Community building.

It's one of the most important things I do at the beginning of the school year.

We learn to respect and celebrate our differences.  Our differences make life fun - I tell the kidlets "wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same".

And the things that are the same - aren't they the things that are at the core of our human-ness?

We have a couple of books that we read together celebrating our "same same and different".  




(In Thailand, there is a saying "same same but different".  I am choosing to adapt it to celebrate our sameness and our differences.)




Two Eyes, a Nose and a Mouth
author/illustrator:  Roberta Grobel Intrater
published: Cartwheel Book (1995)
ages 4-7

Earlier in the summer I added a sidebar link to all my sensory bin posts.

(It's right on the side - and will take you to a handy dandy photo list that will link you to all my sensory bins - or you could click [here].  


One of the families from my class last year told me (in the nicest way possible) that I had not included their favourite bin.  


Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault, and illustrated by Lois Ehlert) inspired bin.


So, S, E, A and C (who was not even around when this bin was last out) - here it is.





totally unrelated to education or children

I am going to tell you a little story about a boy and a penny collection, and a kitchen counter.  

I posted about the 4C building blocks for my kindergarten classroom.  I will have to change that to 5 Cs. 

As well as designing a classroom around curiosity, confidence, creativity and compassion, I also hold the children capable.  


Maria Montessori said:  Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.


Ann Landers:  It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings. 


Dear Abby: If you want your child to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsiblity on their shoulders. 

Ms. Sandi:  Step away from the shoes. (to Mum and Dad - said kindly)





One of my favourite back to school reads is Robert Munsch's We Share Everything.

author: Robert Munsch
illustrator: Michael Martchenko
publisher: Cartwheel Press, 2002, 1999
hilarious for children 3-5

Last week I posted about kindergarten readiness.

My wishlist of skills my brand-new-in-the-door kindergarten  kids will excel at.


My blogging friend, Mary Catherine of Fun-A-Day did the same.


Mary Catherine's post, and a comment from Faige Meller of The Road Travelled got me thinking.


I need to accept my students with whatever skills or lack of skills they come in the door with.  I have no control over what they know or don't know.  What they can do or can't do.


But I do have control over the classroom.


Not only am I responsible for the physical set up of the classroom - where to put tables, and dress ups and bookshelves and everything else in order to create a functional and pleasing learning environment, I am also responsible for the emotional make up of the room.

What do I want my room to say to my kidlets' souls.  What is held high and honoured.


I need to be intentional about it.  (Debbie Miller's book Teaching with Intention is brilliant).


After letting it rattle around in my brain for a few days, there are four C words that I want  to rest all that we do in the classroom on. 


Earlier this week I posted my kindergarten readiness wish list (along with my friend, pre-school teacher and blogger-with-fabulous-ideas Mary Catherine from Fun-A-Day).  

Today it's the parents' turn. 


A couple more weeks - and a new group of kindergarten kidlets and their parents will come through the classroom door.  




New kidlets  to love, and new parents to partner with.  


Here's a few things I would like my new parent-partners to know.


 • Thank you for sharing your child with me this year.  Parents are the child's first and most important teacher.  I want to support you in that role.    



It's getting to be thinking about back to school time.



Mary Catherine, over at Fun-A-Day is also thinking about back to school.



We thought that we would compare thoughts.  
A pre-school teacher and a kindergarten teacher. 
 An American and a Canadian. 


I asked my last year's kindergarten kidlets (and any other alumni) what they thought kids needed to know before they came to kindergarten. Their suggestions are in bold; my thoughts are underneath.

I have to say, the kids pretty much covered what I would like my brand new, just-in-the-door kids to be able to do in kindergarten.


I am spending a week "hanging out and playing" with my parents.  

In honour of the countless hours that my mum spent cuddled up on the sofa reading to me and my brother, here is a favourite book from my childhood.



I am a Bunny
author: Ole Risom
illustrator: Richard Scarry
publisher: Golden Books
first published, 1963
gently magical for ages 1-5
and anyone who reads to them
first lines
I am a bunny.
My name is Nicholas.
I live in a hollow tree. 
lets have a cup of tea

Practical life skills. 


I think they are important. 


And I think that kindergarten is a perfect time to teach and practice them.  


So, if my kidlets don't arrive knowing how to set a table, hang up laundry, or pour a cup of tea when they arrive in September, they will by the time they move on in June.


My kidlets can set the tablehang up laundry, fold laundry, wipe the tables, sweep the floor, and AND they can pour a cup of tea.


A button blanket is a wool wearing blanket embellished with mother of pearl buttons created by Northwest Coastal tribes. - Wikipedia


We made button blankets (kindergarten style - no needles and thread). 



- so why not a button blanket sensory bin.  


A couple of weeks ago a friend and I were looking for treasures in the children's section of a bookstore, and we both picked up this gem.  (Pete and Mo also found their way into my shopping bag.)

Hands Can
author: Cheryl Willis Hudson
illustrator: John Francis Bourke
publisher: Candlewick
reprinted February 12, 2013
delightful for children 2-5


This inviting offering provides youngsters with an almost sensory experience in which they can experience how their hands help them to explore and interact with their world.


  -- School Library Journal

Comparing our choices, my friend told me that she was going to add  Hands Can to her beginning of the year focus on hands.


She told me what she does in her classroom.  Brilliant.  Just like her.  



we all can dance

Giraffes Can't Dance is one of my favourite books.


One I enjoy sharing with my kidlets every year.  It has such an important message.


And it leads to great art.
 





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