...I am still learning in Kindergarten!

So one of my students gave me this beautiful "flower" today while we were outside. She was so excited to give it to me and insisted I bring it home and put it in some water. As I looked at this poor flower (or whatever it is), I could feel the heart behind the giving; it was huge. Some may see the gift for what it is , a wilted flower, but in teaching children, I have the privilege to "hear" the heart behind that gift. I see it in their eyes, the excitement and joy. When that student gave me this flower and she heard the excitement in my voice and saw the gratitude in my smile, her world became brighter and she responded by skipping away with an even bigger smile on her face. Where else in my life am I able to allow someone to give and feel their heart. As I receive them, will they skip away with a smile on their face, or will they look like this wilted flower? Where man sees but withered leaves, God sees sweet flowers growing. ~Albert Laighton I can change...

Today was Grandparent's day at the school. It is probably one of my favourite "special" days as it is such a wonderful time of honouring. The students put on an assembly which is mixed with songs, poems and speeches honouring their grandparents. Each year is unique and this year was no exception. I sat in my classroom with one grandfather who shared with me his memories of Kindergarten. He said he hadn't really thought about it until that moment when he was watching the students engaged in their activities. He said it brought back good memories of the time when he was that age, 55+ years ago! Another grandfather shared with me how he is enrolling in Kindergarten in September because he thinks the class is so much fun! I also had a conversation with a grandfather who told me how important it is that children learn how to "be" with other children in a classroom. He shared with me how he grew up alone and how he wouldn't wish that on any child. I k...

So today was Show and Tell and it was time for the infamous "what does your dad do for a job" question. The following were some clues and descriptions some of the children gave. Enjoy, I know I did! clue : something that makes my dad rich. answer : he makes money for a job Another child answered this with "all dad's do that!" clue: it starts with "b" answer: he makes buckets for a craft (he makes buckets for loaders and tractors) clue: starts with a B and ends with an R answer: he works at B & R (company's name) description of what dad does: he crushes filters into oil and then makes them into cars! I also asked the students to think about what they may want to be when they grow up. One child said he wants to be an astronaut then proceeded to tell his friends that when he is an astronaut he will fly a rocket; and a rocket protects you from the moon. Yup, I love my job!

Today I had another dad of one of the students come into the classroom to talk about his job. He is a Toronto firefighter and he talked to the students about fire safety. It went really well and the students learned a lot. At the end of the presentation the students had a chance to try on the firefighter coat and helmet. I also took a turn and it amazed me how heavy the items were. There were a lot of layers to the uniform and each layer served a purpose of protection. In looking at it and asking questions I began to realize how if one layer was not functioning like it should it could cause serious damage to "whom" it is protecting. God has a plan and I also have a job to do. When I walk in my purpose and function as I should everyone I come in contact with can feel safe. It makes me thankful that I am a layer in God's plan. When I choose not to walk in my purpose and disregard anything God has called me to do, my layer develops holes and becomes thin and inef...

So today I did an Easter egg hunt with the Kindergarten class. I had it all prepared by stuffing the plastic eggs with "mini eggs" and stickers. We went outside for our gym time and I had the students sit on the log outside with their eyes closed while I hid 50 eggs on the playground. The excitement was apparent as they were not just sitting on the log they were bouncing up and down in anticipation for the hunt. When I finished "hiding" the eggs, or more specifically placing them in different areas of the playground, I gave them each a bag with their name on it and gave them three rules. Rule one: When you find an egg, put it in the bag, do not open them. Rule 3: find five eggs, each a different colour; blue, green, yellow, purple and pink. Rule 2: When you are finished finding all your eggs, come back and sit on the log until everyone is finished. Everything started off well as the children ran to find all their five eggs. It started to fall apart when I...

Yesterday at school I had one of the student's dad come in to talk about his job. We met him in the back parking lot and he proceeded to show us the big loader that he drives. The tires were bigger then the students! The student's dad then took them each for a ride around the parking lot as I took pictures. The children LOVED it , they had such a great time. I love the fact that this dad was so proud of his job and wanted to share it with his child's class. The children's energy was so full of excitement and awe, it was really contagious. It drew a little crowd around the doors of other people in the building (including the principal who was giving a tour of the school) from hearing all the excitement. And I have to admit, I really loved looking at the loader too, it WAS pretty cool!

I just finished up my last Parent-Teacher interviews for this school year and I have to say as nervous as I get before they happen is nothing compared to the energy I feel once they are complete. The energy isn't from me being finished them, the energy is from how awesome the parents are and how "for" the school they are. The school is a private Christian school and the parents pay tuition for their children to be taught by teachers like myself. I feel energized as the parents come one after another and inform me how much their children love school and love me as a teacher. They also tell me how they see such a change in their child from the beginning of the year to now and then they conclude it with "thank you". All I have to say is "thank YOU!". I thank the parents for sending their child to the school and allowing me the privilege of teaching them. They are handing me their treasure to take care of, to guide, to teach. That is a high callin...

Every Monday afternoon I take the Senior Kindergartens to the school computer lab where they are able to each have their own computer and play educational games. At each computer there are headsets that they wear so as not to disturb the highschool French class going on at the same time. Well, I have realized that the headphones do very little to keep the room quiet. The students will call my name or go to talk to the classmate beside them, and their voice is always extremely loud, even shouting at times. AND they are oblivious to the fact that they are that loud. It made me wonder how often I do that in life. I, at times, say something out loud thinking I am saying it correctly and in the right tone when I am just making a lot of noise. When I am able to hear feedback from those around me and adjust my level I create a much quieter environment!

Another favourite part of being a Kindergarten teacher is when I get to decorate the classroom to go with the season or theme. I love the changes in the room and how it can look so different just by switching the pictures on the windows or bulletin boards. I have one bulletin board that has a large tree on it. As the seasons outside the classroom changes so does my tree inside the room. In the fall it is covered with colourful leaves and apples, winter time the leaves "fall off" (and I decorate it with candy canes and lights at Christmas), then snow goes on the ground at the bottom of the tree. In spring I put up blossoms and gradually add green leaves as the trees outside change. The students love the changes that happen in the classroom and I enjoy the looks of "awe" when something is different. Changing bulletin boards may not sound fun to a lot of people, but it has always been something I have looked forward to when being a Kindergarten teacher. Anythin...

It is coming up to Easter weekend and next week I will be doing a craft with the students that I have done every year in Kindergarten. I give them a paper and a cut out cross and at the top of the paper it says "Jesus died for...". I then give them a magazine and some scissors and tell them to cut out pictures of people. Before the craft I talk to them about how Easter is about remembering and celebrating the fact that Jesus died and rose again for everybody and how amazing His love is for us. I ask them "did Jesus die for people who do really bad things?" I go on to explain that Jesus dies for ALL people no matter who they are or what they have done. Every year, and I mean EVERY, there is always a few students who cut out pictures of toys, Disney characters and puppies. I explain to them that I asked them to cut out pictures of people because Jesus died for people. A couple years ago, when I approached one student and reminded her what she should be cutti...

Every Friday afternoon in Kindergarten I have reading buddies. This is a time where the grade 3/4 class comes into our classroom and reads to the Kindergarten students. I find this such an important time for all of them. The grade 3/4s have an opportunity to be a reading role model as well as practice their reading skills and the kindergartens get the chance to be read to and by students that they look up to. It is a time that each one involved looks forward to. I love all programs where it brings older and younger students together. I have had grade 3/4 students come to me and say that they remember being read to in Kindergarten during reading buddies and now they think it is neat how they get to be the ones to read. One day these Kindergarten students will be the ones blessing the younger students with stories, that is pretty cool!

One of my centres in the classroom is the listening centre. At the listening centre there are headphones and a CD/tape player and a book that goes with the story being played. This centre is my quietest centre. As the children put the headphones on, they are thoroughly engrossed in the story being played. I received these books recently from a parent that each came with a CD. They are so well done that the students want to hear them over and over again. As I was sitting at another centre helping out some students I looked over and one of the students was pointing at the story and the words, showing the other student where they were in the story. There were no words exchanged, just motion with the fingers, eye contact and facial expressions. It was so great to watch and it reminded me again of how powerful my body language is. There have been times during the school year where I cannot speak out loud to a child, for instance during our chapel. All the students have learned a...

This morning in Kindergarten I was sitting at the front of the room and the students were in a semi circle in front of me. I was showing them a sheet that they would be working on and explaining it in detail. As I was explaining it I was holding it up for them to see and I was reading it from behind. When I asked if anyone had a question before we would go and sit at the tables, a student raised his hand. He asked "how are you reading that without looking at it?". I smiled and told him that I could see through the back and have learned to read things backwards. I then took a book off the shelf and showed them how teachers can also read upside down by holding a book and reading the words while looking over the top of the book. I explained I learned to do these things so that they could always see the pictures. It always amazes me the things that I do learn in Kindergarten. Little skills that I have trained myself to do over the years to allow the students to have th...

In a few weeks we will be having Grandparent's Day at our school. It is probably one of my favourite days that we do in the year. I love the aspect of honour as we have the grandparents come in and we sing songs and recite poems as a class. In my class we practice for weeks for this day to present the grandparents with something that they will cherish in their hearts. I also love the excitement of the students to show their school to their grandma, grandpa, nanna, pappa, oma, opa, and many other names for their cherished grandparents. My favourite part of Grandparent's Day happened last year. I had extra chairs brought into the classroom for the grandparents to sit on and observe their grandchildren in the classroom. Instead of sitting on those chairs, the majority of the grandparents sat on the carpet with their grandchild, or sat on the little white child chairs just to BE with their grandchild in their classroom. I saw the grandparents enjoying themselves and having...

One of the things I have learned in the years of being a Kindergarten teacher is I am required to be observant. Every afternoon as I dismiss the students I need to study them so as not to miss a change that has occurred before the next morning. If a child received a haircut, It is my duty to notice, if a child gets her nails done, it is my duty to notice, if a child has his hair spiked "specially" that morning, it is my duty to notice. The way I have mastered this is to do two things. One, look at the body language of the parents, because sometimes it is really important to them that I notice this change OR the child has been bouncing off the walls that morning because they could not WAIT to get to school to show Mrs. Barnes. And two, I observe the child. If the child (and this happens more often than you think) is bouncing up and down and is not focusing on getting their shoes on that morning, then I know there is something I need to comment on. If a child is avoiding...

Today in Kindergarten I asked at the beginning of the day "what is one exciting thing that happened during the March Break?" One student put up his hand and said that he lost a tooth. I asked him where it is now, thinking it was under his pillow, or the tooth fairy has it or something cute like that. He answered, "it's in my yard!" apparently he literally LOST his tooth and cannot find it. I thought this was a very cute story and it never ceases to amaze me how much these students make me smile. Every little story that they tell me or picture that they draw (added another one to my board this morning), makes my day brighter. Regardless of my circumstances or "feelings" this morning, it all seems to disappear when I teach and spend time with these children. I am realizing that is what happens when I walk in my purpose...

Today is the first day of SPRING! I love spring. Spring is full of new life and new growth. I feel like I have been waiting for spring to come for a long time and yelling FINALLY! I was recently thinking of my favourite Bible verses: 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. There was a song I used to sing when I...

So tomorrow I am back to school after a week off (March Break). I am looking forward to getting back into routine. I have also spoken to some parents who are looking forward to getting their children back into school as well. During the break as I was out with my boys I had someone say "are you enjoying the March Break or are you just surviving?" I thought this was an interesting question. I was thoroughly enjoying being with my boys for a full week, spending time with them as opposed to them being at school and me teaching. Some parents may have been just "surviving" during this break, but I believe it is choice. I could look at this past week as just a week off or I could look at it as an opportunity. An opportunity to become refreshed and also an opportunity to connect with my own children.

I love how children have such a heart to give! I had the children one time write a journal page to finish the sentence, " If I could give my mommy and daddy anything, I would give... " The answers varied from a cup of coffee, some flowers, and a green shirt. One student thought bigger and said a new house and another student said a red race car. At first thought I wondered why some of them only wrote a cup of coffee or some flowers, but each child WAS thinking big because they were thinking with their heart, it is the only way, I believe, that children know how to give. Makes me wonder how "big" my giving is to bless others. I believe it is not about the size of the gift, it is where the gift is coming from. When I give from the heart it feels big because it is given in the right way. "It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. " ~Kahlil Gibran

There are so many ideas online for Kindergarten that have been tried and true. I love reading through them and gleaning my own ideas from that to create a successful year. I enjoy trying new things each year with the children and obviously I love it when things work and they enjoy the activity or craft. I remember one sheet I found online that I thought would be alot of fun. It was a sheet of paper with a picture of two plates on it. The children were asked to draw a "yummy food" on one plate and a "yucky food" on the other plate. There was a recurring theme on the "yucky food side" with vegetables, particularly broccolli. On the "yummy food" side there were a lot of pizza, macaroni and cheese and cookies. It wasn't a surprise as that is the answer for most children. I asked one child if he has tried broccoli before and he said "no". It did lead into a conversation about how it is important to try all foods because you d...