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?