Routine is the word.

 Where has March gone? Eeeek.

I have been thinking about this word since I finished off my February post about the word list. Routine is another word that has become a big part of both my personal and professional life. I’ve noticed that has I’ve gotten older that small routines- like eating the same thing for breakfast most days, taking my vitamins each morning before my coffee, hand cream and eye cream before bed, etc- have become not necessarily more important to me but make the day feel easier. 

Interestingly, I was called a perfectionist earlier this year and I strongly reacted to that. I do not feel that I am a perfectionist. The dictionary defines a perfectionist as-

 noun- a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection.

 https://g.co/kgs/wAAM9NN

This does not describe me. I like to have a plan for things, for a lesson or activity, for my day but if something changes and we need to be flexible I have no problem changing the plan or rolling with a new idea. 

A few of my colleagues and I were talking about this and one asked if I would describe myself as easy going and my initial reaction was no. Easy going is defined as-

adjective- relaxed and tolerant in approach or manner.

https://g.co/kgs/CEK1jtJ

I think because I do like to have a plan in place, I like to be prepared ahead of time and I rarely approach anything without having thought it through that easy going can’t really be used to describe me either. 

So what’s in the middle of perfectionist and easy going? Is it a love for routine? 

I posted awhile back on IG about my use of digital weekly plans that allows me to hyperlink resources and use images to plan for read alouds that are shared with my class. You can see the picture here- https://www.instagram.com/p/C3ybsiYxzxb/?igsh=OTBldjgzcWpyMWZm

Having this template for my weekly plans (and daily plans last year in Grade 3 when the day was filed with different subjects and content areas, and therefore more “lessons” needed planning) helps keep me organized and small things are not forgotten. I can list weekly or daily to-do lists. I can use shapes and colours to insert routine reminders like library visits, assemblies, etc. 

Working with kids of all ages for as long as I have you start to notice that kids also thrive on routine. Many kids like to know what’s coming next and when. It’s why the pandemic was so hard for so many us. We didn’t know what was coming next and days bled into each other. In our kindergarten class we keep most days to a pretty similar routine and share early with the students if something is going to change. Fewer transitions during the day are key at this age to keeping the peace so we plan for longs blocks of outdoor play in the morning and free play in the afternoon. We have one small friend who had a lot of difficulty with coming to school in the fall and he would regularly check our visual schedule each day and often checked in with us about when it was home time. 

I think routines provide comfort and much like a list they download information from my brain so I’m not focused on a thousand little things. I can focus on the big things. I can pay attention to what’s happening in the moment, whether at school or at home. 

What routines do you have in your life? At school or at home? How do they help you? 

A list. The list.

FEBRUARY's ONE WORD is LIST. 

 I am a list maker. I make lists on paper. In notebooks. In Google Keep. On sticky notes. For almost all parts of my life. Personal and professional. 

When I started to think about what my second word for 2024 would be I knew right away that list would be a good one to continue after January’s word start/restart. In the last few years, I have used a few apps to track my reading. I’m currently using StoryGraph and I love the various data it provides about my reading. If there’s one thing I like even better than lists, it’s data. 

I’ve been searching for a similar app or website that tracks podcasts but haven’t really found anything I like. I decided to use my favourite app, Google Keep, to track them myself. 

I’ve been taking a screenshot of each podcast episode and uploading them to a Keep note. I also use Google Keep for a shared grocery list with my husband, that way no matter who goes to the store has the list. I have Keep list of plants I want to add to our garden, workout links, books to look into, websites I like, Christmas/Birthday gift ideas, and small renovations or changes we want to make around the house. So, so many lists. 

I find the more things I can download from my brain the easier it is to remember pretty much anything else. 

I’ve also used Google Keep for work-related lists for years but this is the first year that I’ve attempted to use it for assessment and documentation purposes. We currently create a new note for each student every month to collect pictures of the students in their play and learning throughout the day. We copy the notes into Google Docs and share them with the families at the end of each two-month cycle. 

I have really liked using this system for keeping track of pictures and being able to share with families without needing to access a separate app (which my board "outlawed" years ago anyway). However, when I started to work on first-term reports a few weeks ago I found that it was a lot of work clicking back and forth between different Google folders and docs to see the pictures we had for each of the students to write personalized comments based on their activities and learning. I won't say that our system was bad, I just think it can be more streamlined and made more efficient. And like many things, you don't know what is working and what isn't working until you try it out for the first time. 

So what now? 

Well, like any good former teacher-librarian (wink, wink) I did some research!

This video from Pocketful of Primary is one I watched a few years ago when I started using Google Keep and it has some great tips for anyone trying out Google Keep for the first time. I especially like the idea of using images for headers (you can see how I have done that with my Grocery List above) as it makes things super easy to find. 

A few other really good tips:

• how to pin notes
• how to add collaborators
• how to set up reminders
• how to add labels
• how to colour code the notes (my fave!! and I am going to start using it to colour code the four frames from the kindergarten document)

As I continue to learn about the Kindergarten program, play-based learning and pedagogical documentation I am finding that there are always so many things happening throughout the day that I am not documenting as intentionally as I want to be, or I am often helping students in the art studio or with small group work that I miss all the discussion and intention that went into building an amazing tower, boat, house until it's done and catches my eye. A goal for this second term is to be more intentional with my observations and pedagogical documentation of students' play throughout the day. I found this blog post from Mrs. Bacchus' Class that provided lots (maybe too many!) ideas to think about. From her list, I think I will stick with using photographs and anecdotal notes/observations, along with Google Keep, as a starting point for this goal. I am also starting my Kindergarten Part 1AQ in a few weeks so I'm sure I'll get even more ideas there. 

I do really like what she has shared here about a documentation panel:

The Documentation Panel can include:

• pictures, drawings or diagrams from students about what is being explored
• pieces of artwork
• student writing
• photographs of students in explorations or play
• overall or specific expectations from the Ontario curriculum

https://bacchusclass.ca/how-to-document-learning-in-the-ontario-kindergarten-program-strategies-and-examples.html

As we are embarking on new inquiry connected to families, emotions/feelings and community this month, it might be a great time to try this out as well as it seems like a natural progression from the photographs and notes I am already using. We added this planning area in our room a few weeks ago as we started to think about how we might change up our documentation.

I have some great resources that break down the Kindergarten program into list format (LOVE!) and make it easier to track what areas you may have touched on and discussed and what still needs a focus. I would like to look back through these lists and create some intentional goals for the coming weeks. I think using sticky notes to chart these goals, and even possible prompts, activities, and connected provocations, using this planning area in conjunction and then checking back in with myself to see how it's all going. 

To sum up, lists are here to stay but the goal is to be more intentional... that is I'll be making lists of what I want to document on my lists to stay organized with my lists?! 

🤔🤣

I did reach out on Threads/Instagram to see what people thought of when they heard the word list and the ideas shared were interesting:

-getting stuff done

-to list is to recruit or gather

-organization and productivity

-feels daunting

-barriers/how confusing the term is when you add the suffix -less to it

How do lists factor into your life?

OneWordx12 - January 2024

 Well, it’s been a minute since I blogged. 🫣 

I decided I wanted to redo my OneWordx12 challenge from a few years ago for 2024. Pick one word each month through the year that represents my thoughts, ideas, goals, plans, experiences, etc. 

The last 12+ months have definitely been a transitional period for me, mostly professional but some personal, too. As I moved back into the classroom last year and onto Kindergarten this year I’ve really been thinking about what I want my time away from work to look like, what I want it to be filled with, what I want to occupy my time, energy and space. 

As I’ve already attended my last OSLA meeting I no longer have any obligations to any volunteer or outside educational focused endeavours. Our podcast has been on ice for quite awhile as I found I couldn’t really keep it up the way I wanted on my own. I also decided not to attend any conferences this year. I quit Twitter/X and only occasionally post on BlueSkies or IG/Threads.  My time for the most part is mine. 

That’s a pretty new experience for me. 

I don’t know why but I don’t feel any urge or drive to push or cultivate any professional experiences beyond what’s happening in my own classroom with my students, books I’ve chosen to read for myself, or a few asynchronous opportunities I’ve taken advantage of recently.

Is it screen burnout from the pandemic? Maybe. Is it a desire to be the learner and not the facilitator? Likely. The TL role in schools and if you take it farther into the public sphere, like I did, creates space where people are often looking to you for ideas, advice, support and advocacy. Which was awesome. Until it wasn’t. 

I spent a lot of the pandemic alone (professionally). Either at home or in a closed library. There was very little scope for collaboration as I had known it previously and people were drowning in their own worries, learning and planning for online learning. I think in many ways it destroyed my desire to be in the library. To be a team of one. And yes, as a TL I was connected with other TLs and many of my colleagues in my school but I was still the only one. And due to the unprecedented situation there were a lot of demands on my time, energy, resources etc and without collaboration in the sense I was used to it felt like very little was coming back to me. 

I’ve written before about going back to the classroom and missing kids and that true. But I think it’s important to also recognize that in education educators take a lot from each other and don’t always give back. Teaching is a social sport. A team sport. A group effort. But not all team members pull their weight. That’s true of all teams, groups, clubs. It can become a weight though on those giving, giving, giving. 

In the classroom, and especially in a new grade, I don’t have to have all the answers. I don’t have to come up with new, innovative ideas all the time. I don’t have to walk people through my initiatives and convince them it’s a good idea. The last 4 months have been about curating sparks for what I might want to try in my class. Talking every day with my partner. Reflecting in the moment as we see learning happen, as we see growth, as a provocation sits and fails. 

I see friends and colleagues that have continued to give and give. Either through podcasting, presenting at conferences and workshops, joining in for new volunteer experiences, social media, etc. I’m happy they do because they are brilliant and talented educators but I also worry if they feel like I did/do. Are they getting enough back from others to keep up the pace? Or are the drowning but worry if they don’t help than no one will? 

So to get back on track with the purpose of this blog, my OneWordx12 for January with be Start. Or perhaps re-start is a better choice. 

Start to pay attention to those glimmers in my professional life. What sparks joy for me? Starting asking myself “Why am I sharing this photo/thought/etc on social media at this moment?” Start focusing on opportunities where I feel balanced in what I’m sharing versus how I’m growing. Start reflecting again through blogging? Or perhaps re-start my bullet journal habit? 

Here’s to the start of 2024. May your time be filled with moments that fulfil your spirit and kindle your love of teaching. 

~Beth 

If You Can Make It 6 Weeks...

 

https://m.facebook.com/MrsSpeechieP/posts/one-of-my-favorite-quotes-of-all-time-play-is-so-important-for-cognitive-social-/3821618084604327/

When I told people I was moving to Kindergarten last spring anyone with experience teaching K said 

"If you can make it through the first 6 weeks, you'll be fine".

.. and here we are!

And I have been asked many times in the last 6 weeks- "So? How is it?" 

People are much more interested in whether I like teaching kindergarten than any of the other 5 grades, French or Library roles I have previously held. People are very naturally curious about Kindergarten, and Kindergarten educators, so it would appear. 

I wonder why that is?

Is the Kindergarten program still such a mystery to so many people? Is the thought of playing and exploring all day overwhelming? Is it their size and all the little shoes, socks, and increasingly tiny mittens as the colder weather approaches? Is it the bathroom issues that may arise? 

Whatever it is, people are curious. I have never been asked whether I like my job so much as I have in the past 6 weeks. 

The good news is.... I love it. 

In some ways, my daily work has never been more routine and predictable. I have learned that the slightest deviation from our usual schedule can really throw off the rhythm and harmony of the day. 

Our usual day is as follows:

Welcome/Outdoor Play

Land Based Learning or Math Provocation (Outdoor Classroom or Forest)

Gather inside for quiet reading, number talk or calendar and then snack (although many students self-regulate and choose to eat outside with friends).

Free play 

Literacy focus/Story time

Second and last snack

Free Play

Music and Movement

Outdoor Play

Our table provocations and centre materials have changed almost every week since we started and despite the best of intentions, I have not taken pictures of all of them. We have had water and water beads in the sensory bin. We now have dyed pasta (expired) and steel-cut oats with leaves, pine cones and mini pumpkins. 

As a class, we have explored apples by making apple sauce, apple crisp, and soaking apple slices in various liquids to see what might happen. We have had a home centre, a grocery store, a farmer's market and starting next week, a veterinarian's clinic. 

We have played and played and played in the little "forest" at the edge of our schoolyard and had a letter hunt, created letters of natural materials, explored patterns using body movements, climbed trees, played tag, watered the garden, done a scavenger hunt for signs of fall and looked for lines in nature. 

We have gone on two community walks- one by ourselves and one with our Grade 7/8 buddies. 

We have painted and coloured and drawn. We have cut paper, ripped paper and glued paper. We have made self-portraits and made our names using glitter and other loose bits. We have explored watercolours, oil pastels, chalk, sharpies, highlighters and markers. We are skywriting our letters and exploring the sounds in our names. 

What haven't we done? What haven't I done?

I haven't assessed all the Year 2 students with their knowledge of letter names and sounds yet. I'm maybe halfway through. As with all grades, there is a range of abilities and I have some students ready to start exploring CVC words and beyond while others are working to consolidate their knowledge of the alphabet.

I still haven't figured out how small groups will work. 

We have done a little work with subitizing and counting and it seems like most of the students are strong in this area and enjoying exploring numeracy and mathematical concepts. I still haven't sat with each student to see exactly which numbers they know and can accurately count. 

When free play starts almost every student has a clear idea of what they would like to do and finds a preferred activity. Some stay in one place building, tinkering, exploring and diving deep into their play. Others move through the room trying each different activity for a few moments (making a mini mess in each area) before finding an activity that sticks. A few children look to us for guidance and direction for each moment of their day and struggle to self-regulate their play. There are small disagreements that sometimes get solved before we are even able to make it across the room to provide support. Other times we have discussions about sharing and inviting friends into their play. We have a few students learning English for the first time or haven't been to school consistently during the first 6 weeks and they are still finding their way within the space and the dynamics of the class. 

I still haven't figured out how in the wonderful chaos of free play to do more than document through pictures or notes what the students are exploring. The concept of "notice and naming" through prompts and questions has not happened (at least I don't think so) because by the time I try to settle in to watch, discuss or work with some students someone else needs help in an entirely different part of the room. I know which students are drawn to the construction area every day but I haven't been able to settle in with them and hear their talk or questioning of each other as they build and develop their play. 

When I think of some of the Kindergarten educators I have admired and followed in the past I can't help but wonder, "HOW?" 

How did they settle in to notice and name so they could go deeper with students and their play? How were they not pulled in a thousand directions every day? 

I keep telling myself it will come.

After all, it's only been 6 weeks!

Stay tuned, friends. I know many of you are curious about how the rest of this year will play out. :)

In the meantime, you can follow along on Instagram (or Threads/Bluesky) to see photos and reflections of our class. 

You Don't Know What You Don't Know

 

For those of you who are friends, colleagues or follow me on social media then you already know that I am embarking on a new adventure in Kindergarten. This is my third role in three years. I guess you can say that I am not afraid of change!

I recorded a podcast with Stephen Hurley in the summer for VoicEd Radio called Shifts Happen about my shifting roles. I'll add the link when it is available. 

I have been interested in the kindergarten program and the play-based pedagogy for a number of years since I started in the school library and worked to incorporate a maker culture and inquiry mindset not only within the library space but that spread throughout the school. This meant fostering a culture of play in the library through provocations, prompts and library planning. When I returned to the classroom last fall, I had a goal of taking that learning with me and working to see how I might incorporate more play, more inquiry and more making within the constraints of the Grade 3 curriculum. Looking back and reflecting on last year, I can proudly say that we played a lot. We made a lot. We tinkered a lot. And we asked a lot of questions. 

Was it always intentional? 

I can't say that it was... at least not in terms of the Grade 3 curriculum. In terms of social-emotional development and what my students needed last year, yes! Yes, it definitely was. My Grade 3s were SKs when the pandemic started and from the first few weeks, I could see that they craved and needed free play in our Grade 3 classroom. I looked for ways to incorporate that play with our content areas but often I used that time to work with individual students or small groups on specific skills while the remainder of the class worked independently on conflict resolution, sharing, and communication skills- both verbal and non-verbal, and more. While we may not have also found a way to integrate our play into the Social Studies curriculum they grew by leaps and bounds in their "soft skills". 

When the opportunity arose to move to Kindergarten I felt that this was an excellent time. While a part of me wished that I could continue to see what could become of incorporating more play into Grade 3 I also couldn't pass up this chance. 

All play-based all the time. All inquiries all the time. All maker-ed all the time. 

How could I say no?

Throughout this summer I have been reading and learning more about the pedagogy and philosophy behind the Kindergarten program and I am very excited to get started with my teaching partner and our class. 

One of my favourite parts of being in the library was setting up a provocation or prompt for students and then watching them completely disregard what I had thought the materials would be used for in order to work, create and tinker in their own way. I feel like this will happen often in Kindergarten. 

Here's what my teaching partner and I have set-up for the first week in our room: 

Cosy reading nook. 

How might children be drawn to interact with texts and with their fellow learners? 

Loose parts and potential small world play. 

How might these materials be used to create imaginary worlds and environments? What stories will be told and retold? 

(I have lots of ideas for more world play, including a fun tree-house inspired based I'd like Mr. Lyons to build for us!)

Name-based literacy materials and books.

How might children share their growing knowledge of letters, sounds and how it connects to their name and identity?

Identity-based texts with paper, mirrors and pencils for drawing/writing.

How might the children use these materials to represent themselves, their families, their grownups or their ideas? 

Construction zone- wooden blocks (and I added cars after taking the picture). 

How might children start to create and play with these materials to show their understanding and wonderings connected to STEAM, our community and the world they encounter outside of the school?

Kitchen/Home socio-dramatic play area. 

(My own girls- ages 12 and almost 10- spent about 2 hours here checking that everything was set-up well, could they actually "cook" with the materials, did the babies have enough clothes, etc! Play was their entire focus. )

How might children play and create social situations that shows their understanding and wonderings about relationships within their homes and their sphere of connections?

Numeracy-based materials. 

How might the children sort, pattern, measure or make games with these materials? 

Playdough, colouring, and (not pictured) a station with painting, cutting and glue. 

How might students self-regulate, self-soothe or demonstrate their creativity with the materials available? 

To be honest, setting up stations and choosing materials to start the year was very easy. Once we see what the children are drawn to and what they are interested in we will start to tailor materials and provocations to their interests and curiosity. 

It's the flow of the day and deciding when to do community circles, mini-lessons, discussions etc. that is really throwing me for a loop. It almost feels like my first year teaching all over again. 

You don't know what you don't know. 

So much of this adventure is going to be "wait and see". And as much as my practice with all students in all grades has been student-led and student-centred there is some degree of planning involved as students rotate through to the gym, music, French or other curriculum areas. There's more structure to the day and for any of you that know me, I am really good with structure. 

So how might my understanding of the kindergarten program and the pedagogy of play-based learning evolve in the first week? The first month? Over the course of the year?

Time will tell. 

Math Thinking. Math Talking.

 We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.

Maria Mitchell

https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/08/01/maria-mitchell-diaries/

I am currently taking my Primary/Junior Math Specialist AQ this spring. There has been a subsidy available for years to take Math AQs and I was on the path to finish this specialist 5 years ago when I moved into the library role but of course then my focus shifted and I finished the two AQs I need for my teacher-librarian specialist. Last year I did Teaching First Nations. Metis and Inuit Children through ETFO with a colleague and it was a great learning experience. I am glad to be back studying math and pedagogy together though, it's definitely one my my favourite things about being back in the classroom. 

For a recent prompt we were asked to read this article and respond with our ideas by analyzing the teacher's work in the classroom and using the framework: 

What? 

So What? 

Now What?

My response to the prompt was the following:

One teaching decision that the teacher made that stood out for me was choosing Aniyah’s to present, calling on students to interact and question the presentation and knowing/deciding when to interact with the student’s discussion and line of questioning regarding the fractional representation on a number line. On page 15 of the text it states, “Teaching does not cause learning.” and that really was an “aha” moment in the reading for me as I connected it back to my previous reading of Trevor Mackenzie’s book Inquiry Mindset. This book really helped me to structure how I viewed teaching/learning and a lot of the ideas are echoed through this reading and the pedagogical decisions made by the teacher throughout the short but impactful discussion of fractions

This sketchnote that is from Trevor Mackenzie’s website outlines some of the ideas from the book and I can see that the teacher’s knowledge of effective pedagogical practices is connected to numbers 2, 4, 7, 8 and 9. I also think that her specialized knowledge of math content played a big role in this routine as she would have needed to pose a question related to both fractions and number lines that goes well beyond memorizing facts and quickly assessing which students would be able to use their representations to ask probing questions of Aniyah in order to go beyond the “agreement/disagreement” of her presentation of her math thinking.

As I have been out of the traditional classroom for the last 5 years I have interacted with students as much in their math learning so while this article didn’t change anything about what I think about teaching, it did highlight for me the importance of viewing the teaching and learning of math from an inquiry stance. I noticed in the example that has the teacher had the students listening and questioning the mathematical representation shared by Aniyah she ensured that they were using probing questions to not only support Aniyah in sharing her thinking but to provide an opportunity for other students to hear and see math concepts being discussed in a broad sense beyond the idea of “right/wrong” which would effectively shut down the learning of any students who didn’t have the same response. I think the choice in students to present demonstrates the teacher’s knowledge of her students and I would be interested to know the timing of this interaction during the school year as choosing students to share and present this type of prompt would be different at the start of the school year to now (Spring) and even then there might be students who are never ready for this kind of focused attention from the class.

This important is important because the discussion provides time and space for students to check in with their own thinking about how they represented the problem, they see each other as co-learners within the math classroom and that the teacher is not centred as the “lead “ of the learning. I especially liked how she structured the discussion as not a time for “agreeing or disagreeing” but consider, reiterate and think about the math ideas being explored. 

I am very interested to see how I might look back at my reading and learning from Inquiry Mindset and from this new information in order to  influence my classroom practice with our weekly routine involving math talks and problem solving. We often explore numberless word problems or visual representations of problems in order to think creatively about the math ideas we are exploring. This is an example of a Which One Doesn’t Belong? (WODB) that we did recently.

We usually chat together in their small table groups and then students share out what they discussed. I wonder how the thinking would change if I followed the same routine of thinking and writing independently and then 1-2 students sharing and answering questions as outlined in the reading? Would it work for this kind of math talk prompt or would a different problem be needed?

Ball, D. L. (1970, January 1). Uncovering the Special Mathematical Work of Teaching. SpringerLink. Retrieved April 22, 2023, from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-62597-3_2 

MacKenzie, T., & Bathurst-Hunt, R. (2019). Inquiry mindset: Nurturing the dreams, wonders, and curiosities of our youngest learners. Elevate Books Edu.

*****

Whenever I learn something new I want to try it right away in my own practice. I decided to find a few math talk prompts that I was already planning to use and to integrate the discussion protocol outlined by the teacher in the article. The students were asked to write down their thinking and ideas using any format and combination of number, pictures or words they wanted. They then shared with their elbow partner at their desk. First the first prompt I had a few students come up and share how they saw and counted the dice and we stuck to the same "questions only" protocol for the discussion.

As I circulated through the room I noticed that most of the students immediately started to count the dots on the dice and only a few counted the dice themselves. I decided to have those students present their thinking and asnwer questions as it might prompt students to see the picture in a new way. I was happy to see how many students were using our learning about multiplication and grouping to organize their thinking on the page. 

For this prompt the students only saw the first group of dice and then they recorded their thoughts. Then we saw the second group, recorded ideas and finally the third. 

For this prompt we first looked at the image of the bags and discussed with our partners what we know/wonder about the problem. Students then worked independently to solve and we discussed as a class. Again, I was happy to see how many students were working with multiplication and equal groups having moved their thinking past a 1:1 counting.

Both of these prompts were explored on the same day in our math class.

The next day we explored this #unitchat

from Math for Love.

And they WOWED me!!

I posted this picture with the questions "How many?" and "How do you see them?". I had planned to ask them to consider fractions after we had discussed our first ideas but one of my students came right out with the fractions.  You can see from my list om the right that I tried to track the different strands within math that we were exploring as students shared their thoughts. I modeled the question asking this time as each student presented how they saw the #unitchat and how they counted or labelled their ideas.

I am excited to explore this thinking routine more often in math (and possibly other subjects) as we explore more #unitchats and other number talks. 

I'm also curious about how I can bring more inquiry mindset into our math class. 

How might we incorporate student's natural questions and ideas about math? 

How might this help my students develop a deeper understanding of math and connections between ideas/concepts?