loving having OLDER kindergarteners!

Yesterday was our 17th day of school.

I have a great group of students. This is their 2nd year of Kindergarten, and they are getting it this time! With the exception of three students, they have spring & summer birthdays so they were the youngest students in their classes last year, and this year, it's almost as if they are thinking, "I have to pay attention this time! I refuse to be a behavior problem!" The students with reputations for being behavior problems simply aren't this year. Whether it's because they grew up this summer or they are more mature at the start of this year then they were at the start of last year or for some, they are not the "low" ones in class... I'm honestly not sure, but I love my group of students.

I still have different levels. There were different reasons these students were retained. Some didn't get the hang of identifying letters of the alphabet. Some knew the letters but didn't grasp sounds. Some knew letters and sounds but didn't catch on to sounding out words. The requirement was they had to know 26 letters & sounds and "attack" a three letter (CVC) word at the end of Kindergarten to be promoted. I divided my kids up by ability at the end of this week to just see if I could -- and I have 6 groups of 3 students.

I've been implementing a lot of better teaching methods this year. They are up & moving, sitting at tables for shorter periods of time (at this point in the school year), learning through creating, and of course, we're singing. My class LOVES Jack Hartmann & Thomas Moore (who came to Amory/Becker, MS, this summer & led the Excelebration for 0-5 year olds in Monroe County). They beg for "the rhyming song," "the alphabet exercise song," "the cowboy song," and "Humpty Dumpty Dumpty." I will always be a fan of Dr. Jean, and although my students many not admit to loving "Who Let the Letters Out?" like they do the other songs we sing, they have learned 26 letters & sounds in 17 days of school. :) All you have to say is, "Who let the ___ out?" and my students can produce the sound. We're still working on the i & e sounds. Those are difficult.

Seventeen days into the school year, I already have an amazing room mother who comes in to read to students & give them AR tests. I have students who know my expectations and can recite the four classroom rules. My students are good at taking turns and sharing roles in science or during science centers. I have students who are motivated to learn to read, write, solve math problems, and LOVE science experiments. At recess duty the other day, two boys (who were in my class last year and did not love school) ran up to me and asked, "What are we doing in science this afternoon?" I have students who love big books & reading predictable sentences. Their journals are neater than I expected they would be, and they can keep a glue stick going for longer than 2 days! Last year, my class would go through some glue sticks. It was ridiculous. This year, we were only allowed to ask for two glue sticks from our students. Needless to say, I bought out Wal-Mart's glue sticks when they went on sale. :) My students can read their color words (including teal!) and are anxious to get started on sight word tests... which I've been putting off until we finish our alphabet a day to keep parents happy with me. I don't want them to have to study identifying letters, writing letters correctly, sounds, counting to a certain number, AND 7-8 sight words. That's a lot! I'm not sure how much of what I'm doing this year will apply to a "baby" Kindergarten class in the future, but this is definitely working for the "older" Kindergarten class.

Seventeen days into the school year, we still need work on using inside voices, not arguing in line, paying attention during instruction, and following directions quickly & the first time. We need some more work on "dot-dot-not a lot!" with glue, not picking at our scabs to make them bleed, not tying shoes during calendar math, and writing our letters correctly on handwriting paper. Copying letters off the board is still a challenge, and writing numbers is still very messy. I saw an upside down four for the first time this week. I've seen plenty of backwards fours in my first year as a Kindergarten teacher, but an upside down four???? That had to take some thought. I'm not sure if I can write an upside down four. :) My students miss their classmates from last year and want to know when they'll go to first grade, but at the same time, they have a lot of fun playing at recess with their new classmates. I watched my girls Friday group up with some Kindergarten girls and show them cheerleading "stunts." The boys run around & pretend to be characters from Twilight or Star Wars with the Kindergarten boys. They will soon be content with their new group of classmates, if they're not already content.