Here are some of the smiling faces who will star in this years class. I was able to speak with almost all of the children this week and it sounds like everyone is eager for the first day. Some children do not have a photo in the collage as they missed our visitation day in May for one reason or another. Don’t worry, I will be taking lots of pics this year.

We Light Up the World

It’s time again to set our sites on the new faces arriving through the classroom door. This is always an exciting time for the teachers, students, and families. This year I’m looking forward to a somewhat different experience from the recent past. Although Mrs. Piper and I have developed a great system for getting the job done, I would like to see some overall changes in how that is accomplished.

This newer way of thinking came about through a summer of invigorating online experiences, experiences I wouldn’t have enjoyed without Twitter and my Google Reader.  I have read great blogs, commented on many of them, posted my own reflections, and had an open discourse about these reflections as well as those of other teachers. The One Comment a Day Project brought me many new blogs to follow and broadened my PLN. I hope to be able to revisit some of these blogs during the school year, although the demands of teaching are, at times, overwhelming on their own. I also attended a one week program on Responsive Classroom, a program actively used at Norris for many years. A permanent link has been added to the right hand sidebar should you be interested in learning more about how it builds community and responsibility.

So what will this new kindergarten experience look like? What will an observer see and understand? In short, the program will be geared even more toward student project based learning, collaboration, mutual respect, and developing our communication skills. The students will do more reflecting and, over time, explaining their thoughts and ideas. They will share their reflections by writing (drawing and later writing;) they will develop their speaking skills as they work in small and large groups; they will build community by getting to know each other a bit better and a bit more quickly than we have in the past.

As an example of how our new approach works, I offer this. Rather than simply looking out the window and reporting what the weather outside is doing each day, we will record it online and discuss what the weather means for our clothing  and opportunities for outdoor play. We will talk about how the weather corresponds to the season we are in and our location in the world. “In the world” is a big part of our new look. Even young children will find it valuable to see how things look outside of our own “little” 5 year old universe. The children in Australia and South America  will be heading into their spring and summer months as we head into autumn.

We will also take a look at some Kids Are Heroes stories online. The children in these stories saw a need for change in some aspect of their world and set a goal to do something to help make that change. It is my hope that our children will see how people, including children, can set a goal of making a difference and do just that – making a better world for all. I have been inspired by the Gabe O’Neill website KidsAreHeroes, as well as the books Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire by Rafe Esquith and Three Cups Of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. All of these resources have reminded me that we can make a difference if we set our minds and hearts to it.

So let us take the first of many steps. The destination is much the same and our children will be expected to learn an abundance of new things each day, but the avenues we take to get there will be a bit new to many of us. That’s what makes learning such an adventure!

I will be interested in hearing your thoughts on our journey, both now and in the months to come. So please, leave a comment or two and become a part of our learning experience. We learn best when we do it together!