In 1492, Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue....but my kids think he is Johnny Appleseed

Even though this was a four day week it seemed extremely long. I feel like many of my students made strides these past few weeks, while others continue on the same path of blurting and turning off their ears to directions. My students just act as though they have no "off switch" for their voices. Somehow I place some partial blame on chocolate milk. I feel like yellow lights will start to come out more and more as students fail to close their mouths and listen to directions.

This week I started my action research and I have been very excited to implement it into my classroom. So far my students have reacted so positively to the read aloud adjustments that went along with my study. The first book that we focused on was "Caps for Sale"! Because this is a very vintage story, I worried that the students would not have as much interest but apparently this story delights children of any decade! One major aspect of my read aloud strategy is the implementation of story dramatizations and boy did my kiddies adore this! You have no idea how proud it made me feel to hear them giggling, raising their hands so high to be picked, and acting out the story with such enthusiasm. Some of my students even pouted because they were not picked and even though this is "unacceptable" behavior it showed me that they were very eager to take part in this lesson. I hope that the rest of my study continues in such a positive light!!

This week we celebrated Columbus Day with a variety of stories and activities dedicated to Columbus sailing the ocean blue. I chose to do a handprint activity that I had found on Pinterest. Truthfully, Pinterest is an amazing resource for teachers!! My first week of full time teaching felt a bit stressful, but also made me feel right where I am supposed to be. Teaching early childhood students is my passion and I am so excited to have this opportunity to work with these VERY diverse students everyday. Even though sometimes I feel as though I need a shot of adrenaline to match their level of energy.......

We love to write! 

A bunch of PUMPKIN heads :)

After reflecting on this week, I have to say that the lessons that I created were quite successful. Yay me! This week I focused on concepts of print, the sections of a book, patterning, and sequencing. Seems like a lot for my kiddies to learn in one week, but they  did  a very good job. From what I can remember from kindergarten, it seems like children these days are expected to learn so much! But on another note, I recorded myself teaching circle this week and when I watched it back, I felt like I was kind of a scary teacher. I always felt like in the past that I struggled with discipline and had no clue how to attempt classroom management, but this stern voiced Allie was on the screen. Am I too firm with these kiddies? I just feel like for them to understand the behavior that you want from them you need to be clear, bold, and show that you MEAN it with your body language and voice.
Some of my favorite lessons from this week were a fiction/non-fiction discussion, learning to "read", and pumpkin seed counting. When I started to teach my fiction and non-fiction lesson, I noticed that I was not as clear as I could be with the confusing concepts. I chose to start using key words "fake for fiction" and "not fake for non-fiction". That helped me teach and the kids understand the concepts!

Fiction and Non-fiction discussion materials



This week I also taught my students to "read" in fifteen minutes! Teacher of the decade goes to Allie Angotti.........well, not quite. Only one student in my class can actually read words, but I realized with excitement, visuals and prompting my students can read random letters, animals, and colors using correct reading strategies. I loved seeing the joy on my students faces when I gave them praise and applause for reading all on their own. It made me so happy that they were all clamoring to read again!
On Friday, we finally cut open the pumpkin that has been taunting the students all week! Working in small groups, the students estimated the total number of seeds and then each counted the a small group of seeds. The total number was over 300!!!!