Five for Friday July 3

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! Happy Summer!

Last week, Sharing Kindergarten shared these awesome Attention Grabbers on her facebook page. 

It's always fun  to have some different ways to bring the kids back and help them refocus.  My favorite was the Flat Tire... Shhhh! one.  I can't wait to use these.  

How excited was I when I found this fabulous freebie from Kindergarten Rocks!  She turned them into adorable cards.  I am going to print them out, put them on a ring, and hang them right on my easel so I can use different ones and keep the kids on their toes!  THANK YOU  Kindergarten Rocks!  



I found some great articles this week to share.  Rachel, from Kids Activities Blog, shared How Ten Minutes Changed My Relationship to My Kids .  

No matter how busy you are, set that timer for ten minutes, and choose an activity to have fun doing with your child.  I absolutely love this idea.  Ten minutes can become the moments your child will remember forever.  You never know what a child will remember.  It's not usually the expensive, grandiose trips to Disney World that you think they'll remember as much as it is these spur the moment moments. 

Valerie Strauss wrote a wonderful article in the Washington Post called  Report debunks ‘earlier is better’ academic instruction for young children.  That pretty  much says it right there- but the article is very interesting, and it's exactly what I see- probably what those of us in the classroom all see.

Lilian G. Katz wrote an article titled  Lively Minds: Distinctions between academic vs intellectual goals for young children  that discusses what expectations are appropriate for early learners. 

Yes, children CAN pass a level D in Kindergarten and write every genre you put in front of them- but is it really helping them in the long run? Are they "learning" what we're teaching? They will perform, but is it sticking?  Or will it stick when they are developmentally  ready to take it on, and are we missing valuable time to provide other learning experiences for our children?

PreK and K students are not little adults. They are children.

Many things have been assigned age appropriate limits- driving, drinking, seeing certain movies.  For some reason with academics, people who create curriculum and standards keep thinking younger is better to expect children to take on academic skills.  I don't mean learning to read and write, but I mean higher level reading concepts and genre writing.  Yes, they can do it.  I feel like many of my kids did it because they loved me and trusted that I knew best.  I felt like I could even see in some of their faces that they wanted to say, "Really?"  But they didn't.

Exposing children to different books, stories, and genres in writing, and letting them explore is wonderful! It's when we then take it that one step further and feel ourselves putting pressure on them and ourselves to have our students produce writing that is often unattainable that tells me it's too much for them. Some students are ready. (Those are the samples we show are professional development...)  Some are just not ready to produce what we are expected to see. It doesn't mean they're not listening or learning.  They're just not there yet.  And that's okay!

When I read the standards, they are clearly written as to what I need to expect from my students. When I see some little faces some days, I know better what is best for them.  I can  do my best and watch them do their best- and then praise them up for their efforts. What I can't do is let myself get frustrated at the outcome of the writing, because I have envisioned what it "should" look like. 

Writing is a process, and we are many times a child's first experience with it. We have an important task not only to teach,  but more importantly to make children want to learn more as they grow, and not shut down their creativity before it's even had a chance to begin.  

I have always felt that a more experienced based, "purposeful play" environment in PreK and K which is also academic with reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and character education- but not seemingly solely how much more you can get the children to read and try to write, gives children a much  more solid, secure foundation so they can really grow in all areas. Then, when they are more developmentally ready, the reading and writing come much more easily and naturally, as they should. Some students may be ready to read a J, and that is fabulous.  Let them read and take them farther!  Some need time.  We don't give them that anymore.  We somehow feel that those students are behind before we've even given them time to blossom.

Here are some of my favorite parts of the article:

Katz writes that longitudinal studies of the effects of different kinds of preschool curriculum models debunk the seemingly common-sense notion that “earlier is better” in terms of academic instruction. While “formal instruction produces good test results in the short term,” she says, preschool curriculum and teaching methods that emphasize children’s interactive roles and initiative may be “not so impressive in the short run” but “yield better school achievement in the long term.”

Katz also writes in the new report that “earlier is better” is not supported in neurological research, which “does not imply that formal academic instruction is the way to optimize early brain development.” Rather, she says, the research suggests that “preschool programs are best when they focus on social, emotional and intellectual goals rather than narrow academic goals” and provide “early experiences that provoke self-regulation, initiative and …sustained synchronous interaction in which the child is interactive with others in some continuous process, rather than a mere passive recipient of isolated bits of information for stimulation.”

Katz says that “intellectual dispositions” of young children may actually be “weakened or even damaged by excessive and premature formal instruction” and that they are “not likely to be strengthened by many of the mindless, trivial if not banal activities frequently offered in child care, preschool and kindergarten programs.” It is “incumbent” upon schools, she writes, to connect with high-risk students “in terms of the unique aspects of intellect and dispositions that they bring.”

Did you get your free blogger T Shirt yet?  I DID!   Go get yours! The shirt came very quickly, and it's awesome!

A+ Images has a wonderful offer for bloggers.  I just found it - or I would have mentioned it sooner (before Las Vegas!).  If you blog about their fabulous site, you can receive a FREE t-shirt with your blog button or information on it!  HOW exciting is this?

For a limited time, we are offering teacher bloggers a free custom blogger shirt!

To take advantage of this offer, visit designtool.aplusimages.comand upload your blog logo and/or TPT store info to design the front and/or back full color shirt! You can add text and clipart found in the designer. Please, do not upload any copyrighted material you are not legally authorized to use. You can choose from ladies or unisex t-shirts in any color offered. Your shirt can have any design on it, but at least one side of the shirt must have your blog logo/name/website, etc. PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY IMAGES FROM THE INTERNET (except this TPT logo if desired)! ONLY UPLOAD ORIGINAL, HIGH QUALITY ART!Please include your blog name in the comments box.

In return, we ask you write a post about us. There's nothing exact you need to say. You can talk about the teachershirts.com site, the design tool you used, our Classroom Faces shirts, have people follow our Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram pages, show pictures of you in your shirt (or one of our other shirts), etc.

We will generally ship your shirt within 2 business days of receiving the design through the website. It will take more time if artwork is not print-ready. UPDATE 6/1/15: Due to high demand, these may take longer than 2 days.  If you order by the 15th, they should still arrive before the end of the month.  To speed up the process, please use high quality artwork!  300 dpi vector-based art is ideal.  If you pull a 1" image off your site and blow it up to fill up the front of the shirt, it will not work and we will hold your order until we get better artwork.

Limit one shirt per blog during this offer. Offer expires 9/30/15.

I didn't even believe it could be true, so I made my T shirt and sent it in for a quote.  Next thing I knew,  I received an email saying my T shirt had shipped!  I wrote back saying I didn't even know how much it was or didn't even realize I had paid for it- and it was because DUH- I didn't have to!  It was FREE from this awesome site.

A+ Images, Inc. is a full-service garment decorator. We offer screen printing, embroidery, vinyl, direct-to-garment, and rhinestones. We also have in-house graphic designers to help you make the custom t-shirt of your dreams. If you are tired of working with massive online companies with no customer service, come see us. We sell directly to four niche markets, plus act as a contract printer for customers in the Indianapolis, IN area. We can supply blank shirts, drop-ship orders, and help you start a website or company store with order fulfillment. School programs are easy to start too. Give us a call...we'd love to work with you!

Look at what you can get!

It is such a great site to know about.  I love the Classroom Faces shirts!  My friend gets one for each of her students for a Christmas gift, and then they all wear them several times during the year- and finish up wearing them at our outdoor field days toward the end of the year.  What a wonderful idea. 

Thank you, A+ Images!  Go check them out!

Finally, I decided that my theme this year is going to be Superheroes!  I made the bulletin boards for the hallway already.  I'll post them when I put them up.  (Our school is AES- Apalachin Elementary School.)

I also decided that these are going to be my main classroom rules this year.  When I think about what I want for and from my students, it is to be kind (to each other, to me, to others as we walk quietly in the hall, to the things in our classroom...) and to be brave (to try new things, to try to write words when they think they don't know how, to read when they say they can't read, to be away from home all day...).  I love the simplicity of this- but yet how at the same time, it sort of covers everything.

Have a wonderful weekend, and a Happy 4th of July!



Five for Friday May16

I am linking up with Kacey from Doodlebugs Teaching for another fun Five for Friday linky.
Thank you for hosting, Kacey. I find myself thinking of my favorite five all week long.

Last weekend we had a wonderful time at my daughter Emily's graduation from Niagara University. The weather was gorgeous, and so was the ceremony.  We had a great time with friends at a party afterward, too.  We only had two tickets (because it was inside), so only Jeff and I went up to the graduation.  We are going to have a family celebration here for everyone. You would have thought we might have had SOMEONE take a picture of the three of us, wouldn't you?!

Since it is that time of  year when USUALLY I have found frog and toad eggs in the pond, I wanted to share my Frog and Toad Prezi with you if you would like it, and maybe are watching some eggs in your classroom.

I keep hearing frogs and toads, but haven't seen any eggs yet.  My Prezi is free this week if you would like it. It includes a simple biography of Arnold Lobel (author of the famous, fabulous Frog and Toad books), links to an interview with his daughter who continued on with his work as an author herself, some videos of his stories, and some online games.  I also included some pictures that I like to use to compare frogs and toads and their eggs.  Have fun!

We grew some lollipops using our imaginations! The book The Gumdrop Tree is a great way to remind the children to never lose their wonderful imaginations. Here is my post about that book and some other fun ideas.

This time of year, I always have my dandelion activities ready to go for the perfect moment.  It really isn't something you can plan down to the day- you just have to do it!  I love spur the moment fun with the kids. They remember that, too. We had a great time. We read books, wrote about our dandelion wishes, did a little dandelion math, and decided that dandelions are actually quite pretty flowers.  So it was a successful day.  I posted about it HERE.

My number 5 is a huge bit of a rant.  I feel like it is partly on behalf of  Friedrich Froebel, because he would be so sad to see what has become of his idea of a "child's garden."  Kindergarten was to be based around playing, singing, practical activities, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. 

Yesterday I took a professional development class with our school's  occupational therapist.  She's wonderful and does a great job with the children.  She was sharing activities to do with children in the classroom to help with OT issues.  She has five times as many students to service in our school with the incoming Kindergarten class than she had this year.

I don't see how anyone can be surprised.  People wonder why there is such an increase in needs for OT and PT, and drugs for ADD and ADHD.  How can we wonder this?  Which one of us could sit do anything for a solid hour everyday at our age now without a break?  Of course children get active and distracted.

As teachers, we know that we are supposed to take into account what is developmentally best for the children we teach. We need to be able to do that, not feel guilty doing it, and be strong enough to defend that we are doing what is best for children. But how sad that we have to defend it, and that it isn't obvious. These precious, inquisitive, questioning creatures  crave hands-on experiences and movement, as the best part of their learning. Kindergarteners are so capable and so willing and eager to learn.  They amaze me. But somehow the word "developmental" has become outdated and ignored.

How sad that good teachers know what they need to do, so they shut the door and do what is right for children by giving them time to be children, like it's wrong or frivolous.  Luckily, my Principal knows and appreciates the whole child, encourages brain breaks, and realizes the benefit of movement and experiences for children. Many of these children aren't getting experiences at home with exploration and play like they used to, either.

I honestly feel like we are on this path of "flipped classrooms"even for young children,  where children will be learning on iPads or whatever devices they have at home, and school will have to be where they learn to socialize, be healthy, exercise, be polite, practice manners, and have hands-on opportunities for learning. One reason cited for so many OT referrals is the overload of technology at such a young age.  Some children don't know how to climb jungle gyms,  jump rope, or play tag.
                                  

Technology is amazing. It is a valuable tool for teaching. But it's only one part.

  

Our country's quest to be compared to other countries with high test scores is scary.  Those children are often not well-balanced, happy children, but well trained test takers, who from a young age are afraid to do anything but succeed academically.  It makes me sad when test scores are a driving factor. My children are beautiful readers and writers.  They try so hard for me because they know that I am so proud of each of their accomplishments- just like I'm sure your students are.  Still, I feel this pressure that I am not spending enough minutes reading, or writing, or adding, or subtracting, or something.  If I feel the pressure, you can bet the kids do, too.

Lots of times I  write these posts like a journal, mostly to remind MYSELF that I am not crazy to let the children be children. Moments like this remind me that letting them be little is a pretty wonderful thing.

Thanks for listening.  

Have a beautiful weekend!