Kindergarten is still very new to me - I am just 3 months in. There are
days when I feel that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. This
insecurity is my "boo-boo" - and in the words of Fox from Jeremy
Tankard's Boo Hoo Bird - "Band-Aids always make my boo-boos feel
better".
Recently, many of my students started
questioning why some students were getting what they saw as special treatment.
It is challenging to explain differentiation, accommodation and modification to
intermediate students - let alone Kindergarteners. I found this great activity
via Pinterest on Mrs. Saylor's Log, and decided to try it out.
The students came in from recess and one
boy was complaining that he hurt his knee. I immediately opened a Band-Aid and
put it on his knee - on top of his pants. The students were hooked. Band-Aids are a hot commodity in
our classroom and the students know that I do not give them out freely.
Next I asked if anyone else had a boo-boo. Needless to say, every student's hand shot up, and one by one. each came up to receive a Band-Aid. Each time,
whether they named a sore finger, arm or foot - I placed a Band-Aid on their
left knee on top of their pants.
There was laughter, there was confusion,
and as I had hoped - there were questions. They thought I was crazy -
"you're putting the Band-Aids in the wrong place!" they scoffed. But
eventually, the whats and whys did lead to a heart-warming discussion. In the
end, the students demonstrated a deeper understanding than I'd expected- progressing from "it does not make sense to put a Band-Aid in the wrong place," to, "We all need different help."
Whenever I am feeling insecure about my
venture into Kindergarten I grasp onto numeracy. There is so much we can do
with numbers. We have spent a lot of time developing our math meetings. Two of
my favourite resources are Sherry Parrish's Number Talks and
Jessica Shumway's Number Routines. My students have grown confident with
number representations to ten with dot plates, fingers and tallies. We recently
have started to explore rekenreks using Cathy Fosnot's "Bunk Beds and Apple Boxes" unit from her Contexts for Learning Mathematics resource. We play a lot of math games
with dice and are developing a number line. As I said - numeracy is my Band-Aid.
Sometimes Band-Aids are necessary;
sometimes they are futile. They are by definition a "make-shift" or
temporary solution. Practically Band-Aids cover up a problem until it has time
to heal. Developing my students into little mathematicians is giving me the
confidence I need to uncover the Kinder-teacher from within.
What is your Band-Aid?
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