Growing

I have been observing and helping in Angelle's kindergarten classroom since the beginning of the school year. One thing that hit me in about January was how much they had grown.

They can recognize words they were not able to before. Watching Christine during her student-led parent conference, she was able to read and recognize nearly every single word written on the schedule of the day. They have become familiarized over the course of the school year, as we all read them in a sing-songy voice daily each morning: "Babadaba! Schedule of the Day".

They are much more independent. I think back to one of my first sessions in the classroom with them. They were doing an activity on small, individual-size white boards, which involved them having to spray and erase after producing each answer. All the boys and many of the girls would look to me, unsure of what to do or where the erasing spray was. I put it down in the same spot on the table each time, which Teagan and a few other girls seemed to realize, but no other students did. Some would ask me where the spray was or how to clean it, while in some cases, it did not seem to occur to those kids how to achieve their white board getting clean. Now, I see children acting in a variety of ways that show their independence and initiative. All the kids now stand up and get the _____ word chart on their own. They are able to recognize that they are trying to spell a common word that appears on the chart, and without any instruction from a teacher or a question to a teacher, they get the chart by themselves - and spot the word without help, as well.

Although, throughout the year boys have increasingly needed sticker charts of marbles to make sure they behave or contribute in class, these boys have also increasingly gained more stickers more often. They have more good days in which Thayer does not speak out of turn and gets right to work and more days when Sam speaks up in class, sharing his voice.

Almost all twos are written forwards, rather than backwards, now. Children are ditching capital letters and learning to use them only with proper nouns and not in every instance. People are starting from the sky line to form their letters without being told. They can add numbers and notice patterns.

It was been an unmatched experience watching these children grow over the course of a year. It has been really inspiring to see that they can learn so much from such wonderful teachers.