Kindergarten Graduation……..or NOT

I’m ambivalent about kindergarten graduation.  But then, I’m not much of a party person.  The other kindergarten teachers laughed when I told them that my idea of a class party was to have cupcakes.  Period.  Most of my previous administrators have been willing to de-emphasize the “graduation” aspect of it and call it promotion and I’ve been more than happy to oblige .  We used to half way joke that we might as well call it graduation, because for some of them, it might be the only graduation they ever have…….

I’ve managed the last few years with not having any kind of ceremonies at all.  Not this year.  We, and the 5th grade classes will be participating in a big production in the Multi-purpose room tomorrow.   I did manage to get it toned down a bunch.  Kindergarten sings one song, then dismisses to their own rooms for their actual ending ceremonies while 5th grade remains in the Multi-purpose room for more stuff (I’m REALLY glad I don’t teach 5th grade, they even had an end of the year dance after school today).  Our “ceremonies” will be done by class, and mine will be short, very, very short.  I was even instrumental in choosing the song, and it’s short,  very short…….

I’m really torn,  I am SO ready for the end of the year.  But I love my kids.  It’s been the best class ever.  They have learned so much and done so well.  The lit. specialist only had one word for my end of the year DIBELS scores, “WOW”.  I’ve never had a class reading this good at the end of the year before.  Well, enough here, I’ve got to finish some certificates for tomorrow……

Dibels results

We finished doing the end of year DIBELS benchmark tests this week.  All 25 kids benchmarked for the end of the year except two.  One of them should be retained, he is very young and just hasn’t caught up, and the other has missed more than 30 days of school and has been to three schools this year.  Everybody else did very well though.  Even a couple of kids that are a bit shaky when compared to the rest of the class, still reached benchmark.  I remember that from last year.   So many of the kids are so far beyond the benchmarks, that the others don’t look so good in comparison.  When in reality, they have still reached the kindergarten benchmarks for the end of the year.

I’m just really proud of my kids this year so many of them can read so many words now.  They have just done an outstanding job learning.

Three days back and counting……

Let’s see,  on Monday, one of the first things I heard after almost 5 weeks out, “Mr B.! You got new shoes!”  They don’t remember what an Aa or a Bb is or how they sound, but they DO remember what I wear.  My wife says that’s because they are down there by the shoes………

The next thing they asked was, “What’s that thing on your arm?”  I said that it was for when I go to the gym (without getting too specific,  it’s a BodyBugg, that monitors my caloric burn and activity).  They were divided between the ones that said, “My mom (or dad) does that.” and the ones that said, “What’s a gym?”  I said, “A gym is PE for grownups.”

Now, so far this week, Reading First in my room, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (she ended up coming into my room EVERY DAY this week, it’s like, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?  You may not really like the WAY I do things, but I have the highest scores in the school in kindergarten….so what ever I do, must work……..).  Staff meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, and two of my three 50 minute preparation times taken for meetings.    During one of the meetings during my preparation time, we went over trimester district testing results and the Reading First lady was there.  Later she was giving me a little grief over how I do some things.  I pointed out that of the 5 kindergarten classes at our school my class scored the highest on that skill…….   Oh yeah, and mClass math assessments on all kids this week and dibels progress monitoring on all kids this week.   Please, just let me TEACH…………

Monday and Tuesday next week I have a sub both days so that I can go to two different trainings.  One of them is supposed to be a two day training (I’ve already done a previous two days of it) and the other one is a one day training that they happened to schedule on Tuesday —AT THE SAME TIME.  Of course they BOTH think they are the most important one for me to go to.      Again, just let me teach…….

Dibels Problems, (not specifically Dibels fault)

These are my DIBELS scores from the 4th day of school.  Look pretty good don’t they.  The biggest problem was that it was the 4th day of school.  The second biggest problem is that my school wanted me to use these scores to drive instruction.  They gave me a break too.  They said I didn’t have to progress monitor the strategic or benchmark kids until January.  So basically, the Intensive kids are the focus……..  Only one problem with that.  My TRUE intensive kids aren’t really in the intensive group as based on these scores.  Only one of them is, the second one down.  This child is a non-English speaking Hispanic child and consistently scores low.

FOUR other intensive kids are down in the middle of the strategic group.  How did they get there?  They made some good guesses or got lucky on maybe one or two questions on the Initial Sound Fluency test.  That test has 16 questions that go something like this.  (looking at 4 pictures ) Pointing to each one, “These are star, flower, letters, and goat.  Which one begins with /g/? “  Three like that and one like this, “What sound does flowers begin with?”  This assessment is timed, and scored based on a formula that uses the amount of time and the number of correct responses to arrive at a score.  Shorter time = higher score.  I had one little boy who would point to ANY picture just as soon as you finished asking (which stops the clock until the next question)  but had NO IDEA about sound/word relationships.  He STILL has no phonemic awareness. Interestingly, almost all of the kids that scored zeros on the Letter Naming Fluency are my true Intensive kids.  But ONE test is not a reliable indicator.  The bottom kid in the intensive group (the one with 2 zeros) has benchmarked on his ISF and knows almost all of his letters, upper and lower case and almost all of his sounds.

I LIKE DIBELS,  I just think it’s not being used correctly at my school.  As a teacher, I need to be able to adjust my groups based on ON GOING assessments.  Subsequent  progress monitoring, not required by the school, but done by me, supports my assessment of the ability levels of these kids.  But my school and my district continue to ask about and require specific interventions for the original 4 kids, not the group that REALLY needs it.  I was told that I couldn’t adjust my groups, at least not that bottom one.

Thursday, when I had the substitute….

Every teacher just loves a good sub.  It was SO good to be there Thursday testing the kids and watching my sub work.  Did she do everything she was supposed to?  No.  But I don’t care,  because everything she DID do with the kids was relevant to the first week of school and she knew how to relate to 5 year olds.  She did the key parts, but brought in a LOT of other things, she sang with them, she explained things in Spanish sometimes, (about 80 % of my class is Hispanic),  she found one of my puppets and engaged the kids with it.  They had a wonderful day, and she seemed to enjoy working with them.

The great thing was that I got to see all of that, because I was in and out of the room all day testing the kids with DIBELS.  Believe me when I say that I have had subs that were at the other end of the spectrum.

Today was day three.

I read this this evening and it really was kind of a drag.  How does THAT happen?

Do what I say…

from Kindergarten Chaos by splatypus

We are on our 35th day of Kindergarten

I’m on day three…….

The kiddo’s are getting lots of compliments on how well they behave for it being day three.  They are doing great in the lunch room and in all of their specials (art, music, p.e., library).  They are doing well with the routines and procedures in the classroom also.  There’s still a few of them trying the limits. Which they will no doubt still be doing on day 179….

Tomorrow, I have a sub for the day so that I can dibel.  I’m tired just thinking about it.  It will be good to get an idea of who knows what though.  Just wish it wasn’t on day 4.

The Dibels Dilemma…..

I mentioned that the testing window at our school for the first benchmark test for Dibels is during my first week of school (I start on the 15th).  All of the other tracks have been in session for three weeks at that point.  I start and track 2 goes out on break.  The principal stopped me in the hall a couple of days ago and said, “So I hear you aren’t too happy about having to dibel your kids during the first week?”  I said, “No, I’m not!  We really need to focus on routines and procedures and how can I do that if I have to dibel the kids?”

Can I just say that I LIKE my principal!

She is getting a sub for me on Thursday of that week so that I can test the kids!  So I’ll have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with regular routines and procedures and then Thursday, the sub can hold down the fort, and I’ll test and I can still help the sub as needed.  Just having another adult in the room when working with small groups or individuals is a big help.  Then I can finish up any loose ends on Friday. Now I just need to learn how to use that handheld to score the dibels, I’ve only done it using pen and paper before.

My Last Post…

I ended my last post with, “Poor child, he thinks he’s going to get to play in my class…..”  As I think about that, I don’t want people to think that my class isn’t fun.  We do have lots of fun and a lot of learning is structured into forms of play.   It’s just not going to be without the framework  and structure of routines and procedures.  That first week is usually a killer for ALL of us.  The teacher is exhausted- every day.  The students are exhausted- everyday.

The first day is like herding cats.

I’ve compared it to trying to keep a basket of puppies in the basket…..

Until you get the routines and procedures established, it can be rough on everyone.  Which makes what they want to do in my class on THE SECOND day of school so frustrating.  The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to dig in my heels.  In our district, they have all of these assessment and testing dates established and set in the master calendar.  Well, SOMEBODY decided that ALL kindergarten would DIBEL Benchmark test within the same two week testing window.  Knowing that year round schools have a track out at all times, they were real generous and overlapped the testing window over the date that track two goes out and track one comes in.  Which would be FINE during all the rest of the year.  But it means that I have to have the testing done during the first week of school.  That’s just going to throw the whole establishing routines and procedures right out the window.  Never mind that the other tracks will have had at least two weeks to get their routines and procedures established prior to starting the testing.

It’s not the testing that bothers me, its the interruption of setting the routines.  How do I get that back?  I mean I’m a professional, I know I can do it, but why on earth would I WANT to do it this way?

People, what’s wrong with this picture?

The three days before school begins.

These three days before school starts are filled with meetings and a mad rush to get the rooms and everything else ready for the first day of school, which for most of the teachers at my school and in the rest of the district, means that school starts on Monday. I have to do the three days of meetings, even though my class doesn’t begin until Sept. 15. The hard thing about teaching at a year round school for most teachers is how little time there is between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. Most of our teachers just ended their contracted year on August 11 and they reported back to work yesterday for the new year. So they didn’t get much of a break. In kindergarten that means shifting your thinking from kids that are basically at First Grade one day to two weeks later facing beginning of the year kindergarteners and all that that entails.

One of the things about teaching in a year round setting is that at any given time part of the school is on break.  And this year, I’m on the rotation that has our very first break the first three weeks of school (I guess SOMEONE has to do it).

My new school is doing many of the things and programs that I was doing at my other school. The one NEW thing that is different is that this school is a Reading First school. I know that it means more people in and out of my room while I teach, and that both I and my teaching will be monitored and supported more than I have been used to in the past. Today was the first day that I got really good information about what that really looks like and what it entails. I think I’m going to like it, it makes sense to me. I’m sure that I will have to make some adjustments, but Reading First gives me support in making those changes in my teaching. And really, best practices are best practices. They don’t change, so I’m thinking I might not have to change as much as I thought I would.

I do know that we are going to be jumping into interventions for the Tier II kids kids sooner than I have in the past. Last year we started our Voyager intervention groups in January. Another thing that will be kind of hard is that the District mandated window for the first Benchmark tests in Dibels just happens to fall on the very first week my kids are in school. THAT’S just going to be wonderful. All other kindergarten kids in the district, in all of the regular 9 month schools, and in all of the year round schools on the other calendar retations other than mine, (80% of the year round students) will have been in school for at least two weeks prior to taking the assessments.

The New Room

OK, now I’m getting excited. Yesterday I went by my new school and got my room assignment. I went by the room and took some pictures so that I could begin planning the layout. I won’t actually be able to get into it for a few more days yet. What is SO cool about it is that it was actually made as a kindergarten classroom. At my old school, in the 18 years I was there, the kindergarten rooms were never used for kindergarten. In one of the rooms there was a long entrenched preK program. And the other room was used for special ed early childhood programs.

The room has two bathrooms, two storage closets, two sinks, four bulletin boards and two white dry erase boards. I should have three Waterford computers and three classroom networked computers. Our school programs are, for Reading, Trophies by Harcourt, supplemented by Reading First, Voyager Learning (we get handhelds for scoring and administering the Dibels tests), and Waterford; our math program is enVision Math by Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley (new this year).