Chapter 5 (pgs. 83-101)- Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten- A Menu of Skill Building Activities- Blog 5
Chapter 12-Teaching and Learning in the Kindergarten Year-Physical Education in Kindergarten-Blog 5
Please respond to these chapters in the blog. Content criteria can be found under module 5.
There was A LOT of information in Chapter #5 of the Middendorf text this week! I thought that one of the most important things I read in the sea of information was that if teachers provide a wide variety of materials, children will naturally differentiate on their own. This is so important because as we have been learning more and more each week, each child is an individual, so they all learn differently. I do not know what everybody else’s thoughts are, but each week as I have read more and more about differentiating instruction, I have been worried that there was no way I would be able to provide instruction that facilitates learning in a variety of modalities and also different intelligences. It was beneficial just for me to know that if I provide the materials, the student will for the most part do what naturally helps them learn the best. In order to implement this into my classroom, obviously I would just try and make sure that for given lessons, I provide a variety of materials that would facilitate experimentation and learning for different intelligences and learning modalities.
ReplyDeleteI also found all of the different learning centers that help with the development of fine motor skills to be extremely helpful. I especially find the different learners, different approaches and extensions sections to be very informative. They gave a large variety of suggestions to differentiate the learning and to also reinforce what is taught at the center. I would implement these into my classroom by again providing a lot of different materials for the students to experiment with their own learning. I would also provide activities that would allow the student to extend their learning into other areas or facilitate it further.
In the K Today text, the information I found most helpful was regarding skill themes and movement concepts. Skill themes are the actual physical movement skills that children need to learn and perform. Movement concepts are the knowledge component of the physical education curriculum. There are three different types of movement concepts. There is space awareness- self, shared space, directions, levels, and pathways; body awareness- relationships the mover has with himself/herself and the environment; effort awareness- how the body moves in space with use of time, force, and control. These things can be implemented constantly in the classroom. One just has to be conscious to help the students become aware of the different relationships that their bodies and movements because movement concepts are learned while skill themes are practiced.
Hi Kyla!
DeleteI am right there with you. Some weeks I feel a little more overwhelmed than others. I feel like I don't know if I am going to be able to reach each child, but hope that they too will naturally do what makes them learn best. However, like our students I think we as teachers will naturally spot what is or is not working a change it to better meet the needs of our students.
I am on the same page as well. The prospect of teaching and having all those little kids be dependent on you for all their different areas of needs can be overwhelming. You are right Jonelle, I think that we as teachers will be able to see what is working and what is not and change accordingly. It may take a few years of experience, but that is how we learn.
DeleteI also agree with having the teacher provide a variety of materials. Although we may not always know exactly how our students learn best, they do know. We may think that we have an idea, but if we provide many materials the students will naturally use what they know they need to. While they are helping themselves, they unknowingly are also helping us as teachers for the future to know how to modify different areas for that chilld.
DeleteThese texts were packed full with information! One thing that really popped out to from me from the Middendorf text helped me understand something I had not yet asked my mentor teacher about in my Internship class. Her word wall has words cut out into the outline of the word highlighting tall letters, short letter, and long letters. I had no idea it made words look three dimensional. It makes sense though. Also, whenever my teacher has her students spell the letters she makes the hold their arms in front of them for short letter, hold their arms straight up when they get to the tall letters, and then hold them straight down for the long letters. Pretty interesting!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love the number rhymes. We had little jingles to make everything or draw everything else, but we never had one for numbers. This is something I had to forward back to my former job.
The K Today section really reminds me of the importance of doing lessons on eating healthy. I worked at my previous job for 2.5 years, and I can honestly say we maybe did a small section that covered nutrition. I mean, we talked a little bit about it during dental awareness month, but that was it. This chapter made me realize that maybe we could have emphasized more on healthy habits. I am sure that can be said about many things though. It seems so hard to get everything in.
I love the three dimensional words! And the accompanying arm movements. I think this would work really well in my pre-k class as well. It does really draw attention to the different heights of each letter and the over-all shape of the word. I adore the Differentiating book and have already found many ways to adapt a few things for younger children.
DeleteI think that health and nutrition is definitely something that needs to be integrated more and more into almost daily instruction. I say this because I know first hand, as should everybody else, about the growing problem with obesity in young children in this country. I remember when I was in grade school, there were a few kids that were a little chunky here and there, a lot of them (like me) was due to the fact that they just had not grown to be very tall yet. Then, when I was in high school, our FFA chapter put on a petting zoo for the elementary school children. I always brought a horse and gave pony rides. The first year that I brought my horse for the event, I was mainly in charge of getting the kids up on to my horse by myself...HOLY COW! There were kids I couldn't even come close to lifting, and I'm fairly strong for my size. I'm talking little girls that were younger than third grade that were weighing well over 100 pounds...I could hardly believe it. The scary thing is that the problem just keeps escalating and now schools have gone to the extremes of saying that students cannot even bring birthday treats or snacks for parties unless they are considered healthy. Yes, children need to have the amount of sugary and fattening things that they consume during the day limited...but completely taking away cupcakes is not going to solve the problem either. Now, they are not going to know how to manage themselves when those things are available for them to eat. I think in a way, the school systems are making their own monsters by rigidly controlling a child's diet at school.
ReplyDeleteWHOOPS! The above post was supposed to be in reply to Jonelle's thread on the blog...sorry!
DeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteI also found configuring words to be an interesting topic. The Kindergarten teacher that I work with actually does this. I didn't realize why until I read this chapter. You also mentioned the fine motor center and that you already use them and I think that that is great. I have never seen them used before and after reading about it I will be using it in my classroom someday.
Differentiating Instruction-This chapter discusses activities that will help every type of learner. The introduction of the chapter was very interesting to me. It states that when a behavior or skill is repeated, the neurons carry the messages for that skill and send increasingly stronger and more consistent messages to surrounding neurons. Fine-motor control is another item that I found interesting. Fine-motor skills, such as cutting, using a paint brush, and controlling a pencil are skills that are taught in Kindergarten. There are many different ways that a teacher can work on this in the Kindergarten classroom. The activities on pages 87-91 were great to read about and will be something that I want to use my classroom. Using names for literacy activities was another area that I found important. There are so many ways to use this in your classroom and it doesn't take much time. Names are something that students really work to remember because they want to remember their friends names. It also can connect something they already know to something that they are trying to learn.
ReplyDeleteK Today-This chapter discusses physical education in Kindergarten. I must say that the school that I work at is very lucky. We have full day Kindergarten and they are able to participate in a physical education class every day. One of the parts of this chapter that I found to be important was the area that discusses instilling healthy habits. A teacher needs to model and teach nutrition in the classroom. I don't know how many times I've seen teachers talk about nutrition and health and then walk in the door with a soda and a donut. That is not modeling for you students. I think that when a teacher or a parent sends snack to school, they need to make sure that they are healthy and not candy. Another area I found important was developing skills of children with disabilities. It can be great for children with disabilities to become physically fit. Teachers need to include them in physical activities as much as possible. The last part of the reading that I found interesting was how to present motor development activities to children. You need to make sure to begin by focusing on learning large body movements. Then you should make tasks that are sequential and make sure to break down the skills into small actions. The teacher also needs to be involved so that they can help children refine specific skills. I want to be able to do these things in my classroom. Not just to help my students develop physically but to integrate some reading or math into physical activities.
Brandy
DeleteI also thought it was amazing that the neurons carry signals that increase in strength the more you practice a skill. The material over fine-motor skills was very interesting. I loved all the activities that help increase hand strength and motor control. I agreed when the book said that holding a pencil is a skill that is built upon many other skills. You need to build dexterity and muscle control in order to be able to grip it.
In chapter 5 of the differentiating instruction book we read about skill-building activities. I absolutely agree that when teaching a lesson the student’s need to be given a variety of different activities that activate different parts of the brain. The more different kinds of practice that happen, the more the brain will gain the concept. I know for my classroom I will not just offer the “one-size-fits-all” drills practices, because that does not engage the students. I personally can form more meaningful connections when given a variety of different activities. As a teacher you want to reach as many students with the material as you can, and differentiated the assignments will prove to be the most effective way. I love when the book says that “the more ways in which the skills are reinforced, the more neural pathways for retrieval are being build and the more likely it is that the skill will become permanent”. As eachers our goal is not that the students will be able to just get good grades and pass tests and assignments, but rather to gain knowledge and a understanding of the material for a lifetime. I will be honest and say that in many of my classes over the years, I have simply stored the information in short term memory so I can pass a test or get a good grade, and later forgot all the information. We need to be conscience of this happening with our own students. The best way to do this is to give them practice their skills in multiple ways.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 12 in the K Today book, we read about physical education in Kindergarten. This chapter was very educational for me to read. I had not read much material about how important physical education is for young students. Throughout ones life physical activity can improve physical health, mental health and be constructive of social relationships. With a child’s brain forming and changing so much in this year of life, it is important to show support and enthusiasm for learning through movement. One thing I found that is important to remember is to have activities that can be done by each and every student. Students are all at varying points in developmental abilities, and that includes physical ability. Just like in the classroom you need to scaffold activities and make sure that they are appropriate for the age and development of the students. I was amazed at the checklist that Kindergartens should be able to accomplish by graduation. Working with Kindergartners currently, I know many that are behind on the checklist and many that entered Kindergarten with these skills already. I don’t agree with having a checklist that all students must be able to master these skills, but of course you need to have a guideline of what most students will be able to accomplish. The teacher will be able to help with the physical education if you link academics to movement in the classroom. This not only helps improve the skills of movement, but activate learning for those kinesthetic learners!
I agree Autumn in the importance of engaging students in activities that activate different parts of their brain. I know this kind of teaching works best for me so we should realize if adults need it then our young children certainly do. We do need to make sure we understand our goal is to increase a child’s understanding not just get good grades. I didn’t know much about physical education for young children either so this chapter was very helpful to me as well. Your right about the importance of differentiating physical activity for students just as we do academic instruction. All children need to be offered the opportunity to participate in something as important as physical exercise.
DeleteErin Flax
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of useful information in the K Today this week. At first I thought that we didn’t need to read this since it is the physical education teacher’s job. But then I read that some kindergarten classes don’t get to participate in PE and PE does not always give the child the hour of structured physical activity they need a day. They also require one hour of unstructured physical activity that they don’t always get either. Page 132 opened my eyes to the fact that adults are vital to children developing needed physical skills. The book states that they do not automatically learn these skills through free play. To achieve this I will include different physical activities into our lessons. For example in my current lesson plan for this course I did not have physical education as an integrated lesson. So I added some into my social studies lesson. The chart on page 130 of the physical education curriculum framework was really helpful. I will definitely refer back to this chart when I plan physical activities for my students. Another area that caught my attention was on page 134 when it talked about engaging children’s families. I totally agree in the importance of this. It helps greatly that we get the children active at school but it isn’t enough. Families need to get on board. They are the ones feeding and providing play opportunities for their children at home and they should be given good information on great healthy ways to do that. In my old Head Start classroom we had family activities nights once a month which were on different topics. Once a year we had one on physical education and once we would have one on nutrition. It is important to give them great ideas of fun activities and yummy meals and snacks. In my son’s 4th grade class a few years ago the teacher had a bike ride one evening for her students and their families. We should not downplay our influence on nutrition and physical activity in our student’s lives.
In our differentiating textbook I highlighted almost half of this section. On the very first page I liked how it said “active, hands-on skill practice that engages more than one area of the brain means more fun for children and enables more powerful learning than exclusively drill-and-skill-type practice because it engages more than one area of the brain.” It sounds complicated but all of the ideas that were presented in this chapter seemed so simple. I’m sure creating a lesson on letters that had some fine motor in it would just happen many times. But, after reading this, I will make a conscious effort to think about each activity and figure out how I can integrate other areas of learning as well as different modalities. The section on writing tools and scissors on page 86 was a good reminder. I think we tend to think (or I do) that we have found the best utensil for writing that is perfect for our age of students, but this reminded me that everyone is at a different level and is more comfortable with different tools. We understand that everyone can learn differently but this also includes our differing tastes for tools. Scissors are the same way. I have seen many different types of scissors. A special education preschool I did my internship in had some were connected by strip of springy plastic. This helped the student squeeze to close it and then it would release on its own. This eliminated the awkward choppiness of regular scissors. I will offer a wide variety of writing utensils and scissors in my classroom. I had seen word configurations like on page 93 before in my old preschool room. The teacher used them to help distinguish tall, short and below the line letters. However, I did not know that they also were good for students during their transition from needing 3 dimensional to 2 dimensional in order to process things. I had never thought of that. I am excited to use this on my word wall.
One section of the readings that I found very informational and useful were the activities provided in the “Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten” text. I especially liked the ideas for the learning centers that promote fine motor skills. It is so great to have these ideas right at your fingertips to use with you students whenever you need to. They also use materials that are normally available to everyone and seeing these certain materials being used can help us boost our own creativity and come up with our own learning centers that include those items.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that I thought was very important for future teachers to know about and utilize in their classrooms is the idea to configure words in print. When I was in elementary school and even now as a paraprofessional for the school, I see these configured words in many classrooms throughout the lower grades. Putting words in this form, help the children learn and memorize what letters are tall, short, and long. Knowing what letters have what configurations can help the young children discriminate between different words, especially their names and their friends’ names.
The last concept that I found very informative in our readings for the week, was the difference between skill themes and movement concepts in physical education. The K: Today text states that “skill themes are the actual physical movement skills that children need to learn and perform.” These skill themes consist of locomotor skills, stability skills, and manipulative skills. Movement concepts are defined as “the knowledge component of physical education.” They include space awareness, body awareness, and effort awareness. The thing that I liked the most about this section is that it provided you with a handy-dandy guide to distinguish between the two curriculum concepts.
I love all the ideas that are provided for us in these two texts, but in this section of the readings I especially think that the learning center ideas were the best and that they will be one of the most useful ideas to use in our classroom as we start our careers.
The fine motor skills are really important to help children with. I remember having kiddos that would shake when they tried to do something like putting on their socks. It really worried me so I asked a specialist what I could do. Her advice was just to work on those fine motor skills with the child. I liked the ideas in the book also! They were easy, inexpensive things that would be easy to pull out for centers or for students who may have finished their work early.
DeleteJessica, I also liked the configuring words in print section. I think that they are a great way for children to learn and discriminate between the letters that they are learning. I know a teacher in my school, which has every one of the students’ names in configuration form on their cubbies. In preschool, they just had a shape to identify their cubbies and chairs, using the configuration method; they are actually using their word structure to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteThe first section that caught my idea was on page 133 of the K Today text. The section that talks about tying physical education activities to other curricular areas. This talked about how good physical education programs don't isolate the teaching of movement skills from parts of the curriculum. They tie it in to the curriculum instead. I believe that this is important because when it comes to physical education some children are not thrilled about participating. Knowing that exercise is so important at this age this means that bring activity into curriculum is very important. I will use this in my kindergarten classroom perhaps by playing a game and learning the curriculum at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThe other point that interested me was also in the K-Today text on page 129. Quote, "Kindergartners should not be asked to achieve a high level of competence in any one skill." The first thing that came to mind was sports. Anymore, so many kids are starting a specific sport at this age and even before. For instance, wrestling. I have attended some of my little brothers wrestling matches and I was in the shock the way that some of these kids were pushed to win. It can go either way depending on who you are. Obviously we aren't going to teach our kids to lose. But, at this age I think it is most important that we are introducing a variety of skills in different ways. Let the kids decide on what they like to do, they shouldn't be pushed to do what you want them to. I will use this in my classroom by teaching my students a variety of skills rather than pushing them to master one skill. If they are taught a variety then they will practice all these skills on their own time.
The third point that I really enjoyed was in the Middendorf text. On page 100 a center activity "clothespins names" is mentioned. For each child there is a paint stick. The way it is used is having the number of clothespins that have that many letters in their name. Each clothespin spells out the childs name. This will development fine motor skills by having the grasp the clothespin and putting it on the paint stick to spell out their own name. This also develops name recognition. I love this idea! It seems so simple but comes to such a good use. I would use this in my classroom by using this as a "sign in" for the students. As they arrive to class have them each pick the letters of their name and put it on the paint stick. This will help them learn their letters of their name as well as develop fine motor skills like I mentioned above.
Both of these chapters offered great ideas, but this week I really connected to the Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten. This chapter had so many ideas for fine motor control, help with vision differences, and math tips. One of the projects that stood out to me was the clothespin idea. I am actually going to make this and use it with the children I take care of. It helps them to make that connection of letters to words. I also really liked the name learning activities. The graph the text suggested made up of children's names and pictures was such a neat idea! When I worked in a preschool the children were really good about identifying different students names. This would have been a fun task for those who liked to do that. There were also great math building tips! My favorites was the dice game. The child rolls the die, connects the dots to the corresponding number, and then writes the number in their chart. They also have to write the number that comes before and after the given number.
ReplyDeleteTeaching and Learning in the Kindergarten Year was great because it really expressed the need children have for those gross motor skills/play. The charts about the different movement concepts and skills was very helpful. I feel like sometimes with all the learning kindergarteners are asked to do, sometimes we forget about the physical skills they need to develop. Simple things such as skipping, moving side to side, or balancing are things that children need to practice and have a model for. These would be great transition activities to get the children's "wiggles" out before they go on to the next event.
Kristen, I also liked reading about the fine motor control tips. the activities that were suggested seemed fun. There is a OT that comes and works with some of the students in my class and she is always bringing in projects like the ones you stated. I can now see how these activities could be used for other skills such as color identifying, counting, turn tacking and so many more.
DeleteDifferentiating Instruction- This chapter was full of great information. I thought the section on different writing tools would be useful in my future classroom. It’s important to remember that each child is different, and this affects children’s writing techniques as well. I will provide a variety of writing utensils in my classroom so the children can pick what they are most comfortable with. I also really enjoyed the different centers to help strengthen fine motor skills. I thought the happy hole-punching center looked fun and helpful. This center helps to strengthen the students grip. I would plan a center similar to this to help students strengthen their grip. I will use a variety of paper for students to hole punch. I also really liked the configured names board the teacher made on page 98. This will help students see the different shapes of letters in their friends name as well as their own. Children love to see their name posted around the room, this will make learning fun for them.
ReplyDeleteK Today- Physical education in Kindergarten is so important. The childrens are just learning what their bodies and do and are becoming coordinated enough to run, jump, balance, etc. It is important to remember that children this age learn well through movement. I will use physical education in my classroom to promote a positive outlook on physical activity and student’s health. Physical education is also used as a tool to fight childhood obesity. Research shows us that children who do not develop a foundation of basic motor skills are less likely to participate in physical activity on a daily basis. It is important as a kindergarten teacher to make physical activity fun. I liked the list of activities kindergarten students should be able to do on page 132. It’s a good checklist to use at the end of each year.
I really liked the configuring words in print section as well. It is a good way to show students the different shapes in the letters they are learning. It will help them to distinguish between tall and short letters. I liked the happy hole punching center. This would be a great way to strengthen the children's grip.
ReplyDeleteLike every week I learned something knew or thought of something in a different way. One thing in the differentiating text that stood out to me was how different children's eyes develop at different times. In my future classroom I want to remember this be having configuring words in print. This helps children identify words and helps them understand the difference between tall, short,and long letters.
ReplyDeleteIn the same book I liked how they covered how different children's hands grip is not all the same. Some children can use smaller grips better then others but it is a process for students to develop skills to use the smaller grips. In my classroom I want to expose my students to different grips so they can find one that will help them to write the best.
in the K-today book i liked how it talked about having different expectations for kids physical needs. Like in everything else kids need time to develop appropriate skills. Children are naturally full of energy and need a release. letting them use their large muscles and move around will help them to focus when it is time. In my classroom I will allow time for the kids to move and get their wiggles out. I will also adapt activities that could be done in a active manor so the students can move around and be learning at the same time.
I think allowing kids to get their wiggles out is essential to learning! In another class I am taking the teacher mentioned that the brain needs us to be physical or get up and move every 12 minutes or so. I thought that was interesting and then tying it to this material made me think even more about allowing time for students to be physical. I am anxious to find ways to incorporate physical activity into my classroom.
DeleteIn the KToday text, I really appreciated all of the information regarding physical activity in the kindergarten classroom and curriculum. A statistic that stood out to me is that less than 30% of kindergarten age children are receiving formalized physical education instruction on a daily basis. This is mostly due to NCLB. I was really drawn to the information about skill themes and movement concepts. I have seen a lot of these principles in action. While working in the preschool setting we would have small group time and one group was always physically oriented. The kids shifted groups each day so they each got a turn. We really worked on the skill themes more than the movement concepts when in small groups but focused more directly on movement concepts when we were in large group settings. I liked this part of the text because for me, in the classroom, I would know what to look for in regards to motor development that is physical education in a way. Something that really stood out to me was the suggestion to ensure that all students are involved in activities - games like 'Duck, Duck, Goose!', 'Musical Chairs' and relay races create an environment for winners and losers. This leaves kids feeling dejected and creates a feeling of exclusion for the losing teams/kids. The idea behind physical education in the classroom is to create a community that promotes healthy living and active lifestyles because we're all aware that an active lifestyle is better for everyone.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, I've never been more overwhelmed by good, quality material as I was with the Differentiating text this week. I really liked all of the ideas that were presented for the kindergarten classroom. The pom-pom activity with the different sized necks on the bottles, the variety of pencils so that each learner has a good fit, hole punches for hand/grip strength, etc. All of the ideas for learning to recognize and write names were such great ideas! I never knew that the way we configure words in print had anything to do with two-dimensional and three-dimensional vision. I also didn't realize that vision wasn't automatically three-dimensional in a lot of ways. Everything in the Differentiating text could be taken and utilizied in a classroom because it was so full of developmentally appropriate, quality material.
We have changed a few of those games to eliminate the losing and winning aspect in our prek room. For musical chairs we never take away any chairs. Instead, the child who does not have a place to sit when the music stops, gets to do a silly dance, or make a silly face, or whatever they decide before the game begins. We have a few who never seem to find a seat when the music stops because they want to show how many different faces they can make or how silly their dance is!
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