Are You Ready For Some Football?

I love football!  Sadly, this weekend is the end of games until August.  Last year, my class reflected on our hopes and dreams with a football twist - super goals.  They really loved it so I tried it again this year with some changes.  We looked at our kindergarten wishes from the beginning of the year and talked about how we have grown as well as things we still want to get better at.  There was lots of prompting and redirection in the Fall so it was encouraging to see how much they had changed just by answering the same prompts.

I think setting goals is powerful.  That's how my mind works and I am a very determined person, however, I think it is most powerful for the strugglers (the ones who aren't setting goals outside of the classroom).  For instance, no one ever became a doctor, president, etc. without setting goals.  There are children in my classroom who need to be challenged to think about the right now as well as first grade and beyond.  While the academic and social standards of kindergarten seem little when compared to the years beyond, I believe it helps them know and understand my expectations, kindergarten expectations and how to deal with life challenges.  

Here is an example from one of my boys who has been having issues with his peer relationships.

I like this one because sometimes I feel like the preacher that no one is listening to.  He used the word stamina and knew it could help him grow!

There was some teacher work involved.  The day after I hung it all up as the kids were coming in, one little boy begged his mother "come look at my super goals".  Totally worth every minute of prep and thework.

 

As I was thinking about the Super Bowl and some ties in for building their background knowledge, pickles came up.  One thing I love about Kindergarten is building their background knowledge through vocabulary.  We tried dill, sweet, in addition to bread and butter pickles.  We graphed whether or not we liked pickles. 

 

 

It was interesting to see how many of them did not like pickles!  I am not a pickle lover but I will eat bread and butter pickles.  Their faces as they tried them were comical too!

 

We graphed who we thought would win the Super Bowl.  The first little boy picked the Seahawks and therefore, most everyone after him picked them as well.  They kept asking me who I wanted to win so at the end as we are counting totals, I revealed that I want the Denver Broncos to win.  We did this on Thursday.  On Friday morning, one of my little girls came in and asked me at 7:40 a.m., "who won the Super Bowl?" 

 

Who doesn't love a great tailgate party?  I set up dramatic play as a tailgate by collecting items that maybe you would have at a party.  It was fun listening to them talk about the stuff as I set it up over a couple of days in the middle of the week.

 

 

They are fascinated with the "grill" which is so aluminum foil.  I also made "hamburger patties" out of pink play doh.  They have loved flipping them as they cook.

 

Before I opened dramatic play on Thursday as the tailgate, I asked them if they knew why someone would have a party and what kinds of things people might do and eat at a tailgate.  Their answers were pretty spot on.  Some children mentioned chips and dips, others mentioned various items to grill, and still other said lots of food!

 

I am thrilled beyond measure that it is February!  I do not love The Mitten but this week, we used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the two versions of the book.  I was amazed by their learning!  Sometimes, it isn't that the story is so wonderful but the conversations that the story helps promote.  This week, as they talked about characters that were in both stories and how the stories were alike and different, without teacher prompting, it made  me realize how much we have grown since August.

 

We are still a work in progress when it comes to letter formation and the understanding of when to use capital and lowercase letters.  We had a great conversation about fiction and non-fiction this week because they were talking about how certain things in both stories could really happen but one of my little boys said referring to the fox in the Alvin Tresslet version, "but foxes do not wear clothes". 

 

Another moment which I wish I had on tape was when we read The Mitten by Alvin Tresslet on Monday and one of my little boys starts comparing the animals that want in the mitten to our gingerbread stories.  The book references how the mouse does not want to let the fox in and the little boy refers to how it is similar to The Gingerbread Man because the mouse is afraid to get eaten.  We talked about text to text connections.  I really think graphic organizers are powerful ways that children can organize all the information you are hoping they are taking in.  I wonder if the same child that was making the text to text connections would have been able to do so without the organizers.

 

 

This week, our poem for our weekly poetry folder was about Groundhog's Day.  The weekly poem is one way we practice fluency through repeated readings.  We also work on sight words, rhyme, and phonemic awareness.  We made a groundhog pointer for children to take home to read the poem with.  I hope my little predictors are wrong.  I am tired of the cold weather.  Although, I am open to some snow days occurring.

 

We also enjoyed groundhog snacks!  Yum, yum! 

 

 

Pre-K and Kindergarten had a guest artist come visit and each class did a rotation with the artist where they worked on one canvas.  My class did the orange one, Fall.  I love it all but feel so blessed to work in an environment that values the arts as well as with colleagues who want children to receive opportunities that they might not otherwise receive.

Thursday afternoon during centers when I look over to my classroom, two boys are listening to a book on tape.  They rigged these stuffed animals to listen with them.  We have been practicing reading to self with a stuffed animal as we work on our fluency.  They love it!  This just made me happy and was a sweet reminder to enjoy the little things.