Classroom Rules

I spend time each week in a Kindergarten class. The rules are pretty simple, I think in part due to the students age, and they are also new to the school environment.  I really like how the rules are presented to the class. About two or three weeks in to class they have "Mrs. Adam's Boot Camp". For a whole week she over-emphasizes the rules and tries to focus on the importance of keeping the rules. she play the role of drill sargent and just has a fun time with the students while teaching them some valuable lessons. At the end of the week they have a graduation ceremony and everyone gets dog tags and a shirt that says 'I Survived Mrs. Adams' Boot Camp'.  

At the beginning of this semester she had a student teacher while I was there.  The student teacher had a very difficult time keeping the students in line and controlled.  After the student teacher left the class went through boot camp again.  That was her way of reminding the children of the rules.

 

Teacher Strategies

This week the children started a writing assignment.  I wasn't there for the first part of the process, but from what I understand, they read about Paul Bunyon in class the previous day. They met together on the carpet the next day to recap what they had learned, by sharing facts from their reading. All the children were given the opportunity to share what they had learned about Paul Bunyon.  After the initial discussion, the children were asked ho w they felt about him. As they shared thoughts and feelings, the teacher would write down the different sentences they would come up with.  After that, all the children went back to their desks to write about Paul Bunyon.

I really liked this idea. I liked the idea of brainstorming as a group.  This gave the children to opportunity to remember what they had learned the day before.  It also gave them a starting point for their writing assignment.  They also had enough vocabulary words to make new sentences.  

A Teacher's Role...

I believe that a teacher's most important role is to be a facilitator. It's probably that hardest role also. I believe a facilitator is someone who provide the best possible environment for learning.  Teachers need to have a relationship with their students, they need to understand their student's needs. A teacher/facilitator gives students the opportunity to learn based on their needs and abilities.

When you have 25 students who all have different needs, different backgrounds and different abilities, it is very hard to individualize each learning experience. Facilitating is more than just sharing information, you have to empathize with and truly care for the students your are teaching.  I have been very lucky to work with a teacher that tries her very best to give her students this type of a learning experience.

Assessment Management

I spend a lot of time doing assessments on Fridays.  Each child is assessed for spelling and reading on Fridays.

Spelling Tests:  Through out the week the class focuses on three spelling words from their 'sight words' list. They recite them as a class, they write them out three times every day, they are asked to practice at home and these words are apart of the flash cards they should be studying.  On Friday, they have a spelling test with those three words, and a bonus word.  The bonus word is a phonetic word. After the spelling test all the scores are recorded and we also record the words or words that are missed.

Reading scores: The students have 'Share Sheets" on Fridays.  These sheets include sight words, letter sounds, phonetic words and a small story with questions to answer at the end.  Each child has to read through their sheet. If they don't know a word or sound it gets circled.  The child gets a score out of four for their story.  All these scores are recorded, words and sounds that are missed are also recorded.

All of this is done with the help of the teacher, a classroom aid that comes in for an hour or so, myself and a 'volunteer grandparent'. I help record all the scores.  They still need to be recorded in the school grading system. I was talking with the two Kindergarten teachers and they find this is the hardest task to keep up on.  They don't have time during the day, and it gets put off.  One of their goals is to continue to stay caught up on assessments and more importantly, record all their grades.