Amazing Coworkers...

At the Zoo in June 2014 with 90 Kinders...

I am blessed to work with some truly amazing educators. It has been a week (already.... 2 days in....) that NEEDS positives. So I'm actively seeking them. For the first time ever, I get to be at ONE school, in ONE office, and with ONE set of teachers! It's FANTASTIC! And I don't know what to do with myself sometimes. I keep thinking that I should be going somewhere else.... Anyway. I get to actually do some "Push In" with a kindergarten class. They have the most wonderful and fantastical teacher!! And I wanted to spotlight her some. Heather has become a good friend of mine and I take new pictures in her room of ideas and strategies and activities every time I go in!! We're working together to pre-teach and reinforce critical vocab and concepts with our shared students. It's a wonderful relationship. Plus, she is HILARIOUS!!

I'm trying to get her to start a blog. (hint hint, Heather!!! Your stuff is adorable and your methods rock!) Best guided reading I have seen. And her kids are the most prepared for 1st grade. And not because I'm biased. She works her hiney off. It's so good that I don't have enough words to describe it (after an 11 hour day and way too many meetings), so let me show you some fun things from this week!
I love being in her room for writing/ELA. They read a book together at the carpet, then go to their seats to write in their monthly writing packet. First, they write a sentence together. Each word is sounded out or spelled from the Popcorn Word Wall. They use finger spaces or "Space Men" to put spaces between the words. They use capitals and ending marks (periods, questions marks, and exclamation marks). Then they review the letters together. Then the words. Then the sentence. I love her saying "Letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make stories" and the kids always respond! Then they draw a picture to go with the sentence, in pencil first.
Did you notice how flipping organized her room is??? Going on 15 years of teaching and she has this DOWN! And has adorable stuff.
And some great ideas! Such as:

Tape down the table to section it off. Because what 5 year old (especially boy) knows what their personal space should be? Or can stay in their own bubble? But the tape provides a visual cue and it's easy to see who is in their space and who isn't. And a really quick way to redirect back to their side with minimal arguing. She has also divided up a round table with tape and a horseshoe table. I shouldn't be amazed (we do this all the time for kids with ASD and social delays, why WOULDN'T it work for typical kids??), but I am!! And it just seems to make so much sense to the kids.


Same with the Dot Spots. Circles taped to the floor all over the room. When they are doing work that they don't have to be at their tables for, they go to a dot. They have enough room to do their own work, they can't "cheat" and scoot next to a friend, and the dots are far enough apart to be able to do quick assessments of math or spelling using a notebook to write on. I've seen it. It works. "I can see your dot from here, dude, that mean's you're not on your spot." They scoot right back to their spot that is clearly defined. Do they get scuffed up? Sure. Do the kids pick at the tape? When they aren't actively engaged, yup. Do you review the expectations? Takes 20 seconds. And it's super easy to replace if it gets too messed up.

What do they do on their spots, you ask? Here's an example of a VERY squirrely student, who is not known for staying on task. He chose his spot to be right next to my chair. Which either means he is used to the spot because it is the farthest away from the screen and the teacher OR because he likes that I hold him to standard and will erase what he writes if he just scribbles things down... Or both. :) ANyway, here are his arms and his reading notebook with a list of nonsense words and a reading stick. He is purposefully not technically ON his spot, but sort of hovering OVER it. But he was reading and paying attention (for a minute), so we called it good. Every kid has a "Carpet Bag" which is a binder pouch with their name on it. Inside are supplies. Crayons, glue, pencil, eraser, number line. The basics. Scissors stay in the material tub on the tables. The crayons are in their own sandwich bag inside the zippered bag. It's awesome. And they've had the same ones since the start of school. I'm impressed.

Anyway. That's a quick and dirty view of what I got to experience this week. I have about 5 students in her class and it's wonderful to get the chance to bridge from my office to her classroom. It's AMAZING what you discover needs to be worked on!!! Here's my freebie for today: I Like Lemons worksheet!! My soon-to-be-dismissed artic-only student responded with "I wike __" during the book discussion on Tuesday, so I made a carryover homework sheet for him. Lots of Lemons for him to write what he likes in and then practice saying "I like" in sentences. It's a habit thing with him and I have no doubt it will have an impact!!! Enjoy!!!

Sarah