Building Play into a Typical Day in Public School Kindergarten

Play is so important at our age. It is how we process the world around us. I do not believe that students who sit at a desk and do worksheets all day long are fully prepared to be creative problem-solvers and critical thinkers when they grow up. These skills are learned by playing and interacting with each other in many different types of situations.

"Play and academic work are not distinct categories for young children, and learning and doing are also inextricably linked for them."  

(Ontario Full Day Kindergarten Curriculum Document, 2010, p.13)

In my classroom, literacy and numeracy are each taught in the form of whole-group lessons, but it doesn't stop there. Both literacy and numeracy are integrated throughout the day, in all of our "play" activities, just as they are in the real world.

We start our morning with direct, whole-group language arts instruction on the letters and their sounds. The letter of the day is introduced using the activities from Starfall.com, then we listen (and sing-along) to the current day's letter song from Have Fun Teaching (YouTube). Next we watch a letter of the day video segment from Sesame Street (also on YouTube) - the class' favorite muppet is Cookie Monster! Following this, together we complete a "circle map" of words that begin with today's letter. (You might notice a couple of my students are beginning to connect words from the letter songs onto our circle map - 'mom' and 'pillow' were used in the 'Oo' song!)

Finally, we practice our "red words" in "bootcamp-style". This means that we do a call-and-response. I show the word and say either "Read It" or "Spell It", and the class responds appropriately in unison (well, they're supposed to, anyway!) We review all of the words we have learned so far this way. When we reach our newest word, we practice writing it on our whiteboards. Then we write a sentence or two reviewing some of our red words.

As you can imagine, this is about the limit of time a five-year-old can sit still and focus (and of course, some of us are still struggling with this, but we'll get it soon!), so our next activity is Math and Reading Station Baskets. These are targeted activities that give us practice in these areas. This is one of the times that we get to "play"! Although the students are limited to only math and reading activities (verses other activities in the classroom), they may choose which basket they would like to work on each day, and may change baskets if they finish the activity before clean-up time. Of course, these are the easiest to photograph because I'm not directly teaching while this is happening. I have the ability to walk around the room and interact with each of the students as they work.

Completing an alphabet floor puzzle

Matching letters to a card

One-to-one correspondence, placing gems on the spots

Using marker caps to fill in a 100 chart

Counting ants on the picnic food

We found our red word "I"!

I. built our red word "I"!

It took me a minute to figure out M.'s thinking. She put the numbers in order (from her right to left), then took the '0' and '1' and used them to make '10'!

After our station baskets are returned to the shelf, we come back to the rug for handwriting instruction on the letter of the day. After I demonstrate how to write the letter, we write it with our finger in the air or on the carpet (for tactile input), then we complete the handwriting worksheet at our seat.

Next we return to the carpet for Phonemic Awareness instruction. This involves practice with rhyming, beginning sounds, ending sounds, blending (putting word parts together), segmenting (taking words apart), adding and deleting phonemes (adding and deleting parts of words), and sentence construction.

To round out the morning, we read a couple of books based on the class' current inquiry, which at this time is Pets. We may also watch video segments pertaining to the topic, discuss things we already know or have just learned, or work on a project.

After lunch and recess, we have our first small-group time. Each group receives targeted reading instruction based on their individual needs. Three of the reading groups are "pulled out", meaning they visit one of our supporting teachers for instruction. The other three groups remain in the classroom with me to receive their instruction on a rotating basis.

After small group, we have our whole-group Math lesson. We follow the Common Core Eureka Math Curriculum. Currently we are studying the numbers 0-5 in-depth, including being able to add with sums up to 5. Did you think your child would be learning addition facts from the very start of kindergarten? Well, we are!

Following Math, we have what I call "Thinking and Discovery Time." This is the time of the day where we can self-select an activity, be creative, socialize, think critically, practice our school rules of "Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Kind", and explore materials. It is during this time that the sensory table, dramatic play area, light table, overhead projector, imagination station, and blocks/construction areas are open for play. This is also the time when I meet with project groups (which are different from reading groups). Together we conduct research and create projects based on the current class inquiry. Since we are just beginning our Pets inquiry, I don't yet have any pictures of our research or creations. Look for those soon!

Next we have our second small-group time, where three groups once again visit our supporting teachers for direct targeted reading instruction, and the other three remain in the classroom and rotate.

Finally, we have our "special" classes at the end of the day. On "A" Days, we have gym, on "B" Days we have Music, and on "C" Days we have art.

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into our day in kindergarten. We are truly off to a great start, and I know we're going to have lots of fun together this year!

Our first full week - fun activities abound!

We had a busy but great first-full-week!

On Monday, I opened our Construction Station. We learned about how we need to make a plan before we build something, just like real architects, and then we need to follow that plan as closely as possible. But plans do change during the process, too!

We also learned about our Math and Reading Stations Baskets. These are activities that are simple but provide great practice for the students on specific skills. Once we get the year rolling, we will be visiting this area in small groups, 1 or 2 students to a basket. However, since we don't have our reading groups set up yet, we worked on our baskets as a whole class this week.

Math and Reading Baskets on the carpet

Putting together a number order puzzle

Making and extending patterns with the shapes

Exploring the concept of weight

Counting with natural materials

Using smaller shapes to build bigger ones

This Smarty "read" this puzzle piece - "doctor!"

Matching foam letters to the mat

Stringing letter beads

One-to-one correspondence, placing gems on the circles of the picture

Forming letters with wooden pieces

The idea was to count out the pieces and match the number with a numbered piece. But these friends decided to play a game of "chess" instead - in their own way, of course!

On Tuesday, I opened the Imagination Station. This area will give the students a chance to work on their social skills and make up stories on a smaller scale.

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On Wednesday, the Light Table was opened. Here students will explore properties of things. Here, these two friends are working together to build a tower of transparent colored lego-type blocks.

On Thursday, I opened the Overhead Projector. The children enjoyed putting the letters on it and finding the corresponding image on the wall. We will work more on spelling words as the year progresses.

And, at last, I opened the Sensory Table on Friday. Of course, this is the biggest hit right now! I simply have pet bedding and tools for scooping and grabbing in there, and dustpans for cleanup! We are working those fine motor skills while exploring the concept of measurement. Later I will add items that allow the children to further explore measurement (measuring cups, tape measures, scales, etc.) as well as literacy (animals and other story-writing materials).

Please enjoy a few other pictures from this week:

This "Dapper Dan" (that pose just cracks me up!) decided to create a "company" of potato-head "workers"! Just take a gander at the fine-motor skills that were involved, as well as his creative thinking skills!

Writing (well, drawing at this point in the year) is a popular activity. I have some very artsy students who enjoy color and glue!

Clay is also a popular activity. The children enjoy making different things out of it. At this point, I only have some green clay available, so the colors don't get mixed together. Later, once I feel the students can handle the responsibility, several colors will be offered together. This activity really works on hand strength, as the clay is not as soft and pliable as you would imagine!

I believe this creation is a hamburger

And this is a banana

I'd like to end with something that made me very happy to observe. This student held up these two numbers (backwards to himself, mind you) and told me that "The number 17 is on the door across the hall from [his] apartment." This tells me he is ripe and ready to begin learning to read!

And finally, a very sweet little girl brought me the quintessential "teacher gift" this week -- a gorgeous apple! Thank you, Miss O!

I can already tell this is going to be a fabulous year - I hope you feel it, too! 

Our First Two Days!

Our first two days are under our belt, and we were quite busy!

We start the mornings off with table activities. We are working our fine motor muscles while being creative at the same time!

This friend showed me the pattern she could make.

Lacing cards aren't just for girls in our class!

We even get some math involved sometimes! This friend decided to organize his animals by color.

This friend worked on setting up ALL the animals she could get her hands on!

Small Mr. Potato Heads are fabulous for working our fine motor skills, and for giving us laughs, too!

Towers are always intriguing, and provide exploration of 3D shapes that we will learn this year, such as cube, cylinder, cone, and rectangular prism.

Clay is a great way to build our muscles, as well. Lots of rolling, squeezing, and pinching is happening here right now.

I'm not sure what these are called, but they are great for making intricate designs, as these friends are doing! I am always amazed at what my students can build and create.

Drawing is always an option in my classroom. Along with working on fine motor skills, it also promotes imagination and storytelling, two big focuses of Kindergarten.

And of course, we couldn't leave out building with small blocks! I call these our "Minecraft Blocks" because they are square.

We learned many other things on these first two days, but without help in the classroom, I was not able to take photos. We are still working on how to walk in a single-file line, how to stand quietly behind our chairs and listen for directions, how to raise our hand to speak, and appropriate behavior in our Extended Learning Areas, the hallway, the restroom, the cafeteria, and the playground. This week, we will start learning each letter of the alphabet as well as our "red words". We will also begin having discussions about things that interest us - our "wonderings". I can't wait to learn more about the children!