The first week back at my main placement since the break was just…perfect. Perfectly chaotic, perfectly loud (I don’t know that the kindergarteners understand the difference between a Level 1 voice and a Level 4 voice), perfectly hug-filled, and perfectly educational–for me.
I didn’t do a lot in the instruction way, but I did get to do a lot of the day-to-day task stuff like picking up the kids from recess and specialists leading some of the daily routines. I observed a lot of writing and math and even some science, with the kids studying the three main different types of clouds integrated with art (pictures to come!) My favorite writing activity was definitely the shared writing of a letter to the Seahawks. The Morning Meeting almost always involves some kind of shared writing, most recently with letters. My CT models what a letter looks like with the date and the salutation, then the students dictate what will be in the letter, offering up ideas about what should be said. When one of the students said, “We liked the game against the 49ers,” another child said, “No, they’re not the 49ers, they’re the forty-WHINERS.” My blue and green heart just about exploded with love…and laughter. After finishing the letter, they all signed and my CT mailed it off the Seahawks. It would be exciting if they responded, but we aren’t expecting it.
It was cool to see this kind of shared writing activity, especially after reading so much of Routman, and what she says about modeling writing and having shared writing activities that allow for modeling and make writing engaging and for an authentic purpose.
It’s likely that my future students will be writing lots of letters to the Seahawks…
Getting Schooled 