Sooooo, it is pretty difficult starting a blog about my classroom in the summer...when my classroom is shut down. Hmmm. Clearly, I didn't think that one through.
However, there is plenty to share about the land of kindergarten in my school. In my previous post I mentioned how my teaching partner and I were tired of how kindergarten was going last year. I thought, and thought, and thought and determined what we were missing was what made kindergarten fun. We need the themes, units of study, a focus where we could integrate all the subjects again and includes some crafts. We had forgotten about using all learning modalities and the fact that kindergarten students need to PLAY and experiment to learn.
Well, my teaching partner also thought, and thought, and thought. She determined she needed to leave kindergarten. At least for now. See, she was teaching five- and six-year old children all day then was going home to her four-year old child and almost two year old. So in addition to not enjoying the academic/high stakes test atmosphere kindergarten has turned into, she also was never getting a break from kindergarten behaviors.
So, now I am the Queen of Kindergarten in our hall. I was on the hiring committee and we have selected someone who will (I hope) make an excellent addition to our staff and will be able to bring a lot to our kindergarten program. At the same time, I have begun working with teachers at other schools in our district to bring the fun back into kindergarten while still maintaining our high academic expectations.
YAY!!!
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