Effective Morning Arrival Routines In Pre-K

      Photo courtesy of Fat Camera From Getty Images Signature via Canva.com
 

Let’s be honest. Teaching little people is TOUGH!

The start of school is often filled with tears and fits of anger. Why?

I’ll give you three reasons:

• Teachers need to set limits that many children haven’t encountered.
• It might be the first time a child is in school and separated from parents.
• Children are walking into a room full of strangers and new experiences. It’s anxiety-inducing.

What is a teacher supposed to do?

First and foremost, make sure to practice self-care. Drink your coffee or tea, listen to your favorite song, meditate, recite positive affirmations, chat with a trusted colleague, promise yourself a reward at the end of the day. Whatever you need to get your motor running, be sure and do it.

I’m speaking from experience. When I taught kindergarten, my stress levels were so high my doctor thought I had a heart attack.

I nearly cried with relief when he hospitalized me for observation on a school night. Who is happy when they have to stay in the hospital? A teacher at a breaking point!

After I left the district, I attended therapy. Seriously, the student on student violence in my kindergarten classroom left me shaken to my core. My therapist told me that teachers from my district were the largest group of clients she counseled. And people wonder why there’s a teacher shortage.

Okay, enough ranting. Once you’ve met your needs, execute a consistent morning arrival routine.

     Photo courtesy of marekuliasz from Getty Images Pro via Canva.com

Here’s My Morning Arrival Routine:

I played classical music during the morning arrival. It’s good for the brain, reduces stress levels and increases productivity.

For this activity children found their names on an index card and ‘signed-in’ by flipping the card to in. I wrote the first letter of their names in red to draw attention to the letters. I used a small pocket chart for this and hung it from the classroom door, so it was the first thing children saw.

If you don’t have a pocket chart, use poster board and Velcro.

Draw a red circle around the word in and a red rectangle around the word out (or whatever shapes you like).

Educational Focus: first name recognition, first letter of first name recognition, following directions, introduction to two shapes and two high-frequency words, part of the daily schedule so children learn to sequence

I used a magnetic board for this activity. Student names were written on magnets for the students to find and place in the correct column. You can use poster board and Velcro for this one too. 

This is a great way to learn where your kiddos are emotionally when they arrive and support them if they need it. It also gives them the vocabulary they need to learn to express themselves in a positive way.

I asked my students why they felt the emotion they chose. This helps promote conversation and taking turns when speaking.

You can also count how many children are feeling the same emotion. Compare/contrast

Educational Focus: First name reinforcement, self-awareness, emotional vocabulary, following directions, columns, pre-reading, part of the daily schedule so children learn to sequence 

      Photo courtesy of Tanyepm from Pixabay via Canva.com 

Additional Arrival Activities:

Each week, one child can be chosen as the Morning Greeter. They can use a clipboard to check off the names of classmates as they arrive. Give high fives, or any other greeting you decide.

Limited Center Time:

Library, Quiet Corner, Easy Clean-Up Toys on the Carpet, Morning Writing/Drawing

For the toys on the carpet, I used 2-3 mats (or towels) and placed the bins on them. (You can also use puzzles.) I instructed the children to pretend the mat was a table.

The toys had to stay on the mat when the children played with them. 2-3 three children to each mat. I also taught the children how to fold the mat when they were finished. Once the children become more independent, they can choose their own bins to use on the mats.

Educational Focus: spatial awareness, boundaries, following directions, cooperation, sharing, turn taking, folding is a life skill

Quick Note About Mats: When I taught Pre-K Head Start in Philadelphia, this practice was encouraged. It’s a Montessori technique that reinforces freedom within limits.

Years later at another Head Start program, my supervisor was against it. I defended my decision, and she allowed it for the first few weeks of school. Justify your strategy with learning objectives if it’s something you feel strongly about.

Morning Writing/Drawing

I didn’t have enough dry erase boards, so I laminated printer paper, bought a pack of black socks to use as erasers and found a bunch of dry erase markers to use for morning writing/drawing.

Note About Dry Erase Markers: Kids love them! But sometimes they push the tips into the markers, lose the caps, and don’t put the caps on correctly so the markers dry out.

Model how to use the markers correctly: take the cap off, stick it on the end of the marker and write with it gently. When you’re done, put the cap back on top. Listen for the clicking sound. Be sure to save any extra marker caps you find. You will need them.

Use a Timer and Give Five Minute Warnings

Introduce your children to a timer. Explain, when the timer goes off, it’s time to stop (freeze) what we’re doing and clean up. Remember to give verbal warnings before the timer goes off, so the children are prepared for the transition. Sing a Clean Up Song to make things more fun.

My morning routine, much like my teaching, developed gradually. The start of the school day was shaped by schedules, administrators, and the needs of the students. 

Regardless of what happened, I always remembered that the morning arrival was the foundation for the day. A solid foundation lays the groundwork for a productive day for students and teachers.

Take the techniques that resonate with you, tweak them and make them your own.

Resources:

Kid Writing A Systematic Approach to Phonics, Journals, and Writing Workshop

learnandplaymontessori.com

5 Ways To Connect With Students Before September

                                      

Happy New Year! It’s almost that time again: back-to-school season is few weeks away.

Many of us are still savoring the lazy days of summer. For those of you who’d prefer a head start on prepping for September, let’s discuss a few ways to connect with your kiddos early on.

If you’re one of the lucky few who gained their class lists—CONGRATULATIONS! I’d love to learn how you achieved that.

                                     Image by jacqueline macou via Pixabay

1. Drop your prospective students a postcard introducing yourself and some of your favorite summertime endeavors. Give them a glimpse into your personality.

If, like me, you’re in the dark about who’s on your roster, sit pretty and relax.

Or take some leisure time to browse the dollar stores, Target, Walmart, Lakeshore, Teachers Pay Teachers, Amazon, Etsy, and US Toy Company for a few essential items.

2. When you finally receive your class list, mail your students a welcome message. 

Introduce yourself, a few tips on what the children can expect this year, and if you have one, a photo of you with your class mascot.

                              Image by Kranich17 via Pixabay

3. Is your Google Classroom set up? If so, invite the kiddos to join and play get-to-know-you games. 

Ask Would You Rather questions, post jokes, or do a daily poll on a specific topic such as, “Who plays baseball?” “Who enjoys going to the beach?” The possibilities are endless.

You could also ask more specific questions like, “What movies did you check out this summer?” “Who’s your favorite superhero?” “Who’s the oldest in their family?”

(Be sure to inform students you’ve invited them to your Google Classroom in your welcome letter.)

Cult Of Pedagogy has some remote Ice Breaker Games for Zoom that look fun.

4. Make a brief classroom reveal video and include a teaser tour that students and parents can watch. You know the kids are dying to see what their new classroom looks like.

Leave the most exciting feature (student gifts, the classroom library, etc.) for the first day of school. This will build anticipation for the big day.

                                Photo by Peter H via Pixabay

5. Throw an End of Summer or a Back-to-School Eve Zoom party! Create a few fun slides to share, pass along arrival expectations, or just chat for a few moments.

Any positive connection made will help mitigate those first day of school jitters, for you and your students.

However you greet your students this September, I hope your Back-to-School experience is fun!

Anger In The Classroom: Finding Freedom From Anger

Available on Amazon

Synopsis:

Teachers are given a great responsibility and challenge when they enter a classroom. The way they see, interpret, and act will determine the difference between effective or weak communication and teaching.

It is the task of the teacher to learn and prepare for this classroom setting, including the intrusion of trouble spots, such as anger in its many forms.

The overbearing emotion of anger has many faces and can lead to a complicated array of feelings, actions, and consequences. There is no set plan or technique that can address all of the hazards or nuances of anger.

Solutions may need to vary from one student to the next, or from one moment to the next for an angry student or teacher.

Although Anger in the Classroom is written specifically for teachers and other educational professionals, it also is an invaluable resource for parents and anyone else who works with the young.

Recognizing the difficulty that anger and similar strong emotions can cause in schools and in children’s lives, this book proposes techniques and practices aimed at preventing and circumventing the damaging effects of these destructive behaviors.

Goals of Anger in the Classroom for the Teacher/Reader:

- To realize the depths of knowledge, ability, and understanding currently hidden beneath one’s awareness
- To head off anger and its manifestations before it can take hold in the classroom or the individual
- To create a classroom environment that fosters appreciation, rather than resentment
- To provide specific practices for exploration and specific results
- To prepare the teacher for passing on experience and knowledge to students
- To rekindle the excitement and joy of teaching

Specific Features:

- Case stories illustrating concepts and techniques
- Specific exercises conducive to reader development and enriched classroom practices
- End-of-chapter questions for readers, especially college students on a path to teacher certification.

  From Kirkus Reviews

A practical manual that helps teachers manage their students’ anger—and their own.

According to debut author Nystrup, it’s hard to overestimate the potential influence teachers wield over their students—instructors incapable of controlling their own anger may pass that infirmity to pupils who do the same.

The good news, the author says, is that teachers can control their ire as well as that which emerges within a classroom. First, a teacher needs to rein in his or her own temper, a process that involves meticulous introspection.

To that end, Nystrup provides an Anger Manifestation Chart, a tool that tracks the various ways anger rises from, say, anxiety or a negative thought.

Once one looks inward and explores the sources of unrest, a “realm of deeper freedoms” can be experienced and imparted to a classroom that, while emotionally moderated, avoids devolving into “drab, torturous monotony.”

The author provides an abundance of practical counsel, using case histories to illustrate his principal points. He astutely acknowledges that “teaching is not an exact science” and so articulates broadly conceived advice that can be customized.

At the heart of Nystrup’s approach is the achievement of mindfulness, a sense of self-awareness that fosters mental and emotional equanimity.

He covers an impressive span of pedagogical territory, including special education classrooms, and incorporates a wide array of approaches, like yoga. His prose can be both vague and exuberantly optimistic.

His goal is to “facilitate teacher growth, including the ability to move through each teaching day with clear thinking, unclouded emotions, and a physical state of strength and endurance.”

Of course, no book or didactic strategy will deliver all that all the time, but Nystrup does thoughtfully examine the way in which a teacher can maintain a lively classroom that is also a peaceful “setting of trust.”

An intelligent, meditative, and effective guide to creating a productive classroom atmosphere.

-Kirkus Review - Posted on Aug. 16th, 2019

About The Author

Glenn Nystrup's passions have guided his teaching to numerous settings over a wide range of disciplines, including multiple academic subjects for all ages; the fine arts of stone carving, sculpting with teens and adults; technical rock climbing with teens; movement and dance with teens in New York City; and school navigation for struggling students.

Throughout, his aim has been to work with the heart as well as the mind and body, both for himself and students, sharpening perception and knowledge across all personal resources. 

Diary of a First Year Kindergarten Teacher: 15th Entry

https://pixabay.com/en/white-earbuds-journal-writing-mug-2523978

TRIGGER WARNING: Contains sensitive material about sexual assault.
While this is a work of fiction, situations like those depicted in this story do occur in classrooms. I believe it is essential for these stories to be told.  You can't cure a disease without knowing the symptoms first. 

Friday, September 20
Dear Diary,

I stayed late today to tidy up the classroom (It seems that if I don't sweep the floors, vacuum the carpet, wash the tables, and wipe down the bathroom it won't get done.) and get my lesson materials ready for Monday. 

         
Since I was unable to complete the individual behavior charts yesterday for Devon Wilson, Ramona Johnson and Christopher Matthews, I did them this afternoon.

            
Sadly, I also had to write a pink slip for one of my students. The behavior was much too serious to leave it undocumented.

So in order to cover all of my bases, I was left with only one option. The child needs help and a consistent paper trail is one way to make sure he gets it.

An incident that I had never conceived of occurred in my classroom this morning. 

A sexual assault. 

A sexual assault in kindergarten!  

           
I was completely blindsided by this. The boy who acted out the harmful behavior was, Tyrone Whiting, one of my better-behaved boys.

Thankfully, Miss Mary was present for the incident, so I had a witness as to how I handled the situation.

            
After a reading of, "No, David!" the children were directed to the tables to draw a picture of David and write the title as best they could.

During this time period, Miss Mary was working with a small group of students who needed support to complete the task. 

         
I was rotating among the tables to offer assistance as needed. I was in the middle of correcting Christopher Matthews for eating his crayons, when I heard a commotion at the table behind me.               

When I turned to face the students seated there, Katie Thomas, Tyrone and Cyrus Jackson were all staring, wide-eyed, at me. I knew immediately that something was wrong.

         
"What's going on?" I asked.

            
Katie told me Tyrone had touched her inappropriately while Cyrus nodded in agreement.

Naturally, everyone in the class stopped what they were doing to look at the trio. My mind started spinning as I tried to process what I had just heard. I knew that I had to act quickly before I lost control of the situation. 

           
I told the children to flip their papers over and draw whatever they wanted on the back. I asked Miss Mary to keep the paper flowing for those who finished their drawings.

After that, I separated Tyrone and Katie and called down to the office to report what had happened.

"Mrs. Conroy will be up in a minute," Ms. Monroe had said.

Mrs. Conroy is the school counselor.

By the time Mrs. Conroy entered my classroom, I had taken three separate statements from Katie, Tyrone and Cyrus about the incident.

Although Tyrone admitted to touching Katie inappropriately, he said he'd touched her by accident. 

           
In contrast, Katie and Cyrus stated that they both had told Tyrone to stop what he was doing, and he didn't until Cyrus threatened to tell the teacher.             

            
When Mrs. Conroy arrived we spoke briefly about what had taken place. She advised me to write a pink slip and an intervention form for Tyrone; she would handle the rest. After that, she left with Katie and Tyrone.

            
Katie's father, Mr. Thomas, had a few angry words for me at dismissal. "Where were you while this was happening? Weren't you paying attention? What kind of a teacher let's this happen?"

            
Katie had gone home shortly after the incident with Tyrone, but her father had returned to pick up his other children. 

           
I explained to Mr. Thomas that, I wished I had become aware of what was going on with Katie sooner, but I couldn't see what was happening because it had occurred under the table and was out of my line of sight. 

         
Mr. Thomas didn't seem too happy with my defense, and as a parent, I guess I can understand that. However, there are 25 children in my classroom and I'm dealing with a lot of difficult behaviors.

            
After I left work at 6:00, I called my husband and told him what had happened with my students.

To help lift my spirits, he took me out to dinner. At the restaurant, we sat at the bar, and although I don't usually drink, I had a few glasses of sangria and got a little tipsy.

Have you ever dealt with a similar situation?

Diary of a First Year Kindergarten Teacher: 14th Entry

https://kaboompics.com/photo/3355/empty-notebook-with-a-black-pencil-on-a-wooden-desk

Wednesday, September 18
Dear Diary,

Six days of school completed and it feels like it's been six months.

Today was absolutely crazy. It began on a sour note and continued to get worse as the day progressed.

            
In the schoolyard this morning, Rose Gil, one of my students was pushed by a second grader. The scuffle left Rose with a bloody lip. She had to go to the nurse's office.
           
Luckily, an older student was able to take Rose for me and even more fortuitous, the nurse was there to take care of her.

Due to funding issues, the nurse only comes to our school three half days a week.

            
Miss Mary was able to assist me during arrival but shortly after she was called to the office. I didn't see her for the rest of the day. 

            
Shortly after arrival, at 9:00 am, I called the class to the Large Group area for our Morning Meeting. Upon sitting, Christopher Matthews immediately started lying down on the carpet, making it difficult for the other children to sit.

            
I redirected him to his table and gave him paper and crayons to use while I instructed the rest of the class. 

Within a few minutes, a few of the children told me that Christopher had started breaking up the crayons into little pieces.

            
I ignored the behavior and continued with the Morning Meeting.  I was extremely frustrated. Since the school district wouldn't supply me with crayons for my class, I bought them.

After the Morning Meeting, I placed the crayons in a pencil box. From now on they will be Christopher's crayons to use.
                                             

Following lunch, from 11:15-11:30,  the children have a 15-minute recess in the schoolyard. When I arrived to pick up my class, Christopher and Devon Wilson were fist fighting.

Apparently, Christopher had touched Devon and Devon didn't like it. I should have done a pink slip for the both of them but I just can't bring myself to do it. Pink slips in kindergarten seems a bit harsh.

            
I did do a lesson on the appropriate ways to use our hands and read the book, "Hands Are Not For Hitting." I also informed their parents.

            
Around 1:55, Devon was caught up in another fight with Brandon White. The pair had started arguing at their table.

Before I could get to them to intervene, they were slapping and punching each other.

            
In order to avoid future conflict with the boys, I reassigned Devon to another table. Five minutes later, Devon had slapped Jason Peters on the arm for pushing his char. Jason was clearly shaken.

            
He said that he was just trying to get Devon's attention. I explained to the boys that we have to use our words instead of our hands for certain situations. Jason seemed to get the message. I'm not so sure about Devon.

            
At 2:10, Samuel Bishop started tickling Violet Martinez. She told him to stop but he kept doing it.

I gave him several warnings and reminded him about the book we'd read earlier, but he wouldn't stop the unwanted behavior. I moved Samuel to another table and spoke to his father.

            
Not five minutes later, Cyrus Jackson pulled Rose's hair. He continued to do it even after she told him to stop. When I got to the table he stopped and apologized to Rose.

            
Tomorrow I'll do another lesson on positive ways we use our hands and make the individual sticker charts for Devon, Ramona and Christopher. That's all I'll be able to manage right now.

            
If Miss Mary is able to stay with me for longer than 20 minutes, I'll try to get her to help me with more sticker charts.

            
Hopefully, in a few more weeks the children will learn the classroom expectations better and be able to engage with each other more appropriately.

How are behaviors the first few weeks in your classroom? How do you deal with them?