In common.

Today as we walked outside for recess, David grabbed my hand. This isn’t unusual for him… as we walked to the hill, he looked up at me and said, “You know what Mr. _______, you and I have a lot in common.”

“Really? Like what?” I said, taking the bait.

“Well, first of all, we are both smart,” he began.

“Very true,” I agreed.

“Secondly, we both love to write,” he continued.

“Also a fact,” I said. I’ve shared my love of writing with my sprouts.

“Finally, we’re both quite handsome,” he said with a smile.

“No arguments from me David… now go run and play,” I instructed.

And with that, he took off like a bullet. My miniature carbon copy.

Remembrance.

Last week, when we took our field trip to the beach, I sat next to Cindy on the way back. She, like the rest of the sprouts, was tired and quiet from all the sun and salty air. About halfway back to school, she looked up at me and said, “You know, we don’t have school on Monday.”

I’m always tickled when kids tell me something I already know and think I don’t (like when Luther arrived that morning and asked me if I knew we were going on a field trip today…). It never occurred to Cindy that I didn’t know we had Monday off.

“Yes, I know, but do you know why we don’t have school?” I asked her.

“Um… so we can have a barbeque?” She offered.

“Not really,” I replied.

“Is it because it’s getting warmer and nice out?” She tried again.

“Well it is warmer and lots of folks have barbeques, but we have the day off because of Memorial Day,” I began.

I could see the blank look on her face.

“Memorial Day is a day we take off to honor all the soldiers and people who have fought in wars for our country's freedom,” I explained.

Summing up complicated ideas and concepts in one sentence is a skill needed when working with five and six-year-olds.

“We’ll talk more about Memorial Day tomorrow and next week,” I assured her.

With that she closed her eyes and rested until we arrived back at school. The next day, when I asked about Memorial Day, Cindy had her hand proudly waving. She knew why we take this day of remembrance off.

Discovery.

A good friend of mine passed this article on to me from The Economist. The research presented debates the practice of telling children how something works first versus letting them explore on their own.

As teachers, we struggle with this all the time. As a rule, I want to let my sprouts discover new learning tools, manipulatives, and toys on their own, but I do have to take safety into consideration.

When introducing a new tool in the classroom, I try to use The Responsive Classroom’s Guided Discovery model. In a nutshell, this process involves:

• naming the material
• collecting ideas about its use
• exploration
• sharing what was learned or observed about the material
• cleanup

During the ‘collecting ideas about its use’ brainstorming, I always interject my ‘safety concerns’ – For instance, while introducing Play Dough, when I feel like we’re coming to the end of our ideas, I throw out something like, “So if you make a pizza out of Play Dough, would it be all right to actually put it in your mouth and eat it?” I try not to come out and say “Don’t eat it!” – which is what I really want to do… instead I guide the class to their own conclusion about the edibility of Play Dough.

I’m always amazed at how children find unique ways to use something… often in ways new to their classmates and me. Yes, you can make a video game out of wooden blocks! Sure, the dollhouse is a wonderful way to practice what we’ve learned about fire safety. Building bridges with snap cubes and testing the number of cubes before it snaps is Engineering 101.

When we let children use their imaginations to create their own rules and boundaries around toys and tools, the possibilities for learning are endless.

How do you introduce new items?

(a wooden block video game)

Fish.

These last few weeks of school are always a challenge. Mother Nature is partially to blame. With the warmer temperatures it’s more difficult to sustain the attention of a six-year-old, but I do my best. In kindergarten, more than some of the older grades, the kids are also beginning to become anxious at the prospect of leaving the safety and comfort of their friends, classroom, and teacher. Behaviors often spike.

When we began our Ocean Unit a few weeks ago, we also began our ‘fish’ whole class incentive program. It’s rather simple. A fish bowl is drawn on the board and for every morning or afternoon we can go without any major behaviors we draw a fish in the tank. Physical contact or a child needing to visit the Rest Stop defines a major behavior.

The incentive was an indoor beach party. We’d planned the party for yesterday weeks ago, but the class didn’t know that… they thought they had to earn it. We set our goal as ten fish. Ten. That’s it. With each day they had the chance to earn two fish - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They could have those ten fish in one week. As luck would have it, we only earned the tenth fish the day before we’d planned the party. It took over two weeks to earn those fish.

Our party was a huge success. We made our own beach visors, wore sunglasses and flip-flops, laid our beach towels out, and sang all our ocean songs. We also watched Finding Nemo. I always feel like Mr. Ray was my inspiration to become a teacher... Being a movie released almost ten years before any of my sprouts were born, I was surprised how many of them hadn’t seen it. It’s always fun to watch a child enjoy an amazing movie for the first time… plus with all we’ve been learning about the ocean it’s really a good representation of all the facts we’ve discussed… except for the talking fish of course.

We’ve got a few more days to wrap our Ocean Unit and then it’s on to insects… I’m thinking we’ll be working on getting spots on a ladybug…

Compliment.

Slow down… breathe… take it all in. Things I know I should do, but when the day is spinning, sometimes hard to do. Kids have a way of forcing us to… in their own special way.

Today, after writing facts about whales in our Ocean Journals, I sat reading them to the class. As usual, I had one eye on the clock and was thinking about getting the class to the cafeteria on time. I was doing my best to be in the moment and relish praise on each author, but I also knew we needed to get to lunch in a timely fashion.

When I finally read the last journal, a few hands went up. At this point, we had about five minutes to wash up, get our things, and be down the hallway.

“Dan, is it an emergency?” I asked.

This is my ‘we don’t have time for you to tell me about your grandmother’s new puppy’ comment.

“No, I just wanted to tell David his writing was really good today,” he spit out before I could cut him off.

Yes, universe, stop, slow down, take the moment.

David was displaying an enormous smile.

“You’re right Dan, and thank you for that compliment… now to get ready for lunch,” I said.

Important.

Yesterday was my birthday. I got many gifts and cards from friends, but, not surprisingly, it was the treasures from my sprouts that made my day. As they each arrived I got many ‘Happy Birthday’ shout outs and extra hugs. They really were excited for my big day. As we do for all birthdays we sang our special birthday song, A Cat Hat A Birthday. It’s way more fun than boring old ‘Happy Birthday’…

A few had made special cards, paintings, notes, and some even had treats! I oohed and ahhed over each surprise and by the time we arrived at the end of Morning Meeting I was on cloud nine. Then Mrs. D. told me they had a surprise for me.

When I was out a few weeks ago, they made me a special book. I had a clue there was something special, but I wasn’t sure what… kindergartners don’t keep secrets well, but they hadn’t spilled the beans entirely.

After reading The Important Book (one of my all time favorites), they wrote a book for me… The Important Thing About Mr. _______. Each child wrote and illustrated a page. As Mrs. D. read the book to me and shared the pictures, I tried my best not to get choked up.

As I sat and listened to her, I was overcome with a deep feeling of gratitude. How lucky can a guy get? I also couldn’t help but be taken aback by what the majority of my sprouts found important about me… sure a few mentioned ‘school stuff’ (he reads to us, he helps us count, and he teaches us), but overwhelmingly, they had written about feelings.

Here are a few highlights.

(Really, what could be more important than love?)

(Hugs are super important too.)

(Overwhelmingly it was about hugs and love. I also realized today, without me for a kindergarten teacher, they wouldn't have mastered the art of drawing curly hair...)

(Whoa.  This one really got me.  Simple, yet surprisingly deep.  Probably my favorite.)

There’s a famous quote, ‘They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.’ My sprouts definitely feel loved and really, isn't that the most important part of my job?  After reading my book, I consider myself a success... and that truly is the most awesome gift.  Best. Birthday. Ever.

Card.

Well today is my birthday. Yes, I’m a grown-up and I still get excited about my birthday. I got some amazing cards and gifts (more on that tomorrow) from little friends. Being my big day, I don’t have time to give my sprout’s gifts the attention they deserve today, but one grown-up card, from Mrs. D. just tickled me silly and I had to share it quickly.

In our class, we sing and dance to nursery rhymes daily. Each week we learn a new one and it then becomes a part of our motor break repertoire. The very first rhyme we learn is Jack Be Nimble. Naturally, we don’t just sing it – we sing the Jack Hartmann version which basically rocks out and has us jumping up and down like fools.

Well, this was the card Mrs. D. handed over today (click to make it larger).

I’m not sure how where she found it, but somehow, it was just the perfect card for me. Tomorrow, with more time, I’ll share my other gifts… Some of them literally took my breath away. Come back tomorrow to share my bounty.

Anticipation.

There was some major excitement in class today. No, it’s not our field trip later this week… we’re not having pajama day or a pizza party… we didn’t get a class pet pony… What is it then? Well, tomorrow is my birthday.

Yes, you read that correctly, my birthday. For some reason, this year, more than ever, my sprouts are totally freaking out about my birthday. To be fair, I don’t think I’ve hyped it up or talked it about more than any other birthday… they are just super ready to celebrate with me tomorrow.

I know they’ve got something special brewing… How do I know? Well, kindergartners don’t keep secrets well. Here’s what I know.

• They have some sort of present for me.
• They made it with Mrs. D. when I was out for a meeting a few weeks ago.
• It’s not in the classroom so I shouldn’t bother looking for it.
• I’m really, really, REALLY going to love it.

I’ve been told the above facts about eighty-two times by different children at varying times. It’s awfully cute, but heaven help them if they ever needed to keep a really important secret.

Today at calendar Andy was Calendar Helper. He was up there, super excited to be doing his job. When it came time to read what day was Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, he said, “Yesterday was Monday, today is Tuesday, and tomorrow is Mr. _______’s birthday!”

Actually, tomorrow is Wednesday… but it’s my birthday too and I suppose that trumps Wednesday in Andy’s book.

Most people with ‘regular’ jobs often take their birthday off… I wouldn’t dream of missing my big day tomorrow with my smallest friends.

Teaching Tolerance.

I'm thrilled and honored to announce I've been selected to write for the Teaching Tolerance website. Teaching Tolerance magazine has been a favorite of mine since I began teaching and the chance to write for this amazing magazine's website and share my love of... well teaching tolerance, is another dream come true.

Here's my first entry - another peek inside my classroom. I wanted to share this story about breaking down gender stereotypes with the reader's of my blog. I hope you enjoy it... perhaps after reading, you'll come back here and let me know how you help children break down gender stereotypes.

You can click the image below to read it.

Sandwich.

It never ceases to amaze and delight me the way a six-year-old (yes, most of them are six now…) can raise me out of a foul mood. As I wrote about Friday, it rained ALL WEEK. It was miserable. By Friday, I was not my usual chipper self to say the least.

During Center Time, I was sitting, gloomily, in the Kitchen when David came over to take my order.

“What do you feel like today, Mr. _______?” He asked.

“Hmmm. I’m not really hungry, why don’t you just bring me something light,” I said.

“I know just what you need,” he murmured as he walked back into the kitchen.

After a few minutes of rustling and mumbling from him and his co-cooks, he emerged with this in hand:

“David, is that a… a money sandwich?” I asked him.

“Uh-huh – sure to satisfy your belly and make you smile!” He cheered.

How could I not have a huge grin on my face as I pretended to eat my expensive snack?  Rainy gloom... you've met your match.