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KidatHeart Tweet 

By Amy Latta January 28, 2014   No comments
I'm having a sale! Go to TeachersPayTeachers and celebrate with me.

Click the links above or this big shiny button below. 
"We Need to Go Deeper"

By Amy Latta January 23, 2014   No comments
Hello fellow teachers!

Let's stop for a second and admit that we live in a fast-paced world. (If this isn't true for you, bear with me for a minute. Also, please share your secret in the comments) If you're a parent, you rush to get the kids up in time for school. You rush to work in the morning.  You rush to meet deadlines at work, however big or small. You rush home and maybe rush your children off to karate or dance or sports.
Is it any wonder that our classroom feels rushed sometimes?  You may be rushed right now.
Take a minute. Fold your arms up like a pretzel and literally unwind as you breathe out. Close your eyes and think of something that makes you happy while you breathe in and out, slowly. Here, have a kitten.

There. Better?  Good.

There are lots of great activities out there for whatever your theme may be.  The problem with many of them, and I've been guilty of this too, is that they only last a week.  Even theme books that have each month organized by topic are broken down into weekly themes.  You spend a week on caring for babies and the next week, you've moved on to something else. Are some of the children still interested? Too bad. Now you're doing dinosaurs because some of the girls said they like dinosaurs.

Rush rush rush. Rush to centers, rush to lunch, rush to get home. Rush through themes.

Sound familiar?  So what can we do about it?

The answer is simple: slow down.

I recently got some materials about connecting Preschool to Kindergarten. One of the big ideas from it is that children are required to do a lot in Kindergarten but what teachers really want to see is children who know how to think and be independent.

Believe me, I was skeptical. Aren't we supposed to give these kids a good foundation? Don't we have to focus on helping them learn their letters and being able to count to 20? Don't we have to build on the children's interests constantly? The state Foundations say...

Trust me, I know.  Look, forget about Foundations and Common Core and Teacher Standards for a minute. You're in this job for the kids.

What the kids need to learn most is how to learn. Think about your favorite teachers. Did they give you facts or did they give you tools?  Did they cram information down your throat as they tried to make things fun by saying, "But the rest of the class is interested?" Or did they say, "I see you have some questions. How are you going to answer them?"

Two weeks ago, my class started a unit on animals.  We made a list of animals we wanted to learn about. I modeled questions and as children naturally asked questions through the day, I wrote them down.

Last week and this week, we're finding out the answers to those questions. If you look at the chart, you'll notice that lots of the animals live in the ocean so this week we extended that and started focusing on animals that live in the ocean.  Now, I still don't have everything perfect. But the discussion has been carried over.  This week I felt that some real learning has taken place.

I've had kids start writing about ocean animals. I made a book that I wouldn't have had time to make otherwise. We had children use big words like "camouflage" and "mammal." We looked at gills and had a discussion about animals that breathe underwater for ten minutes. The best part of that is that it was led by the kids. It helped that I had the laptop for instant research and gratification.

Last week, I realized something: I've had time to breathe.  My center toys are staying out longer. I'm slowly adding more pictures because now we have time.  My biggest worry was that the kids would no longer be interested, but they've been diving into it right there with me, getting more excited about it.

Not every child is interested in the theme, and that's ok.  Because these past few weeks, my focus has been on skills that I wanted the children to learn.  Of course they've always been there, but they've been closely tied to the theme; this week, my objectives are more general. Observe and record. Question.

I went to school to be an elementary teacher, where the focus was on what students needed to learn. Themes were secondary and only there to help the children learn the material in an interesting way.
I used to think that preschool was completely different but as I've had time to prepare more materials this week and focus less on "activities," I realize they're not so different after all.

As for the NC Foundations, we've covered them. Explore. Question. Write for various purposes. Research. Observe. Learn letters and phonics skills. Use technology.

Of course you know all this, but it can get easy to get bogged down in the rush.

So, again, I remind you.  Breathe.  Relax.  Play. Explore. And the learning will come.
 
Bully-Proof Your Child

By Amy Latta January 13, 2014   No comments
There's an increased prevalence in zero-tolerance policies for bullying in elementary schools all across the country.  A quick Google search reveals plenty of resources for teachers of students in upper elementary and middle schools.  While these strategies can be effective for older students, they can be hard to adapt for younger students that don't have key life skills. In fact, several of the skills we teach children revolve specifically around how to get along with others and gain self-confidence.  How are preschool teachers supposed to equip their students if they live in fear of getting hurt? How can they manage bullying in their own classroom?
An article by Dr. Laura Markham, linked below, is an article that answers these questions.  She breaks strategies down into terms preschoolers can understand and gives strategies for teachers and parents to equip themselves.  With these, hopefully we can stop bullying before it becomes a habit by reaching out to both the bully and the bullied.

Dr. Laura Markham Bully-Proof Your Child
 

By Amy Latta January 06, 2014   No comments

Hopefully you all had a great break and those of you stuck inside during this cold weather are enjoying it.

I've been doing some thinking about resolutions.  Of course I have some for my class: delve deeper into the material, work on  longer projects now that we're used to small ones, and staying positive with my team members.  And of course I can't forget the goals on the PDP. But as I was cleaning out my desk and looking at an old leadership training, it occurred to me that as teachers, it's ok for us to have bigger goals in mind.  How big? Well, that's up to you, of course, but here's a question:
Imagine at some distant point in the future, you're on a talk show. Radio, TV, it doesn't matter; pick your favorite host. Got it? Good. Now: you're center stage. The host raises the mike and starts the conversation. What are you talking about? What is everyone tuning in to hear? Is it a blog that went viral? Is it a political change that you made? Is it a new curriculum you headed up or a collaboration you started?

Maybe those goals seem too big, but I assure you, they're not.  Because every big change starts with a little one. Think about what you don't like and I mean really think about it.  Is it something about where you work? Be proactive and record that you suggested change; at the very least, it will be something to show to your next employer. Is it at the state level? You can write letters and petitions. This blog has had 756 pageviews at the time of writing.  I know that's not much, but it's certainly more than I was expecting.  And who knows? Maybe one of my posts will go viral.

It's easy to forget that we can make a difference as we struggle to find that new way to keep children engaged, use that new assessment tool,work with this new online system.

But our leaders were teachers, too. Which means you can be a leader.

So, with all that in mind: how can you change the world? Until I do, I'll keep changing my little corner one post at a time.

--Amy Latta
 
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