Full Time Teaching

This week finished out my full time teaching. I cannot believe how quickly the time came and went. I truly enjoyed every single day, and along with the kids, I was learning something new with every day.

The ball study ended up lasting five weeks, with a little bit of Halloween and Fire Safety activites mixed in along the way. I believe the students enjoyed the ball unit, as every day at least a couple of students would always write, "I want to play at balls" on their play plans. Using the ball study allowed for an almost seamless integration of my action research of incorporating physical activity/gross motor skills of catching and throwing as well.

My initial beliefs were the ball study would be much like the science learning cycle I did last semester in third grade but much more in-depth. Wereas everything would be centered around balls and students would really be into the discovery and inquiry focused on the different essential questions: Who uses balls? What are the purpose of balls? What are balls made of? What makes them bounce? What makes them roll? etc.

However, reflecting back, I realize my initial "beliefs, hopes, ideas, etc." were not developmentally appropriate. Preschool Philosophy revolves around three central statements: Instruction is embedded in play. Major focus is to facilitate peer social interaction and concept development. Instructional activities are very brief and concrete.

The students utilized the balls at various times throughout the day. But, the dramatic play area was used for more than a ball store. The blocks were used for more than building ramps and science was used for other activites besides looking inside and outside of balls. But, through having the balls available for play in any areas at any time, I found the students did learn through their play,with or without the balls. Just because their day didn't revolve 100% around balls, like my initial thoughts on conducting a "study" would, did not mean they weren't learning.

In fact, I found as the weeks progressed, students were relating back ideas they had learned the previous weeks. I was amazed when one student used the term "circumference" to discuss the balls. I could not believe that word had stuck with him. The students enjoyed "playing with the balls" and through their play, they learned crucial math, science, and literary ideas. Such as size, weight, circumference, force, energy, simple tools and a wide variety of new vocabulary terms.

While planning, I found having one or two critical questions of the week really helped to focus on specific workstations and discussions and helped to "build" each week upon the other.

During teaching, I found pre-k is not much different than the older grades. They love to be active, their attention span is limited to 10 minutes, and when that time is up, it's time to move on - it's not at ime to "punish" them for not being able to sit still any longer, their little bodies can't take it!

In fact, I believe teaching pre-k has taught me critical ideas that will be beneficial and almost needed in the older grades. Every student, no matter the age, deserves the patience, love, and understanding that makes up a pre-school teacher.