I have started taking over Calendar Time every morning. This is where students gather on the carpet after breakfast and we learn about days of the week, months of the year, patterns, counting, etc. My mentor teacher made me feel very comfortable taking over this part of the day by telling me there is no right or wrong way to do it-I have lots of options in what and how to teach the students, and she is there to give me ideas when I get stuck.
This week, I began teaching the students The 7 Habits of Happy Kids. This is a school-wide program that follows the book by Sean Covey. It teaches the students to be proactive, synergize, have goals, etc. I have been reading the students the stories out of the book, and they enjoy it, but some of the habits (or the wording of the habits, at least) seem to be above the level that a kindergartner can understand. So I have been struggling a little bit to try to adapt and condense the habits into simpler terms so they will actually have meaning to my students. For example, I turned "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood" simply into "Be a Good Listener". Then we had discussions and through interactive writing wrote down ideas we had about being a good listener.
I have started taking over Calendar Time every morning. This is where students gather on the carpet after breakfast and we learn about days of the week, months of the year, patterns, counting, etc. My mentor teacher made me feel very comfortable taking over this part of the day by telling me there is no right or wrong way to do it-I have lots of options in what and how to teach the students, and she is there to give me ideas when I get stuck.
ReplyDeleteThis week, I began teaching the students The 7 Habits of Happy Kids. This is a school-wide program that follows the book by Sean Covey. It teaches the students to be proactive, synergize, have goals, etc. I have been reading the students the stories out of the book, and they enjoy it, but some of the habits (or the wording of the habits, at least) seem to be above the level that a kindergartner can understand. So I have been struggling a little bit to try to adapt and condense the habits into simpler terms so they will actually have meaning to my students. For example, I turned "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood" simply into "Be a Good Listener". Then we had discussions and through interactive writing wrote down ideas we had about being a good listener.