We Skoolhouse Group

Good morning! I'm so glad I found this site! It's crazy, but I could be writing a lot of what you're posting! I'm starting my 47th year of being a teacher, my 27th in a parent cooperative nursery school that two of my sons attended. I get so frustrated by the academic push down, kindergarteners now have the saming learning objectives my son had in second grade 30 years ago! grrrrrr. I plan to retire at the end of this school year, but I refuse to go out with a whimper! I'm always looking for fresh ideas. As far a my philosophy, I think I'm a blend of different things. (My degree is in Early Childhood Education, earned in the crunchy granola 70's, where process, not product was emphasized.) I'm also certified to teach elementary and special ed.

I appreciate your approach, I'm really turned off by people who say you should NEVER do something. The morning after I saw a webinar literally titled, "Rip the Calendar Off the Wall," where a presenter said "No child has EVER take a teacher by the hand and asked about the calendar," a child took me by the hand, and walked me to our calendar. He said, "Can you show me where Friday is? Fridays are very important. It's video night at our house. We put our sleeping bags in the living room and get to have a picnic and watch a movie." I showed him where it was, and he said he needed to mark it. I offered him different materials, and he chose to make a flag with an unsharpened pencil and a post it note. He taped it to Friday. Then he asked if we could move it everyday so he'd know how many days until Friday. Our calendar time is brief. I teach mixed ages, and don't really use it for the three year olds. For older children, one child gets to lead the others asking them to count. We put a new number each day. If it's September 2, the only numbers up are 1 and 2. There is a pattern, and we clap/jump/ move to the pattern. That's about it.

No quizzing, no pressure. It all depends on the interest of the class.

I signed up for the teacher's lounge on September 9, but that's our first day of school and we end out 12:30. (It's a small school, I'm the teacher as well as director.) I'll join as soon as possible.