Stuffed.

Today we took a field trip to a local sporting goods store… the reason? We’re studying animals and their habitats and this particular store, Cabella’s (their a national chain) has stuffed animals all over the place. Here are some memorable things you might have heard if you were on the trip with us…

“Cabella’s! Cabella’s! Cabella’s!” – the entire bus chanting/screaming as we approached and they saw the sign. You’d have thought we were pulling into Disney.

“I know they say those animals are dead, but I know they’re not – they’re just staying really, really still.”

“Please don’t pick your nose and then put your fingers on the aquarium glass.”

“It says that elephant skulls weighs 100 pounds – do you weight that much Mr. _______?” (Love that kid.)

Me – “Xander, where’s your jacket?”

Xander – “I don’t know, I dropped it somewhere…” As he walks towards another animal with no regard for his lost jacket.

“Look! Those tents are just floating in the air!” (You could clearly see the rope.)

“Mr. _______, why is that hyena jumping on the back of the other hyena?”

"Prairie dog butt! Prairie dog butt! Prairie dog butt! Prairie dog butt! Prairie dog butt!"

And my all time favorite (drum roll please…)

“Thank you for setting it all up, but no our kindergartners aren’t going to be able to use the gun gallery to shoot fake animals.”

We had a blast looking at all the animals. I know that a field trip day should be easier, but for some reason, they’re always more tiring and exhausting than a ‘normal’ day. I’m almost wishing I was one of those stuffed animals and able to just relax a little.

Algebra.

Oh how I love working in a K-3 school…

This morning, our math lesson was a dice game where sprouts worked in pairs. Each child got a pair of dice, rolled them, and then had to total their dice. Whoever had the higher number got a chip. There were ten chips in each cup, when all the chips were gone, they were tallied and a winner identified. The tricky part was we’re working on 'counting on' as opposed to just counting all the dots on the dice. 'Counting on' can be tricky for kindergarteners…

We worked all morning during our math time and even played again in the afternoon… many got it, but many struggled too.

I also popped into my dear friend Mrs. F.’s room. Mrs. F. teaches third grade and her students are also our reading buddies. When I opened the classroom door, the room was totally silent. The boys and girls were all sitting and working in their math journals. I looked at the board and saw a problem much like this:

In third grade. Coming from my classroom, this looked downright like college algebra to me. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent guy and I had to look at the problem for a few moments before I realized how to solve it… not only were her students solving it correctly, I was told by more than a few that this was ‘easy peasy, lemon squeezy’ and felt even dumber than before… are all the hugs and hand holding turning my brain to mush?

I turned to go and was eager to return to kindergarten.  Hats off to Mrs. F. and her third graders. They are doing some amazing stuff up in that second floor classroom. I’ll stick with 'counting on' and counting to one hundred… hey, we all have our roles to play.

SOS.

Wow. It’s a little on the long side (yes, I’ve got ADD and twelve minutes is a long time for me to attend to almost anything…), but this video is powerful. Ali Carr-Chellman (I’ve never heard of her before but she’s one of my new heroes) expounds on why boys are overwhelmingly failing in today’s schools.

Here are her basic three reasons why boys are out of sync in classrooms. After each symptom, I’m giving a little bit of my perspective… because you know, I have to so much to say about stuff.

1.Zero Tolerance – Most schools today have a zero tolerance for anything that resembles a weapon. With the violence in middle and high schools, these polices are certainly understandable… problem is, most boys yearn for the magical, the fantasy, the otherworldly elements in their reading and writing.

If you’ve never read Ralph Fletcher’s Boy Writers (another hero of mine), do yourself a favor and pick it up… especially if you’re a female and work with boys. He does a remarkable job of explaining why boys are drawn to these elements and offers many tips on how we can be inclusive of their desires.

Simply put, Zero Tolerance rules are black and white and we all know the world is made of many more shades.

2.Fewer male teachers – According to Ms. Carr-Chellman only 7% of elementary teachers are men. That’s it. That’s pathetic.

When I walk the hallways of my school, it never ceases to amaze me the number of boys that I don’t know who seek me out for waves, high fives, smiles, you name it. They are craving a male to look up to.

Whatever the reason, men aren’t going into teaching, especially in elementary grades. Boys need to see men in the classrooms. When you walk into an unfamiliar place and look around, you see who is in charge… it helps guide your opinion about that place. Quite simply, boys walk into classrooms and only see women feel like this is definitely a place for girls, but wonder where do the boys fit in?

3.Curriculum Compression – Everyone knows kindergarten is becoming more like first grade (Ms. Carr-Chellman suggests it’s the new second grade… scary). With boys generally developing slower than girls, where does this leave the boys? Far behind, that’s where.

I’m not exactly sure how we as educators can help boys keep up, but we need to be asking the question and thinking about solutions. So go ahead, please comment below and share your ideas for helping boys be successful.

Joy.

My friend John over at Spencer's Scratchpad's post about how he'd fix the education system (prompted by a post over at Teach Paperless - really, the blogosphere is awesome...) prompted me to think how I would fix the education system... hmmm, a big task no doubt. John summed up his fix in one word: love. I'd add another: Joy.

Besides being the name of my favorite cousin (Holla Joy!), it's also on a plaque a dear friend of mine gave me when I first became a teacher. When I asked her about it, her simple reply was 'Teach with joy' - I try to look at it and remember that each day I walk into the classroom.

I'm not trying to brag or take anything away from folks who teach other grades, but there isn't anything much more fun than working with kindergartners. Sure, they're demanding and the level of independence is rather low at the beginning of the year... but to see that lightbulb go off when a sprout learns to write his name for the first time or reads her first book - there's just nothing like it.

So my proposal - you know to fix the entire education system, is for everyone, I mean EVERYONE, responsible for making those big decisions to come spend a day in my classroom. Watch the sheer joy with which I try to teach my young charges how to, above all else, love learning. Watch the complete joy with which they enter the classroom each day and do nothing but give their all to try and become the best they can be. Take even a sliver of that joy back to (fill in your nation or state capital) and remember those faces, those smiles, when you make your decisions.

Problem solved.

Warrior.

Last week, as the snow approached and the energy from our conferences peaked, I found myself in need of calming my entire class down… quickly. I know, this is the situation in most kindergarten rooms most of the time, but let’s just say the energy was overflowing and I needed to squelch it.

As the case with many folks with ADD, my mind can be like a tornado… all the thoughts and information are swirling around at high speed and it actually takes effort to grab one for my use. Luckily, at this moment, as the noise increased and my nerves began to rattle, I was able to pluck a useful gem out of the chaos in my mind.

“Girls and boys, has anyone ever heard of yoga?” I asked.

A few hands went up, but mostly I got perplexed looks.

“Yoga is the little green guy from Star Wars! I love Yoga!” Andy shouted.

My need for yoga increased.

“No, yoga is actually something you do with your body to help you stay strong, but it also relaxes your mind and relieves stress,” I explained.

“I do yoga sometimes, would you like to learn some poses?” I offered.

To be honest, I’ve only gone to a few yoga class with different friends that have dragged me… I do like it, but I don’t do it regularly.

With that, I modeled the tree pose. A silence came over the room as I watched my little sprouts try to be tall trees. I explained the slow intentional breathing. We then moved into the warrior pose. I did my best, trying to sound like the yoga expert I’m not, but they did well and actually begged to do more.

I was telling my friend Susan this story because she IS a yoga expert. She suggested I share the lion pose with my class. Apparently you stick your tongue out as far as you can and make a lion growl with your throat. All I could think was, ‘Heck Yeah!’ they are going to love that pose. We’ll be tree loving warrior lions in no time.

Intruder.

A new pastime of mine at school has become being silent intruder… I don’t get a fancy Mission Impossible outfit and I don’t break in with ropes. Lately, I’ve been prone to walking into first grade classrooms unannounced. The lovely teachers in my hallway don’t mind a bit. Their classrooms are always calm, quiet, organized, and tranquil… so nothing like a kindergarten classroom. If first grade is learning to leave the nest, kindergarten is the, sometimes violent and erratic, business of hatching.

During my lunchtime, I just can’t resist popping in to see old sprouts from last year and just see how their rooms are running. At this point in the year, first grade is starting to look a lot like second grade. Reading is becoming fluent and writing is getting longer, neater, and deeper. It’s a sight to see.

The funny thing is, the two first grade teachers I share the hallway with are on opposite sides of the spectrum. One is a veteran with years of experience and the other is a newbie… it’s her first year. Yet both rooms are almost identical. I pride myself on fostering independence in my classroom, but the amount of autonomy I see in these first grade rooms is staggering.

The other day I walked into the newbie’s classroom. She was sitting at a table with a few friends and the rest of the class was working around the room. Some were reading in the library, others were on computers, a few were writing, and one little boy was doing a math activity on the floor. It was virtually silent. I was almost jealous… almost.

While I envy the calm and peaceful atmosphere I find in the first grade classrooms in my hallway (ahhhhh, the sound of silence…), part of me enjoys the chaos that comes with kindergarten. The crazy, loud, and even frantic, nature of five and six-year-olds suits me. We’re learning to be independent… I’m getting them ready for their first grade serenity. Those first grade teachers owe me big time.

Dads.

This week, Audra’s mom went away for a few days for work. As often happens when moms go away, I get humorous emails asking to make sure hair has been brushed and children are clothed. Really moms, dads aren’t totally incompetent. Are they?

I did check in with Audra a few times. She appeared clean, clothed, and her hair even looked like it had been brushed (for the record, when I asked about it, it hadn’t been). I gave her some extra hugs and she seemed happy as a clam… really, why are clams so happy? Everyone is digging them up and eating them… but I digress…

Yesterday afternoon in the Library Center, I was listening to sprouts read to me and after Audra finished a book, I asked her, “Hey, did your dad take you out for dinner last night?”

“No we ate at home,” she replied.

“Oh really? Is your dad a good cook? What did you have?” I inquired.

“Well… we just had bowls of cereal,” she answered.

I have to admit, I’ve had cereal for dinner on a few occasions. It’s quick, easy, and cleanup is minimal. Bravo to Audra’s dad for being quick on your feet and showing the world that dads can hold down the fort just fine… at least for a few days.