friday, we were getting so many compliments in the hall on how well we walked!
One of the coolest things I saw this week was how much fun these kids had during our math time! This week I had students each adding a page to a few class books we did. One of the class books we created were how many people were in our family. I had students draw their families and were able to tell me about their families. We used that concept later that day during math time when I asked students to write their name on post-it notes and place on a graph showing how many family members students had in their family. The kids got so excited when we added names because it felt like a competition between the numbers! I was excited that the kids were enjoying this time, doing "math talks" in complete sentences, and understanding all of the "mini-lessons" that came from our time!

I look forward to all of the other fun lessons we have! I also introduced "silly-brations" from teachertipster.com this week and my kindergarteners had a blast with performing them after earning them as a class!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8f2R-dTAs

Classroom Coloring

Well, this weekend I have been spending quite a few hours in my classroom, but I think I am finally ready to begin the school year with my kiddos! Of course, I will still probably be doing A LOT more decorating and planning throughout the year! I'm hoping that I stay organized and have my room clean, full of colors, and fun! I'm so excited to meet my students and hopefully make them excited about school. I'm praying that I don't have too much crying, but hope instead, that students will be DYING to come to school every day! 
I'll leave you with a few pictures of my classroom...

Goals

As I near my first day with my kindergarteners, I am getting more and more excited about the new year, the new grade level I get to teach, and all of the kindergarten blogs I have found and discovered! I am totally OBSESSED with finding cool new free things on these sites! As a think about this coming year, I have a few goals for myself during the school year. 1. Start a journal of funny/cool things that kids say (one of my coworkers and I last year decided we needed to start this!!!) 2. Have all learning be fun and interesting for students! 3. Get plenty of sleep! 4. Prepare thoroughly for each lesson taught.

I'm sure I will come up with more goals, but those are just a few to start the year. 

Year of Changes

I just got word last week that I am to take on the adventure of being a kindergarten teacher!
What great news! I'm thrilled for the chance to make a difference in the lives of young ones! I am filled with excitement...so much that I went to the teacher's store this weekend, dragging my husband along, to start buying the essentials! I will continue blogging about my experiences during this year and any feedback is welcomed! I recently started reading the book, "Kindergarten through pictures", where a mentor teacher describes and explains her classroom, organization, classroom management, etc. What a fantastic book! I have already learned so much!
During this time, I will also start my Master's of Art in Curriculum and Educational Technology through Ball State. I'm filled with excitement on what's to come this year!
Til next time....

Literacy

       Found some really good reading in the book, Breakthrough in Beginning Reading and Writing, by J. Richard Gentry. Dr. Gentry has a lifetime full of studying/teaching reading education in the classroom and university. He is highly qualified with his 16 years of research and writing in literacy education.  He has published Breaking the Code: The New Scienceof Beginning Reading and Writing and the Science of Spelling.
      Dr. Gentry talks about in his book, Breakthrough in Beginning Reading and Writing, about the process of every aspect of literacy coming together, working harmoniously to create a literate student.
      On page 66, " Writing for reading makes sense because invented spelling is the perfect vehicle for code breaking. Writing puts both meaning and phonics first and helps the child synthesize knowledge enabling her to understand how aspects of reading and writing- such as letter knowledge, sound correspondences, directionality, phonemic awareness, phonics and sleeping, book concepts, and the concept of 'what is a word'- fit together. These are all the dots the child must connect into one grand unified process called reading."

To Correct...or Not to Correct, That is the Question

  
     Over the past week, I have had several discussions with people of various backgrounds over whether we, as teachers, should correct spelling errors when students are writing. From a variety of elementary education classes in college to research done lately, I have been reassured, that as a teacher, I should not always be correcting the spelling of a student.
     Depending on what stage of spelling the student is in, determines how "involved" I am, in their spelling, and in a whole, in their writing. In this particular article,(link included), it informs readers about spelling development, the stages of spelling, and what teachers can do in the classroom to progress them through stages and benefit their individual growth.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/267
Here is a quote from the article, which supports my standings on correcting spelling errors:
       In teaching students to write, teachers should avoid overemphasis on absolute       correctness, mechanics, and memorization. Early emphasis on mechanical aspects of spelling inhibits developmental growth. When frequent purposeful writing takes precedence, adherence to the rules is secondary. The teacher in no sense abandons expectations for correctness. Rather, correctness is nurtured more effectively through knowledge of the pupils' level of development.

       I understand all of the hype and talk about students today not being able to spell. But can we honestly blame it on their development of spelling and how teachers are approaching it in the classroom of early grades? I think not! I feel that spelling errors are developed from these possibilities: lack of TIME spent in each stage of spelling development (rushed through stages), our "technology aides" (such as spell check), or pure laziness to figure out how words are spelled correctly.