Whew! To say that this week has been exhausting is an understatement! I think most Kinder and Pre-K teachers just literally forget how hard the first week is! We get our kiddos into such a routine-they know where to sit at lunch, they know where to stop the line in the hallway, they know how to put lids on glue sticks, etc. Most of my Kinders have not been to school before so I'm having to repeat myself a lot! I also have 15 out of my 20 students who are boys! Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled with the 20 part, usually it's upwards of 25 (last year 27) but because the state is no longer excepting class size waivers from us, we have more reasonable ones this year-which is nice. But all the boys, boys, boys! I have come home every day this week and slept for a few hours before I get up and get some work done. What's that saying about how teaching Kindergarten is easy?! :)
One of the first vocabulary words I teach my kiddos is "unique". I want them to know my expectation for them is that their work is unique. I want them to come up with something different from their friends, different than any student has come up with before. I read them the story Chrysanthemum and we talked about how she had such a unique name. I then asked them to write about what made them unique. Here's what they came up with:
I like butterflies.
What a great back to school idea! Love all the different responses you got! Unique seems like such a wonderful thing to teach your students. Sara
ReplyDeleteThank you Sara! I think they really "got" it. :)
DeleteThese are great. I read Chrysanthemum too, but I love where you've taken it. By the way, I couldn't teach k kids. My little ones feel like kindergarten kids when I get them, and I can't wait for them to turn into first graders. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for noticing Tammy! :) It is really hard in the beginning. I had a sub the other day so I could go get my chemo treatment and the note he left me said "it was a stressful day, they wouldn't sit down and be quiet" and all I could think was-he just did not understand Kindergarten!
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