Here's what we've been doing this week:

• The first few weeks of kindergarten are very important, not for learning new academic skills, although some of that does happen, but for helping the children learn how to interact well socially. This is the first time that many of the children have been in a group setting and they are used to the close attention of one or two adults at home. Suddenly they are in a class with 26 other children and it is not obvious how to interrelate with the adults and children in the class. One of the areas of the classroom that may seem all "play" and no "work" is the block area. However, some of the strongest growth and advancement takes place here during the year. When the children enter, they grab the blocks that they need, build what they want, knock down other children's structures if they are in their way or they don't like them. Often the noise level builds up to almost insufferable levels. It seems like chaos, not learning.
  
  However, from the first day, I model a quieter way of talking with the children. We talk about "inside" voices and "outside" voices. Children learn that they can have much more fun working together and sharing than by playing by themselves. As they do so, they learn how to build things from the other children and together they plan new strategies for making roads and castles. Later, as we learn how to write letters and words, they start making signs to complement what they have built. There are "stop" signs and "do not enter" signs, written in their own creative writing, that add to the play and give meaning to the letters and words that they are learning. They count out blocks that they need for a project and realize that they need 3 or 4 more to complete it. They match the different block shapes that they need. By the end of the year they are reinforcing their academic learning through play without even realizing it. Most of the other activities in the classroom do the same thing. They are learning through play.
  
  
• This week we started working in our journals that the children do at the beginning of each class. Most people when they think of "journal" have the idea of writing about what went on that day. That is what we are doing, except that the "writing" is at the child's level. For most children in our class, that means expressing themselves through drawing. They can draw anything that interests them. For those that have a hard time controlling their pencil or crayon, scribbling is fine. As time goes on, the muscles in their fingers will become stronger and the drawing will become easier. This is the beginning stage of creative writing and it is fun!

Return to Mr. Shivers Kindergarten Page.