Well the year has begun and 24 new kindergarteners have taken over the classroom! Along with those 24 kiddos come 24 sets of parents. Anyone who has ever taught kindergarten knows that these families often need lots of communication. Many of these parents are first timers when it comes to having a child in school. They have lots of questions, concerns, and anxiety when it comes to having a child in school. And rightfully so! It dawned on me this week why parents feel nervous. As a teacher who is a non parents, I often forget that these children are someones babies. I've been around several of my friends who have had babies this year. As new working moms, they were on the hunt for the best childcare possible upon returning to their jobs. They interviewed many in-home sitters and daycare center providers until they found the perfect one. Even then it was hard for them to leave their babies!
This is exactly why kindergarten parents are nervous! They are dropping their child off with someone they only met once. Someone they didn't get to choose. Someone they don't even know. My perspective on parent communication changed drastically upon this revelation! My mission: To provide parents with as much information about myself, my instruction, our daily activities, and our goals as possible. Whatever I can do to make them comfortable with their child's education, I will.
I started with an email to my parents before Open House night. I wanted to welcome them and share my excitement for the school year. I also opened up my class website to them prior to Open House. My website is something I am SUPER proud of!
I started using Shutterfly's free website template a few years ago and absolutely love it! More importantly, parents love it! If you haven't yet checked out their free sites, do it! One of the best features is the calendar. You can add events throughout the year with details for parents. The day before an event occurs, an email is automatically sent out to parents reminding them of the event. This is awesome for early dismissals, concerts, class parties, and school-wide events. We all know how busy we get as teachers, so why not let your website do the work for you? Another feature I really love about Shutterfly is their picture feature. Adding photos of your students is easy. You can add captions and allow parents to comment on photos. I usually add a new album each month to keep myself organized. Parents often tell me how much they enjoy seeing what we're doing in the classroom. It makes them feel like they are right there with us every day. Last year I even uploaded short movies of the kids Skyping with local firefighters and singing songs. Our school requires a newsletter go out to parents from each classroom every other week. I simply write an update on the homepage of our site and a notice goes out to parents that the newsletter was added. You can upload files to the website as well. I have my monthly snack/activity calendar available each month along with documents that get sent home, just in case they get misplaced :) When parents email me looking for things like the snack calendar, the newsletter, or that paper that was sent home on Tuesday, I can simply tell them to check for it in the website. Everything is in one place! I am not paid my Shutterfly (wouldn't that be awesome though) so trust me when I say that you MUST get a classroom website started through them!
Finally, simple emails make all the difference. After our first day of school, I sat down and typed up a brief account of our day. I told parents there would be some pictures of our first day on our website too. I got several emails back in response within a couple of hours. Parents were so grateful for my constant communication and said how relieved they were to know their children were in good hands. All they needed was to know their child was safe and cared for. Within a few days, many of them knew that; and that was my goal. Now as the second week begins, I need to be sure that my communication remains constant. It's easy to get busy with assessments, data results, organizing the classroom, and lesson planning, and forget the basics. But now I really understand the importance of communication. It leads to trust. Trust leads to a partnership. And great teacher-parent partnerships mean a successful education for children.
(If anyone wants help with setting up a Shutterfly website for their class, just leave a message. I'd be happy to help! I do not have a link here to my website because it is secure. Parents must be invited by me to have access to it. Nothing is more important to me than the privacy of my students and their families. Another plus to the Shutterfly website!)
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Get Skyping in Kindergarten!
Thanks to the Skype Education site (http://education.skype.com/) our class had connected with a 5th grade class in Arizona and kindergarteners in Boston. We work with our friends in both states 1-2 times each month. Skype Education allows you to post what kinds of classes you're looking for and describe the experiences you'd like to have with them. Discussing trees in science? Find out if there are classes who'd like to share the trees in their region with you! Want to discuss holiday traditions around the world? Make a post requesting classes from other countries to work with you!
Below is a video of our friends in Arizona reading to us during our "Celebrate Reading Week" at school. Each child in the 5th grade class read a page from a book to our class. When they were done, my students stood up in with their guided reading groups and read a book together to the 5th graders. Such a motivating experience that built up their confidence as readers! I
My point? Make on of your New Year's resolutions to utilize technology more! Throw open the doors of our classroom and welcome in students from around the state, country, and even the world. See what happens with just a little bit technology, some creativity, and a whole lot of fun!
Would love to hear the ideas you come up with and hey, maybe our class can Skype with yours!!
Below is a video of our friends in Arizona reading to us during our "Celebrate Reading Week" at school. Each child in the 5th grade class read a page from a book to our class. When they were done, my students stood up in with their guided reading groups and read a book together to the 5th graders. Such a motivating experience that built up their confidence as readers! I
My point? Make on of your New Year's resolutions to utilize technology more! Throw open the doors of our classroom and welcome in students from around the state, country, and even the world. See what happens with just a little bit technology, some creativity, and a whole lot of fun!
Would love to hear the ideas you come up with and hey, maybe our class can Skype with yours!!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Free Tool for Sharing Out Student Progress!
(Insert theme from Jaws) It's coming.... charge up your laptops... plug in your apple spice Febreeze air freshener... and hang up your students' best work. Conferences are almost upon us!
As our kindergarten team met last week we talked about how confusing our new report cards, er, progress reports can be for parents. Take the category of "phonemic awareness" for example. There is no explanation. It simply says, "phonemic awareness." What does that mean?? How can we show them in uncomplicated terms what it is? What do parents really want to know about their kiddos?
We figured they want to know the basics. Letters, sounds, high frequency words, counting, identifying numbers, and reading ability. So let's give it to them straight.
I created a document to fill out for each child based on the assessments I'm completing over the next couple of weeks. It will be send home prior to conferences as a quick snapshot for parents to see regarding their child's basic kindergarten abilities. Yes, there are much more complicated things we're working on that will be on the report card such as "text to self connections, editing writing, revising writing, data collection, and fiction/nonfiction knowledge," but these are the basic building blocks that support the rest of these more challenging skills. Feel free to use it or tweak it to meet your school's needs.
Click here to download the Kindergarten Skills assessment. (It didn't upload exactly as I had it done in Word, but you'll be able to rearrange things as needed.)
Happy conferences!
As our kindergarten team met last week we talked about how confusing our new report cards, er, progress reports can be for parents. Take the category of "phonemic awareness" for example. There is no explanation. It simply says, "phonemic awareness." What does that mean?? How can we show them in uncomplicated terms what it is? What do parents really want to know about their kiddos?
We figured they want to know the basics. Letters, sounds, high frequency words, counting, identifying numbers, and reading ability. So let's give it to them straight.
I created a document to fill out for each child based on the assessments I'm completing over the next couple of weeks. It will be send home prior to conferences as a quick snapshot for parents to see regarding their child's basic kindergarten abilities. Yes, there are much more complicated things we're working on that will be on the report card such as "text to self connections, editing writing, revising writing, data collection, and fiction/nonfiction knowledge," but these are the basic building blocks that support the rest of these more challenging skills. Feel free to use it or tweak it to meet your school's needs.
Click here to download the Kindergarten Skills assessment. (It didn't upload exactly as I had it done in Word, but you'll be able to rearrange things as needed.)
Happy conferences!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Pretty Cool Pumpkin Lessons!
October is one of my favorite times to teach kindergarten! Pumpkins, bats, leaves, oh my! Once you look past the crazy Halloween party, kids hopped up on candy, and the repeated question, "What is YOUR costume?" it's actually a lot of fun!
Here's a little peek at some of the things we've been doing throughout our tree unit in September and then our pumpkin unit in October. Hopefully you can take away something to try out in your classroom this fall or... let's face it... next fall. Happy haunting!
Here's a little peek at some of the things we've been doing throughout our tree unit in September and then our pumpkin unit in October. Hopefully you can take away something to try out in your classroom this fall or... let's face it... next fall. Happy haunting!
These are our torn paper trees. We learned about how trees in our area change with each season. Students worked in groups of 3 and tore pieces of construction paper to create a tree for the season of their choice. Here is a spring tree. Below is a photo of some trees through the seasons spring, summer, fall, and winter.
I asked parents to bring in pumpkins for our class to use for our science unit. We spend time measuring the pumpkins during math as we learn how to use a measuring tape. They recorded their measurement and taped it to their pumpkin.
We practiced estimation by guessing how many pumpkins tall we were. The kids wrote down their estimation on a recording sheet and recorded their actual answer once they measured themselves. So much fun!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
It's Fun to Skype at School!
I've wanted to take my students to a desert region for some time now. We live in the midwest, so plane tickets and hotel accommodations are a little beyond our budget I was told. Hmmmm how was I going to teach students about trees that grow in different regions if we can't visit different regions? Skype! I posted a project on Skype for Educators website asking for classes to teach us about their trees. Within a few weeks I heard back from a teacher in Arizona and boom- we set up a video chat between my kindergarten kiddos and her fifth graders!
With a few weeks to prepare, my students created several projects showcasing their learning about trees and practiced presenting them. When we were ready, I set up a chat with the teacher from AZ the night before our classes would see each other to discuss the agenda. Turns out Skype was "no longer available" on my school computer and needed to be reinstalled by our IT guys ASAP. I sent in an IT request that night and called first thing the next morning. After some desperate pleading and a lot of praying, my Skype was up and running, ready for our first video chat! Yesss!
At 3:00 we were all set up, ready to meet our new friends from AZ. The kids waited on pins and needles as the video chat phone rang.... it was all so exciting! Finally, there they were. A fifth grade class from AZ perched atop desks, the floor, and some standing, just as excited to see us as we were to see them! My students proudly shared their tree projects in groups and asked some questions that were asked.
AZ student: Why do your leaves change colors?
Kinder kiddo: (With lopsided pigtails and glasses) Well, um, during the fall we have less sunlight than the summer. It gets dark earlier. So the sun goes away and there isn't as much chlorophyl for the leaves. The sun helps make chlorophyl. With less sun, there's less chlorophyl and the leaves lose their green color. Chlorophyl makes them green. So they get red and yellow and orange and brown and fall to the ground because the tree doesn't need the leaves anymore. (She pushed her glasses up off her nose, pushed back her curly little hairs that had drooped into her face during her explanation and stared at the screen of fifth graders. They just sat there, blinking, in awe of this 5-year-old and her thourough answer. I couldn't have been prouder!)
Then the fifth graders had their chance to share information about their trees in the desert. They held up tree samples from their backyards and taught my students (and me) about their very different trees. My kids were captivated. After some more question and answer sessions, we had reached the end of our chat. As we signed off, my kids began showing their new fifth grade friends a heart symbol using their hands (think Taylor Swift!) Mortified, I tried to get them to stop and wave goodbye instead. I looked up and the fifth graders began to do the same thing. That's when I stopped and realized, not only had the kids learned a lot about trees from another region, but also had developed a friendship with students in another state they may have never met without Skype.
As teachers, we emailed back and forth following the experience and vowed to keep in touch. The kids had formed a bond and we were certainly not going to break it! Once our first snow falls, we'll be contacting them to let them "join in on the fun!" They don't see much snow (if ever) and we certainly are more than willing to share ours with others. My kids cannot stop talking about how cool it was to Skype in the classroom and look forward to our next adventure with Skype next week when we'll be talking pumpkins with a group from Baltimore!
Don't ever think kindergarten is too young to give Skype a whirl! It was an educational and fun experience for both students and teachers involved! If you have hesitations or questions, I'd be happy to help you out!
With a few weeks to prepare, my students created several projects showcasing their learning about trees and practiced presenting them. When we were ready, I set up a chat with the teacher from AZ the night before our classes would see each other to discuss the agenda. Turns out Skype was "no longer available" on my school computer and needed to be reinstalled by our IT guys ASAP. I sent in an IT request that night and called first thing the next morning. After some desperate pleading and a lot of praying, my Skype was up and running, ready for our first video chat! Yesss!
At 3:00 we were all set up, ready to meet our new friends from AZ. The kids waited on pins and needles as the video chat phone rang.... it was all so exciting! Finally, there they were. A fifth grade class from AZ perched atop desks, the floor, and some standing, just as excited to see us as we were to see them! My students proudly shared their tree projects in groups and asked some questions that were asked.
Kinder kiddo: (With lopsided pigtails and glasses) Well, um, during the fall we have less sunlight than the summer. It gets dark earlier. So the sun goes away and there isn't as much chlorophyl for the leaves. The sun helps make chlorophyl. With less sun, there's less chlorophyl and the leaves lose their green color. Chlorophyl makes them green. So they get red and yellow and orange and brown and fall to the ground because the tree doesn't need the leaves anymore. (She pushed her glasses up off her nose, pushed back her curly little hairs that had drooped into her face during her explanation and stared at the screen of fifth graders. They just sat there, blinking, in awe of this 5-year-old and her thourough answer. I couldn't have been prouder!)
As teachers, we emailed back and forth following the experience and vowed to keep in touch. The kids had formed a bond and we were certainly not going to break it! Once our first snow falls, we'll be contacting them to let them "join in on the fun!" They don't see much snow (if ever) and we certainly are more than willing to share ours with others. My kids cannot stop talking about how cool it was to Skype in the classroom and look forward to our next adventure with Skype next week when we'll be talking pumpkins with a group from Baltimore!
Don't ever think kindergarten is too young to give Skype a whirl! It was an educational and fun experience for both students and teachers involved! If you have hesitations or questions, I'd be happy to help you out!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tips for Words Their Way Please!
Words Their Way is a program we've been using in our school for the past few years. I've been implementing it in kindergarten for 2 years now and find it to be so great for their reading, writing, and spelling skills. Although hesitant at first because of all of the pieces, management, and front loading that is needed for it to be successful, I'm glad I stuck with it! I highly recommend you look into the program if you haven't already!
We're about 3 weeks into Words Their Way this year and I'm proud of the way my kindergarteners are working... for the most part. They are struggling to follow the work board and remember the tasks they need to do for each icon (ex: Blind sort, word hunt, and speed sort.) The last few years I only had kids sort and record their work every day. This year after introducing several other jobs, they seem overwhelmed and aren't getting the most from their time.
If you have any ideas to share on how your work board looks or how you tweak Words Their Way for kindergarten, I'd love to hear from you!
We're about 3 weeks into Words Their Way this year and I'm proud of the way my kindergarteners are working... for the most part. They are struggling to follow the work board and remember the tasks they need to do for each icon (ex: Blind sort, word hunt, and speed sort.) The last few years I only had kids sort and record their work every day. This year after introducing several other jobs, they seem overwhelmed and aren't getting the most from their time.
If you have any ideas to share on how your work board looks or how you tweak Words Their Way for kindergarten, I'd love to hear from you!
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