Anything New Happening in Kindergarten?

Carol Vaage

It’s Launch Day! The Communication Crew has notified the public of launch details and ensured that today’s observers have been approved on the security list. The Equipment Managers are distributing the astronaut suits and life packs. Ground Crew members are using walkie-talkies to go through the Preflight Safety Check. The Satellite Crew is checking to ensure all is well. Pilots are studying last minute details of the moon’s seas to memorize landing location. Lunar Rover Crew is waiting to load just prior to the countdown. 

Boarding of personnel has begun with Pilots crawling forward in the cramped space shuttle and taking their position at the controls. Eventually everyone is on board except for the last ground crew who ignites the launchers, dashes inside, and the crowd/crew count-down in synchrony: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blast-Off!  The space shuttle vibrates with the intensity of the force, pushing upward out of the atmosphere! Shortly after, the pilots pull the shuttle to a standstill while the satellite is prepared for orbit using the Canada Space Arm. Then on to the moon! Official duty requires collection of rocks to load on the Lunar Rover, but crewmembers can be seen trying jumps and flotation techniques. The mission duties are complete and the Kindergarten Space Shuttle returns to earth. Disembarking, the crew smiles to the warm applause of the observers, who call out, “Well done! Congratulations on a successful mission!” 

Yes, it was all pretend play, or was it? One of the students saw a clip of a televised news report showing this launch (kindergarten) interjected with another launch (NASA) and he asked in wonder, “Is that us?” At this age in their lives, children live so concretely in their play that sometimes it is difficult for them to differentiate between reality and fantasy. These young students participated in this drama “as if” they were astronauts, and in this role acquired skills, knowledge, and expertise through the process of action, of doing. The science concepts acquired were comparable to those in grade six. The building things concepts were like those in the grade three unit. These children integrated skills from every subject area – math, science, language arts, music, art, social, drama, movement, technology, health, and religion. They learned about solid and liquid fuels, lunar phases, lunar experiments, orbits, and gravity. They practiced teamwork, yet self-selected and chose roles and activities thereby increasing independence.

Kindergarten is the year for children to come together as a group of individuals and learn to work cooperatively with others (social skills), to assimilate into a school setting (emotional), to learn through physical manipulation of materials and environment in concrete ways (physical), to acquire literacy, mathematical, scientific skills through curiosity and discovery by topic immersion and subject integration (intellectual), and to trust their creative abilities and risk reaching out to dream.

We didn’t have to take the space launch that day, but because we did, we imprinted a highly charged learning experience into their hearts. They were challenged to reach to a higher level, and because it was expected, they did so, with pride! These children believe that they can learn about anything they choose to! This year has opened lifelong learning for them.

How did this happen? I have two small classes – 32 children in total. This permits me opportunities to teach and interact with them at new levels and subsequently affect their learning in dynamic ways. Research has shown that class size in grades K-3 makes a significant difference in lifelong learning – and it is specific about the numbers – it must be 17 or less to make a difference. Children don’t get lost, missed, or neglected with these numbers. Behaviour difficulties are no longer the agenda for every day because there is time to intervene and interact positively. Children with challenges blend into the group and participate to the fullest of their potential because there is time and opportunity to work with them, to know them and find ways for them to contribute completely.

Things have changed in kindergarten. Most of the children that I teach come in without literacy experiences in the home. They can recite lines from videos watched and owned. Pokeman, TV, and Nintendo are the activities for the other half day when they’re not in my classroom. They rarely play with other children; they have little opportunity for oral conversations with adults. This prime time of their learning curve is wasted with junk input and passive involvement for most of their waking hours. More than ever our kindergartens are needed to spark children’s curiosity about life, about learning, about communication, about interaction with others. We need to fill the language deficit with oral language and stories. This is the year that children begin to connect oral language and print! We do it through ways that seem strange and loud and “unstructured” to others, but the choreography that goes into supporting and organizing this play environment is intense, complex and highly skilled.

So when someone asks you next time, “What’s happening in kindergarten these days?” Just answer, “They just play…”