pencil problems October 6, 2011

Remember this pencil sharpener?  This wonderful, wonderful pencil sharpener (also notable as the first — and only — item I have ever gotten free because of my blog)?  One of my little angels broke it today.  I hadn’t yet told this class that it was off limits, but it was way up high, and only grownups have been using it.  Anyway, he tried to use it and broke it and I am still feeling kind of mad.  I hope our fabulous janitor can fix it; he’s good at fixing things.

If he can’t, I’m buying a new one.  That thing is the only pencil sharpener that really works.

Other pencil problems?  Two of my kids use a fist-grip to hold their pencils, and one of them then bends her wrist at a really strange angle, so that it looks really uncomfortable and difficult to write.  Both of them also write with their arms floating in the air, so I need to work with them on that, as well.  Several of the kids in my class color or write with an extreme amount of pressure.  They rip their papers sometimes, and the little “angel” who broke the pencil sharpener also broke THREE pencils today, simply because he was pressing down so hard.

At art we did leaf rubbings, and some of the kids could do it, and others couldn’t figure it out.  They would color, really hard, over and over in the same place.  They couldn’t figure out that if you already colored that part, then you should move your crayon to a white part of the paper.  That was frustrating, too.  I held their hands and moved them across the paper to show them, but then I felt like I was doing the rubbing for them, so I’d stop.  Then they’d go back to coloring a part of the paper that had no leaf under it, and that they had already colored.

I got a memo from the district yesterday about dysgraphia, and it was pretty interesting.  So we will start to work on improving these skills!

we are on a roll October 5, 2011

Last year I felt frustrated about my low increase in scores on vocabulary, so I started making vocabulary cards, using Google Images.  (I make two for each word, so that they get used to seeing different images of the same thing for each word.)  So far this year we have introduced one vocabulary word each day.  Some of our words so far:  dolphin, sea horse, zebra, snake….This month we are learning about Fall (and Firefighters), so our words have been leaves, fall, and autumn (the photos for fall and autumn were identical, as they mean the same thing).  We will soon be learning apple, acorn, pumpkin, and scarecrow.

The kids love the cards, and are proud to show off the words they know.  (I mentioned that 16 of my 20 kids speak English as a second language, right?)  In addition to the vocabulary words, we have been learning the colors, with one color celebrated each week.  This week was yellow week, and on the Wednesday of each color week, we all wear the special color.  I looked fetching in my husband’s oversized yellow polo shirt.  I looked particularly fashionable when I topped it off with a crazy yellow crown I made at morning meeting, to inspire the kids to choose the art center today.  It worked — pretty soon the room was full of kids with crazy yellow crowns.

So, we know new vocabulary words, and we all know red, blue, and yellow.  What else?  Well, last week we started learning a letter of the week (I know, I know, many people don’t do that), and so far we know the names and letter sounds for Ss and Oo.  The kids practically fizz with excitement about showing me how they know the letter sounds, using the hand motions I taught them.

And the mornings are going smoothly; they know how to listen, how to follow directions, how to take turns, how to clean up, how to line up, and so on.  They don’t always do those things perfectly, but they are lovely little citizens all the same.

Phew!  One month in, things are looking up.  I’m so glad I’m here, and not back there.

coloring like an artist vs. coloring like a scientist May 20, 2011

When I taught kindergarten several years ago, I would find myself in a situation where I would be trying to get a kid to color things realistically, and feel awkward about stifling the child’s creativity.  I came up the idea of drawing like an artist vs. drawing like a scientist.

“An artist can color things the way she wants to.  Trees can be pink, and hair can be green.  Scientists, however, color things the way they really are.  Which way are you going to color your drawing?”

And then I get little choruses of “I’m going to color like an artist!” and “I’m going to color like a scientist!” and all is right with the world.

the charms of being a preschool teacher October 8, 2010

We are learning one color a week this year, for six weeks.  In previous years I’d have a color week or two, and we’d learn a new color each day, and that TOTALLY didn’t work.  So this year, color weeks.  This week was yellow week, and on Wednesday of each color week, we dress up in that color and I take a photo for the class color book I’m making.

I walked into the office with one of my wee ones to show off our yellow crowns (if you don’t have yellow clothes to wear that day, you can always go to the art center and make a crown, belt, armband, or bracelet with lots of yellow collage supplies).  The school secretary, who is — umm — prickly, shall we say?, asked what color it is next week, and said she wants to come in and make a green crown.  The school nurse said she’ll wear green all week.

So there I am, with a goofy yellow construction paper crown on my head (and my teenage son’s yellow tshirt on my back), and rather than get smirked at, I had people all enthusiastic about our color study.

Being a preschool teacher rocks.

More about what we do all day January 6, 2010

In the comments for my last post, jwg said:

I’m curious. Are there art materials available for the kids who don’t want to color in the lines? Are there other math materials in the math center or do they have to do the project? Is there sand or water play? Can they chose to write about something other than Under the Sea? Is there a Dramatic Play area where the kids choose the script? I think you see where I’m headed here. As you decribe your day it sounds as if the children have choices of where to go, but few choices of what to do when they get there. I hope I missed something.

Here’s my reply:

Point taken.  You didn’t miss anything, because I missed some things.  Here’s what was missing:

The art center has a specific activity about every other day, and on other days all the materials (large scraps, small scraps, ribbons, hole punches, stickers, glue, scissors, markers, crayons, etc.) are available for the children to do whatever kind of art they’d like.  Some of the kids in my class are thrilled to color pictures, and I offer that kind of activity for them from time to time.  The ones who want to draw when the art center is booked for something else usually go to the writing center, which is always open for free exploration, even if there is a specific activity being offered there.  (The writing center has pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, envelopes, several different kinds of paper, and little blank booklets in addition to alphabet magnets and whiteboards.)  They can write about whatever they’d like to, but usually are interested in the theme.  We have a big pocket chart with word and picture cards for the theme, and the children like to use them to draw pictures and write words in their journals, or at the writing center during centers time.  Today Pumpkin took a blank booklet and made a book with pictures of a princess, a whale, an octopus, and a tuna fish who was a bad guy, complete with pretend writing.  It was awesome.

The house corner is always open, and is usually just a house, although sometimes I change it to go with the theme.  (We’ve had a bear cave and a pizza restaurant, for example.)  The sand table is always available, and blocks are almost always open.  Sometimes instead of blocks we’ll have the train set or a big tub of Duplos in blocks instead of our wood blocks.

The math center is like the art center — it has a specific, directed activity (usually taken from the curriculum, but sometimes teacher-created) about every other day.  On the alternate days, the kids can choose.  We have two separate bookshelves full of math manipulatives.  I find, however, that the kids like the math center better when there is something new or a special activity.  They spent a lot of time doing free exploration of the manipulatives in September and October, and they’re kind of over it.

So there’s the missing information about our centers time.  I will say this, however — I do not have a 100% child-centered classroom.  That’s probably obvious by now to any regular reader.  This is a conscious choice on my part:  I think a completely child-centered classroom can be a terrific place for learning, but while it is possible to do it well, it’s also very difficult.  The 100% child-centered classroom doesn’t fit my personality or my teaching style, and I think that there is some value in having some of the morning be teacher-directed.  I’ve got more to say on that subject, but think I will save it for another post.

thinking ahead to valentine’s day January 26, 2009

I missed another day of school today.  Yesterday when I got home from church and teaching Sunday School I was so tired I wanted to cry.  Instead I took yet another nap, and decided to call in sick for today.  At the doctor, I read “Family Fun” magazine and found this fun candy necklace project.  I am still not sure if we’ll be able to pull it off at our Valentine’s Day party, but I’m thinking about it.  Here’s the link.

(Oh, the doctor told me that I’m probably having an allergic reaction to the virus I caught a week and a half ago!  Isn’t that odd — you can be allergic to a virus?  It’s not enough for the virus to make you sick, you can have an allergic reaction on top of everything else?!  Here’s hoping the Claritin works and I start feeling better, finally.)

Max’s Dragon Shirt November 7, 2008

November is Rosemary Wells month in my class.  We read Max’s Dragon Shirt for the second time today, and the children were excited to see it again, but were stumped when I asked them this question:

“Why did Max want a dragon shirt?”

A girl who we will from now on call Ruby (as in Max’s sister Ruby) said, “because he got ice cream on his shirt.” 

“Well, no, that’s not why he wanted a dragon shirt.  Why do you think he wanted a dragon shirt?”

Another girl piped up, “because he wanted to get ice cream on his shirt!”

“Hmm.  I’m not sure that makes sense.  What you guys are telling me is something that happens in the story.  But I’m asking you to think about something in your head — why would Max want a shirt with dragons?”  They were stumped, so I said, “Why does Leo usually wear shirts with pirates on them?”

Ruby saved the day.  “Because he likes pirates!”

“Yes, he does.  Leo likes pirates, so he wears pirate shirts.  He thinks pirate shirts are cool.”

Leo beamed.

“So why does Max want a shirt with a dragon on it?”

Everyone yelled, “because he likes dragons!”

After we read — and thoroughly enjoyed — the book, we made our own tshirts.  First we talked about what we like, and the children came up with lots of ideas — Barbie, Spiderman, Transformers, Dora, princesses — and then we went to the tables, where my wonderful new assistant teacher had put out cardstock papers with blank tshirt patterns on them.

A few kids struggled.  Leo HATES to draw — perhaps because he can’t, yet — so he refused to go to his table, but Amelia (after Amelia Bedelia), my new special ed assistant teacher, was great.  She wouldn’t take no for an answer, and walked him over to a separate table with her, where she drew a pirate and he colored it.  One little boy scribbled all over his paper instead of drawing, but most of the children were able to do it.

“Teacher, help!  I can’t draw Spiderman!”

I walked over to the table.  “Hmm, does Spiderman have a head?  He does?  Well, how about you draw a circle right here?  Excellent.  Now, does he have a body?  Okay, draw another circle underneath.  Great.  Now how about some arms?  Two legs?  I think all that’s left is a spider on his shirt.”

“Wow, I can draw Spiderman!”

Lola 1 drew her mother, very carefully, and then labeled the picture with her mother’s first name.  Lola 2 drew a princess, somewhat less carefully.  Ruby drew “a Barbie Head,”  a shy boy drew an awesome Tasmanian Devil, and some other boys drew a dragon, Optimus Prime & Megatron, and a scary monster.

I sent the pictures home and I really wish I hadn’t.  It would have been great to post them in the hall for everyone to see.

little mysteries September 29, 2008

Lola went to art today, on Black Day, to draw pictures with white crayon on black paper.  I had stencils for city buildings with window cutouts, so she made a lovely picture with lots of buildings.  Then she cut it into lots of small pieces.

Was this frustration?  Boredom?  The joy of cutting paper?  I have no idea.  I can’t speak Spanish and she can’t speak English.  I wished I had the time to get an interpreter, but this was right after David had been carried from the room and kicked Alice in the head on the way out, and I just couldn’t take the time.

Speaking of Alice (named for Alice the Fairy),  she said, “hey, he kicked me!” and then continued making her night time picture.  When it was clean up time I found her at the sink washing glue off her hands and then saw that at her place at the art table there was a huge puddle of white glue.

So Alice, who too had made a lovely night-time city picture, not only also took scissors and cut it up, but she then took glue and poured it all over her picture.  And the table. 

I had her dry her hands, then had her clean the table, and then modeled with scrap paper how to use the glue with just little dots (she speaks some English, but I said “Chiquita!” and hoped that made sense).  I may have called myself a good teacher in my last post, but at this point in the morning I was unable to keep the exasperation out of my voice.

I wish I had been at the art table with the girls to watch them make their pictures, and to help them, and talk to them.

Instead I was doing assessments to get ready for conferences.  With the David chaos I’m a week behind, at least. 

Note to self:  when things calm down, hang out at art with Lola and Alice.