Sometimes, my class is cute.
We started learning about Community Helpers on Monday. We’ve been learning about the different jobs people have, what they do, tools they need, all that fun stuff.
Today, as we came in from recess, there was a Marine also waiting to get into the building (our school is on the third floor of a huge office building). He was dressed in his dress uniform and as he waited for us to pass he looked like he was standing at attention. My students were in absolute awe. Once we were all inside and starting up the stairs and he was out of sight, the questions started: “What’s his job?” “Is he a community helper?” “Can I be that when I grow up?” “Is he real?” “He’s so cool!”
We had to stop on the stairs (because kindergarteners can ‘t walk and talk at the same time) and I tried to quickly answer their questions. While we were there, the Marine passed us going back down the stairs with whoever he was picking up. As he passed my class decided to speak up. A couple kids called out as he passed, “You’re a Community Helper! Thank you! You’re doing a really good job!”
Hope it made him feel good to know that a bunch of kids think he’s a pretty cool guy.
Oh, and the questions, didn’t stop for the rest. of. the. day. I’m thinking I need to find a Marine to come to my class and talk to the kids about their job….
kindergarten adventures, the wonder of kids | Comment (0)I’ll admit it, I’ve got a favorite in my class.
Remember my kid who meditates? Well, after being gone for almost 10 days due to a broken arm, he came back today.
And he’s learned to use “air quotes”. Sort of. He air quotes about every 5th word he says. Today he needed to “tell me something”. (yeah he put air quotes on tell me something).
“Ms. Abby”, I was at “home” because I broke my “arm”. My dad brought me to “school” in the “car” today. I can’t ride the “bus” until my “arm” is “better”.
Can’t wait to see what new habit he picks up next week.
kindergarten adventures | Comment (1)17 days
It’s almost the end of the school year. It’s close enough to the end that we created a count-down chain in our classroom. And every year the same two things happen.
1) I forget how insane children get when they get spring fever and they know summer is coming and they know they are almost first-graders.
2) I forget how much there is to do at the end of every year.
Our “to do” list is pretty long.
I have a 3 tests I need to give the class and they need to be done individually.
They need to be tested for their reading levels for next year.
There are 3 field trips left (Minnesota Zoo for the kindergarten, Twins Game for the Student Council, Field Day for the whole school)
There are 4 fire drills left.
There is a Spelling Bee.
There is cleaning day for the kids. Which means I need to clean everything out before they clean.
Not to mention finishing up the last of the curriculum, report cards and end of the year conferences.
kindergarten adventures | Comment (0)If You’re Going to Drive Me Crazy At Least Learn the Right Words
My class has (unsuccessfully) been trying to drive me crazy by singing the k-i-s-s-i-n-g song over and over. Personally, I don’t care if they sing the song. It’s annoying, yes, but as far as irritating me goes, it’s going to take a lot more than this little song. Especially if you don’t know the words.
Here’s their version:
Suzie and Johny sitting in a rocking chair, k-i-s-s-i-n-g.
First comes marriage
Second comes love
Third comes SEX (yeah, they shout this verse)
Forth comes baby.
um..yeah. It just ends there. And it doesn’t rhyme. And most the time they can’t spell ‘kissing’ correctly. So as far as teasing their friends and irritating their teacher goes, they’re really starting to slack off at the end of the year.
kindergarten adventures | Comment (0)Can you translate Kindergarten?
It’s rest time right now and for once they are actually resting. Really I think they are just crashing from the sugar high they had at lunch today. Either way they are still and quiet.
Since I’ve got a few minutes and I’m done with my prep work, here’s the answers to a worksheet from one of my better readers/writers. How many can you translate?
1. apple (yeah, the first few easy ones)*
2. bat
3. cat*
4. dog
5. elefet*
6. flar*
7. got
8. haas*
9. isic*
10. jop*
11. kakro
12. lag*
13. matet*
14. nat*
15. otpog*
16. parat*
17. quwen*
18. rayan
19. snack* (and no, she wasn’t writing “snack”)
20. tawr*
21. ubreyela*
22. vocur
23. wrm
24. xaray
25. yo-yo
26. zap (nope, not writing “zap”)
My favorite part is at the end of the worksheet she wrote “Thist is the end.”
For comparison here’s another student that wrote some of the same answers:
1. ablle
2. cat
3. dnsard
4. elfnt
5. flwr
6. hrs
7. insat
8. jps
9. lag
10. mtns
11. nat
12. oktps
13. prat
14. qwt
15. snak
16. twr
17. uprls
(The matching answers in the first student’s list have an (*).)
Good luck. I’ll post the actual answers in a couple days.
kindergarten adventures | Comment (0)A Letter to Obama
Yesterday my class talked about the election and they wanted to talk to Obama and tell him they were excited he won. After I explained that he probably won’t be making a stop at our school they decided a letter was a better way to go.
Here’s their letter, word for word.
Dear Mr. Obama,
We are in kindergarten.
We go to Dugsi Academy in St. Paul, MN.
We are very excited you are president.
When you won people ran around our houses and yelled “O-BA-MA” really loud. It was fun.
We also had some questions for you. Will you answer them please? Thank you.
1. How are you? Are you excited to be president? (from Asha)
2. How many people voted for you? (from Suad)
3. Do you think you’ll get a surprise being president? (from Mustaf)
4. What is your phone number? (from Zakariye)
5. What school do you kids go to? (from Yahya)
6. Can we see your house? (from Suad)
7. How old are your kids? (from Asha)
8. Are you happy to live in the White House? (from Yahya)
9. Area you good at helping people? (from Roda)
10. Do you want to be president two times? (from Rayan)
Thank you for reading our letter!
From, Ms. Abby’s Class
They all signed their names, tomorrow we are taking a class picture to send along. I’m hoping we at least get one of those form letters back.
I love that my class is very civics minded. They love learning about our country, how it works, how voting works, etc. And they come up with these little projects on their own. I had no plans to write to Barak Obama today but it was something they really wanted to do. So we did it.
kindergarten adventures, politics, the wonder of kids | Comment (1)The Kindergarten Class and the Glue Sticks: A story.
Last Friday the kindergarten class was working on a project that required glue sticks. About 100 glue sticks are kept in a bucket on a shelf, the class is free to get a glue stick and use as needed. All the kindergarteners were working quietly in their seats, cutting and gluing away. And at clean-up time glue sticks were being returned to the bucket, with caps on (very impressive). Then it happened. On one of the tables was a giant purple smear. Not an oops-my-glue-sticks-went-off-the-paper smear but a creation of purple, an entire glue stick devoted to this work of art. I asked the class who did it and this pain in the butt kid named Not Me was apparently the culprit. So, I collected all the remaining glue sticks and declared that there would be no more glue stick use until the artist fessed up.
A week went by. A week of me planning fake glue stick activities just so I could give them all the instructions only to end it with “but we can’t do this fun project because we don’t have our glue sticks back yet.”
Today we had another project and this one the class really wanted to do. As I got to the part about not doing it due to lack of glue stick privillages one student raised his hand and asked, “Can we just sit here until the person who did it tells you? I really want to use the glue sticks again.” The rest of the class agreed this was a good plan. And so we sat. For 10 minutes.
10 minutes of students saying, begging, pleading, with the guilty party to just come forward. And she denied it up and down.
Finally another student shouts out, “Do you want to get into heaven? Because if you do you have to tell the truth. If you keep lying, they aren’t letting you in!”
And apparently, all it takes is a little religious guilt. Because the guilty party confessed, told the class she was wrong for lying and using glue the wrong way and promised not to do it again.
And with that the glue sticks were returned and all is right in the world again.
kindergarten adventures, the wonder of kids | Comment (1)Eid Mubarak
Tomorrow is Eid ul-Fitr. It’s the celebration that breaks the fast which took place during Ramadaan, which when you are a teacher at a school that is 100% Muslim you get two days off of school.
This year it fell on Tuesday and Wednesday which means that we had school today, we’re off Tuesday and Wednesday and we go back Thursday. It’s a little odd having a weekend, then one day of work, then a weekend, then two days of work, then a weekend.
Today was really not worth having. Most families celebrate the holiday by getting together and going some place fun (a popular place around here is Camp Snoopy or Chuck E. Cheese), eating a huge pile of good food and presents. Lots of presents. So today was like trying to teach on Christmas Eve. Not the most productive of days.
kindergarten adventures, special occations | Comment (0)Before and After Pictures
Here’s my classroom the Wednesday before school started. At this point I’d already been working about 8 hours moving furniture and getting things set up.
And here’s what it looks like after 3 days of students being in school:
Yes, I do have “under construction” tape over all my shelves. The kids know that they can’t use those toys until they have learned how to play with them appropriately. It will take until about mid-September for all the tape to come off.
kindergarten adventures | Comment (0)First Impressions of Kindergarten
This probably won’t be of interest to anyone but me, but I want to get it down so when I am ready to toss kids out the window in December I can look back and remember that at one point I did think they were cute. And just to warn you, I’ll be doing that annoying initials thing instead of real names just to be on the safe side.
First day started off a little crazy. There was some type of bus mix up (which means they had no idea who to pick up where) so at 7:55 I still had only 8 kids. By the end of breakfast I was up to 13. I had 8 girls and 5 boys which is fine with me. Last year I had 20 kids and only 6 were girls so this year is already looking up.
I know we are still in the “honeymoon” phase of school so I’m not going to pretend that just because today was good the rest of the year will be too but hey, a girl can hope right?
kindergarten adventures | Comments (2)