KINDERGARTEN NEWS

Today I had the opportunity to visit another school district and a kindergarten classroom there. I was at Little Turtle Elementary with my friend, Tammy, teaching Kid News. I went with some of the kindergarten teachers I work with in our district. We got to hear her history of Kid News and then watch it in progress. What a great way to learn. Those kids knew so much about words and letters already. They knew about capital letters and compound words. They knew how to be Word Detectives. They knew what quotation marks were. I am so glad I had the chance to visit this classroom. We have learned that students who do Kid News become better readers and writers. Daily homework and this form of interactive writing is so powerful. It transfers over to when they do their Writers Workshop each day. We were able to watch that, also. The kiddos were starting to make books. They had wonderful stories. At the end of the session they were excited to report whether they were authors or illustrators or both during the workshop. What is even better...on Thursday I get to work with one of the classes from Glenwood Park to start writing books like we saw in the Writers Workshop today. Who said Kindergarten kids can't write???

Teacher Pride

In the life of a teacher one of the greatest rewards is to see the students they work with or have worked with be successful. It is like a parent seeing their son or daughter make the winning shot to a basketball game, or a son or daughter take a bow after a wonderful piano recital. A smile forms and a heart is full to bursting. That is how I felt this week on two different occasions.

First, I got the chance to see one of my former second graders and high school helpers come back into town. The occasion was not the best. Her mother had passed away and she was home for the activities surrounding that event. Still, I got to spend a small amount of time finding out how her life is now progressing. That is when the pride came into play. She is working in a large city in Texas at a large company. She is in a leadership position handling it all with ease and grace. She is married with a great job and new house. Oh, yes, and a dog! I am so proud of how far she has come and what all she has done with her life. I know her mother was very proud of her and as Mom #2, I am proud, too!

The next event that brought on my pride was when our district asked Mindy Hoffar to come and do a Beginning Writers Workshop for our schools. I am privileged to help her when she does this. We had 18 teachers from all over the district for two of the three sessions this week. We do most of the sessions as workshops with us leading, but for an hour each day we take the teachers into classrooms to actually see writing workshop in process. Mindy usually leads one and I lead another held at the same times...primary and upper elementary. This time we had two teachers who lead their own students doing what they always do. This time they did the teaching in front of about 7 -8 teachers. I was so proud of these to ladies! They not only went through the paces of workshop with ease, they also lead a debriefing session afterward. They handled the questions and just shared the passion they have for writing and kids. Those visiting teachers went back to their classrooms with new excitement and enthusiasm. I was so proud of my two coworkers.

So, whatever field you are blessed to be working, I hope you can find the pride in your work and what you do. There is no greater reward than to know what you are doing in life is making a difference in so many lives!

Can you spell that?

I promised you more stories. I will give you one. For the other one I was going to tell you, go to my friend Sarah's blog. The story I will tell here, is again about a kindergarten class. It was the same day that the Bradley story happened.

The kiddos were writing their stories. I had been circulating around the room. I stopped to work with Jessica. She is a tiny, blond cherub with expressive blue eyes. As she was putting her words to her story, she stopped and looked up at me.

"How do I spell we?" she asked.
"Can you find it on your word wall?" I asked her. She wasn't sure where to look.

Just then a little girl from the table behind her spoke up confidently. "I know how to spell it!" she announced.

"You do? Then go ahead and help Jessica," I encouraged her. She moved over to be close to Jessica and proceeded to give her all the help she could.

"Jessica, you spell it like this: w-i-i!"

Then the little girl moved on to her table. I guess the techological age is here!

It is a Workshop After All!

It has been a long time since I blogged. Life happens! It happens in rushes, it seems. But now, I'm back. Sometimes in my teacher-life things go by fast, but nothing earth shattering, or so it seems. This last week was different. So many little moments leaped out at me. Once again I thought, I HAVE to write! So this is my message board, my outlet to the world, my space to express my inner-most feelings about kids, teachers, and adventures in their lives.
My favorite experience happened in a kindergarten class. I love those babies. They are so fresh. They expect nothing from you except your attention and honesty. They give so much...hugs, smiles, and whatever is in their pockets at the moment. On this day we were going to work on basic stories. They had been reading a lot, but not their own stories. It was time to begin that. It is December after all!
I gave my mini lesson on how they read and listen to books all the time. They have stories, too. Say, why not write them like the authors do. I shared my story and wrote it for them on one sheet of paper. Didn't want to overwhelm them after all. Then I sent them out to write.
They scurried off to their tables and passed around the paper. They grabbed their pencils and began to sketch (not draw) their pictures. I went from table to table conferencing with these new writers. They didn't hesitate to begin. They all had stories. Stories about their pets, about the snow that had recently fallen, Christmas trees that had been put up the night before. They were great stories and they were eager to tell them.
But then I came to Bradley's table. Bradley had used the Magic Word of Story: ONCE on his paper. Then he had designed his picture. It was three stick figures. Two were larger that the other one. The smaller of the three was in the middle. There was a line running between all three of them.
"Tell me your story, Bradley," I said. He looked up at me with big, brown eyes.
"Well, Once I took a walk with my grandma and my grandpa, " he told me. I complemented him and then he looked up at me again.
"I need another paper," he stated.
"Okay, what do you want it for?"
"I have to add another page." I told him to go get it and he scurried off to find the paper.
Soon he came back with two more sheets of paper and began writing. As I watched, he added two figures to the second page and then three like the first page to the last.
"Tell me your story, Bradley," I said, while smiling with a heart full of pride.
"Once I went for a walk with my grandma and my grandpa." He turned the page. "Then grandma was lost. See, right here? She's gone." He turned the page. "Then she came back and we all held hands." He looked up and smiled.
He wasn't finished though. He started to search the room. When his teacher and I questioned him, he told us he now had to find scissors and a strip of paper. Why? Well, his book had to have a binder, didn't it?
Naturally, I had Bradley share with the class his book! Guess what most of the kids were making the next day! That is what workshop is all albout!!!! I LOVE IT!
I promise to tell you my other stories tomorrow!