L

L is for Learning Through Discovery

As my co-operating teacher and I were discussing today, the best classrooms operate with a balance between student and teacher led learning. In both of OLCS's kindergarten classes, the day begins with a period of discovery. This time of the day allows the students to explore and interact while learning required curricular outcomes. 

Earlier in my practicum, we developed a number of Easter discovery activities which involved both numeracy and literacy. For this discovery, we assigned groups so that the children could rotate stations each day and give each activity a try. The senior kindergarteners found this concept easier to understand but with prompting and reminding, the junior kindergarteners would find their station and engage in their discovery. Our Easter discovery was eye catching and stimulated learning while giving us opportunities for assessment. 

Our latest discovery activities are based on colour exploration and investigation. Both the senior and junior kindergarten classes are fascinated by mixing paint, sorting coloured objects and using eye droppers to mix coloured water onto a variety of mediums such as coffee filters, napkins and baking soda using coloured vinegar. 

The next step in our colour discovery is to implement a few teacher led colour activities. It's an exciting time to be in kindergarten! 

K

K is for Kindergarten Play Plans

My journey into the world of Kindergarten has been a whirlwind of learning, discovery, play, laughter and surprises. The past four and a half weeks have absolutely flown by! We are a very busy bunch and every day I just wish we had a little more time to spend on an extra activity or stay engaged in play a little longer. For roughly an hour of each day, the kindergarteners are actively engaged in play where the students have a chance to develop their social skills and hone in on their ability to dramatize, re-enact and imagine. The popular play items right now include Lego, Barbies, trains, wedgits, water table, sand table, pirate ship, wooden blocks and animals as well as the dramatic play area which has most recently been turned into a school complete with pointers and teacher dresses. This suggestion came from one of our junior kinder students and with the help of the whole class, we transformed the dramatic play space into a school space.

Early in my practicum, my co-operating teacher and I discussed the idea of using play plans to help students to engage more deeply in their play and plan for success (you need to check our her blog and her perspective on play plans too!)We have been using our play plans since mid-March and overall it has created a much more focused and deliberate play. The boys and girls often choose to sustain their play longer at one activity as opposed to bouncing between many activities for a short period of time. Using the play plans has also opened up opportunity to utilize a word wall with all of the play options and students' names printed. We encourage students to illustrate and write their play plans. Some of the senior kindergarten students are ready to utilize simple sentences for their plans such as "I am going to play __________ with __________." or "I want to play __________ with ________". Other students are illustrating their play plans and captioning them with the activity they chose as well as the names of the other students they planned to play with.

Most recently, thanks to a look at the early childhood education curriculum document from New Zealand, we have added a reflection piece for the students to complete after their play has finished. They have a choice of circling four different faces indicating whether play was fantastic, so-so, sad or really upsetting. After they circle their choice, they conference with myself or my co-operating teacher to briefly explain the reason behind their choice and tell us a little bit about how their play went that day.

Every so often, students ask to change their play plan mid-way through play. Frequently this is because they chose to be at an activity alone and as they watch their peers playing together, they wish to change their destination of play. We allow this and explain that it is okay to change your mind but then they must also change their play plan to indicate their new activity.

Overall, I am amazed by the way that the play plans help children focus their play as well as consider who they might play with. In deciding who and what to play, they practice asking their friends questions such as "Would you like to play Barbies with me?" or "What would you like to play today?" They also practice answering appropriately, for example, saying "no thank-you" if they do not wish to join in on that activity that day or "yes please!" if they agree with the choice of activity. The play plans are also an excellent literacy activity that allowed us to scaffold their learning by beginning by encouraging illustrations, then modelling captioning our pictures using the word wall or asking a classmate to help spell their name then further highlighting the idea of using a sentence to express their play plan. Many of the students are totally enthralled by the idea of play planning and often walk into the classroom in the morning and announce that they already know what they are planning to do for play or tell us that they are excited to do play plans. The play plans still allow for choice of play but are a tool to help the students collect their thoughts and have a plan to follow if they begin to lose focus or decrease their level of engagement.

Play planning has been an excellent new routine in the classroom and I cannot wait to use it again should I ever find myself to be so lucky to be in Kindergarten once again!

Next up is a foray into self-regulated snack with the junior kindergarteners on Friday - wish me luck!

J

J is for Jumping for Joy!

J also happens to be for Junior Kindergarten (the half-day, every other day program for four-year-olds), Jack and The Beanstock (we're working through a unit on fairy tales) and Jewellery (the Kinders are highly observant and always notice if their teachers are wearing rings, earrings or necklaces).

Student teaching has finally arrived and the first two weeks have flown by! I've taken the plunge into the land of Kindergarten and fallen in love with all of it - all the busyness, all the questions, all the discovery and all the learning that happens every minute of every day. It helps that I have a marvellous co-operating teacher who goes by the name of Devon Caldwell and just so happens to be the author of the blog Kindergarten Diva. We have two Kindergarten classes at OLCS - the JKs who are four and the SKs who are five and come every other day, all day.

So far both classes have been working on fairy tales which included making graphs on whether or not we'd kiss a frog if it would turn into a prince (most kids answered yes they would!), deciding on criteria of what makes a fairy tale and reading different versions of fairy tales. To work on our 2D shapes outcome, each student built a castle using construction paper shapes. As a group, we cut out all of the shapes and talked about the properties of each one.As an assessment tool, I interviewed each child and asked them how many triangles, rectangles, squares and circles they had used to build their castle. I was very impressed with their creativity and knowledge of 2D shapes!

We also built a castle to work on our 3D shapes outcome. This was a really fun project! We started by watching a Brain Pop video about 3D shapes and then we sorted all our recycled materials that used to belong to the class store into two categories: rectangular prisms and cylinders. Each student then had a chance to choose a piece to add to the castle. This was our end result which we were all very proud of!

I

I is for Introductions

We learn from introductions whether it is being introduced to a new person, introduced to a new concept or introduced to a new outlook on the world. My time so far in the Faculty of Education has included many introductions and starting March 9th, I will be introduced to the way that my next co-operating teacher, Devon Caldwell, runs her classroom and I couldn't be more excited! The projects and topics that the Kindergartners from Oak Lake cover under her direction are amazing and I just know I will learn SO much. Reading her blog, I better understand the idea of blogging as a teacher to share ideas with parents, to reflect on how things are going in your classroom and to inspire those who are following in your footsteps. I truly hope I can keep up with my blog and introduce other teachers to my way of thinking and my way of teaching.

H

H is for Homework

At the end of January, I moved into a new house and after numerous visits from MTS and a few complications, we finally got internet on Friday which made for over three long weeks without internet access at home. In a world where so much of our school work is technology based, it made for a lot of trips to the library and mooching of friend's internet. My three week gap from internet at home made me realize how difficult it must be for student's whose parents can't afford internet or live in rural/remote areas with limited internet access. When so much of our homework is based on using online sources, not having internet at home made homework that one extra step harder.

Obviously I made a point to get it done and drove or walked to the library but students might not be able to do that. These past three weeks just reminded me to be aware of the home life of my future students. How many have access to internet at home is going to affect the homework I give and the communication tools I use. Having our internet back made me so grateful that I am privileged enough to have this online access and live in an area where this is an option.

G

G is for Growth

This week, I spent two days at the WESTCAST conference in Saskatoon learning and growing by sharing information with my peers and in turn, listening to their ideas and strategies. I tend to feel nervous public speaking but this was a safe and understanding environment that allowed my confidence to grow and my nerves to diminish. Although this is a traditional face to face way of sharing information, I think it has just as much use as a PLE/PLN. I truly enjoy learning from others in a face to face setting.

The experience of WESTCAST also helped me to grow and develop deeper friendships with some of my classmates and I know I will stay in touch with these people regardless of where we get jobs or where life takes us. It was an amazing opportunity and I would encourage other students teachers to go when they get the chance. I sat in on many speakers discussing a variety of topics including Montessori method and Aboriginal teachings, encouraging creativity in the classroom, tools for assessment and evaluation, strategies for creating a classroom community and problem solving in Kindergarten. From each presentation I learned at least one new thing and therefore have grown as a teacher and a learner. It was truly an excellent experience!

F

F is for Forging Online Connections (My PLN/PLE)

This week our class task is to develop our own PLN and discuss what exactly that acronym entails. A PLN is a Personal Learning Network and it is a set of connections that go beyond traditional face to face connections or resources. It is very similar to a PLE which is a Personal Learning Environment. I plan on building my PLN/PLE using the following:

• Twitter: I will use Twitter to connect with other like minded teachers and join in on the ongoing discussion between Manitoba educators. I will also use twitter to share what goes on in my class and connect with outside information sources such as news accounts and different non-profit organizations to help broaden my students' horizons. 
• Pinterest: I will use Pinterest as a means of inspiration as well as a curator to keep track of ideas, websites, articles, etc. I will also follow the boards of other teachers and educational programs to have access to even more great ideas!
• Blog: I will continue to blog to share my ideas about education and my experiences as a teacher.
• YouTube: I will use YouTube to share student work and projects as well as using it to show other videos to increase thier knowledge and spark their interest. 
• Shelfari: I will use this curating site to keep track of my classroom books and more importantly, I will use it to discover new books and see what books other people are using in their classrooms and join in on discussions with people who have the same type of library as myself. 
• Symbaloo: I will use Symbaloo to keep track of our common classroom websites and include the Symbaloo on my classroom website so that parents can easily access the websites we use. Symbaloo also has a blog feature and a section where they highlight different educators and give you the option to follow their profiles. I think this would be a neat way to connect with various excellent teachers who also use Symbaloo.
• Instagram: I will create a class Instagram profile to share the work that we do and perhaps connect with other classrooms and see what they do. I will also follow other teachers and see the ideas from their classrooms that they share. 
• Ning: I will use Ning to stay connected with current, former and future students in the Faculty of Education. 
• Maple: I will use Maple to become a part of many discussions of issues in our field as well as resources and ideas. This is a professional environment and I will stay connected to it so I can grow as a professional teacher. 

E

E is for Easy!

Throughout the past five weeks spent in our Information & Communication Technology class, I've been amazed at how easy all of the apps, websites, tools and activities have been.

Learning new ways to interact with technology has made me much more confident because I now realize that it's not hard or confusing or there to set you up for failure; technology is easy! Anyone can use it and harness its endless capabilities. It's easy for students and it's easy for teachers too.

D

D is for Digital Storytelling 

In today's world there are so many different stories to share and a million different ways to share them. They can evoke laughter, tears, smiles, groans, giggles and faces deep in thought. Technology allows people - kids, teens and adults- to share their stories with so much ease. Today I see my five-year-old cousin capturing the world around him with his iPod and sharing his pictures with all of us and narrating them as he goes along. I see my mom learning how to FaceTime and sending me pictures all the time. And I see my grandmother on Facebook uploading pictures of her quilting club's weekly progress. I think it's really amazing!

There are so many ways you can use digital storytelling with a class ranging from simple videos and projects with Early Years students to more involved movie projects with Senior Years students. Tools like Prezi and iMovie make it simple to share ideas in a creative and engaging way. I think using digital versions of books allow students to interact on an even deeper level with their reading and learning. I think allowing students to harness technology to share their stories is one of the great things about being a teacher in this day and age!

C

C is for Connecting

The school experience is all based on connections; connections between peers, between older and younger students, between teachers, between students and teachers and even between other students and educators across the world via social media. However the most important connection is between the students and their learning. The best classrooms have genuine interactions with learning and help students find relevancy in what they do at school and what is going on in their lives or worlds beyond the classroom walls.
This is an idea stressed across the grades and subject areas. Debbie Miller highlights this in her book Reading with Meaning that focuses on classroom literacy and we know that the foundation to classroom management is engaged students who find purpose in their learning and who feel somehow connected in the school. Personally I can recall a few teachers I had who took a progressivist approach to teaching and centered learning around our topics of interest or passion and it made school a much better experience. As a teacher, I'm really interested in looking at taking inquiry based approaches to student learning and observing the way that it can empower students while they learn the curriculum materials. This also applies relates to classroom technology because of the tools and sources now available to students as well as the ability to connect with people all over the world who have the same knowledge or interest base that they do. By utilizing technology in the inquiry process, students can learn how to properly research and have access to such a wide range of information and a variety of means to share that information.

B

B is for Being Yourself!

As educators, I think it is critical that we know ourselves and embrace what we have to offer our students. We need to know and trust our personalities, our strengths, our weaknesses, our resources and our philosophical outlook as teachers. When interacting with technology and sharing it with students, it is crucial that we know our limitations and continue to grow so that we can confidently share knowledge and skills with our students. If we are confident using technology and continue to learn more, the students will pick up on this and get excited about what we share with them!

Personally, I am eager to embrace more technology in education but I'm nervous as well; afraid that it won't work the way I want it too and afraid that I won't remember all the resources or the best ways to implement them. I did really like using Symbaloo (the education version) in class. I think it would be great to set it as your class homepage so kids know which apps or websites we regularly use and I could definitely see using it on the SMARTboard to organize center or workshop activities.

A

A is for Always Aquiring! 

Even though I've had a chance to do some teaching and will do a lot more in the future, that doesn't mean I can't learn something new every day and acquire new knowledge, strategies or ideas.
I'm looking forward to brushing up on my ICT (Information Communication Technology) skills in the upcoming months. Being exposed to new websites, apps and strategies will only make me a more engaging teacher who can reach and connect with more of her students.
Already I've learned how to use the website wordle to create word splashes and discussed the difference between a similar site, tagxedo, which allows you to create word splashes in different shapes. I think tagxedo would be a really great tool for students to express themselves with words as well as images with the option to share it easily over any form of social media. For teachers, I think we could use these applications to create artwork for our classroom or use these word splashes as end of the year gifts for students highlighting their unique personalities and all that we have learned from them over the year and frame it as a memento. I also have learned how to use the website Padlet as a way to facilitate online discussions with a class.
This is officially my very first blog post - YAY!- and I'm excited to utilize this tool as a way to share my thoughts on education and technology; specifically in an Early Years setting as well as reflect on what I continue to learn.