3: All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
The author, Robert Fulghum, in his famous essay said that all he ever really needed to know, he learned in Kindergarten. While I don’t completely agree with everything he wrote — since we gain more wisdom as we get older — he does make a good point. Many of the essential things that we need to know to be a good human being, we start learning in Kindergarten.
And this week, we did just that.
A big part of the IB program focuses on the traits — or those we call the attributes of the learner profiles — that we would like for our children to develop throughout their PYP years.
On Being Caring
The story called The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt paved the way for our lesson on learning how to be caring. In the story, the different colors of the crayons wrote notes to their owner, Duncan. They each had a grievance to share, especially on how each of them is being used and treated.
After reading the story in class, one of the reflections that came out was the importance of being kind to each other so that everyone will be happy. This paved the way for a challenge that was given to the class:
Each student was given only one colored pencil to use for completing a creative picture. I secretly hid all the other coloring materials from the kids to see what they will do next. What transpired after was a beautiful sight: all children started sharing their colored pencil to their friends in exchange for another color. Some of them who were eager to use their favorite one waited patiently for their turn.
The pictures they made may look like the usual coloring pages, but the story behind it is truly magical. The children definitely learned how to practice the messages that they colored and learned that kindness truly does matter.
On Being Balanced and Being a Thinker
One of the more difficult attributes for me to explain to this age group is what it means to be balanced.
To unlock the word, I’ve ask the students to share their understanding of what “balance” means. Some of them talked about it in connection with ballet, some shared their experiences in using the balance beam for PE. We decided, as a class, to try to see if we could balance the blocks that we had in school. The children wanted to make a tower as tall as me — and they did it! What’s truly exciting about the process is how the class solved problems along the way. Some children put small blocks in the middle of the tower, which made it unstable. Each child tried to contribute a solution and eventually, together, they fixed their creation and were able to complete their goal.
To extend their thinking, I’ve also asked the children what they do apart from going to school — and they shared many interests such as dancing, singing, art, and sports. I told them that just like the tower, we also balance our life in many ways, and that includes doing the things we love.
On Being a Risk-Taker and Being Open-minded
I have always loved making art as a child, but I remember getting disheartened everytime I made a mistake. I wanted to share a book with the children called the Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg. This book mainly focuses on the mistakes that we make, and how we can turn them into something amazing. One of my favorite quotes in the book goes like this:
“When you think you have made a mistake,
think of it as an opportunity to make something beautiful.”
We’ve talked about this in the context of being a risk-taker and being open-minded. Each child had the opportunity to use “mistakes” — or some things that we’re ready to throw away — and make something beautiful out of them.
Our room is now a mini-museum showcasing the creativity, innovation, and of course, courage of each child in taking a risk and being open-minded. Such beautiful OOPS, indeed!
On Being Reflective and Principled
At the beginning of every school year, one activity that every class in an IB school does is create a set of essential agreements. These are promises that we make to each other to ensure a fun-filled school year. This week, the Kindergarteners reflected on the story “David Goes to School” by David Shannon. They shared the characteristics of David, the protagonist, that they don’t want to emulate in our class. They all knew what kind of learning environment they’d like to be in, and from there, we were able to create 9 essential agreements:
-We will always listen to each other
-We will keep our hands and feet to ourselves (no kicking, no punching, no pushing, etc.)
-We will ask permission before going out of the classroom
-We will always use the right voice level
-We will always make safe choices
-We will always take care of our classroom
-We will wear our masks in the classroom
-We will always be kind to each other
-We will always have fun
I framed their essential agreements to show them how special they are. We will be posting them up in the classroom so that the children will see it everyday.
Aside from this, one visible tool that we use in the classroom is our Kindness Bottle. It’s a recycled bottle that we fill up with marbles every time we do a good deed and make the right choices. The children are excited to see how fast they can fill it because they know that once they do, there’s a surprise that awaits the class!
——
It was a beautiful first-full week of learning with the children. I’ve had numerous opportunities to get to know them better and reflect on how I can teach them the essential lessons that they need to learn in Kindergarten so that when they grow up, they will make a huge difference in the world.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Comments
Post a Comment