Simply the Best

Today I had the privilege of visiting teacher extraordinaire Jill Greco at Lago Lindo School. What a treat is was for me to watch a master teacher in action for the entire morning.  Jill truly maximizes the learning for her Kindergarten students from the way she has arranged the furniture in her classroom to the laid-back way she delivers a lesson.  As well, Jill takes organization to a whole new level... a definite must for any teacher looking to brave the untamed world of Kindergarten!  Just like an Olympic figure skater or a great musician in an orchestra, Jill makes her job look effortless and easy.  The fact of the matter is, years of practice, untold hours of preparation, and sheer day-to-day determination can be credited to that effortless demeanor.


I realized today that many of the activities and ideas that are most successful in my own classroom have come from Jill and a handful of other exemplary teachers that I have been lucky enough to know.  The Greek philosopher Epictetus said "The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."  I'm so thankful that Jill has shared her expertise with me over the years and hope that I can return the favour.

Fine-Feathered Friends

I suspect that there are many turkeys out there today letting out a sigh of relief!  To learn about Thanksgiving I read a number of turkey themed stories to my Kindergarten students.  Two of our favourites are 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey and The Turkey Ball by David Steinberg.  We then get crafty by making colourful turkeys of our own.

This is a great pre-reading and sequencing activity as the children construct their own craft following the visual icons.  The results speak for themselves:

Hop To It!

One of my goals as a teacher of young children is to continually find ways to actively engage my students in learning.  I have been quite successful at resisting the temptation of plying my little learners with worksheets and reproduced "busy work".   I want my Kindergarten students to get up and move while interacting with one another!  Worksheets just don't do that (plus most five-year olds are not at the stage where they can sit independently for lengths of time while focusing on tasks which require large amounts of fine-motor coordination).  


This Easter Egg Delivery Egg-stravaganza game is the perfect activity to play with a group of 4 or 5 students during your Center Time or at Literacy Stations.  The curricular objective of the game is for students to match upper-case letters with their lower-case counterparts.  

Before you begin, place a number of "houses" with upper-case letters around the classroom.  Provide each student at the station with a basket full of paper Easter eggs with lower-case letters printed on them (these lower-case letters need to match the upper-case letters of your houses... or else there would be no matching and no point to the game).  The children then hop about the classroom (a sneaky way to work on large-muscle development during language arts instruction) delivering eggs to their correct houses.  I give each of my students a pair of floppy golden bunny ears to wear to really get everyone into the spirit.  Once everyone has finished delivering their eggs, we take down each house and go through the contents to ensure that there were no delivery mistakes.  At this point, to deepen the learning, we also talk about the corresponding sound each letter makes and I ask every student in the group to tell me a word that starts with the letter.  They can look for clues using the colourful alphabet posters that decorate our classroom.  This is definitely a much richer learning experience than an ABC worksheet.


Time Saving Tip:  I write the upper-case letters on the laminated houses with washable marker.  That way, I can customize the letters for the children in each group.  As well, I adapt this game over the course of the year.  In December, the children don Santa hats and deliver little paper holiday stockings to each house.  By February the children are ready to deliver valentine hearts with lower-case letters emblazoned on them.  By providing theme and variation the children think they are engaged in an all-new game while allowing them multiple attempts to practice and eventually master the skill of letter matching.  The possibilities are endless...