Today was my second first day of kindergarten!! It was a lot of fun and the most exciting part of my day was definitely hearing all the kids call me “Ms. Lane” for the first time. Most of my day consisted of helping children with their worksheets and giving instructions. Considering it is the last few days of school, the schedule is a little different then normal. For example they aren’t pulling reading groups anymore because they don’t want to start a new book with only a few days left.
In the morning the kids gathered and sang their morning song (video attached under), after they said the pledge of allegiance. They then went into English first where they were reviewing the magic E sounds. They did a brief review with the second video attached and did the magic E worksheet above. After the magic E worksheet we moved on to some reading and we finished the morning lesson with “swiggle books”. They let the kids share their stories from Friday and they were all super cute. After one of the little boys shared his writing his best friend jumped up and gave him a hug telling him how good he did. This was one of the highlights of my day. It was so cute and really reminded me how sweet and pure all of the kids are (even if they are difficult at times). The swiggle books are basically when there is a line on the page and the kids turn it into a drawing and then write a little story about it (usually 1-3 short sentences). I really enjoyed this activity because i actually remember doing it in kindergarten, so it was a lot of fun to see the other kids do it. Plus they come up with some very creative things and it was a lot of fun to read.
After our morning activities were done, the kids had lunch. After lunch they had specials (with they actually just practiced for their choir concert). During specials, they had a grade level meeting about the supply list for next school year. It was actually really interesting because I didn’t know that teachers can’t provide the hand sanitizer and disinfectant because some of them have too much alcohol or other chemicals in them. In addition it was interesting about what supplies the teachers need and how much of their supplies come out of their pockets. Around 1:00 the kids were picked up from specials and we did math. Today we just reviewed counting, adding and subtraction. We did this for about and hour (with a fire drill break in between). Then we went outside for recess. At recess I got the chance to talk to a special ed teacher and her experience and this was very impactful because I’ve considered going into special ed. She absolutely loved her job and how she is able to bond with the kids because she only has a few and she said it is also very rewarding because it’s easy to see their progress. While I was at recess, I met a little girl (also in Kindergarten) that is afraid of the wind and the teachers say that she cries most day because she’s afraid it will blow her away. So, part of recess was trying to comfort her that she is safe and the wind won’t blow her away.
After recess we had a snack and did social studies. Social studies basically consisted of the kids cutting out a map of the United States and learning how to write “United States”. With the few minutes we had left of the day the kids practiced their songs some more before they headed home.
In conclusion, I had a lot of fun working with Mrs. Seyler in Kindergarten and so far it is a very rewarding experience. I’m excited to see what tomorrow is like (since the older kids have EOGs); however, the kids have certainly made me tired tonight and I’m pretty sure I won’t be up too late. Kindergarten is hard!