Slow and Steady

The beginning of the school year is overwhelming (and exhausting).  We have been in school 22 days, Wednesday will be 5 full weeks.  Sometimes, I get really anxious about this time every year.  I know how important it is to build classroom community and how much the details and small stuff matter.  I am a big believer in the First Six Weeks of School.  I endorse it and live it.   However, when my beginning of the year assessment data starts to roll in, the tension and stress often makes me feel behind.  I know that I will take them far, I have done it year after year but in the midst of the task, it can seem daunting.  I tend to see miles and not yards.  However, the yard make it possible to go the distance.

Watermelon Writing

It is hard planning content at the beginning of the year before you know your learners and their specific needs.  One of my favorite parts of kindergarten is building their background knowledge.  I love watermelon!  This summer, as I was eating it I thought about a little one that I had last year that I was not sure if he had ever eaten watermelon.  That is my favorite part of the job - giving children experiences that will hopefully benefit their comprehension and vocabulary.  The first full week of school was spent on watermelon.  We used watermelon to talk about our own experiences and introduce narrative writing.  I always begin the year with introducing the importance of labeling pictures.  Writing can be daunting when children do not know letter formation, letter sound associations or have fine motor skills.  We labeled the parts of a watermelon using interactive writing.  This is where this time of year gets hard.  I inevitably remember where my learners were when they left me and not always where they were when we started.   

I am always processing how I understand things to help me understand how to present lessons and materials to five and six year olds.

My own experiences helped them understand small moments and this will be so etching we revisit as we continue to work on our own narrative writing.

I mentioned how exhausting the first six weeks of school are, but in my classroom they are extremely important.  The little moments and teaching every single routine and expectation is tiresome.  However, it pays itself back multiple times over throughout the year.  I am coaching my players so they know the rules for our game.  I do not get to recruit my team but I get to teach them how to take care of and look after each other.  After school on day 22, I finally hung up their hopes and dreams.  It feels like it should have happened earlier but I want them to be invested in not only their hopes and dreams but their classmates as well.  They will be a reference point during our time together and set the stage for developing our classroom expectations.

I like sports and love football so they are published using my love of sports.  I use sports as I teach routines and procedures in Daily 5 so there is a tie in there.  I also think athletes naturally provide the opportunity to talk about practicing, building stamina, and overcoming hurdles.  It gives active little boys a buy in as well.

Hopes and dreams are a part of responsive classroom.  My district and school also use the Marzano evaluation so I also use the goals to address this expectation. 

Building classroom community is a critical component at the beginning of the year.  Children are egocentric and while they may care about others, it is not natural to care about peers they do not have a relationship with, that must be taught.

In the beginning of the year, I focus on learning names and using names to teach literacy and math.  I refused to be addressed as "teacher" or have a child in my classroom referred to as "that boy" or "that girl".  One of my favorite empathy lessons is using the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes to teach perspective and how much our words can hurt someone.  I want children to be able to say I am sorry (and mean it) but I also want them to be able to process that their actions affect others and being sorry is wonderful but sometimes it does not solve all the problems.

I hang the wrinkled heart on our classroom door and reference it throughout our year.  It is a visual reminder for children.

Another important component of building my classroom community is having children understand that our classroom is their school family.  They are going to make each other mad, someone is bound to get frustrated, feelings will get hurt but at the end of the day we are important to each other's success.  

For the last few years, I have made a Hopes and Dreams wreath to hang on our classroom door.  I like to make visual reminders for children but I also like our artwork to be purposeful.  When we make the wreath, I use it as an opportunity to introduce using tempra paint with guided discovery.  We also talk about how our hopes and dreams might change as we learn and grow but how they are continuous like our wreath because they do not end.

These early days are tiresome.  However, the success of the rest of the year depends upon the investment made in the early building of community, establishing relationships, and developing character.  These are the things I try to remember when I feel the weight of where these children have to be in May weighing me down.