"Every student can learn-just not on the same day or in the same way."
- George Evans
A day in the life of a kindergartner...
At my school, we call kindergarten a "beast of its own" because you truly never know what is going to happen! This is my third year teaching kindergarten, and I have been at the same school (Sayre Elementary) in South Lyon, Michigan for all three years. I have had between 20-21 students each year, with about an even number of boys/girls. The students in my district are growing in diversity each year. Our number of English Language Learners (ELL) continues to increase; I had two ELL students last year, and I have one this year. In my building we have five kindergarten classrooms. In my district, we have seven elementary schools (building our 8th), two middle schools, and two high schools. South Lyon is a growing district!
In regards to my teaching, because my students are so young, and school is so new, I try to make as many lessons and activities as hands on as possible. My hope is that with the hands on activities, students will feel motivated and engaged, more so than they would with simply paper and pencil tasks. When my kindergarten team and I plan, we try to keep our young learners age and focus level in mind when lesson planning. I try to make sure I keep a strong home-to-school connection with my families. I email them weekly, update our class dojo page daily, and send out a monthly email. I love having family members in my class to help out as well. I often will recommend resources to my families to make sure that education is happening outside of the classroom as well.
In regards to my teaching, because my students are so young, and school is so new, I try to make as many lessons and activities as hands on as possible. My hope is that with the hands on activities, students will feel motivated and engaged, more so than they would with simply paper and pencil tasks. When my kindergarten team and I plan, we try to keep our young learners age and focus level in mind when lesson planning. I try to make sure I keep a strong home-to-school connection with my families. I email them weekly, update our class dojo page daily, and send out a monthly email. I love having family members in my class to help out as well. I often will recommend resources to my families to make sure that education is happening outside of the classroom as well.
My day in the life in my classroom...
The start of the 2016 school year was an exciting one, as I was able to "upgrade" my classroom to a kindergarten sized room in our designated kindergarten hallway. My new classroom is over double the size of my old room and I've had a lot of changing and rearranging to make the space what I want. I wanted my space to be very functional for a five-year-old, with a space for learning, such as my carpet space and table space, but a space for play. I am fortunate enough to be in a district where play is still valued in kindergarten. I have different pretend play materials in an area, building materials for exploration in a separate area, games for cooperative play learning, and much more. I knew I also needed an area to work with small groups, and I wanted to create a quiet reading area with comfortable pillows, warm lighting, and a lot of books!
In addition to the physical layout of my classroom, I wanted to make sure that my students could access everything that they need independently. To do this, I put all student material at their level, and have labeled everything with pictures and words. As beginning readers, it is important to include pictures on things when possible, so my room is full of picture and word labels to ensure my students, no matter their reading level, can access what they need.
I hope you enjoy looking through some photos of my classroom and my students below to get a feel of what my kindergarten classroom is like. If you have any questions about why I have set something up the way that I did, please contact me!
In addition to the physical layout of my classroom, I wanted to make sure that my students could access everything that they need independently. To do this, I put all student material at their level, and have labeled everything with pictures and words. As beginning readers, it is important to include pictures on things when possible, so my room is full of picture and word labels to ensure my students, no matter their reading level, can access what they need.
I hope you enjoy looking through some photos of my classroom and my students below to get a feel of what my kindergarten classroom is like. If you have any questions about why I have set something up the way that I did, please contact me!