Today we read and learned about Martin Luther King Jr. We watched a video about MLK created by Kid President. You can share it at home and have your own conversation about the changes MLK helped to make in our world.
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The kindergarteners are really enjoying the mealworms. We have learned lots about them! Ask your kinder to tell you about the life cycle of a mealworm. We created a habitat for our mealworms. Here are some pictures of the kinders investigating them.
Although the budget is usually far from our consideration when thinking about kindergarten, it does have a direct impact on our daily classroom experience. The recent trend in MCPS has been to increase class sizes as budget issues arise. While this year we were lucky to have only 22 students in the class, I can have up to 27 students in kindergarten. Please take some time to make yourself aware of upcoming budget considerations that WILL DIRECTLY IMPACT YOUR CHILD! (How can a student not be impacted when class sizes might be so large?!?!)
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/budget-101/index.html At our staff meeting this month we reviewed the PARCC results for the school and discussed the implications for all grade levels. The main take away for me was the importance of technology and the Common Core. For those of you who do have older elementary students, the PARCC is the state assessment that students will take in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. The assessment is done on the computer. It is based on the Common Core State Standards. Here is some information on the Common Core State Standards. Most asked questions: http://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Top%208%20Parent%20Questions.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ParentTeacher+Conferences&utm_content=ParentTeacher+Conferences+CID_90c84af388aeb46fcdaa62981058bcdc&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=A%25 Math: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/ https://vimeo.com/116380534 See the kindergarten math standards in action: https://www.ixl.com/standards/maryland/math/kindergarten While the kindergarteners do not take PARCC the instruction they receive in kindergarten is preparing them for this assessment. It is a big shift away from multiple choice and memorization. This test requires students to apply what they know and explain how they know. Understanding the Common Core can help your kinder in the years to come!! We are very excited to share our timelines with the class tomorrow!! Please make sure to send them in (if you have not already). We watched this video when we were comparing babies to baby animals.
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/evscps.sci.lif.anfam/animal-families/ On Tuesday we received a special delivery! MEALWORMS!! Before opening the box, we took an intellectual risk and tried to predict what mealworms might be. Kinders used "word bird" strategies and looked at the words inside the word. Many thought maybe they were worms you could eat. We were hoping for gummy worms! Others thought maybe they are worms that are alive. We opened the box and found those worms pictured above. We started asking questions to help guide our learning about mealworms.
Yes, you read that correctly! We are doing a research project in kindergarten. This week in writing workshop we are writing our first non-fiction report. On Monday was brainstormed animals we might like to learn about. We voted as a class and selected zebras. On Tuesday, we created a list of questions that we are wondering about. Today we started our research. We read a book about zebras. We shared what we learned about zebras. Tomorrow we will use another source. We will read about zebras on the internet. Here is some of what we learned about zebras today... You can ask your kindergartener what he/she learned about zebras!
Over winter break I took advantage of time off to read and research. (Something that is usually hard for me to do after a day in kindergarten!! Picture me asleep with my kindle on top of me.) I love to read and I am constantly on the search to learn more and to improve my teaching. A friend (who has recently become a parent) sent me an article that referenced Brene Brown. A few weeks later she sent me an Oprah link that had a presentation by Brene Brown. The talk was focused on vulnerability and living wholeheartedly, but I was struck by a story she told about her daughters experience at school. Her daughter shared a personal story with a friend and by the end of recess the whole class knew and was teasing her about it. Being the teacher my immediate thought was, "What did the teacher do?" It turns out they have a compliment jar in the class and the teacher took out some marbles from the jar. Again my teacher brain went crazy: "What would I do?" "Is that the best way to handle the situation?" etc. This prompted me to read one of her books to see if I could learn more about shame and how it impacts my teaching and self., While I am not a parent, I recognize that I play a vital roll in your children's lives for the year we are together. I know that I can positively contribute to the lives of each child in the class. Brene Brown talks about the impact of shame and I found it to be very powerful. Research now shows that we can experience shame the same way we experience trauma/abuse. Words can hurt!! A new focus for me as a teacher and human is to work on building shame resilience in myself and my students. To learn more about this you can follow the link here for her TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame?language=en In her book Daring Greatly, she shares her philosophy about parenting which rang true with my beliefs. I know many parents have asked for help/advice or suggestions on parenting. It is a HUGE job and the most important one you will ever take on and it turns out there isn't a manual or prescribed "right way" to do it. I like that Brene doesn't choose one particular philosophy or parenting trend to focus on but instead has created this manifesto. For those of your in search of guidance, or just interested in something new you can find the link below to a brief article about her Manifesto. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bren/wholehearted-parenting-manifesto_b_1923011.html Found here on her website: http://brenebrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/DaringGreatly-ParentingManifesto-light-8x10.pdf I hope everyone had a great break!! I apologize for my soap box moment! I am feeling inspired and excited to get back to the classroom.
Before break we spent some time buddy reading. When we buddy read, students pick a partner and sit elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder to read to each other. It is so fun to watch the kinders READ to each other!!! |
AuthorMiss. Matthews' Kindergarten Class Archives
June 2016
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