In the Beginning

The beginning of Kindergarten is an exciting time! However, it can be daunting and overwhelming for these precious little ones. We spend the first two weeks going over our Rituals and Routines of the classroom so the students become comfortable and are able to focus their brainpower on learning instead of trying to figure out what they are supposed to do. As they arrive at school, they sit along their assigned wall reading a book from the class basket until they are called to come into the classroom.

As the day progresses, there are other Rituals and Routines - coming to the carpet as a group, sitting on the carpet during mini-lessons, where and how to sit during independent reading, how to work in groups, when to go to the bathroom, how to line up and walk in line--just to mention a few, but reinforcing these details early on will allow the rest of the year to progress smoothly. When children know exactly what to do and how to do it, they can spend their energy thinking about the new skills as they are presented and teachers do not lose valuable time with behavior. Students know the exact expectations and these remain the same for the year.

The day begins with activities involving the Every Day Calendar. These activities are teaching the foundations of math skills. These activities lead into a Skills Block which is where the basics of Kindergarten are covered: letter and sounds, numbers, colors, shapes, sight words, etc. After Skills Block is Reader's Workshop where the students are taught the fundamentals of the reading process: reading left to right, using illustrations to determine meaning, decoding skills, etc. After lunch we have Writer's Workshop where the students are learning how to put ideas from their minds into print on paper. Then we have Math Investigations where they are able to use different manipulatives to reinforce their understanding of mathematical skills. This leads into Science and Social Studies Workshops. Add to this the different Resources: PE, Music, Art, Computer Lab, and Library. Each Workshop follows the same format: a mini-lesson, work period and closing. The district has written the first 10 lessons for Readers' and Writers' Workshops, helping the teachers institute those all-important rituals and routines including early lessons in Readers' Workshop, charting as a class how independent readers look and sound and good listeners look and sound.

These beginning days are busy as new kindergarteners learn the workings of their new classroom. Keep in touch to see how "A day in the life of a Kindergartener" is progressing! :-)