give me a R-O-U-T-I-N-E!

Recently a fellow preschool/pre-k colleague of mine was out. As subs are not readily available and she does not consistently have an aide we took her class in. So here starts the morning with about 35 hungry three year olds in my classroom. I quickly began to realize that not only did the change to their routine shock them...they had NO idea what to do or how to acclimate.

In my classroom while I teach 3's they have a pretty structured idea of what the daily schedule is and at any specific time, especially the morning time, they are capable of telling you what they should be doing. Although they are not always DOING what they should be they atlas know, and that is reassuring.

These children ran around my classroom, spilled food, spilled milk, pulled toys off the shelf, ripped books, and the list goes on...In addition they were not able to do anything for themselves or even willing try. I am not delusional to think they are completely self-sufficient but I have the expectation of my students that they try.

My students come in, put their things away, sign in, eat breakfast, answer the question of the day, and sit down on the carpet with a book from the library and this is independent! Myself and my aide are there to intervene and talk to our friends and generally start the day off in a positive light. This interaction made me realize what I already know, for early childhood students it is key to instill routines from the very beginning of the school year and give them increasingly higher expectations as you go along they will only rise to meet them.

little miss Ms.Collier

I was dealt a healthy dose of reality during lunch today. We serve family style meals for lunch, while preparing the table for lunch one students reads a story to the others sitting quietly. While today's student was reading she repeatedly stopped to say to the class "Excuse ME?" what are you doing? Is that the right choice? "Are you kidding me? I know you can do better" Your not being respectful.

Her tone of voice mimicked mine exactly and was a little scary! It's so easy to forget how our students are little sponges!

Happytown Pediatric Hospital

Serious playing in our theme based centers has allowed for so many of my students to connect real life experiences. This student's father works at the hospital and he has connected that to his play saying look Ms. Collier this is my paycard like daddy from work. Really transforming centers to something gives the students a chance to take on their roles wholeheartedly.

Mystery Patterns

Each morning after breakfast students go to the carpet and find their name on the carpet to answer their quetion of the day. Throughout the year the question of the day has changed from an actually sentence question to a numeral match to a mystery pattern. The type of question is varied and this is a way for me to refresh skills that the students have learned in the previous days or weeks so its fresh in their mind for the day.

Introducing patterns has always been a difficult area for me. I feel like a pattern is just one of those things you know and i myself cant remember how i learned. So I decided to introduce patterns as what they are not first. We introduced a line of all girls, a row of all circles, a line of red blocks. I then showed them how to change these to AB patterns reminding them that nothing the same should be touching. This seemed to help give them a basic understanding. Each morning when they read the patterns on the mystery pattern it is also reinforcing their knowledge of shapes and because this is an independent activity provides a chance for students to help friends.

Give Me the Beat...

Isn't it always the way... We try and try to introduce concepts to children and I know I myself am often frustrated and left with a feeling that they are still very much in the dark. Well we have been studying patterns for quite some time...we make snap cube patterns, we make people patterns, we make letter patterns, we make playdoh patterns, we make shape patterns... we make musical patterns and yet none of my friends can explain a pattern to me. While in centers my friends in the block center used different toys to make a drum set, they made and explained that they were making a pattern with sounds and were able to explain to me the different sounds and why they were different. We ( I ) often forget how much information is absorbed just by being :) ROCK ON LITTLE FRIENDS!

Piggie's Day

After a conversation with Katie's Kindergarten colleagues I thought a lot about how they introduced positional words through shared reading and an already familiar classroom friend. My classroom is all but obsessed with Mo Willems and his characters Piggie and Gerald. This led me to create Piggie's Day, a shared reading book that we created to illustrate positional words. Piggie goes under chairs, above tables, near and far and all kinds of different places throughout the classroom. This has helped immensely with our describing vocabulary and has given my classroom friends many more choices for explanation.

Skip Skip Skip to my Lou

Its that time again...report card time! While the assessment system that DC public schools uses is comprehensive and gives an accurate picture of where the child is I sometimes feel it a bit overkill for three year olds. Each quarter we go over physical movement exercises to evaluate and document the students abilities. Following our skipping we evaluatedthe difference between hopping like a frog or a bunny and galloping like a horse or running on all fours likea lion or a cheetah. The surprise was how tired this physical activity made these children. We'll be doing this more often, that's for sure!

Choosing Boards and Center Wheels

While reading in Serious Players in the Primary Classroom Selma Wassermann talked about a classroom procedure that she used along with her classroom co-teacher, choosing boards. During their 90 minute center time students are allowed to use the choosing board to self regulate and choose their "centers"although they call this choosing time.  I just love this idea! This gives students such a sense of responsibility and allows a sense of independence for them while their "choices" are all teacher driven. In my classroom of preschoolers I use a center wheel to choose centers. Students pick a clothespin that corresponds to a specific center and stay in that center for our 45 minute play block. Once the initial procedure was implemented students began recognizing immediately when their classmates were in the wrong area...and calling them on it! Whether it is choosing boards or center wheels choice is an integral part of student development.

PLAY ON!

I myself am very fortunate that the curriculum implemented in my classroom directly supports play in a very realistic way. We "play" for about 40 minutes each day where children are set loose into centers and expected to delve into roles as they are appropriate. Each center is in turn changed from the traditional block center, art center and dramatic play to incorporate pretend play themes such as the post office, the fire station and the newborn nursery. In the article Chopsticks and Counting chips the authors reference a change in play. Play has certainly changed in the 20 or so years since I was a child, yes I played outside and yes I played in forts and created far away worlds in my treehouse, and no I did not go to preschool and yes I did attend a half day of kindergarten. All of these factors may be true for children of this generation but are clearly not the norm. Several of my students arrive at school before I do, attending before care and getting to school at 7:15 am and are at school long after I leave the building often times staying until 6:30 pm. This is not middle school or high school folks, these children are three years old! In scenarios such as this, who are we to tell teachers and children that school is a place for learning and home is a place for play? It is quite clear that school during the early childhood years has become a safe haven for children to develop into learners and students this process must be embraced on a developmentally appropriate level.