Tending the Eclectic Kinder-Garden

Kindergarten is an interesting age/grade to teach, *all* of the time.  It can become even more dynamic when a child with special needs or undiagnosed issues is part of the group.  Working in my fourth school district in my third state, I’ve been a member of  S.W.A.T/S.I.T./S.N.A.P and plain ol’ “intervention” teams, working to accommodate the needs of each of my students.  Most of the strategies, meetings, suggestions, and plans implemented have been productive, efficient and successful, with one classification of student need a notable exception: the ADHD/Behavior issue child.

For ADHD/Behavior children, kindergarten can be a blessing and a curse.  With all of the hands on activities and manipulatives available, not to mention shorter time spent on most activities (at least in the developmentally appropriate classroom and/or at the beginning of the school year) children can get up and move, interact, build, sing, read, play, paint, create and listen.  Having to sit still and pay attention for longer amounts of time can be torture however, since the visual, auditory, olfactory and kinesthetic stimulation of these children doesn’t diminish just because it’s story time or a visitor to the class is sharing a special presentation.  The reactions of classmates can create hurt feelings, confusion, and anger, especially when an ADHD/Behavior child feels singled out or targeted for avoidance.

Thankfully, many parents give me a “heads up” before I meet their ADHD/Behavior child.  They share their family’s history and coping skills, along with information from their doctor or child psychologist.  I’m able to put some strategies to immediate use (modifying seating assignments, limiting visual and auditory distractions, stockpiling attention-getters and visual/auditory reminders and cues) and I’m able to create an initial intervention “loop” between other staff members, in case further strategies and resources are needed.  I contact my principal, intervention facilitator(s), parents, the school nurse, and those teachers and staff the student will work with on a regular basis.  Then, it’s all back to me.  I spend much of my time at the beginning of the school year developing a safe and nurturing relationship with my students.  Students accept guidance, correction, and take a chance at following new suggestions when they trust me.

From day one, I document, document, document.  Notes on observations, assessments, strategies tried, successful and not-so.  Dates and durations of interventions utilized, and copies kept of e-mail, conference, and phone correspondence with parents.  In kindergarten, there is no immediate solution, no quick fix for a child who is both distractable and distracting.  I’m assuming by second or third grade, the documentation and work done by kindergarten and first grade teachers is used as the foundation for maintaining a child’s successes at school, and should new problems arise, is used to help identify previously successful strategies, or point to a new direction after previous interventions have failed.  But in my class, there is no magic wand.

I ask for help when I feel it’s necessary, which is probably the most subjective element of all when it comes to utilizing a school’s intervention team.  I believe since a child spends most of his or her time with me and classmates in our group’s environment, that most, if not all strategies and accommodations have to be tried and tested under my watchful eye.  If parents are effective advocates for their child, then they usually already have child psychologists, doctors, and counselors with whom they work (this isn’t always the case, especially when 1) children come from low-income families and are without the resources or 2) parents of any socio-economic group aren’t ready to believe their child’s behavior is out-of-the-ordinary.)  But here’s the rub: I have a high level of tolerance when it comes to working with ADHD/Behavior children. I do not believe they wake up each morning and *decide* “Hey, I think I’ll mess with Mrs. Sommerville and the other Super Stars today.  Yeah, I’ll knock things over, blurt my thoughts out during quiet times, interrupt constantly, fidgit for no discernable reason, AND top it all off with a whining and crying fit.  Now *THAT* sounds like a plan!”

Intentions matter to me, as do the emotional and physical reasons behind why a person does what s/he does, the direct result being that I don’t send an ADHD/Behavior child out of my class the first, second, or even third time a problem is experienced.  How will sitting in the office for ten minutes help teach a young child how to take turns, use an indoor voice, or negotiate for a toy?  How will missing recess help a physically busy child release some of that pent-up energy?  While an ADHD/Behavior child *might* have been diagnosed prior to kindergarten, most often than not, he or she hasn’t been, leaving it to me to document the behaviors exhibited, how they affect the student emotionally, physically, academically and socially, and how his or her personality impacts the learning and socialization of the other students.  Students who have been diagnosed usually start behavior modification and/or medication just prior to school starting, so keeping a record of the transition and effectiveness of the treatment and management has to go hand in hand with acclimating to the new school environment and the expectations of the many new people with whom the child will come into contact.

But I worry.  Specialists see all of the school’s students each day…how thin might their patience be by the time my ADHD/Behavior kiddo gets to them in the afternoon?  Some schools and staffs view the actions of ADHD/Behavior kids as disciplinary problems, and respond with punishments and consequences designed to force children into immediate compliance, instead of helping students understand and properly manage their impulses.  While confidentiality is key for students, children go home and talk, and as a result, so do their parents.  Scenes not witnessed by parents or caregivers can be mis-communicated and mis-interpreted.

Thoughts?

Tags: kindergarten, RTI

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Sorry about the poor photos- the text reads:

One little, two little

three little turkeys,

four little, five little

six little turkeys,

seven little, eight little

nine little turkeys,

ten turkeys gobble, gobble, gobble!

Tags: classroom decor, Thanksgiving

The Science Goddess tagged me a month ago (I know, I know!  A month?  Thankfully she knows I’ve been back to school, in a new state, a new district, etc.) for a meme started by Nancy, Teacher in a Strange Land, addressing what educators wish policymakers understood about the public school system.  Another teacher/blogger tagged me too but now I can’t find her comment~ Let me know who you were so I can link back to you, pretty please?

Here’ s my kindergarten perspective on Five Things Policy Makers Should Know About Kindergarten:

1)  While preschool and early childhood programs usually offer wonderful and diverse hands-on play/learning/socialization experiences for children, requiring *testing* for three, four and five year olds to determine whether or not they’re “ready” for kindergarten is ridiculous.  What’s next, IQ tests in utero via a two-way sonogram?  Children get to be children.  They’re not “allowed” to come from diverse backgrounds, they DO come from diverse backgrounds. One-size-fits-all fits no one.  Nothing like having to beat a dead horse.

2) Kindergarten teachers wish you would stop approving and paying architectural firms that offer a one-seat-toilet bathroom for girls and a one-seat-toilet for boys for a classroom of 12+ children…or TWO classrooms of children as their innovative design.  Take teacher feedback seriously, and require that the architect go back and rethink the blueprint, please.  The same goes for storage, cabinetry, and learning spaces.  Ask…the…teachers.

3) Playtime IS learning. Authentic assessment is more relevant, accurate, and applicable than DIBELS scores could ever be.  But authentic assessment doesn’t create cool flow charts and numbers to crunch… I know, I know.  You like number data.  You like number data more than you like children apparently.  Time for a change.

4) Kindergarten is NOT babysitting (though if you’d like to fund kindergarten teachers at the same rate a babysitter makes, I’d be more than happy to take that check).

5) Kindergarten entrance age requirements that vary from state to state don’t tend to help children at all: they merely serve to 1) replace expensive day care costs for parents who are able to get their children in to a kindergarten program in one state for a week or two, then move to another state or district that is required to enroll the student since s/he was already in public school elsewhere, 2) feed the ego of parents who think that trying to teach their one year old to read is the way to make sure s/he is ahead of everyone else and 3) frighten parents with less material wealth than others into believing that they can’t provide developmentally appropriate experiences for their children.  Most children aren’t ready for kindergarten at age four, though their parents ARE.  Some children aren’t ready when they’re a “young five” when the school year starts.  There is nothing wrong with being an “old five” starting kindergarten.

Kindergarten encompasses a certain stage in a child’s development.  It’s a stage to experience, not a race to try to win.

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Feel free to grab the meme and address it in your blog- let me know if you do!

Tags: kindergarten, meme

Multiple times.  Plural.  And while my blog-reading and blog-posting schedule will have to change a bit now that I’m back to work, I couldn’t resist subscribing to the following:

Confections

Raggedy Old Annies

The Shabby Nest

A Fanciful Twist

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Once I finish reading through the latest Artful Blogging, I’m sure I’ll have more blogs to recommend! I’ll also be pruning and updating my blogroll before school starts on Monday.

This afternoon our students get to visit with us in our classrooms for a short time! Yay! I’ll be taking their photos so I can make their center tags this weekend (having them for two days before school starts will also help me learn their names quickly), and getting contact/email/parent teacher conference schedules taken care of with their “special grown ups.” I’ll set out a coloring page for those students who want to take their desks and chairs for a test drive, and will be making quick observations and mental notes like the ones I mentioned here.

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Crayons! Thanks Sesame Street!

What wonderful cabinetry.  And I know what’s going behind the doors on the upper level: Books. Dear Daughter and I opened fourteen boxes of them, finding even more surprises left by the last crew of packers that prepared our belongings for the trip from Texas to Oz. Despite some bent corners and torn covers, it was good to see my favorite stories again after taking last year off from teaching.

Kindergarten teachers often teach concepts and skills organized into thematic units. “Autumn,” “Animals,” “Counting,” “Colors,” etc. I organize my books by how I USE them throughout the year. In August, books like Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, Blueberries for Sal, Timothy’s First Day of School, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, are within easy reach for reading time. So are books about autumn, colors, numbers, and friendships.  My winter holiday books can all be found on the same shelf as my snow themed stories, and fairy tales are grouped together for the spring.

I also group books by author.  Norman Bridwell’s Big Red Dog Clifford keeps company with Marc Brown’s Arthur, and I love featuring Leo Lionni and Patricia Polacco as favorite storytellers too!  It’s my system, books sorted by theme, and also sorted by author, and it works for me.  Come October, I can pull down an entire stack of books featuring Halloween, bats, spiders, growing pumpkins, monsters, fire safety, and silly rhymes, and put them in the hands of my students.  Each November, family stories, Thanksgiving tales, harvest, and Indigenous Peoples pique my kindergartners’ interest.

Do you have sets of books, providing multiple copies so groups of students can read along with you or one another?  Try sorting them into easy-to-grab tubs (mine are on the bottom row of the next set of shelves):

Big Books need to be stored either flat (making it difficult to find exactly the one you’re looking for), in a book display specifically made for oversized stories, or in their curriculum kit box for easy access.

Find a system that works for you and your students- books are treasures!

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Don’t forget to organize your professional library too (mine is full of books and binders):

Tags: books, classroom, kindergarten, organization, tips

Yay! Good for you!

On the first day you can get in to the school (and presumably, your classroom), make sure to take your digital camera, a measuring tape, a notebook and pencil, your lunch, snacks and drinks for the day, and your calendar. If you have supplies, books, and other teaching gear you’d like to drop off, go for it, but don’t plan on opening them!

Here’s why: there are a few things you need to do before you wave your magic wand,*poof*, producing the world’s greatest kindergarten classroom in cloud of glitter.

If this is your first year teaching at an already established school, chances are you’re not the first teacher to use the classroom.  You  might walk into a completely empty room.  You could walk in to find a mish-mash of furniture, equipment, and curriculum materials.  You might find that your classroom has served as the storage or catch-all room for the rest of the school for the past five years.  Or you might walk in to a fully furnished, fully equipped, almost completely developmentally appropriate  teaching space, like I did this week:

ACK!  What?  Before you have a stroke, let me point out a few things.  1) As a teacher new to this district, I’ve gone to school before many of the “regular” teachers have returned from their summer vacations.  The summer cleaning staff is still dusting, washing, repairing, and vacuuming the rooms in preparation for the start of school.   2) Take a looksie at the bookcases along the back walls.  Everything sitting on TOP of the shelves…is MINE.  And those shelves make a full “L” along two walls in the room.  All of the items on the lower shelves were already in the class.  3)  All of the furniture has been moved to the center of the room so that the janitorial staff can clean the carpets around it.  Once several more furniture shifts take place, the carpet will hopefully be shampooed.

Dear Daughter and the Toddler came with me to inventory what was in the room on Day One.  You need to inventory your room as well.  The inventory might be difficult to do because previous teachers will store the classroom’s curriculum materials and supplies, but they won’t organize it or return everything to its original location and condition.  If the last teacher liked to keep half of the language arts books at the reading table and the other components of the curriculum kit at his/her desk, or in small tubs for individual students to use, chances are, you’ll find that “system” still in place when you arrive.  The best thing to do is to open every cabinet, cubby, and drawer.  If you find items that seem to go together or have matching storage boxes, pull them all out and place them together in an easy-to-get-to location.  Here’s a photo of the math, science, and language arts materials and curriculum “kit” items I’ve found so far:

It’s a “rough sort,” meaning I haven’t opened up all of the boxes or checked to see if the workbooks or flashcards, assessment booklets or supplemental activities are in order, much less present.  I still have big books and flip charts to find and add to this pile so that I can reassemble the kits as much as possible.

You can sort your classroom items pretty easily for your inventory: furniture, curriculum kit elements, math manipulatives, language arts materials, puppets, computer equipment, stereo/headphones, toys, workbooks, arts and crafts supplies, classroom/school binders for policies, procedures, a professional library, etc.  Doing a rough sort lets you know what you have, the condition of your classroom furniture and supplies, and points you in the direction for creating your to-do and wish lists.

I sorted paper products:

Then determined what I had for crayons, glue, kleenex, etc.:

A majority of my afternoon was spent sorting math manipulatives and language arts materials.  The blue tubs and the clear containers with white lids are ALL math items:

These two sets of shelves are full of puzzles, and ONLY puzzles (ignore the storage bins up on top, that’s part of my seasonal decor, which I’ll try to get to on Monday):

These clear and yellow bins are all fine/gross motor activities (Legos, building blocks, lincoln logs, etc.):

The bins already available in the classroom come in primary colors and are perfect for storage on the shelves.  Blue will be for math, the yellow is for fine/gross motor, and next week I’ll sort language arts/literacy items into red bins.  Green will house science materials, and orange…who knows?  Dear Daughter will get a treat from Dairy Queen on Monday afternoon after she peels every sticker and label off of the bins in my class.  If you don’t have children to be helpers in your room, consider asking a colleague if s/he has teens for hire who would like to earn their favorite fast food meal for lunch in exchange for doing the little things.

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Before you leave for the day, measure your room.  Photograph it as well.  Photograph the ceiling, the insides of cabinetry, the bathrooms, where your windows are located, your furniture, everything.  You’ll want the photos to refer to later, possibly in the wee hours when inspiration comes to you in a dream, waking you!  Take notes too.  How many staple boards or corkboards do you have for display?  How many windows might you have to make or purchase curtains for?  How many electrical outlets do you have and where are they located?  How about computer jacks?  If you have open storage shelves like I do, and you’re considering covering them with curtains to reduce the visual noise (and possible temptation for more impulsive students), measure, measure, measure so you know how much fabric to buy (and purchase plain ‘ol clearance material, okay?).  Make sure to ask your principal or building administrator if you’re ALLOWED to staple items into the walls, hang decor from the ceiling, or affix hook and loop tape to hang curtains before you do it!

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Your calendar will help you remember when your new teacher orientation will take place, teacher inservices too, and you can set goals for each day you’re able to spend in your classroom setting up.  You’ll want a day for inventory (and requesting furniture/materials if necessary) and your “rough sort,”  a day for furniture arrangement and the setting up of centers (with materials located where they will be utilized the most), another day for bulletin boards and classroom decor, a day for lesson plans, your parent newsletter, and grade level planning meetings, and another day getting your first week’s activities, materials, stories, and required school safety drill practice planned and prepped in full.  Make sure to ask if your school will host an Open House before school starts, or if you need to prepare for initial observations and assessments of your students before they arrive for their official First Day.

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If you have the time or just feel the urge to lay claim to YOUR classroom before you leave on Day One, you can set up your Essential Three that will help you through the rest of the week:

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Tags: classroom, kindergarten, organization, tips

… to bring you a review of my day!

All of today’s blogging time was set aside for mother/daughter eye exams, grocery shopping, drug screening/testing for my employment, and a visit to my new school to pick up keys and drop off classroom materials.  I think it’s time for me to post some drafts in the queue just in case, but until then:

* I still don’t care for the blowy-puffy-here’s-grit-in-your-eye procedure that optometry techs seem to enjoy watching patients endure at the beginning of an eye exam.  What *is* that thing, anyway?  Is my eye dusty?  Are you testing me on my blink and flinch coordination?  Are you checking my mascara’s and eyeliner’s staying power?  My eyes water just thinking about it!

* I’ve been experiencing some confusing encounters at the grocery store I’ve been frequenting here since our arrival.  It’s on post, and each time I’ve gone, I’ve been approached by older ladies and gentlemen asking if my kids are “ready for VBS.”  Huh?  Each time their table has been surrounded by other people, so I’ve only been asked that one question before  the greeter has turned his or her attention to someone actually interested enough to stop and look at their display.  It wasn’t until this morning’s trip that I finally saw the table itself- and realized that VBS stands for “Vacation Bible School,” not “very big shoes” or “very bratty siblings.”  Enough with the abbreviations folks.  I get it with my husband’s military-jargon, I get it with all sorts of edu-speak, and I see it as I try to figure out just what my daughter is asking me for when she text messages me on her phone.

Spell…the…whole…thing…out…please.  And if you won’t,  please just step aside as I maneuver my way through the store with my thrilled-with-the-acoustics-toddler to get a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter.

* Drug screening.  Today was the first time *this* kindergarten teacher has had to walk in to a medical facility, surrender her i.d., allow someone else to lock up her purse and do the little aim-for-the-plastic-cup-routine with an audience standing right outside the bathroom door.  Oh, and I wasn’t allowed to flush the potty afterward either.  Yep, everything had to be as…witnessed…as possible.  Wow.  Just…wow.

* Yes indeedy, I did get the key to my classroom today!  Dear Daughter and I were so excited, so pleased, so impressed with what we saw as we walked through the school, peeking into classrooms, lounges, cafeterias, etc… and when we got to see my room, I just about cried.  This is the first time I’ve been given a classroom that is fully supplied.  FULLY.  I guess I’m no longer at a Title I school, and the difference leaves me in awe, and saddened.  Standardization across the nation?  Honeys, it isn’t happening.

The classroom is beautiful.  Most of it is appropriate for kindergarten, though my teacher’s desk is fixed to the wall as part of a built-in, and it seems I can’t lower it to a better height for use as the reading table.  The students’ coat cubbies are actually closets with doors (another interesting safety issue) and I have tons of storage for manipulatives, books, etc.  I’ll be sharing a bookroom and a set of student bathrooms with one of my colleagues by way of two “walk-through” areas.

* I’ve brought home a school binder that seems to have our policies and procedures explained in it, but getting them committed to memory is becoming more difficult with each new move I make.  Every school has its own set of rules, procedures, routines.  The first one used clipboards for fire drill and stranger danger drills, the next had little red and green paddles we were to hold up outside during a fire alarm along with scrap pad sign-off sheets that had to be turned in to the office after each drill.  The next required a binder or notebook with students’ names and contact info, while at this, my newest school, who knows what the variation will be.  In the past six years, I have had to follow four different rulebooks on school procedures for fire drills, xerox copying, attendance reporting, lunch requests, stranger danger, parent pick-up, field trip requests, classroom newsletters, professional development, parent teacher conferences, NCLB documentation, lesson plan formats and due dates, social club dues and rules, phone etiquette, lunch time and recess procedures, before and after school bus duty, parking space assignments, computer lab sign up, nurse pass procedures, email and internet do’s and don’ts, office errands, teacher lounge clean-up, grade level planning times, preps, and tornado safety practice.  Talk about a jumble.

*****

Off to bed (this is a late night posting)- I have a classroom to inventory and set up in the morning!

Tags: school, teaching

… because it’s just around the corner!

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If you have a kindergartner gearing up for the first day of school, it’s time to put yourself in his/her shoes in regard to LUNCH.

*Soggy sandwiches aren’t fun to eat, so try coating both pieces of bread with peanut butter with some jelly in the middle to avoid jelly-soak-through.

*Orange chips stain clothes. Yes, kids still wipe their hands all over their shirts and pants, ignoring the cute napkin you included in their lunchbox.  Lunch time is social time so kids are too busy chatting, visiting, and listening in on conversations to remember the good manners you taught them.

*Those little plastic wrappers on the straws for juice boxes don’t always have a slit cut into them.  Juice boxes tend to be easier to punch straws into than the pouch style drinks.

*Though teachers discourage it, food bartering/swapping still takes place at lunch or snack time.  Please remember that some students have food allergies, occasionally severe. It’s important that your child knows he/she is still a good friend even though s/he won’t share peanut butter cookies (or offer “just a taste” of some other treat) with classmates.

*If your child likes to save leftovers for a snack later in the day, please practice fastening those plastic storage lids or ziploc baggies NOW, otherwise, be prepared for very messy spills and mountains of crumbs in backpacks or lunch sacks.

*If you send a thermos with lunch, make sure your child knows which way is “up” when it comes to putting the thermos back in the lunch box, otherwise s/he will be back in Leak-and-Spillsville.

*Not every classroom has a refrigerator available, so if you live in hot climate, plan on skipping the mayo and milk.

*Snack packaging (the wrappers on cookies, chips, graham crackers, trail mix, fruit snacks, etc.) isn’t always easy for little hands to open.  Cut a small slit in the top of each to help ease your child’s frustration. The same goes for the tips of bananas, or the peels on oranges.

*Yes, teachers are happy to help your young ones learn how to open milk cartons and lunch wrappers, but children feel such a sense of accomplishment, independence and helpfulness when they can do it on their own and teach their friends the “tricks of the trade” as well.  Small milk cartons are available at most grocery stores if your kindergartner would like to practice before school starts.

*Not every child knows that you’d rather not open a lunchbox full of wrappers, banana peels, or used juice straws at the end of every day.  Additionally, kids don’t always know that you might want their plastic containers returned home!  Decide and discuss which items morph from “food wrappers” or containers to disposable trash, and which don’t.  You’ll keep a lot of  your Tupperware collection intact if you address this sooner rather than later. Ditto for silverware!

*Make sure you write your child’s name on that lunch box or lunch sack, because there’s always at least one classmate who will have the same one, or one similar looking enough that mix-ups will occur.

*If your child will purchase lunch at school each day, make sure you find out the “routine” in advance and see if you can prepay so your child won’t panic or experience a meltdown if lunch money has been lost on the playground.

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Do you have any tips or helpful hints for lunch time?  Please share by commenting!

Tags: kindergarten, school

…and because I teach kindergarten students, this one is on my “must-practice” list:

Sing along, won’t you?

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I dunno why she swallowed that fly,
Perhaps she’ll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she’ll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she’ll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird …
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she’ll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.
What a hog! To swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat…
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird …
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she’ll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog …
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird …
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she’ll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don’t know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat… She swallowed the goat to catch the dog…
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat…
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird …
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she’ll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse -
She’s dead, of course.

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Don’t forget to look for these when you visit the library or bookstore:

Are you a parent of a soon-to-be kindergartner? Whether you’re dreading August (and cutting those apron strings) or can’t wait for stores to fill their aisles with back-to-school essentials and watching your neighborhood streets for signs of new-bus-driver-route-practice, knowing your young student’s kindergarten schedule is going to be essential in planning your time (and his or hers) for this very special school year!

Will your child be easing into a new academic routine by participating in a half day or extended day program, or does your school district offer full day kindergarten? You might hear arguments for and against any or all of these choices (and whatever other program schedules that might exist), but in my opinion, what makes or breaks any kindergarten schedule are the expectations, intentions, and knowledge (or lack thereof) of developmentally appropriate practice of the adults involved and their resulting respect or disregard for the world of young learners.

Here are some helpful references:
* The Top Ten Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom

* Kindergarten Readiness: Is Your Child Ready for School?

* Helping Young Children Start School

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(image: Jim Gordon)

Half Day Kindergarten: (my classroom sample schedule)

A half-day program typically lasts three and a half to four hours, though I’ve heard of some districts offering kindergarten classes that are only two hours, forty-five minutes long. Most teachers will have a morning class and an afternoon class that follow the same daily curriculum schedule. Depending on the district’s transportation budget, morning students will typically ride the bus to school in the morning with parents or babysitters providing their own transportation home before lunch, while afternoon students will be dropped off at school by parents or day-care providers at lunch time, and then ride the bus home at the end of the school day.

*8:00 – 8:30 Arrival; Put backpacks/coats away; white/chocolate milk choice chart for snack; activity at desk after bathroom, washing hands, etc.; correspondence from home to teacher; attendance taken, Pledge recited; finish desk activity (this is also a good “chat time” for students to communicate and catch up with one another before having to focus their attention on the teacher)
*8:30 – 9:00 Calendar/Morning message/Story/Songs and Fingerplays
*9:00 – 9:30 Writing/Language/Literacy (journals, environmental print, new vocabulary, phonemic awareness, etc.)
*9:30 – 9:50 Recess
*9:50- 10:20 Math with math manipulatives/technology/exploration
*10:20 –10:45 Learning centers with curriculum concepts/topics integrated: books, painting/clay, computers, one on one time with teacher, math manipulatives, pretend play, blocks/building, puzzles, creative construction zone, puppets, writing, listening (cd or tape player), and weekly poem. Students will have free choices as well as “must try” centers, and students will straighten up centers before moving to their next activity.
*10:45 – 11:05 Center and classroom clean up, washing of hands before snack. Snack.
*11:05-11:30 – Storytime, Show and Share, Songs, Concept Review, prep for home (students empty cubbies, pack backpacks, straighten desks/chairs)

I have an hour for lunch, prep, and whatever lunchtime duty I might have for the upper grades, and then repeat the above schedule for the afternoon class, typically from 12:30-3:30.

Extended Day Program Particulars:

When I taught in Alaska, the extended day schedule alloted four and a half hours for students, with teachers working with two groups of students each day, with both groups of students “overlapping” for shared recess, lunch, and “special” time (PE, Music, Library).

Group 1 would attend school from 8:30-1:00, while Group 2 would attend from 10:30-3:00 (the overlap time when both groups of students attended class and activities together was 10:30-1:00). The academic portions of the schedule for each group were slightly expanded and could include computer lab time (though that was another “large group” option), and both groups had their own snack time halfway through their activities. Calendar activities and an additional story could take place with both groups together at 10:30 which freed up each individual group from redundancy.

The transportation situation was the same as the half day program.

Full Day Kindergarten: (my sample schedule)

*8:00 – 8:30 Arrival; Put backpacks/coats away; white/chocolate milk choice chart for snack; school lunch/home lunch chart; activity at desk after bathroom, washing hands, etc.; correspondence from home to teacher; attendance taken, Pledge recited; finish desk activity and chat time with peers.

*8:30 – 9:00 Calendar/Morning message/Story/Songs and Fingerplays
*9:00 – 9:30 Writing/Language/Literacy (journals, environmental print, new vocabulary, phonemic awareness, etc.)
*9:30 – 9:50 Check out books at the library (it was a daily option at my last school instead of a once-a-week visit)
*9:50- 10:20 Math with math manipulatives/technology/exploration
*10:20 –10:35 Snack
*10:35- 11:15 Learning centers with curriculum concepts/topics integrated: books, painting/clay, computers, one on one time with teacher, math manipulatives, pretend play, blocks/building, puzzles, creative construction zone, puppets, listening (cd/tape player), writing, weekly poem. Students will have free choices as well as “must try” centers, and students will straighten up centers before moving to their next activity.
*11:15-11:30 Center and classroom clean up, bathroom/washing hands before “special” (PE, MUSIC)
*11:30-12:00 PE/MUSIC
*12:05-12:45 Lunch and Recess
*12:45- 1:15 Bathroom/washing hands, then Storytime, Show and Share, Songs
*1:15- 1:45 Rest and Relaxation (some students take naps, others look through books quietly)
*1:45-2:15 Art or Computer Lab time

****2:15-2:45 Round two of centers, or explore science/social studies concepts in large group lessons, though some students need a second snack at this time as well.
*2:45 Concept Review, prep for home (students empty cubbies, pack backpacks, straighten desks/chairs)
*3:00 Dismissal

**** The second round of centers (with materials focused on curriculum topics) provides students with extra time to explore and work with manipulatives and other equipment or resources to expand and solidify their understanding of concepts introduced. Many parents think that a full day program means that students will cover MORE curriculum topics, stretching into first grade material…”working ahead.” This is NOT usually what happens, rather, the kindergarten curriculum is experienced more in-depth by students during the extra time in the classroom, enhancing comprehension and facilitating further exploration with concrete, “real” experiences and reflection.

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Remember, the schedules I shared above are only examples- and your transportation situation will be determined by your district. Take advantage of any Kindergarten Round-Up/Registration opportunities your child’s school offers, pick up information packets or check the school’s web site for schedule information and a sneak peek at what you and your child have to look forward to!

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In case you’re interested, here’s the link to my post about Kindergarten Round-Up and the observations I make when I meet new students for the first time.

Tags: kindergarten, links