Quick School Update

I say quick...you know how that goes with me.

I really, REALLY love my class this year. I've got 24 little students, which is way too many in kindergarten. However, they are DELIGHTFUL. There are moments when I want to pull my hair out, but overall, I really enjoy them.

I've got an incredible student teacher. She did a lesson with them today, so I was able to sit back and be the support person. I loved watching the kids interact with Ms. StudentTeacher. I loved how they incorporated things I've taught them in their discussion with her. I loved watching their little faces completely focused on her. It made me appreciate them even more. I felt like I was watching them through a window.

I've been doing my annual conferences with the parents. As I pull their signed papers to show their progress, I'm amazed at how much they have already learned in 29 days of school. They are truly little sponges, soaking up all the teaching I put out there. Their handwriting has improved dramatically in the past few weeks. They are already beginning to read. Two little girls were in stations (centers) last week and one said, "I want to be the teacher and you be the student." Then I proceeded to listen to them do "Mrs. Benson." It was hysterical. They used vocabulary I used (schema, background knowledge, you can do it! Great job, buddy!) and pretended to teach one another. Today, two little boys were in the poetry station, reading our poems. They were so funny, "reading" the poems together. It was obvious they had memorized the poems, but they were moving their pointers left to right and top to bottom. They weren't quite making one-to-one (pointing to each word as they read), but they are well on their way.

It's going to be a good year, for sure.

There...that wasn't so bad. It wasn't too long, was it?