Current Events with Young Students

So I am going to get up on my soapbox for a moment. :)

I participate in groups on Facebook for teachers. One was for Kinder teachers and the question someone asked was "are you going to talk about Ukraine with your students?" All 57 people who answered, said "no". "That's the parents' job". And my favorite: "no one teaches current events in Kinder, we teach community helpers".

I urge you to rethink this philosophy. First of all, students hear and know more than we give them credit for. Last year my student wrote a story called "Unicorn Lives Matter". They hear conversations or news reports. Why not make sure they have the correct information.

Secondly, this is your opportunity to make real-life connections. We have social studies objectives about why we celebrate holidays like July 4th. We discuss the freedoms we have here. But we also have to compare that to what happens in other countries around the world. Students must be exposed to pictures and stories from other places because that is the only way to develop a world view. Too many Americans do not know anything about the world outside the US.

Thirdly, it is an opportunity to allay their fears. One of my students came in the other day saying we were going to have World War III. We had a discussion about what was happening and looked at a map to show how far away the conflict was. 

My opinion is that children are capable of a lot more than we give them credit for. I know I personally am appalled as I learn the "real" history about people like Christopher Columbus or Mount Rushmore (do you know we stole that land from the Native Americans?).  Why weren't we taught the truth? 

These kids are watching TikTok in their spare time, they can handle the news.

If You Could Be A Shape.....

We did our unit in math on 2D shapes. I asked my students to write: If they could choose to be any shape, which one would they choose and why? I was really looking at their reasoning skills-can they defend their choice?

I would be a triangle because then I could be pizza.

my favorite-she's so thoughtful!

I would be a square because everything is a square.

I will be a beautiful and cute shape-a square.

Inkblot Writing

Writing is a hard thing to teach in early childhood. It takes a LOT of practice and a lot of patience.

This year my students entered behind in writing skills. I mean it makes sense, half of them were at home learning virtually and only had to type responses. So we began at the beginning with handwriting and working on sounding out our words to write. We learned how to make spaces between our words then tougher concepts like capitalization and punctuation.

As you look at these sentences you may see primitive writing, but I actually see a lot of progress so far this year!

Students put drops of paint on one side of their paper then squished it together. (We threw in a lesson on symmetry as well). When they opened it they had to write a sentence or 2 about what they saw in their painting. I was looking for complete sentences and for adjectives. I truly adored hearing all the oohs and aaahs as we opened their paintings. A quick activity but one they had so much fun completing!

She said she purposely used alliteration. <3

A bat butterfly

He saw two fidget spinners ready to fight.

A colorful forest.

a crab

knives

an eagle

a dog butterfly

Valentine's Day Rigor

The kids LOVE Valentine's Day! I think the candy-related holidays are their favorites! :) 

Here are some ways to inject some rigor into your Valentine's Day activities:

* Rules for valentines-after they pass out their cards, let the kids have a few minutes to examine them. What is always true about valentines?

*Ethics-is it right to celebrate Valentine's Day even though some people are excluded. We read the story (available read by Hector Elizondo on StoylineOnline by the way):

 

We discuss how Mr. Hatch's life was changed by receiving a valentine. How many people are lonely on this holiday? Should we still celebrate it? Sparks some good discussions.

* Trends-do you know how the tradition of valentines started? It began in the 1800's. Look at those valentines and compare to what we buy today. You can also look at conversation hearts-how has the text changed over the years? Why has it changed?

* Multiple perspectives-write from the perspective of a valentine. From the perspective of your heart. Make a valentine from the perspective of a character. What would a valentine from Willy Wonka look like? From Charlotte? From George Washington?

* Create a new symbol for Valentine's Day.

* Invent a new candy for Valentine's Day.

* 

100th Day Rigor

I know the word "rigor" may be the despised buzzword in the education world. Especially amongst early childhood educators. I believe that teachers can be sucked in to wanting things to be cute as opposed to be rigorous. 100th day is one of those times I see a lot of surface activities-they make hats and t-shirts. Trust me, I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, but I also believe you can include creativity and critical thinking in your 100 Days activities.

1) Ethics-is it right to keep a $100 bill you find in the park? Is it right to spend $100 on something frivolous? Do we treat 100 year old people fairly?

2) Rules-what is always true about 100 year olds?

3) Trends-this is an amazing way to explore how trends have changed in the past century/centuries? Study anything from food to pets to clothes to music to school.

4) Multiple perspectives-how does one view 100 year old in their family? How does society view them? How do they view themselves?

5) Analyze a quote: "age is just a number" what does that mean? "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?"

6) Write about a world where we do not celebrate birthdays or keep track of our age-what is different?

7) Creativity-what can you create using 100 blocks, chenille wands, marshmallows, cups, etc.

8) Design a room for a nursing home-in the past my students made a pet room, a salon, etc.

Conversation Heart Sentences

Conversation Hearts sure have changed! :) They say "DM me" or "text me". Sometimes I miss the classics. 

I give the students hearts and ask them to construct a sentence around it (with older kiddos they could write a whole story). 

Here's what they came up with:

"Text me" tomorrow. (This is a student who couldn't write a word in the beginning of the year. Look at him sounding out his words!!!!)

"Our song" is the weekend.

Kate said "LOL" because the dog was dancing.

We are "BFF" for ever.

You are "nice" because you are my best friend.

The Blues

I play examples of music from the Blues genre. Then we read the poem by Langston Hughes-The Blues:

The Blues

by Langston Hughes

When the shoe strings break
On both your shoes
And you're in a hurry-
That's the blues.

When you go to buy a candy bar
And you've lost the dime you had-
Slipped through a hole in your pocket somewhere-
That's the blues, too, and bad!

We analyze the poem and then the students write their own version. What is it like to have the 1st Grade Blues?