Recently in teaching Category

There is something about the new year combined with winter stir craze that inspires me to be one of those moms--or to at least try. You know, one of those mom ideals that include crafts and baking cookies? Field trips with lots of photographs? Scrap booking perhaps? A mom with a polite, well mannered and well dressed child that probably is so adorably correct that when he farts it smells like roses. 

I've mentioned that River is in a community preschool. If you're anything like me, you're probably thinking--WTF is that?

(Maybe you aren't thinking that in exactly those words. I might have cleaned up my vocal speech but my mental one is rampant with cusses.)

Earlier this summer my neighbor, a mother of three, explained what it was and asked if I was interested in participating. I enthusiastically agreed, but heard nothing of it until a few days before Sage was born when we exchanged emails. An email came soon after Sage was born and with an eleven day old in tow I was meeting a group of moms at a local playground.

A community preschool is a mom/dad run preschool in your community. River's preschool meets twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, for two hours apiece. We have a set list of topics and a weekly letter. Each mom teaches twice their assigned week. We cycle through our rotation hosting class at the "teacher of the week" 's home. We work on classroom rules (sitting still, listening, sharing, raising hands, answering questions) and each week we sing with the kids, play a game or two, do a craft, and read books about our topic. We also allow them a snack and play time if they behave. Otherwise we lock them in metal cages and poke them with sharp sticks. So far they've been so well behaved, that I've only been able to use my stick as a back scratcher. Shucks.

For my week I taught about farms and the letter 'A'. Our only little girl was absent and my friend was visiting with her son, so there was a total of five little boys (ages 2--3 years. River being the youngest.) I loved it. It always takes me working with children to re-realize how much I thrive as a teacher. The only problem for me being the politics and administration that goes along with public education and always throws me back onto the, "I don't want to use my very expensive degree because teaching sucks hard" wagon. Of course, that does not apply in community preschool. Though neither does five day work weeks and a pay check.

What is also great about community preschool (beside the cost---free!) is the flexibility to do what we want. We are taking major advantage of our local community to enrich our mini lessons. So far we've gone to the zoo when we learned about...well...zoos. We also went to a farm* (hay ride, petting zoo, pumpkins, etc) my teaching week. If you think field trips don't count as teaching, guess again. My expensive New York State teaching degree was quite adamant that learning should have as many real-world connections as possible. What is more real about learning about farms than watching a bunch of sleeping pigs?

In your face, naysayers!

HA!

River is very much not ready for a traditional preschool. I know that now watching him in our preschool. So this is providing him a nice, safe, transition into the real deal preschool I may or may not enroll him in next fall. Right now it is about getting used to being somewhere other than home with someone other than mommy, learning classroom etiquette, socializing and being exposed to new topics and ideas.

Community preschool does it all, for now, for us.

* Clark's Elioak Farm

I've heard tell of those three and four year olds that could read. I myself was not one of them. From what I can recall, I learned to read along with the bulk of kids. At one point, I went to reading in a different classroom be it because I was behind or advanced--I don't know now. In second grade when I moved in the middle of the school year and (perhaps due to this or my late birthday in October) my new teacher suggested I be held back a year, a repeat in her classroom, and my mother readily agreed. I enjoyed repeating second grade. I was blessed with a wonderful teacher who not only really ignited my love of reading, but also encouraged me to write my first book. I have not stopping writing or reading voraciously since. 

Yes, you read. Modeling a love of books encourages your child to pick a book up himself. Show your child how you use reading to function/that it has a functional use--reading circulars at the grocery store, signs on the street, text on the side of a construction vehicle. The same goes for writing-- write grocery lists in front of him or send out holiday cards. It is as easy as saying, "Mommy is writing out the food we need to buy. This word is cookie!"

While working in a kindergarten classroom I was assigned an assessment by my college professor to test students understanding of print. We were given a book and sat one on one with a student and asked them some of the following questions, "Where is the front of the book? Where is the back? Can you turn to the first page? Can you show me a word? A letter? A period? A question mark? How do you know what is happening on this page?" 

Can you believe there were students who didn't know how to hold a book or turn the pages from right to left? Children who were read to before school knew these things. They know that sentences began at the left and run to the write. They knew what a word was as opposed to a letter. So if you see your one year old sitting on the floor flipping through a book correctly than know you have already taught them a basic reading concept! 

Let there be words! Books for your child that he can access whenever he wishes, paper and pens (parental advisement until they learn not to write on the wall), and labels. Let him make that connection that words are part of the day to day and have applicable meaning!

Quick decorations with labels. I might ask River, "Can you find the letter W?" or "What is this?" and as he tells me, I will point to the word he is saying.

We go to the library once a week and check out an average of about 15 books. Some of the books are kept in the bedroom to read before nap time and bedtime. Some are kept in the living room to read throughout the day and for River to look through. It spices up the library each week, though I still end up reading The Cat and the Hat at least once a day.

If I am writing, River writes too. I let him use my pens even. He had a mini chalk board and a magnet board. Sometimes we sit and have mini lessons where I write words he wants me to or I write words and say them letter by letter and ask him what he thinks it is. Or I write a word and ask him to tell me the letters. I have recently begun writing while holding his hand under mine so he can feel how it is to make letters. He gets a kick out of it. If he scribbles something I ask him what word he is writing. 

read to your child every day. Before bedtime is a great time to read. 

River's reading corner

Ask you child to tell you what they see on the cover of the book. Pause during reading to check for comprehension or to just get the child involved. Sometimes I pause to explain what the picture is showing. After you are done reading you can ask the child to tell you what the book was about or if they liked it. Of course, very young children won't be able to say much, but you might be surprised. At least, it will get them thinking and get you into the habit of making reading aloud an active, learning experience. 

River is obsessed with fire trucks and construction vehicles. You bet we read about those things a lot. When he was very young we focused on animals (mostly cats) and mommies, daddies and babies. The things he understood. You'll find that very young children have longer attention spans for book content that is relevant to their own little lives. As they learn more language you can use books to teach them about things that they have no prior knowledge of. 

You might be tired of reading The Cat in The Hat for the third time in one day, but repeated reading is very beneficial to children. And yes, they might memorize the entire book. This is not truly reading, but it does make them feel good about themselves and you shouldn't tell them otherwise. 

sing it,  talk about it, practice letter identification. Currently, River can identify most of the letters of the alphabet. We'll keep playing name that letter until he knows them all easily and then I will begin to talk about the sounds the letters make. For now, we "read" only in upper case letters and I only write upper case letters for him. They are two different languages to little children. The first time I came across a child who could read, but could not read in cursive, I was astounded. You forget how different these forms of our alphabet are!

Great alphabet book by Eric Carle

Nursery rhythms and songs are great aids in encouraging early literacy. Easy, entertaining, and especially useful for long car rides. 

I've had education on the mind lately inspired by a rather heated (in agreement heated) discussion between Jason and I in the car on the way back from Safeway. 

In a different aspect of my life, I thought I'd be teaching elementary school. I have since resigned myself to the fact that this isn't going to be for many reasons but mostly the following: