Change is good!

"If You Keep Doing What You’ve Always Been Doing, You’ll Keep Getting What You’ve Always Been Getting."-Unknown

What a fantastic few weeks we have had in Pre-K!    All of our friends are learning new things at such a fast pace!   I chuckled when one of the parents mentioned to me that their child has been going to bed at 5:30pm!    "Big school" can take some time for our bodies to get used to, but I am sure we are on our way!   I am very proud of how well all of the friends have learned the new school schedule and procedures for each day.    My goal is to continue to review all of our daily procedures each day in a fun way.  (Yes, we are still using Rover our dog puppet!)    I know that once the friends know what is expected of them each day, they will begin to take ownership of the classroom and their learning.  

This year has brought some new changes.   As a teacher, I am constantly reflecting over what I am teaching, how I am teaching it, and whether the lesson is engaging and meaningful to the students.   If I see that a change is needed, then I adjust.   I want my lessons and how I spend my time in the classroom to always be purposeful and not do something because it has always been done a certain way.    After some research and speaking with other professionals, I have made the decision to change up the "traditional" calendar time.   (see this article that helped me make this decision..http://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file/CalendarTime.pdf) 

What I have come to realize is that the traditional calendar time I have been doing in the past has some elements that are not developmentally appropriate for my Pre-K friends.   Four year olds are not able to grasp the concept of time by teaching the days of the week or months of the year.  They rarely can tell me what day of the week was yesterday or tomorrow.  Even after much repetition, they almost always do not know what month it is.   We can sing and recite them all day long, but they still do not truly get a grasp of passages of time.   So instead we will start by focusing our lessons on understanding yesterday, today and tomorrow with an activity that is solely focused on that skill.  I love the idea of the students creating a visual time line displaying school events.   We will also use tangible items and pictures to help the children develop a better understanding of the passage of time.  We currently have a picture schedule in our classroom and often times I catch the students referring to it throughout the day.  Pictures are helpful for this age and knowing what comes next in our day gives them a sense of security.  It also helps them understand at what point in the day we do a certain activity and develop a sense of time.  Traditional calendar time also involves counting the days on the calendar and reviewing patterns.    This is not a bad activity in itself but for our class we will instead focus our time and learn numeral recognition, counting sequence, and patterns in small groups and centers.  The students will be more engaged when they are learning these skills in authentic ways. I will provide activities that are relevant to them such as counting household objects and creating patterns with our big cardboard blocks.    I want to end by saying that there are some skills during a traditional calendar time that might be effective for some students.   In addition, there are many children who can memorize and recite things very well.  But, for our class, I feel it is most effective to provide them with hands-on activities to better help them understand these abstract ideas.  

Making patterns with our necklaces

Making patterns with our blocks

Completing patterns on our Ipad

Making patterns on our own with cereal

Visuals to help us understand time

Our sensory area has been re-arranged this week too!  I have moved all of our sensory bins (sand, rice and water) underneath our loft.   We also have rain sticks for the children to use and a cuddly bean bag for students to relax and read.   The new curtains have provided a cozy nook for the children.  I want them to have a place to "escape" to during the day when need be.   We can all use a place like this...right?  

 

 
We had a  great trip we had to the Jacksonville Public Library last week.   The librarian was super impressed with our students.   She was nice enough to bag up our craft so we could leave a little early to get back for lunch.    I am so proud of all of our friends.  They practiced their manners and did a great job! 

On Friday, we had a Pinkalicious Party.  The children LOVE this book.   You can click HERE and listen to the book online.  We iced cupcakes and had a blast!

Over the next few weeks, we have much to do.  We will introduce many new letters and sounds, but I am most excited about teaching the children how to use QR codes.  We will be linking up with some really cool things online to reinforce letter recognition and sounds.   

Pre-K is a blast, ya'll! 

 

MORE PICTURES!  

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!