Pop Art for 5-Year-Olds

Yesterday we took 60 kindergarteners to an art museum.  We didn't lose anyone! No one was injured.  In fact, we had a great day! The best parts of my day:

E: Miss Glass, we're missing learning time all day. That's not good because we need to learn before first grade and college.
Me: It's okay Elicia.  We're doing different kinds of learning today.  Today we are learning about art, and making sculptures, and shapes.
E: I guess you can learn anywhere if you're really using your brain.

Precious. Too amazing for words.

Museum Guide: Boys and Girls, this is one of the best behaved Kindergarten classes we have ever had.  Usually we only get to take students to 3 pieces of art, but because you were behaving so well, we got to go to 5 pieces of art.
A: Miss Glass that's like what you say! If we behave well we get to learn more things! It's the same here! If we behave we get to learn more about anything!

Revelation.  I saw the light go on.

J: I don't think I can do this. It's hard to stick the straw in there.
T: No, come on guys, it's like we always say in class... remember?
Whole Class: Try your best, you can do it!
Museum Guide: Well, this class sure has a lot of love!
T: Well yeah, we love each other no matter what.

One of my chaperones came up to me and said,  "I'm so happy we have you this year".

Thus, I guess my kids are pretty amazing.  Sappy and brainwashed, but nevertheless amazing.

Goodbye Teachers and Friends,
Miss Glass

9 Lives

I have a lot of friends whose first name begins with an A, so I promise that all of these stories are not about the same child.  In fact, I don't think I have written about this A yet.  Nevertheless, he injured himself 9 times today. Not an exageration. This kid's a cat.

1. Walking into school this morning he thought the glass door was open.  It wasn't. BOOM into the glass. He was fine.

2. At breakfast, he went to sit at the lunch table and completely missed his chair.  Just went to sit down, but fell on his bottom- next to the chair.

3. During morning circle he did not have his hands in his lap. They were on the floor next to him. Thus, while I was walking around, I stepped on his hand. "Friends, you need to put your hands in your lap when we are on the carpet. If you don't, someone could step on them. If I step on your hands, it's going to hurt. I'm not even going to say I'm sorry. I'm just going to say bummer, you should have had your hands in your lap". Seriously, the amount of times I say this a day. Sorry I'm not sorry, it's just not my problem.

4. All of my kids play together during recess.  It's a little too cute.  Disregard the gender norms, I'm just so happy that my friends love each other so much they all play together during recess that I don't say anything.  Here's the game. The boys are monsters and the girls are princesses.  The princesses find and collect the dragon eggs (footballs, kickballs, tennis balls, etc), before the monsters eat them.While A was chasing the princesses trying to get dragon eggs he fell and skinned his knee. Took 3 bandaids to patch him up.

5. Getting a 3-second drink after recess, water went down the wrong pipe.  Coughing fit ensued.

6. Skipping down the hallway to gym, he faceplants.  "This is why we walk in school friends".

7.  At math time he's cutting his triangles for the quilt square and he gets a paper cut.  Just one bandaid.

8.  During centers he's climbing on the couch in the library to read a story and his shoes are untied.  He just slips down the couch and rolls onto the floor of the library. "Miss Glass, will you please tie my shoe? I can't read if they're not tied".

9. This one may have been my fault.  He's standing up at the end of the day marking his behavior chart in his homework folder. My hands were on my hips- you know, probably for intimidation.  I swing around and my elbow just smacks him across the head.  He looks at me and says "Miss Glass, I think I'm going to have a better day tomorrow".  Good thing our college character trait of the week on Friday is optimism.  I will have a good example!

Tough day, poor kid.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Goodbye Teachers and Friends,
Miss Glass

Confessions of a Story Topper

The following post will be all about a particular friend, A.  A is a story topper.  Though he is very kind, smart and full of zest (character trait #2: excited, passionate, invigorates others), he is also a poster-child story topper. I will prove this with the following two stories.

Example 1:
T: Miss Glass, my dad was listening to Bob Marley in the car! I made a connection because we listen to Bob Marley in school during morning work!
Me: Great connection, T!
A: Well, I listen to Bob Marley in the car and at my house so I made 2 connections.

Example 2:
R: I have a pet spider!
A: Oh yeah, my pet spider is pink.
R: I let my pet spider out of his box and he walked back inside his box!
A: Well, my pet spider grows up and up and up and goes to college.
R: under his breath. Spiders don't go to college.

Oh gosh, I guess a little healthy competition doesn't hurt! Until next time...

Goodbye Teachers and Friends,
Miss Glass

Year 2

So, I'm guilty.  The second half of my year was more focussed on teaching then blogging.  Just doing my job!  Five months later, I'm a new teacher... and I'm back to blogging.

Major Updates:

1. I teach at a different school. Pre-Kindergarten in KCMSD went from hiring certified teachers (like me) to non-certified instructors. Essentially, all pre-kindergarten teachers lost their jobs, because the district couldn't afford us. Standard. Now, I teach at a charter school! Academia de Ninos, the elementary school of Alta Vista Charter School, is an incredible school.  This is the first year we have been open!

2. I teach kindergarten! My big kids are even bigger! Now they're 5-6 years old!

3. I brought 3 of my friends from my class last year over to Academia de Ninos! So I was able to loop with 3 of my students! Imagine the growth!

4. I taught summer school at Academia de Ninos.  I was able to work with 11 of my 20 students starting June 11.  The relationships and love in our classroom is already incredible.

Year 2 of teaching has thus far been incredible. Quick funny story of the day:

Me: I'm teaching my kids about the pledge of allegiance and why we say it. "We are so proud of the United States.  We are very lucky to live here. The United States is special because we're free. In lots of other countries, we can't just go to a grocery store to buy food."
Kids: "I don't get it."
Me: "In some countries, children can't go to school because it is too far, or they are busy working".
Kids: "GASPS. WHAT THEY CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL, OH NO HOW DO THEY GET TO COLLEGE?"

Maybe my kids are already brainwashed. Meh, not the worst thing in the world. Until next time!

Goodbye teachers and friends,
Miss Glass

Construction in the Classroom

Guilty.  I'm blogging because I was home this weekend and got cursed out by my family for updating.  That, and the fact that I have 4 grad school assignments and 2 papers that need to be written by tomorrow, so clearly I'm procrastinating.  Today is going to be a blog about dramatic play. Just dramatic play.

The dramatic play center is designed for students to act out what they're learning, and experiment using dress up clothes and tools.  We're learning about jobs in our classroom, and thus the following stories are about construction workers.

I look over to see M decked in a bright yellow vest with an X on the back, and a yellow hard hat, hitting a play cabinet underneath the play sink with a play hammer.

M: "Don't worry friends! I will fix this sink!" A minute later she walks up to me.

M: "But Miss Glass I need you, it's actually broken."

Me: (playing along) "Okay M, screw driver." (Pretending to use the screw driver, I actually just re-tighten the screw with my hands) "All fixed!"

M: (wiping the play sweat off of her head) "Phew, my work here is done."

In the afternoon, I look over and see Y and A underneath the table.  I'm convinced these two friends are in love and will get married one day, so I nervously approach the table.

Me: "Uhhh, friends- do you think it's safe for you to be underneath this table right now?"

A and Y sit up, both wearing yellow play hard hats and holding tools.

Y: "Well, no Miss Glass, that's why we're fixing it. It's not safe yet, give us a couple of minutes."

My friends are great. More to come later- I'm going to hop back on the blogging train.

Okay, now for class updates:

Reading Big Goal:

Learning uppercase: 4 friends

Know uppercase, learning lowercase: 5 friends

Know uppercase and lowercase, learning 10 sight words: 2 friends

Know uppercase, lowercase, 10 sight words, learning 20: 1 friend

Know uppercase, lowercase, 20 sight words, learning 30: 3 friends

Know uppercase, lowercase, 30 sight words, learning 40: 3 friends

Know uppercase, lowercase, 40 sight words, learning 50: 0 friends

KNOW UPPERCASE, LOWERCASE, 50 SIGHT WORDS: 1 friend

Math Big Goal (part one):

Rote Count 0-25: 15 friends

Rote Count 0-50: 4 friends

Rote Count 0-75: 2 friends

ROTE COUNT 0-100: 2 friends

Math Big Goal (part two):

Recognize Numbers 0-10: 6

Recognize Numbers 0-20: 2

RECOGNIZE NUMBERS 0-31: 0

Goodbye Teachers and Friends,

Miss Glass

WE WORK HARD TO GET SMART

Okay, my kids are consuming my life.  I had to respond to a series of articles debating the relevance of  Elementary Homework today.  My response is included:


     I need to preface this post by admitting that these articles angered me to the point in which I started yelling about it to my roommates.  All students pre-kindergarten through 12th grade should receive homework every night.

      As a pre-kindergarten teacher, I used to have children who would come into class and forget how to hold a writing utensil.  That's when I first began homework in my class.  Regardless of the fact that homework "encourages good study habits and acclimates students to self-directed work" (p. 123), in pre-kindergarten homework is good for the simple reminder of how to hold a pencil and how to write your name.  To be honest, I'm not even against busy work for students.  As teachers, our goal is to get students to succeed in higher education institutions or careers.  I had my fair share of busy work in college.  People have busy work in their careers.  Welcome to America- busy work is a staple of the American life.

      Perhaps my favorite argument in the article was by Jeana Considine, "The same parents who are complaining that they don't have enough family time would be really upset if their child didn't score well" (p. 125).  Realistically, as much as I wish my kids were spending time with their families when they come home from school, I know that they're not.  Unfortunately, my students (who are 3, 4 and 5) are playing video games and watching tv.  I know this, because they tell me.  I know this, because their parents tell me.  By giving my students homework, I'm pressuring their families to turn off the tv and pick up the pencil.  My students who do their homework, practice their flashcards, and count with their parents are my highest achieving. Just as the article says, "homework is still one area where parents can directly improve their child's chances" (p.125).

      Finally, the idea of homework causing emotional stress makes me cringe.  The idea of homework is completely mental- and doesn't need to be anxiety driven or cause stress in the least bit.  In my class we work hard to get smart, so we can learn and grow up and up and up, and go to college so we can be whatever we want to be.  My students know that "scientists say you have to practice something 100 times before you learn it".  They know that's why I give them homework.  My students ask me for more homework, so they can get more practice and learn even more things.  When my students don't do their homework the night before, they come in apologetic- but know that it means they will be completing that assignment during recess time.  They know that they need the practice so they can learn.

      There is no debate on this issue in low income communities, or schools that are not currently meeting common core standards.  Homework needs to be assigned and completed.  There are simply not enough hours in the school day and our kids are too far behind.

Okay, now for some updates on my class:

Reading Big Goal:

Learning uppercase: 6 friends

Know uppercase, learning lowercase: 4 friends

Know uppercase and lowercase, learning 10 sight words: 1 friend

Know uppercase, lowercase, 10 sight words, learning 20: 6 friends

Know uppercase, lowercase, 20 sight words, learning 30: 1 friend

Know uppercase, lowercase, 30 sight words, learning 40: 0 friends

Know uppercase, lowercase, 30 sight words, learning 50: 1 friend

KNOW UPPERCASE, LOWERCASE, 50 SIGHT WORDS: 0 friends

Math Big Goal (part one):

Rote Count 0-10: 2 friends (9, 10)

Rote Count 0-20: 9 friends (14, 15, 19, 22, 24, 29, 29, 29, 29)

Rote Count 0-30: 4 friends (39, 39, 39, 34)

Rote Count 0-40: 1 friend (49)

Rote Count 0-50: 2 friends(50, 59)

Rote Count 0-60: 0 friends

Rote Count 0-70: 0 friends

Rote Count 0-80: 0 friends

Rote Count 0-90: 0 friends

ROTE COUNT 0-100: 0 friends

Some Great Stories:

Y: "Miss Glass, D is never coming back to school right?"

Me: "Well, Y, D moved back to Mexico so he lives there with his family"

Y: "Yeah but don't they lock Mexico? So now he can't come back here? Because it's locked?"

Oh how I wanted to get into a political debate about this until I realized that no matter how much I think Y and I are bros who hang out and talk about Komodo Dragons, he is still 5 years old.

L: "Miss Glass my tummy hurts".

Me: "Oh I'm sorry Lindsi, I bet it's because you haven't learned in so long- just wait until we start learning and then tell me how it's feeling. I bet you'll feel better".

Lunchtime- an hour later

L: "Miss Glass my tummy doesn't hurt anymore!"

Me: "See I told you it would feel better once we started learning!"

L: "You know, it started feeling better when we were counting, so I think you're right."

Goodbye Teachers and Friends,

Miss Glass

Role Reversal

I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and upload something I've already written.  My assignment this week for graduate school was to reflect on a couple articles.  The following may seem not cohesive because I'm not going to post the articles or the assignment.  But bare with it, and enjoy a little non preschool talk for once.

My name is Allison Glass.  I graduated from Syracuse University in 2011 having majored in Sociology and Policy Studies with a specialization in education policy.  I currently teach Head Start Pre-Kindergarten at Primitivo Garcia Elementary School in Kansas City. I genuinely love waking up and teaching my 19 beautiful big kids every day, and I’m enjoying my time with Teach For America.  I have always wanted to work for the education system, so I consider my time working with Kansas City Public Schools to have an ellipsis rather than a period.

I was invested in these articles mainly because of my interest in the topic of motivation.  How do we motivate teachers?  How do we motivate students?  The article How to Make Great Teachers was mostly about Merit Based Rewards used as incentives to keep teachers passionate and in the classrooms, while How They Do it Abroad demonstrates that in the highest achieving countries, teachers need to be motivated by something other than money.  While the results of Fryer’s study allude to the fact that using monetary rewards as incentives would increase test scores, the academic improvement would be so temporary that it would be irrelevant.

Thus, the question remains; how are humans motivated?  While countless research shows that individuals actually aren’t motivated by the carrot and stick, rewards and punishment systems, we insist that we are.  In actuality, humans are motivated intrinsically.  This doesn’t mean that we can make every child love learning, or that we can make every teacher love their job.  It means that we need to make every child understand learning, and every teacher understand the importance of their job.

Let’s start with the kids.  How do we learn? Why do we learn?  For what purpose?  Lots of kids don’t like bathing, or brushing their teeth.  But when you tell them that their teeth are going to rot out of their mouths if they don’t do it- they start brushing.  Once something becomes a habit, and one can see the purpose in fulfilling a task they become more drawn to it.  Eventually, the love of learning will arise.  It doesn’t need to be immediate.

I enjoyed the drama of Fryer stepping on crack vials in one of the schools, saying that it was too late for these kids to love learning.  I worked hard to graduate high school mostly because I was sick of my upper middle class suburban town and I wanted to get out and go to college- it was expected.  In college I worked hard so I could get a job and not have to be supported by my parents.  I started to love learning my sophomore year in college, when I dove into my major and realized what I wanted to do with my life.  While ideally every child would love learning from the beginning, we all know that’s just not possible.  Learning is hard work and some of us are lazy.  My drive and success had nothing to do with my love for learning.  I worked hard and learned so I could get out of Connecticut as soon as possible.  As my professor in college always used to say, “It doesn’t matter if someone is rebuilding houses in New Orleans to get a tan and go drinking on Bourbon Street. The houses are being rebuilt.”

Yet my favorite line of Is Cash the Answer may be “…most adults work primarily for money, and in a curious way, we seem to be holding kids to a higher standard than we hold ourselves” (p. 45).  Adults are not motivated by money.  Adults are dependent on wages to pay their bills- if adults worked primarily for money then salary would be the number one factor in choosing a career.  It’s not.

Speaking of not choosing a career based on salary, we absolutely need better teachers.  While How to Make Great Teachers identifies countless monetary ways to ensure teacher success, I have a better idea.  In the highest achieving countries, being a teacher is regarded as a noble profession.  Only the top third of college graduates are accepted into Singapore’s only teacher education program.  In the United States, the bottom half of college graduates become teachers. Singapore’s government pays for 100 hours of professional development each year, and teachers get 20 hours a week to plan and collaborate with co-teachers.  This is a lot of time, and a lot of work.  In the United States, 60% of teachers who quit said they didn’t have enough time to prepare.  Something doesn’t add up.

Becoming a teacher in the United States needs to be a challenge! It should require 100 hours of professional development each year. It should require 20 hours of planning time to collaborate and work with co-teachers.  We need to raise our standards for teachers earlier than when they’re already employed.  We need to begin to think about becoming a teacher the way we think about becoming doctors, dentists, and lawyers.  The process for becoming a teacher should be as hard as teaching!

Of course, the increase in teacher education (2-3 year required graduate program, 2 year residency/student teaching) would require a pay increase for teachers.  Nevertheless, this isn’t a process based on monetary rewards.  If you are not completely prepared, ready and invested in becoming a doctor- then no salary will convince you to spend the time in medical school and residency.  The same would be true for teaching.  Only those who are completely devoted would take on this career move.  So, how do we get people devoted to becoming a teacher?  Our mindsets need to reflect the high honor and value of teachers.  We need to appreciate their dedication and hard work.  In this scenario, teaching is a career of distinction- it needs to be.

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts. Until next time.

Goodbye Teachers and Friends,

Miss Glass

Back to School Update

I'm getting really bad at this. I need to try harder! I've had two weeks worth of vacation and two 4 day weeks since I've last written. Today's post will feature highlights since we've returned.

Me: "Y, what do you like better: numbers and math or letters and reading?"
Y: "Well, I would have to say letters and reading."
Me: "Why?"
Y: "Because you need to know how to read to get into college."

I explained that you also need to know math and numbers to get into college, but the moment was still beautiful.

L: "Hey Miss Glass"
Me: "Yes L?"
L: "I missed learning."
Me: "You missed learning L?"
L: "Yeah I love learning and we didn't have school for a long time and I missed learning".

Amazing.

S: "Miss Glass I would like to share about my Somalian family to the class."

Rock on, S. We talked about Somalia and her family for around 12 minutes. The kids were eating it up.

Today R came to school late, without his homework folder, backpack, or books.  He did however have a gun. Obviously a toy gun- a real gun would weigh more than some of my 3 year olds. Nevertheless, DRAMA CENTRAL. In addition, he wet himself. Twice. Cool.

A passed his uppercase and lowercase letters today! J only needs 6 more uppercase letters! H only needs 3 more uppercase letters!

Okay, just a quick update for now. Will post more later!

Goodbye Teachers and Friends,
Miss Glass