Kindergarten in Alberta

Room Set Up

Centers: 

·        enough space to hold 6 – 8 children interacting

·        safety requirements

·        availability of materials for easy access by children

·        materials to prompt the learning

 Storage:

·        block corner accessories:  use plastic tubs, boxes, or baskets

·        divide accessories into categories that can easily be identified:  wild animals, farm animals, small cars, big cars, marble game, Lego, tinker toys, castle toys, Duplo, links, logs, letter blocks

·        plastic trays for markers, pencils, scissors, glue sticks, small manipulatives

·        clear plastic jars for collectible manipulatives like bread clips, felt pen lids, pop tabs, buttons, milk jug lids, stir sticks, small animals, keys, cubes

·        stacking bins for art collectibles:  fancy wrapping paper, ribbon, corks, film and pill containers, odd plastics, sponge pieces, reels, tissue pieces, paper squares, yarn, felt, small fabric pieces

·        cardboard storage boxes for large space collectibles:  wire, fabric, big balls of yarn, jars and bottles

Student Traffic

·        no direct pathway from one end to the other as it becomes a runway

·        use natural dividers:  book cases, benches, tables, shelving units, house walls; or constructed dividers:  fabric walls hung on doweling suspended from ceiling with fishing line; pet stations, display panels

·        student space requires much less area than adult space

Discipline

Safety:  One rule can encompass a myriad of trifling rules that are hard to remember.  “It has to be safe!”

Safe for the heart: can’t hurt someone’s feelings, thinking of others, love, sensitivity

Safe for the body: no physical aggression, violence, or personal space intrusion

Safe for learning: respect for other’s ideas, questions, interests, responses, and style of learning

Predictability:

Many problems come in transition times, and so if you can maintain a predictable routine, children prepare ahead of time for the changes. Use a 2-minute warning before closing off favorite activities.

Problem Solving:

Group or class problems can be resolved by holding class meetings and sharing ideas in order to come to a consensus decision. Children like things fair, and you can trust that they will come to a fair resolution.

Encourage the students to solve their own problems by using language such as: “I see you have a problem here.  What can you do to solve it?” “How are you going to solve that problem?” “What do you think you could do to fix it?”

Attention-Seeking Behavior:

Set firm parameters and be consistent on follow-up. A simple strategy to avoid any reinforcement for negative behavior is to turn your back on that person so he/she does not even have your face/eye contact as reward.

Talking Chairs:

If children are having a dispute and verbally and non-verbally unable to communicate their opinions to each other, it might be wise to give them the “Talking Chairs”.  Pull out 2 or 3 chairs away from the main class activities, place them close together, facing each other, and have the children involved take a seat.  Explain how the chairs work.  First one child talks, then the other child talks, then it goes back to the first child, and so on taking turns until they can think of a way to solve the problem in such a way that everyone is happy.  They need to state the solution to you before they leave the chairs.  For closure, they return the chairs to their former location, before heading back to their activities. 

Monitor this process “from a distance”, that is, be somewhere near, but not directly hovering over their conversation.  Ears work better than eyes for this process.

Resources

Alberta Learning:

          Kindergarten Program Statement

          Handbook for Parents

          Guide to Implementation

          http://ednet.edc.gov.ab.ca

 Early Childhood Education Council

          Conference

          Journal

          Workshops

          Newsletters

          Web Site: www.ecec.ab.ca

NAEYC

AAYC

ATA Library

District Libraries

Internet

The Nature of Kindergarten

Connections:

Children need to learn to make connections with past experiences and current learning, so we attempt to have a fully integrated program. Integrating topics and subjects helps children make sense of the world and of their learning.

Multi-Level, Multiple Intelligences, Learning Modalities:

Children come to us with a wide variety of experience and ability. Our learning experiences help to ground the children in a common experience, but we cannot expect all children to be doing the same learning at the same time in the same way. We offer differentiated, multi-leveled, hands-on learning to try and meet the individual needs.

Social Nature

Children construct knowledge by talking with each other, sharing ideas, sharing knowledge, and building reality together.  They help each other willingly, accept help from others easily, and model behavior from others.

Independence, Responsibility

“I can do it by myself” followed by “I don’t know how to do it” or “I can’t”.  This is the life of kindergarten.  Affirm the successes they reach, and affirm the attempts as they try new tasks and learning.  If we support their attempts so that success it attained, children will continue to try again and again.  Break tasks into bits that they can manage, and have them do that, add a bit more, until child is satisfied that task has been successful.  Keep them challenged to keep trying new things, to reach for new goals, attain new independence.

Intellectual Challenges

Creativity

Accept and delight in children’s spontaneous and natural freedom to create with a variety of materials.  Ask if the project is for the child or the adult?

Black fine-line markers are excellent tools for drawing. Work can be photocopied to document growth and analyze learning and understanding. We in North America have sadly not expected more from children’s drawings. Reggio Emilia has shown us the potential that all young children have.

Planning

Long-range – Predictable topics include:

fall, winter, animals, spring, new life, weather, plants, dinosaurs, earth, some holiday activity. Plan to allow flexibility for emerging topics based on the children’s interest. Web/flow charts for each topic; then separate into centers and reconsider one more time into subjects.

Daily:  Determine a routine that works for your program allowing for the predictable activities of storytime, journals, snack, gym, music, math. Also note plans for each center.

Literacy: http://www.kinderlit.ecsd.net

Read-Alouds: a minimum of 2/day; mixture of genres, fiction/non-fiction.

Shared Reading: poetry charts/binders, predictable/rhyming/pattern stories

Independent Reading: simple pattern stories based on children’s interests; read-around the room; word wall, key words, pocket charts, binders

Guided Reading: small groups based on similar skill levels; discovering books and skills together. (Jan. on) Simple pattern stories.

Alphabet: assess for knowledge – naming, finding, writing and teach for deficits in small groups and in teachable moments

Phonemic Awareness: this is a critical area identified by research with a small window of opportunity (before grade 2) in which we help children hear the sounds of language. Rhymes, sound play, sound substitution, blending sounds, initial sounds, ending sounds, stretching words, and so on, all taught within meaningful context, like literature, chants, and poetry. This is all oral which makes it different from phonics. Phonological knowledge is the connection between letter symbols and sounds. This follows phonemic awareness. See Yopp’s assessment tool to screen for children who are at-risk. (web site on phonemic awareness: www.literatureforliterature.ecsd.net)

Parent Communication:

For regular classroom information, you can give a “Story of the Week” letter to the parents in which you outline what happened each day – a small summary in the children’s words. Record it every day, and run it off before home time on Friday to send with the children.

Parent Board – to post copies of snack calendars, special events or meetings, sign-up sheets, upcoming field trips, health notices, cartoons or inspirational pieces.

Parent Library – a table or shelf close to door where parents can borrow books or articles of interest.

Communication books (scribblers) are a really good tool to use when parent and teacher cooperate to change the negative behavior of a child. The teacher writes brief comments on a daily basis about the child’s behavior. The parent responds back saying what has happened at home, or what consequences were followed through at home (e.g. no TV or Nintendo for the days when child lost control of behavior.) Also special privileges (like watching a special program or playing computer) when behavior was acceptable.

LAC (Local Advisory Committee) – hold meetings to collaborate ideas on special activities and projects for the class. Format and frequency depends on community and expectations.

Reporting and Assessment:

Student-led demonstrations of learning can be very effective in kindergarten. Use the centers and routines that you have in your classroom. Prepare a page for the parents to follow guiding them with questions to ask of their children, things to watch for, and explanations of activity areas. Use yourself as one center, so parents have a chance to talk with you individually.

Portfolios: collect artifacts of children’s work throughout the entire year. Date-stamp Journal work; do several self-portraits throughout year; collect signatures on monthly basis; photos of constructions and class successes; script words that show learning; anecdotal records (scribbler for each child – 5 children entries/day for a weekly record); art; independent reading books.