History of Kindergarten

    Kindergarten was not started as an initial precursor to First Grade.  Kindergarten was it’s own stand alone entity.  It was invented by Frederich Froebel who believed that 5 and 6 year olds, while being teachable were still not ready for the academic rigors normally associated with school.  Froebel created an environment where children were encouraged to explore and learn on their own with teacher direction and encouragement.

    While we are tied to teaching to our state standards that does not mean that we cannot implement a fun and creative curriculum that allows children to act their age while adhering to the academic standards put on us and them.

 

Thematic Teaching

    During my time as a student teacher I was taught that a good thematic unit was one that fully engulfed the students in whatever it was that was being taught.  However, I began to notice that many classrooms considered a poster on the wall and the reading of an occasional book or poem a thematic unit.  I wanted to create thematic units in which upon entering the room it was obvious what we are studying.  When the students parents ask them what they learned in school today the answer is not “phonics” or “math facts”.  Many of my themes will include the music playing in the class, how the class is decorated and even outfits or costumes that they children wear.

 

Teaching the “Wooden Way”

    John Wooden is unanimously known as the greatest college basketball coach of all time.  Some of his techniques can be carried over into the classroom, especially the Kindergarten classroom.  

    The first thing Coach Wooden would teach his team is how to tie their shoes.  Many people misinterpret this action as being the action of a control freak but Coach Wooden realized that if his players did not properly tie their shoes they could get blisters that could affect their play.  I use this technique in my Kindergarten classroom by teaching the kids how to hang up their backpack, how to get a pencil out of the pencil box and how to tuck in a chair.  I assume that they are coming to me with no skills whatsoever and I will teach them how to do every minute action.  This may seem time consuming to teach them these skills but believe me, you will be saving yourself time and heartache by teaching them how you want each action done in class.

    One of Coach Wooden’s famous quotes was “be quick but don’t hurry”.  I think this translates well to Kindergarten because it demonstrates exactly how we want them to work, quick but not hurried.  I am  constantly reminding the kids that each assignment “is not a race” and that the winner does not get a prize.  So in addition that reminder I tell them to “be quick but don’t hurry”.

Why Rock and Roll Kindergarten?

    The name “Rock and Roll Kindergarten” is not a reference to the Rock and Roll music that I play in class but a reference to a changing of the times in education.  Just as Rock and Roll music was seen as rebellious when it first appeared “Rock and Roll Kindergarten” will also be viewed as some as rebelling against traditional Kindergarten themes and practices.  However as a student of the original Froebellian Kindergartens I can tell you that this program has some very traditional component to it.  While I am bound by the state standards academically I try to allow 4 , 5 and 6 year olds act their age by dressing up and becoming fully engaged in themes that truly interest them.

 

How I chose my themes:

    During the Summer before I had my own classroom I started thinking about what new themes I wanted to implement.  The first place I looked was the class library.  I simply observed which books the kids gravitated towards when they had the opportunity to choose for themselves.    There were several books that the children always seemed to fight over such as Star Wars, pirates, sports and dinosaurs.

    Beyond the library I started considering themes in which the kids could immerse themselves such as Mysteries, Japan, Pizza Restaurant and Construction.

 

 

When to begin the themes?

    My school district requires us to assess the students as soon as the arrive in Kindergarten so I do not start my thematic teaching until 2 weeks into the school year.  I need to make sure the kids are comfortable with all aspects of the class (including how participate in center time or rotation) before I thrust them into thematic units.

 

Order of the Units:

    I have carefully created the order of the units to progress naturally through the Kindergarten standards.  For example, Kindergartners are not capable of counting by 2’s in the Fall so I have the Basketball Unit in February.  This also coincides with Black History Month since we focus on the Harlem Globetrotters.

 

Language Arts

    Unlike math or other subjects I see language arts as two subjects.  I think of language arts in terms of micro and macro or little picture and big picture.  The little picture consists of the building blocks of reading such as letter recognition and phonemic awareness.  The big picture consists of writing sentences and reading comprehension.  Most of the little picture elements are taught during rotation stations while the big picture elements are taught during my long 30-40 minute language arts time right before lunch.  I will remain thematic for my language arts time.  I will include several language arts exercises for each theme however you should feel free to stray from the thematic teaching if you are locked into a certain language arts program such as Open Court.

 

Back to School Night

    Back to School Night has unfortunately become a boring information night that both the teachers and the parents dread. I like to show the parents how excited I am about the upcoming year.  At our school Back-to-school night  is also the night in which we ask for monetary donations and give the parents the opportunity to sign up to work in class.  for those two reasons  I have a different view of Back-to-school night, it is not an informational meeting, it’s a PEP RALLY!  I think that every classroom benefit from parental support whether it’s monetary, working in class or simply moral support.  Let’s get the parents as excited about the year as you are.

    It’s very easy to just sit in front of a group of parents and ask for donations but it’s another thing to show them your excitement.  They will be much more likely to donate their money and time if they see that they will enjoy the year.

 

Parental  Involvement

    I am lucky enough to work in a community with extremely high parental involvement and I am able to fill my classroom with parents who want to help in class.  I think that one of the reasons that I have such high involvement is due to my high energy Back-to-school night.  

    I do not use the parent volunteers for prep work or cleaning the room, I use them during Rotation.  The only times that I have the parents work in the class are during the morning rotations on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9-10 am.  Since school starts at 8:30 and rotation begins around 8:50 the parents usually stay in the room after they drop their children off.  This is another reason for the high involvement, parents are able to report to work by 10:30 as opposed to leaving work for an extended time in the middle of the day.

    I will have the parents man the rotation centers and train them right there on the spot before rotation begins.  There is no station that I can’t train a parent to work at in less than 2 minutes.  Also, since my themes change every three weeks the parents are not stuck at the same station al year long.  

 

Discipline

    I think that you will find that as you make your themes and rotations more exciting and new that discipline will become less of an issue for you.

 

Payoffs/Field Trips

    I like each thematic unit to end with a bang, some sort of payoff for the kids.  Whether it’s a field trip or some sort of trophy (like a computer license for example) it is always nice for the kids to be working towards a common goal during the unit.  Many of the field trips I plan for my class occur outside class hours.  I find this helps to keep the parents involved in their children's education.

 

 

Not just for boys

    Many of the themes contained in this book may, on the surface appear to skew towards boys but I can assure you they are not just for boys.  At the end of the year I always poll the kids to see what their favorite themes were and every year the girls end up choosing Basketball and Star Wars as their favorites.

 

Timing of my day

My day is broken up as follows:

8:30-8:45   Morning assignment.  This is a rather simply assignment such as copying a thematic vocabulary word ten times or so.  I prefer to have the kids get right to work in the morning rather than do my Calendar or circle time first thing in the morning

8:45-10       Morning rotation.  This is the rotation where I allow the parents to work in class.  I will typically have 3 parents working a station during this time.  The parent will stay at the station for each of the four rotations.  Three of the four rotation stations are manned by parents and the fourth station is usually the listening center.  This allows me to float from center to center checking on the the students work and solving any problems that may arise.

10-10:30      Snack/recess

10:30-11:15    Language arts.  During this time we will do our large language arts assignment for the day.  The assignments will progress from copying, to dictation and end the year with free writing with a prompt.

11:20-12:10     Lunch/recess

12:20-1:20    Afternoon rotation.  During this rotation there are no parents so I choose the centers that do not require an adult to man them.

1:20-1:30    wrap up and go home

 

Morning Work

    I truly enjoy greeting the kids and the parents in the morning.  When I swing the door open I step outside and talk to the parents while the kids come into the class and get to work.  Their morning assignment is the least important thing they will do all day but it is certainly not a waste of time.  What I am avoiding is starting the class with a circle time in which I am interrupted by children coming late or being distracted first thing in the morning.  By giving them a nice easy (usually copying) assignment I am giving them a chance to “warm up” instead of just throwing them into an academic setting.  It also gives them a chance to greet their friends.  During this time I will also train the parents who are working in the classroom that day.  Since my rotation change significantly every three weeks even though the parents may be working every week or every other week they still require training in the new stations each week.

 

 

Marvelous Mondays!

    I am very lucky to work with a team of fantastic teachers and we have created a great way to start each week.  We call it “Marvelous Monday”.  It is a large scale rotation in which two classes at a time visit 3 different stations for 35 minutes each.  The three stations are Library (where the students are read to and then check out a book), Music/Dance (where they students sing, dance and rehearse for any upcoming performances) and P.E. (where the students play structured outdoor games and activities).  This Monday rotation takes us from 9 am to lunchtime (with a snack/recess after the first station).  This is a fantastic nonacademic way to ease the kids back into school for the week instead of thrusting academics at them first thing Monday morning.

 

The Friday Morning Newsletter

    Every Friday morning, right after the kids do their morning work, we do a Friday Newsletter.  In this newsletter we write a letter to their parents telling them what we did that week.  During the first few weeks I will do all of the writing up on the board for them and they copy the words.  Then as the year progresses they begin to write easy words themselves like ABC’s, Bingo, love, Mom and Dad.

 

    During my first eight years of teaching I went to great lengths to make sure that my thematic units always ended right before a lengthy vacation (holiday break or spring break) however one year it did not work out and a unit had to stretch from before the break to after the break and it worked out so well that I know try to make sure that whenever possible I am not beginning a new unit when we are returning from a break.  Their (and your) return to school after a break is made much easier if they have started the unit a week or two before the break and you can pick up right where you left off rather than introducing a new unit the first day back from a break.

 

Center Time = Rotation

    Since many preschools use the term “Center Time” and it seems to imply that the students can get up and explore whatever center they want, I have replace “Center time” with “Rotation”.  

 

Morning/Afternoon Rotations

    I believe that the bulk of learning that occurs in Kindergarten does not happen when the entire class is sitting on the rug listening to the teacher but when they are broken up into small groups doing “center time activities” or “Rotation” as I call it.  This is the time of the day when the parents are the most useful and able to help in class.  I run two very different rotations during the week.  The first is “Morning Rotation” in which I have up to three parents in the room manning a table.  The children will rotate tables every 15 minutes, the parents will remain at the table and do the same activity 4 times.  Most parents, if given the choice would follow their child around the room rotating with them but this not possible for many reasons.  I think it is great for the parents to get to know all the students in the room.  During the “Morning Rotation” I will schedule the stations that require an adult such as Mystery Word or Bingo.

    After lunch I run an “Afternoon Rotation”.  This is different from the “Morning Rotation” because there are no parents there to help, it’s just me and the kids.  During this rotation I will schedule the stations that do not require an adult such as coloring, word searches, computers, games or assignments that they may have required an adult for the first time they did it but do not require help with any longer.

 

Balancing a rotation:

    I prefer not to have a language arts rotation or a math rotation.  I am trying to be sympathetic towards the children who may not be proficient in language arts for example who will look at a language arts rotation and think to themselves “Let’s see, I am going to struggle at that station then I am going to struggle at that station and then I am going to struggle at that station”.

Balancing/Repeating Centers

The very general formula I have for a good hour of rotation is

1. Language Arts station (Reading Circle or Listening Center)

2.  Math station

3.  Fine motor game or activity

4.  Art/Science or Gross Motor activity

 

Don’t let them finish!

    You will probably find that my rotation assignments are very difficult to finish.  I expect every child to work very hard at each station but not to necessarily finish every assignment.  After 10 years of running centers I have found that it is once the students finish their work that anarchy and chaos ensue.  Parents working at the station do not know how to manage or entertain the kids once they are done with their work.  During the afternoon rotation when I am alone with the students they know that once they finish their work the turn the paper over and draw a thematic picture on the back.

 

Parents Working in Class:

 

Timing of Stations

    My rotation stations are meant to be 15 minutes long.  I have never heard of shorter groups and have tried 20 minutes and found it to be too long so I have settled on 15 minutes for each station.

 

Rotation Group Size

    In California we now have a 20:1 student/teacher ratio.  Therefore, I have 4 groups of five students each.  I find 5 students to be the perfect number at a table.

    When I began teaching in 1995 I had 32 students in my classroom.  I would run 5 rotation stations.  Three of the groups had 6 students and 2 of the groups had 7 students.  Needless to say, this was not easy.  I found 7 students at a table at once to be unmanageable and if I found it difficult how do you think the parents working in the class felt about it.  I also find 6 students to be too many.  I also feel that 4 students at a table is too few.  I think that 5 students is just right.

 

Grouping

 

Manning a station

    I am blessed with a tremendous amount of parent help in my classroom however I rarely ask the parents to do anything that a 4th or 5th grade student could not do with the kids so if you do not have parent involvement in your room feel free to substitute older students.  None of the stations require more than a 30 second explanation which typically consists of a 20 second description of what you want accomplished and then 10 seconds on “what could go wrong” such as “don’t let them race or watch out for....”

 

Repeating a station

    I have absolutely no problem repeating a station more than twice or even 3 times over the course of the 3 week unit.  For example, if there is a word search or book on tape for the unit I will use it at least once a week for the duration of the unit.

 

 

The Listening Center

    I am highly dependent on my listening center for use during rotation.  Since I make my own tapes it is like I am running the station and it therefore does not require anything of me except putting out the work and pressing play on the tape recorder.  

 

Mystery Word

    Mystery Word is basically a brainstorming exercise except the students are expected to copy the words off the wipe or chalk board.  This station requires an adult at all times.  I do not reveal actual mystery word until after rotation is completely over.  Once all the children are seated on the rug I will ask them to guess what the Mystery Word is.  I remind them to listen to other students guesses and not to repeat anyone else’s guess.  I do not check to make sure that everyone has the actual Mystery Word written down.

 

Games

    I love to include games as part of rotation for each group to play.  These games teach them important social skills and well as the value of teamwork and healthy competition.

 

Kid Pix

    I have five computers in my room, enough for a computer center during rotation.  My students will spend 90% of their computer time working in a program entitled Kid Pix.  Kid Pix is a children's drawing program with some academic capabilities but nothing near Reader Rabbit or Math Blaster.

 

 

GENERAL

 

 

Spending Money

    All teachers spend their own money on their classrooms.  My advice is to spend it on things that will last years and years as opposed to disposable items which will only be used once and then probably thrown away if it happens to make it home.

 

Music in Class:

 

Storage:

    Since you will be using so many items for only 3 weeks of the year you will need a decent amount of storage

 

Choice Time:

    During “Choice time” in class I usually do not let the kids play the thematic games such as Pizza Pile Up, Floor puzzles or shooting baskets.  I like those activities to be done during structured times of the day.  I have Legos, blocks, scratch paper for drawing (one piece a day per student), computers and books to occupy the kids during choice time.  I will usually give the kids choice time on Monday and Friday.

 

Capturing the Fun on Film

    What a shame it would be to go through all this preparation and have all this fun without capturing it all on film for the kids and parents to look at years later.

 

The First Day of Kindergarten

    There is no denying that many kids will never forget their first day of Kindergarten.  I do my best to make the day go as smoothly as possible but there is no universal way to ensure that it is a perfect day for every student.  Almost invariably you will have students with separation issues.  My philosophy on separation issues is to distract the child and “shoo” the parent away while the child is not looking.  It is rare that the child starts crying again once they stop.  It is important not give one child 90% of your attention during those first couple of days or else it will send the wrong message to the other 19 students.

    When the children walk into my room on the first day of Kindergarten the first thing they all notice is a large stack of wrapped presents with balloons attached to them on a table in the middle of the room.  This is quite an attention getter.  The student will immediately investigate the table and notice that there is a present with their name on it.  Many children are immediately put at ease by this.  They will also see their names on the walls and cubbies.

    In the middle of the table are several large wrapped presents that read “To the students of K29”.  These are presents for the entire class.  They are a very large box of Crayola Markers and several science kits.  These are not necessarily new, I usually just wrap up several items that I want to get the kids excited about such as art and science.

 

Open House

    I do my best to coordinate my “Pizza Restaurant Unit” with Open House.  We set up a restaurant in the classroom with the students as the waiters and waitresses and the parents as the customers.  Our Open House is one hour, usually around 6:30pm and the whole family is invited.  Since my room is not large enough to accommodate 20 families sitting down eating I split up the group into two 30 minute sessions.  One group will have a 6:30 reservation and the other group will have a 7pm reservation at our restaurant.  We have an incredible simple menu which includes a slice of pizza, a choice of beverages and a dessert.  The families come into the class and I seat them at a table and tell them that their server will be right with them.  Their child then comes to the table and give them a menu and asks them what they would like to drink.  Children are only waiting on their family.  The child fetches the drinks and then returns to take their dinner order, writing everything on their little waiter pad.  Then the child delivers their dinner and later dessert.