S is for School

I had really good intentions for this blog post. I was going to write a well-thought out and poignant post that listed all the reasons why a very good school should remain open. Why, despite the face that it's the oldest school building in the city, it should be allowed to continue to do what it has done for nearly 100 years...educate the children of Salem.

Yes, as a building it is lacking compared to the other schools in our city, but everyone there, parents, teachers and children will tell you, it's not about that.

It's never been about that.We all know that it's what happens within those walls that's important.

I was going to try to be emotionally detached while writing this, I was going to state facts, statistics, MCAS scores, but the truth of the matter is, I can't be emotionally detached, I am attached. I think the best way for me to tell MY story of a school is to tell it from my point of view.

This school is as much a part of me as my own home. The people in it my family.

Horace Mann became part of me in 1987 when I was a student teacher. I fell in love with the school then, but after graduation I began work in a private kindergarten/day care center.

After starting a family, I made the decision to work from home and opened family child care. It was important to me to be home with my children and day care gave me the chance to do that and still teach.

When it was time to choose a school for my children there was only one choice. I was familiar with the school and with the teachers there. Yes, I looked at the others, but they weren't as welcoming, or as comfortably familiar. I knew my children would be well educated, watched out for and loved. I was not wrong.

When my youngest was nearing kindergarten age I knew it was time for me to go back to work. I started a Masters program, stayed involved as a parent and was lucky enough to be hired in a place that I already loved and knew so well.

Patrick and I started kindergarten together. Me, in the same room I did my student teaching in 18 years before, and he, right across the hall.

My older two were no longer there having moved on to middle school and now high school, but they still visit from time, not to see me, but their former teachers, who are all genuinely happy to see them when they do.

All along the way, we have heard rumors about the closing of our school, but up until now that's all they were, rumors. In the past we've heard rumors about building a new school, moving our school to another spot on the college campus, rumor after rumor after rumor.

This time it feels a little bit more real. State and city finances being what they are, it feels like a real possibility.

But still, none of us are convinced. We aren't packing our bags or panicking. We are all going about doing what we do. Teaching children. We are still just as dedicated to that as we always have been and will continue to be.

If our school closed we'd all be okay. Most of us would have jobs in other buildings, the children would be dispersed among the other 6 elementary schools, we'd teach, they'd learn, but it wouldn't be the same.

We truly are a family, children, teachers, families...friends.

So that's MY story, only one of many.

My only hope is that we are given the opportunity to write more...many many more.

Just Good Practice

Just one more day off and it's back to school. It's been a quiet February vacation for me and it's just what I needed.

The quiet gave me some time to re-think kindergarten. At least how we've been doing kindergarten.

Kindergarten has become very academic. Sure, we can blame No Child Left Behind, and the need to keep pace with children from other countries who most certainly will all become nuclear- physicist-brain-surgeon-astronauts.

But, like it or not, it's what kindergarten has become," the new first grade". I'm all for being progressive, but there are children in kindergarten who still need to learn to write their names, cut, play with Play-doh, glue, hold a pencil the right way, sit in a circle, pack up a back pack and walk in a straight line. Kindergarten has become developmentally inappropriate.

Yes,we still have Play-doh and finger paint, we have blocks and puzzles, we have a housekeeping areas, Lego, and sand tables, but these areas and materials are being used less and less all the time, it's not because we as teachers don't like to deal with the mess. We want our kids to make messes, messes help kids learn.

We are given packaged reading and math programs, some good, some not so good. Do kids learn this way? Yes, of course they do, but there is something lacking. Time. Time to play. Free play with minimal adult interaction helps children learn about each other and the world around them. Play helps children learn to share, socialize, solve problems, and negotiate.

Because we are given these packaged programs we are of course expected to use them. It is important to teach children to read and write, it's important to teach them number sense, how to add and subtract, measure, collect data, make patterns, and count by 5's and 10's.

This will be our 5th year using our current reading program, and frankly, I'm becoming bored with it. The same stories year after year, the same writing prompts, the same activities, the same themes. The fact is, if I'm bored with it, how are the kids feeling? I'm sure my practice is reflective of how I feel, you can't hide that from five and six year-olds, they are a very perceptive bunch!

So I've spent the past week planning. Planning to make kindergarten fun and interesting again. Fun for me, and in turn more fun for the kids. To make it more developmentally appropriate again because even the brightest of them need to learn those all important social skills.

I know, isn't this something I should have been doing all along? Yes, I've always differentiated my instruction based on the needs of my students, their academic needs. That's the difference. It's a delicate balance, planning activities that address both their academic needs with their social needs and the need to just have a good time, and to know that that's okay!

It has to be okay because, It's just Good Practice.

Vacation Quote of the Day

Since we are on winter break I have no cute kindergarten stories, but I have the pleasure of hanging out with a very sweet, and sometimes very funny nine-year old.

Patrick: Mom! This is really awesome Chicken Parmigiana!

Me: Well thanks Patrick, I'm glad you like it.

Patrick: Well I know you made it with love, and you know, I do enjoy things made with love.

F is for...

Kindergirl: "Mrs. Collins, she just said a really really bad word."

Me: "Really? She did? I don't believe it. What did she say?"

Kindergirl: "THE MOTHER of ALL SWEAR WORDS!"

Me: "Really?" Not believing any of this for a second knowing who the "she" was in question.

Me: "It must be pretty bad then. Whisper it in my ear."

Kindergirl: "She said $@*%!"

Not at all what I was expecting, but she was right, it was THE mother of all swear words.

C is for...

Today one of our activities was to create sentences that tell about animals we've seen in real life.

Here are a few samplings... (names changed)

Brianna saw...

a duck.

Jimmy saw...

a skunk.

Cammy saw...

a swan.

Isabella saw...

a squirrel.

Jack saw...

a kangaroo. (umm...okay)

Mrs. Collins saw...

a coyote.

Zachary saw...

a cockroach.

N is for N...

Me: Does anyone know who that man is on the Nickel?

G: Martin Luther Washington!

R: No it isn't, it's Abraham Washington!

Me: Actually, it's Thomas Jefferson.

G and R together: Who's that?

Me: He was a president.

G: Never heard of him.

Me: I know...right!

Penny for Your Thoughts

Today during Math we were "discovering the penny".

During the lesson, I passed out a penny and a magnifying glass to each child. I asked them to tell me what they noticed about their penny.We talked about Abraham Lincoln, we talked about the words on the penny, the numbers on the penny, how some pennies are older than they are or even older than me! "Even older than YOU Mrs. Collins?"

Then we talked about the Lincoln Memorial on the tails side of the penny.

Me: "Does anyone know what that building is?"

A: "The White House, it's where the presidents live.

"Me: Great guess A, but it's not The White House."

M: "I know Mrs. Collins, I know, I know, I know!"

Me: "Okay, okay M, what is the name of that building?

"M: "It's the Vampire State Building!"

Only in Kindergarten!

Epidemic Proportions

There is no denying it. I have a classroom full of tattlers. I've been trying to put a stop to this when I first noticed it in late September, just a few weeks after school started. I pulled out the infamous Tattle Jar pretty early on hoping to put a curb in their tattling ways.Maybe it comes from their competitive nature. One trying to out do the other by making themselves look good by making another look bad. Maybe they are just looking for a little extra attention, their moment in the sun!

Whatever it is, it is getting the best of me. Actually, it's pretty much driving me crazy.

Normally the tattle jar just sits innocently on the shelf just waiting for someone to come up and tell their tattle into the jar. This serves two very important purposes.

1. Everyone gets a chance to be heard because the tattle jar is a VERY good listener, and

2. It helps me keep my sanity.

But suddenly telling the tattles in the jar was just not working. I was hearing tattles all the time again. Silly things, like "he said poop" or "she broke the pink crayon" or he poked me in the a- hole." (I kid you not)!!

The tattling is pretty wide spread, but there are a few notorious tattlers.

I know who they are of course, but I wanted hard, indisputable proof.

So starting at the beginning of January instead of just telling the tattle into the jar, they had to write down their name on a piece of paper, fold it and drop it into the jar. I promised each child that I would still stick my ear in the jar at the end of the day and listen to all their little issues.

I never expected to get this...

A jar FULL of tattles. All those tattles that would normally land in my ears, and bounce around inside my brain like ping pong balls were now in that jar.

Today when the kids left I dumped the tattles, a full month's worth, and this is what I discovered...

There were a total of 63 tattles in the jar. We had 18 school days in January, so that comes out to 3.5 tattles per day. It doesn't sound like much, but those of course are only the tattles that land in the jar, I still get to hear most of them.

Most of the tattles came from girls and most of those came from two girls in particular. (I KNEW it!)

What is it about little girls?

The boys were only responsible for 7 of the total tattles, are boys more capable of rolling with the punches? It would seem so.

So tomorrow we will have the "tattle talk" again. I'll explain to them again, the difference between "tattling" and "telling". I'll pull the two notorious tattlers aside and show them all their tattles...

maybe a little visual is just what they need.

Mission Accomplished!

Way back during the first weeks of school as part of our school's Responsive Classroom Philosophy, we talk a lot about our Hopes and Dreams for a successful school year. We talk about what a hope or dream is. We discuss how it's not about wanting the latest and greatest video game or wanting to visit Water Country, but what they, as kindergarteners want to accomplish by the end of the year.

I hear a lot of different ideas like wanting to use computers, playing on the playground, or playing with trains. I got the occasional, I want to learn to read or make new friends but most involved playing in some way...I have a more than a few young little boys!

I take each child's dream, print it out and glue it onto a star that proudly hangs from the ceiling for all to see.

Because I also want to know what their parent's hopes and dreams are for their child, I ask each parent to write their dream on a paper hand with a note titled, "Help Me Reach for the Stars".

I remember asking Alexis what her hope and dream was and she knew without hesitation that it was to learn to tie shoes.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but I knew she was already practicing, not only on her own shoes but the shoes of her friends. She was determined.

Fast forward to last week. I was inspired by a post I read from My Happy Rainbow a fellow kindergarten blogger.

Kindergarten teachers tie countless shoe laces each year. We try to encourage self-help skills, like packing up a backpack, zipping zippers, putting a straw in a juice box and of course tying shoe laces.

Shoe laces are tricky things for little fingers, but it can be done. I'm sure the age of successful shoe tying has increased with the invention of velcro but shoe laces are bound to pop up sometime in their little lives. Just like clocks with hands! Say NO to digital!!

So I went about setting up my "shoe lace" club, with the promise of a special certificate, special prize and the honorable designation of "official classroom shoe tie-er!"

I knew before I even began who my first certificate would go to. She was so proud as I handed her the certificate and even prouder as she helped me hang it on the wall.

I know Alexis won't be the last, I have a few right on the cusp, but there is something so special about being the first!

Mission Accomplished Alexis, Mission Accomplished!