Personal Space

Along the same lines as controlling our volcanoes is being aware of personal space.
Another great book by Julia Cook and Carrie Hartman is called Personal Space Camp.
In the story, Principal Goodkid guides a group of kids through a variety of activities that help them become aware of personal space.  One of the ideas I adapted for my classroom is putting a hula hoop around a child to help him/her notice his/her personal space.  I found small hula hoops that I keep in a handy location near the class rug.  When a child is losing control of his/her body and bothering others I put the hula hoop around him/her and say, "This is your space, you need to stay inside this space and no one else can come inside your space."  This also works for kids who have a hard time with others getting too close to them.
So far it's really helping with a physical model of how much space a person should take on the rug.
I hope this helps anyone else dealing with space issues.

Control your Volcano

I was getting desperate.  I'm not too proud to admit it.  I have 5 kids in my class with real impulse control issues.  I reached out to my Kindergarten teacher community.  One person suggested books by Julia Cook.  I checked them out on Amazon.   My Mouth is a Volcano was out of stock and I needed something now.
So I improvised this lesson.  I took our volcano model and I brought the kids to the circle.  Each person took a small plastic person from a tub of math manipulatives.  I talked to them about how each of us is like a volcano.  We have thoughts and ideas inside us but when we erupt by yelling out, making purposeless noise and letting our bodies get out of control, it affects the learning of everyone around us.
I named specific behaviors and used the names of specific kids. (nicely of course)  I believe in corrective feedback and explicit instruction, so it was important for me to give real examples of what specific kids do on a daily basis, but in a teaching way, not a put down way. 
I had my 5 impulsive kids put their people in the mouth of the volcano (which they thought was pretty cool).  The rest of my kids and I put our people around the volcano.  Then I erupted it with baking soda a vinegar (which all the kids thought was pretty cool.)  We talked about how the eruption from a few people got all over us, and we didn't like it. When we get erupted on, we can't learn or do any of our jobs.  Then we role played disruptive behavior.  When someone "erupts" we say "Control your volcano!".  The "erupter" then takes a deep breath and says "okay".
We also talked about how we can do some erupting outside a recess.
This lesson has given everyone ownership of their own learning and a corrective statement for those disrupting that learning.  It also gives the disruptive students a calming action and the understanding that what they do affects everyone in our class, not just me.
I shared this strategy with all the teachers who work with my kids so we can have a universal statement with universal meaning.

I hope this helps all of us with impulsive kids.

The First Day of School

The school were I teach starts before labor day.  My first day of kindergarten was a lot like herding cats while running through sand.  Everything takes a long time because the kids don't know the routines yet!  Even though I know this, I always underestimate what this means until I'm in the mist of all those beautiful 5-year-olds, their shiny new outfits and expectant expressions.

This year presented extra challenges for me because I completely changed my room arrangements, which impacted how my routines worked.  I had to invent a new way to line up because of the furniture arrangement,  I had to search for my recess whistle because I stored the outside toys differently, etc.  I also have twice as many boys and I do girls.  Anyone who has experienced this type of demographic can tell you that a male-majority class requires different energy.  I will be learning a lot about that this year.

One idea that has helped me quite a bit over the years is to write myself a letter after the first day and remind myself about what to expect and what works and what I should absolutely not do!  I put the letter in box of beginning of the year supplies, on top, so I can read it right away.  This years letter was right on target.  I am so glad I listen to myself!

Have a great first day!  Don't stress and enjoy the new crop of kids.

Welcome Back

It is the end of August and that time of year to get ready to go back to school.  This year the teachers in my school participated in a wonderful community building process.  As part of this process we came us with guidelines for all our meetings and interactions with one another.  I want to share these with you because I find them very challenging and inspiring.
1. Keep and open mind.
2. Speak and Listen with kindness and respect.
3. Presume positive intentions.
4. Give all voices a chance to be heard.
5. Be willing to compromise.
6. Be honest and courageous.
7. Be self aware.

"With malice toward none and charity toward all."  A. Lincoln

Have a fantastic year!

Let's talk, in an orderly manner

Research shows that students, especially EL's need to talk, orally communicate in order to comprehend and become fluent speakers. I've been using "think, pair, share" to accomplish this. However, I've run into difficulty getting the students to listen to each other. Mostly they yell on top of each other. Well, this problem was solved by using talking tokens. When we partner on the rug each pair gets 2 poker chips, 1 red and 1 blue. I say "Red chip talks, blue chip listens." Then they share. The pencils and bears I use at tables of 4 students. Each student picks a bear, or a pencil and I choose a color to speak first while the rest listen. As a follow up I'll ask someone to share something their group or partner said. No more yelling and listening gets rewarded!

feely boxes

I use feely boxes for science and math activities. I got this idea from Terri, a fabulous Kindergarten teacher who made her version of a feely box when she was in college. After closely examining her design I am sharing it with you. First you need a cylindrical shaped cardboard or plastic container. It should be large enough to accommodate a hand and the objects you want your students to feel. I like the size of oatmeal containers.

Reinforce and decorate the container with contact paper.

Find a fun, stretchy sock and cut off the toe. I used a pinking sheers to prevent unraveling.

Finally, hot glue (or use E6000 glue available at fabric and craft stores) to attach the sock around the lip of the container. (Terri stapled her sock on but I couldn't figure out how to make that work.) The students put their hand in the sock to feel the objects inside. I made several so that I can use them with pairs of students. Simple, elegant and earth friendly.

Water Painting

I am always on the look out for ideas to keep my students engaged in play during recess time.
I saw a version of this activity at our local children's museum. All you need is a few old paint brushes and a bucket with about an inch of water. My students love to paint the sidewalk and watch their picture disappear, only to paint new ones.

A shout out to Dr. Jean!

Check out Dr. Jean's March '10 on her web page. She shares numerous ways to use recycled materials in the classroom. Together we can make a big difference is caring for our earth!
http://www.drjean.org

Free Stickers!

If you are like me, you have an over abundance of address labels sent to you by charitable organizations soliciting donations. I have so many that I have them sorted by month and more come every week! I decided to cut the picture portion off each label and use them as small stickers for sticker charts. This is a wonderful way to recycle unwanted and unsolicited labels!

Spoon Pointers

Try this idea to help students track while reading or counting. Draw a face on a long handled plastic spoon with a permanent marker and use them as pointers! Spoons can be recycled from different ice cream establishments.

Word -o -Phone

When my students become familiar with the calendar routines, their participation becomes a bit lack luster. Each student made a word-o-phone to encourage more vocal participation.
Each student need a cardboard tube. We used paper towel sized tubes, but any size will work. They can be decorated or left plain. Students use their word-o-phones to amplify their voices as they read or count as a group. I notice the students pay more attention when I use my word-o-phone to give directions. I also place my word-o-phone to my ear to encourage even more vocal participation.

Making snack time easy!

One of my favorite teaching tools is this cupcake holder. I found silicone baking cups as a reusable snack container and purchased one for each student. I load the cups with snacks and fasten the lid onto the container. The lid seals so the snack won't get stale, and keep out any undesirables. Before snack time I bring this container out and each student picks up his/her snack. It has shaved at least 10 minutes off snack preparation time.

Beautiful Beads

I was browsing in my local thrift store this past weekend when I found a bag of assorted beads from broken necklaces among the craft materials. It was less than $2.00 so I bought it. I separated them into 4 bins, 1 per table and added some yarn segments. Today, I had 5 minutes of "extra" time. We finished a lesson early, and everyone was already at their table and I had a momentary loss of what to do. I spied the beads, ready to go, sitting on my desk. Viola!

The students used: fine motor skills, (especially important for the developing writing muscles) patterning and counting skills, and social skills! (sharing and negotiating).

I plan to keep these ready to go until the end of the year. Then I'll let each child make a necklace to take home.

Tip: I dip the ends of the yarn in melted wax. This helps keep the yarn from tangling and makes threading the beads easier because the yarn doesn't unravel. I usually dip a big supply during the summer for all yarn needs that come up.

You can also use pipe cleaners (chenille rods) to make bracelets.

Top 10 things to do with plastic containers

This innocent looking container holds a wealth of possibilities! Here are my top 11 favorite Kindergarten classroom uses for this free resource.

1.Transport container for fragile projects. (Keeps them nice and protected inside a backpack)

2.Holder of small manipulatives. (Especially if you want to give each child a specific number of manipulatives quickly, they make clean up a snap too!)

3. Container for games. (I like to use them for games that are sent home.)

4. Planters, plant containers. (We decorate them and add a plant for a nice mother's day gift.)

5.Building blocks. (Put the lids on and put a bunch in the block center.)

6.Matching game. (Have students match lids to containers. Only the specific brand's lid will fit it's matching container.)

7.Scissor caddy. (Cut some squares in the lid and add the scissors.)

8.Crayon and pencil box.

9.Letter Eater. (See reading ideas.)

10.No mess glitter station. (Put the item to be "glittered" inside, shake the glitter over it, and all excess glitter is caught in the container.)
11. Snow play!  Bring a selection of colored containers (avoid white or clear containers because they are easily lost in the snow and left behind) outside for recess fun of building snow castles, making snow dishes and carting snow from here to there.

Only have the lids? No problem. Here are some "lids only" ideas.

1. Snack plates.

2. Paint palettes. (The lip around the lid prevents paint spilling. This works well for glue too.)

3.Circle tracers. (Collect a variety of sizes and you have a nice snowman center)

4. Write a sight word in the center of the lid, add a magnet and create a word wall on your chalk board.

5. Number line. The same process as a word wall but with number instead.

Tips:

Wash the containers before using.

Make sure they are completely dry and put the lid on the container.

I like to collect a class supply in a bag. Then when I need them I bring them into school and passing them out is really easy.

Recess in winter

There is an old saying that "play is a child's work". I was considering this one winter's day out at recess when it seemed like the children had an abnormal amount of fighting, arguing and tackling each other. I looked around and notice that there wasn't a whole lot for them to play with. Balls and jump ropes don't work well in the snow and create a mess when brought indoors. Playground equipment is slippery and monkey bars are impossible to do with glove or mittens on. What were the children to do? Well, being the recycler that I am, I was cleaning out my "plastic container bin" and I discovered a number of container with odd shapes or no lid. I put them in a bag an brought them out to recess. They were a hit! The kids got busy making snow cakes, snow castles and moving snow from one area of the playground to another. They had meaningful work!

I also started to reflect on my role as playground supervisor during my recess duty. My classroom overlooks the playground so I get to observe how other teachers approach recess duty. More often than not I see the teachers standing together talking to each other while kids go off to unobservable corners and well, I've seen girls decided to exclude each other, boys beating the snot out of each other.( Not out of anger mind you but out of the tiger cub mentality that comes so natural to boys)

I don't blame the teachers for wanting a little adult conversation. We spend all day with little people and we are "on" teaching and entertaining and keeping the peace in general.

The point of this reflection is that kids still need us at recess duty to engage them, play with them and organize games that don't involve tackling your friends to the ground. We are "on" during recess duty too.

I teach in an urban environment and I am aware that many of my student don't know how to play. They watch T.V and play video games because their parent are overwhelmed with survival and it may not be safe for them to play outside. In a way, we teachers have to teach kids how to play.

So next time I'm out at recess duty I will be aware of this and think of a fun game for all of us to play.

Caught You Being Terrific

I don't know about your class, but about this time of year my students start arguing and generally feeling comfortable enough to drive each other CRAZY! I noticed that I was falling into the habit of trying to scold them into good behavior. Hmm, not really working all that well for me. So at a recent AKTM* I dawned on me to bring back a behavior strategy that I learned during my brief stint teaching in middle school. C.B.T. or Caught You Being Terrific. The basic idea is to notice when students are behaving positively and doing kind things for each other. When "good" behavior is noticed the student get a small slip of paper on which they write their name. The student then puts their name in a designated container. At the end of the week the teacher draws out several names and those students receive some sort of prize. I usually limit the names drawn to 5 names per week and I give out donated items as prizes. Prizes don't have to be "things" either, 10 extra minutes of choice time or even getting to choose which song to sing for group time can be a prize. I also only give a C.B.T if I notice the "good" behavior or a student tells me about something nice someone else has done. I don't give C.B.T's to students who say "I did ..." Because I am an avid recyler I make sure to cut up already used paper slips as C.B.T.s and I made my container out of a hot cocoa container covered with construction paper and stickers. I cut a slot in the lid for inserting C.B.Ts.
This strategies has made the kids look for ways to help each other and has helped me look for positive behavior in my students. Over all it is a way to improve the overall classroom climate in a fairly simple way.

*Archdiocesan Kindergarten Teacher's Meeting

Classroom Libraries

I had to ditch the bookshelves. Kindergarten students simply can't put books back in shelves neatly and they have a hard time finding the books they want to read on bookshelves

So, I purchased a whole lot of dish tubs. I sorted my book by topic and marked them with colored dot stickers, or arrangements of stickers. The tubs are easy to carry, easy to look through and the stickers help the students with the skill of matching. Students can use the library with a minimum of assistance from me and I can arrange the tubs on tables, shelves or on the floor. This is the most user friendly my library has ever been!

The Hospital

We are all looking for ways to save time and energy. I got this idea from Choice Literacy and I immediately implemented it in my classroom. During the course of the day when a student finds a book or a toy in need of repair they put it in the hospital. This is instead of interrupting me, or hiding the broken object. I can fix or throw anything at my leisure and the students learn responsibility.

The Mailbox

This mailbox was one of those finds that I knew I would use it when I got it but I didn't quite know how at the time. Well, it soon became apparent that I needed this for my "inbox". When the students need to turn work into me I tell them to put it in the mailbox. The mailbox is enclosed so papers can't fall out and get lost, and it is very easy to find!
You can find these mailboxes at hardware stores and sometimes in thrift stores and garage sales.

Dust your brain

This is no ordinary duster (from the dollar store). This is a brain duster! When students have lost their focus or need to really pay attention I bring out the "brain duster" and gently dust the tops of each child's head. (Lice can't live in the synthetic fibers so don't worry.) If a child covers his or her head or pulls away they are not "dusted". There is no grabbing of the duster and only the teacher is allowed to use it. It is amazing how this actually works as a focus tool. Teacher's can dust their brains too!