I remember last year when everyday I came into and left work saying "I was meant to teach kindergarten." My thoughts these days are pretty opposite. :/ If anyone would have told me last year that the kids I had last year were the same age as the ones I have this year, I wouldn't have believed them.
Nonetheless, this probably isn't too entertaining to read if I just complain :) so I'm just going to um, try not to. :) I have 22 kids in my class currently. About 14 of them are eager to learn and pick things up. They participate and LOVE school. They are learning to read. So far, they know how to read the words "I", "am", "little", "red", "cat", and "the." So they can read the sentence "I am little." or "I am the little red cat." Whenever they read these sentences I make a really big deal out of it, like "Oh my goodness, you guys are so smart, you just read a sentence!" :) They know that the person who writes a story is an author (we're working on illustrators.) They also know how to say "Thank You" in sign language, and we count to 60 daily. We've also been practicing counting by 10s to 100.
Most of them can cut and then paste, and do it correctly. All but a few can write their names somewhat legibly, and are working on their last names. Most of the kids can sit in chairs or on the floor, a few prefer to roll around, STAND up straight and tall on their chairs, or LAY facedown on the carpet.
Though my class is still not where I would like them to be, I must say there is improvement. Most of them can walk in line now, while some seem to "float" places in line... like 1 minute they're at the end, I turn around, and suddenly they've migrated to line leader. The rest of the kids have also discovered what it means to "cut" in line. :)
This week I had to be out a few hours because I had a sinus infection (as did the other 2 kindergarten teachers). When I returned, one boy said, "MISS BENTLEY! I'm so proud to see you!" This same boy also told Jen his middle name was "Partyboy," followed by "I just kidding..." He also did the Thriller dance with Erin. He might be my favorite.
Friday afternoon I found myself trying to discipline a child. He doesn't understand the concept of "not talking while the teacher is talking." So as I was trying to explain to him why he was in trouble, he was arguing with me. As soon as I stopped talking, he either stopped talking as well or said "You're pretty." So I thought about what it was I was doing: I was standing there arguing with a 5 year old. (A battle I can't win.)
This year my behavior problems remind me of the year I spent working at a daycare/preschool "teaching" one year olds. At any given time, some are crawling on the floor, one may be rolling around, one might have climbed onto their desk or chair, and one might be getting into my desk or play-doh or recess materials. I have definitely learned to "pick my battles," a far cry from the nitpicking I tend to do in teaching children. Part of this is because of the Catholic school education I had. We all sat in our seats, the teacher wrote on the chalkboard, and we paid attention. No questions asked. That's just how it went. Ahhhhhh. That sounds like the Bahamas.
