Last night we opened our doors to our incoming kindergarten students and their families. The response to our play/inquiry based kindergarten journey was overwhelmingly positive. We are beyond excited to begin the new school year. First day of school is Thursday, September 2016.
Since writing the grant for a play-based/inquiry-based kindergarten, I along with my colleagues have thought of little else. We lay awake thinking of new ideas and fight the urge to text one another in the middle of the night to share our ideas. We have spent many hours sitting around the table sharing research, interweaving our curriculum with a play-based/inquiry-based approach, making sure that our schedule allows time for our students to reap all of the benefits of this approach to learning, planning our kindergarten meet and greet night and the list goes on..... So, how could I even think about going on vacation for an entire week when there was so much more to do, let alone follow my colleague's and principal's orders and not think about work? I went on my vacation and, I admit, I thought about work. A lot!
8:00 Morning Meeting
8:15 Focused Instruction Rotations 1 Reading 2 Reading 2 Writing 3 Writing 3 Math 4 Math 4 Independent Reading /Writing 1 Independent Reading/Writing 9:00 Unstructured Plan 9:30 Recess 10:00 Discovery/Wonder Centers 10:45 Reflections 11:00 Refuel(Lunch), Recess, Rest 12:00 Focused Instruction Rotations 3 Reading 4 Reading 4 Writing 1 Writing 1 Math 2 Math 2 Independent Reading /Writing 3 Independent Reading/Writing 12:45 Outdoor Classroom (Library for homerooms?) 1:15 MAPE (Music, Art, P.E.) 2:00 Discovery/Wonder Centers 2:30 Reflections 2:45 Prepare for Dismissal 3:05 Dismiss *Schedule is based off last year's schedule and is subject to change. I am sharing pictures of our classrooms and a new room at the end of the 2015-2016 school year and a classroom that was being used by our school counselor. This will be a new room that will undergo the kindergarten transformation. All of our kindergarten rooms were inviting and joyful areas of learning, but were they environments that sparked curiosity? I can't wait to share photos of all our work to transform our rooms into places of wonder.
6/8/2016 1 COMMENT Play for young children is not recreation activity,... It is not leisure-time activity nor escape activity.... Play is thinking time for young children. It is language time. Problem-solving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time. It is organization-of-ideas time, when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met. -James L. Hymes Jr. |
Julie AlexanderI am a kindergarten teacher at Kegonsa Elementary School in Stoughton, Wisconsin. Bringing play and inquiry back into the lives of our youngest learners has become my passion. Archives
August 2016
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