Final Narrative Portfolio

As teachers are encouraging kindergartners to finish final portfolio pieces, Debbie Harbour and Beth Stessen-Reuter shared a set of narrative papers that their class just finished. To jump start the class' imagination the teachers encouraged the children to choose foam cut-outs of princes, princesses, castles and dragons to use as their characters and setting and on their cover. The students named these their "sticker stories." I wish I could share the entire set of papers, but I have chosen one as a sample of the best five. Julia's story certainly exceeds the kindergarten standard! It includes characters and setting, a story with problem and solution, a sequence of events that makes sense and even includes dialogue! It certainly shows stamina and fluency with so many conventions mastered at such an early age. Julia even uses three of the vocabulary words that the class has studied, which are underlined. It is amazing what kindergartners can do when instruction is developmentally appropriate and provides for differentiation!

Once upon a time far, far away, there

lived a princess. Her name was Rose. She

was beautiful. Her dream was to

have a prince of her own - not to

share - just for protection and for

love! Her father, the King, said he

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would get her one. So... one day

he did get her a prince! but her

father said, "It will take two weeks

for him to travel." Two weeks!" she

yelled, but then she got sidetracked.

There was a witch outside. "Daddy!"

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yelling frightened. "Not right now

Pretty Pumpkin." "But...but Daddy, there's a

witch outside!" "A witch!" yelled

the King. Running over he hugged

the frightened Princess. "No!" The

witch was putting a spell on them.

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Suddenly they were rocks. And

there was a knock on the castle door. It was

the Prince! The King Rock said, "I

thought he'd come in two weeks!"

"I hope he doesn't see us like this!"

said the Princess (and guess what he saw?

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Them!) "What strange rocks are these?"

Then he saw the witch laughing. "So

you turned them into rocks," said

the Prince. The witch replied, "Yes." Then

she swooshed away on her broomstick.

"How will I turn them back?"

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he wondered. "And anyway how

can I marry a rock?" Suddenly a

dragon swooshed and took the two rocks.

"Hey man those are my rocks!" The

Prince grabbed the dragon's leg.

The dragon flew out of the

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window. The Prince was still holding

on (as) the dragon blew fire at the Prince,

but the Prince blocked with his sword. The

dragon flew around mountains and finally

the dragon found his laboratory. He

locked the Prince up...with rope.

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The prince took his sword and cut

the rope and stabbed the dragon, got

one rock and kissed it. It turned back

into the Princess. He hugged the other.

It turned into the King! Then the

Prince and the Princess went

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back to the castle and married. And

lived happily...ever...after.

End of the Year Luau

After the final Awards Ceremony kindergartners spent the rest of the day at a Kindergarten Luau. The children began by circulating through stations of fun such as playing Musical Beach Towels played like Musical Chairs. Then they went outside for some relays of scooping up rubber duckies at the Hawaiian Ducky Pool Party and the Beach Ball Relay with children moving with a beach ball between their legs dressed in grass skirts and leis! Another relay included digging in the sand for treasures. These outside games were broken up with some quieter activities featuring sidewalk chalk and bubbles and don't forget the frozen ice pops and juice boxes just in case you got hot! Next it was under the limbo stick with a little "Limbo Rock." How low can you go?!! A lunchtime of hot dogs and hamburgers added to the festive picnic under the pavilion. Then it was inside to make leis, hats and visors. The children ended the day by learning to do the hula! It was a fun and exciting day for the little ones - a perfect treat for a job well done!

Awards Ceremony

The kindergarten rooms were packed with parents today as classes celebrated their last Awards Day. Teachers each celebrate in their own way. Some classes put on graduation caps and march into the classroom while others are dressed with leis for the luau to follow. Most classes celebrate each individual child by telling a story about each one including a favorite color, favorite things about school, and what each one wants to be when s/he grows up. Some teachers include what the other students in the class have said about each child such as, "Joey is good at karate," or "Shaun is our go-to computer guy," or "Mikayla is the best jump roper in the class." At the end of each presentation, the teachers present the "Soaring Eagle Award" and pin which goes to students each nine weeks that have done something outstanding. Today I cried as I watched one of my Special Education students earn the award for getting his behavior under control this nine weeks and a child who came in with such little English who now is a participating member of our kindergarten community! Many of the classes end with a PowerPoint set to music of the class activites all year. You can't help but shed a tear as you remember and watch the progress that the students have made throughout the year. Enjoy a brief look at the Award ceremonies across the grade level.

Station Teaching

One of the things that co-teachers learn is the different models for teaching with two teachers in the same room. One of those models is station teaching. In station teaching both teachers divide the instructional content, and each takes responsibility for planning and teaching part of it. The classroom is divided into various teaching centers, such as the five stations listed above. Each teacher is at particular stations; the other stations are run independently.

Some advantages of this approach are:
* Each teacher has a clear teaching responsibility.
* Students have the benefit of working in small groups.
* Teachers can cover more material in a shorter period of time.
* Fewer discipline problems occur because students are engaged in active, hands-on learning.
* It is possible to separate students who need to work away from each other.

Some disadvantages of this approach are:
* To work effectively, this approach requires a lot of preplanning.
* All materials must be prepared and organized in advance.
* The noise level will be at a maximum.
* All stations must be paced so teaching ends at the same time.
* One or more groups must work independently of the teacher.

With the year coming to a close it's a good time for co-teachers to try a little something different. I watched as co-teachers Elizabeth Conte and Randi Timmons experimented with station teaching this week during the independent reading time of their Readers' Workshop. Each small group worked on reading - some independently and some adult directed. These rotations will continue for the rest of the week. Below are the five centers that they used.

1. Partner Reading. Students are familiar with the "knee-to-knee, shoulder-to-shoulder, book in between" of partner reading.
2. Small Group - In Elizabeth Conte's small group students cleaned out their book bins and changed out their leveled books for the last time to make sure that they have new books to read for the last few days of school.
3. Genre Baskets. Students are expected to choose books from any of the genre baskets to read.
4. Reading Detectives. At this station students are given black and white copies of simple readers. They are to read each page and then go back and underline sight words that are listed at the front of the classroom.
5. Guided Reading. Randi Timmons leads her guided reading group.
What a wonderful way to end the year - trying a little something different!

Wacky Olympics!

As the school year comes to a close, kindergatners were hosted by the Physical Education teachers for an afternoon of pure fun!

Patrols Honored

Like many elementary schools, Chets Creek selects fifth grade patrols. There are almost a hundred patrols at our very large school! Two patrols are assigned to each kindergarten classroom. In the mornings the patrols watch the children as they come into the school and sit in the halls outside their classrooms. The kindergartners can pull their book-in-a-bag that they take home to read each night out of their backpack or they can choose a book from a wagon of books outside each classroom, but they are expected to read until it is time for the class to come into the classroom. The patrols are responsible for monitoring behavior in the hall. Many of the patrols bring the class in fifteen minutes early (when the teacher is in the room) and read aloud to their young charges, play games or do morning activities that the teachers set out. The patrols and students often develop very strong bonds over the course of the year.

As the year comes to a close, many of the kindergarten teachers honor their patrols because they so appreciate their perseverance to the task all year long. In Maria Mallon's class Patrols Vicky Holtsman and Madi Cothern were honored with flowers, a bag full of goodies (including a gift card to a favorite store and a photo of the Patrols with the kindergarten class on a magnet to put in their middle school locker next year!) and hand-written cards by their kindergarten charges.

Below, using the children's own spelling, are some of the cards written by the kindergartners to Vicky:
I love you - Jared
Thak you for all you did for use - Sophia

I no I dot want hugs from you but you mayk me and I will love you - Jackson
I love you and your a grate ptrol and good luck in middle school next year - Carter
I love win you play games with us like bingo - Blane
I love you Vickie you are the best patrol ever. You are sweet. I hope you are ready for middle school - Connor
I liket win you playd hayg man and the word was evyrwuh - Davis
I like wen you reed sum books to us - Natalie
Thank you for teeching us math - Sydney
I love you thanck you for tucking care of us love - Emily
I like when you pald four corners with us - Isabella
I like when you read to us and play games with us - Andrew
Thenk you for teching me - Austin
Thak you for being with us this year - Carson

Besides providing a service to the school this is an experience that will shape many patrols and that they will NEVER forget! Thank you Patrols for a job well done!

Co-teaching

Since Florida voted to lower its class size and since we ran out of space at Chets Creek (no empty classrooms!), we are doing more co-teaching than ever before. Co-teaching is defined as two teachers sharing the same students and the same space - a little like a marriage. Several years ago, Haley Alvarado and Meredy Mackiewicz (K-1 co-teachers pictured at the left) realized that we needed a workshop to help new partners work through some of their questions and concerns, so, in typical Chets Creek style, they designed the workshop they would have wanted for themselves as they began their own partnership. The workshop has been highly successful over the years and new teams begin to ask for it as soon as they realize that they are going to have a new partner for the coming year. Our Chets professional development for co-teachers took place this week for partners that will be teaching together NEXT year so that they have all the information they need up front. We call this our prenuptial agreement.

Included in the day were 10 teams of teachers who will be working together for the first time next year. Primary partners met in the morning and intermediate teachers met in the afternoon (pictured above). Below is the agenda for this very productive day. This is the first step in developing a very successful partnership!

New Teams

The roster for next year 2008-09 has been out for several weeks now. Planning for the new year actually starts at the Leadership table in early February, so by this time of year teachers know which grade they will be teaching next year, if they will be teaming and with whom, and where their new classroom will be. Last week we started getting the new teams together for a New Team WOW (Working on the Work) day. The new 1st grade team met this morning, just like every other grade level will meet. Each teacher began by introducing herself. This first grade team is especially strong with seven teachers looping up with their class from kindergarten, two teachers who will be remaining in 1st, two teachers who are coming down from a higher grade to first and one who interned at Chets Creek in first grade and will be a first year teacher. These are the teachers that I will travel with next year as I archive their year at the Creek.

The purpose of this day is for new teams to bond and to decide as a group what things they will all agree to do next year. We call these our non-negotiables. Teachers are reminded NOT to put anything on the list that they do not agree to do! Following is the agenda notes of the things that were discussed and agreed upon.

New First Grade Team Meeting (May 21, 2008)
New 1st Grade Team: Randi Timmons and Cathy Daniels, Haley Alvarado and Meredy Mackiewicz, Debbie Harbour and Patty VanAlstyne, Maria Mallon and Cheryl Dillard, Toni Chant, Vicky Groves, Heather Correia, Chevaughn Sasso

Time for Subjects

2 ½ hour Literacy Block (includes Skills Block, Reading, & Writing)
1 hour Math Block
15 min. daily Science Block instruction plus hands-on on Long Wednesdays.

Social Studies & Science are integrated throughout the week
Math Counts & Calendar taught during the morning

Artifacts for Teachers and Students
Standards- It’s not important to post ALL of the standards, but rather coming up with a system to ensure that you are connecting the standard with the lesson so that students know and understand the connection. When asked, students should be able to articulate the standard they are working on in any Workshop.
Word Walls- Sight Word Word Wall, Vocabulary Word Wall, Word Family Word Wall, Science Word Wall, and Personal Word Walls in Writing Folders are all examples of the way word walls can be used and displayed. The purpose is to teach students how to utilize the word wall as a learning tool, rather than just having one posted in your room to be compliant.) Words should be added to these word walls and introduced to students throughout the year. Students should be able to articulate strategies for finding words on word walls that they do not know how to spell.
Portfolios/Individual Writing Folders-
Work-in-progress folders have already been ordered for the grade level. The first homework project is for students to take a piece of card stock to decorate with pictures and words. This serves as a “writing idea” menu for Writer’s Workshop.
Cumulative folders: Have a system to organize and show students’ daily work as evidence of daily Writer’s Workshop. Think of a system that works best for you. Work may be sent home but folders should always include enough work to show fluency and progress over time

Final year end portfolios: All final pieces of the portfolio should be kept in orange folders which can be found in the child’s cum folder.
Readers’ response- Decide on how you will be cataloging readers’ responses and what works for you and your kids (such as composition books, folder, etc.) Readers’ response is a primary focus in first grade.
Diagnostic "notebook"- Diagnostic notebook/ folders/ file system should include a tab for every child. It should include reading profile sheets, DIBELS and DRA documentation and the same type information for Math.
Readers’ and Writers’ “notebooks”- Some system should be in place to keep readers’ running records, benchmark tests, guided reading group work, anecdotal notes and also writers’ anecdotal notes.

Book of the Month: Have a place in which the book of the month is clearly displayed in your classroom. Must have a Book of the Month basket in your genre library which includes books from the previous and existing year that students have access to.

Standard Based Bulletin Boards: Of the 7 required standard-based bulletin boards, each first grade teacher will be responsible for one literacy, one math, one science, and the last one should be a work over time board. The remaining bulletin board content areas are for you to decide.

Standard Snapshots: This will be part of our early release days, discussing student samples and writing the snapshot. The topic for these snapshots will be decided ahead of time to give teachers time to collect adequate work samples. A piece of student work will be attached to the snapshot to go home.

Common Assessments: Comprehension common assessments in first grade are given after the first nine weeks. Specific test-taking strategies have been identified and common assessments written to roll out the comprehension piece in a direct, explicit manner.

Grade Level Homework: The Grade level will all do the same homework which will follow the Pacing Guide. Think carefully about adding extra homework! If adding extra homework gets to be a problem with comparison out in the community, you may have to get "add-on" homework approved.

Communication: Weekly Newsletters will be done by every teacher and will go out on Mondays! This is the best way to communicate with parents and let them have a look inside into the learning that is going on in your classroom.

Committees

Grade Level Leader – Cheryl
Secretary- Debbie
Technology- Toni/ Patty
Cultural Arts-Maria / Patty
Spirit Team-Heather / Toni
In charge of Skits-Cathy/Haley
Field Trips-Vicki/Cathy
Discipline-Meredy/Chevaugn
Science Wizards-Haley/Debbie
Target-Randi/Debbie
PTA-Cheryl/Maria
Homework-Maria (Toni will assist)

Poetry Too!

Kindergarten poems continue to pour into my office. Below are just a sampling of what the children are doing as they close out the year.

Beaches

by Samen

Beaches Beaches

They are fun.

The waves splash

on me. It's really

really fun.

Balloons

by Kiana

Balloons pop.

Balloons are different shapes.

Balloons have stars.

Balloons are pink.

Balloons are green.

Football Camp

by Izayah

football camp

fun and hot

and rainy

and sunny

From Mrs. Harbour and Ms. Stresen-Reuter's class:

Mom

by Lisa

love

warm hugs

good cook

kind

quiet

considerate

by Dylan

I feel yellow

Happy day

Cozy

Quiet

A yellow day

A fun day

An Elephant!

by Zachary

little eyes

short feet

long trunk

long tail

hairy fur

funny

I feel like blue

relaxing

cozy

cuddle

warm

and slow

Dolphins

by Julia

live under the sea

they sing "ekeee ekee"

some are blue - some are gray

they always like to play

Poetry

Kindergartners end their first year in school writing poetry. Some teachers publish by simply encouraging the student to add a colorful picture to their poem. Others edit the poem by typing it for the student, adding "book" spelling. Still others edit and type and then have the student illustrate. Below are some examples of what the children have been doing in May!

From Maria Mallon and Julie Johnson's class

Ben 10

by Carter

Ben 10

Ben 10

I like Ben 10

Cool

Fighting

Aliens

10 new

Alien heroes

Ben 10

Ben 10

Star Wars

by Blane

I like when the music comes on

It makes me feel excited

Bom Bom Bom Bom BomBom Bom

Seal

by Ryan

Seal, seal

Big and fat

You are slimy

But I don't care about that

Wash Your Hands

by Davis

Washing your hands is fun

Washing your hands kills germs

I wash my hands to write this poem

From Chevaughn Sasso's class


The Beautiful Flower
by Taylor

The flower
I saw today -
it was the
prettiest thing I
have seen. I wonder
what's inside that
flower. One day
I will see.

The Magic Carpet
by Taylor

Maybe our carpet
is magical but
where will
it take us?
Maybe it will take
us to a magical
land.

















Bunnies, Oh Bunnies
by Julianna

Bunnies, oh bunnies,
soft as a
marshmallow. They
hop all around
on their little
bunny feet - so
fluffy and cute.
They look for
carrot tops. They
think they're so
good. Well, so
do I!






From Julia Lewis class

Response to Literature

Although kindergartners have responded to literature all year including drawings and writing connections and favorite parts, by the end of the year they are ready to write a complete retelling. Their retellings include a beginning, a middle with several events, and an ending of the story. In many cases they also include an introduction to the book and a concluding thought. The following is one example of a rubric that is used this time of year for response to literature. You will notice that the class used the cow, milk in a pail and then a milk carton to represent the different stages of a complete retelling. These symbols relate to the Science unit the students are studying about where food comes from.We are always impressed with the fluency and stamina that our students produce this time of year, especially when they write retellings. One of the reasons that we think we get retellings with such depth is because we spend so much of the early part of the year encouraging our children to "read" by orally retelling familiar stories and fairy tales. We believe that successful reading and writing is built on oral language. The lessons early in the school year focusing on oral retelling teach our children to hold an entire story in their head; to think about the sequence of the story such as what happens in the beginning, the middle, and the end of the book; and to think about and practice story language (such as "once upon a time," "happily every after," "TRIP. TRAP. TRIP. TRAP.") When the children have spent so much time practicing retelling the story orally, writing the story doesn't seem so difficult! Below is one of the many, many examples we have of kindergarten written retellings this time of year. This retelling certainly exceeds the kindergarten standard for response to literature! In this retelling Madison retells the story that she has heard and "read" so many times before, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

I love the story the Three Billy Goats Gruff because the Three Billy Goats Gruff tried to trick the troll.

Once upon a time the Three Billy Goats Gruff wasn't fat. They wanted daisies and grass to eat so they looked up and they saw a bridge,

and a big troll lived under the bridge and he was mean and scary. Really. The first Billy Goat Gruff wanted to get over the bridge to make theirself fat.

Trip. Trap. Trip. "Who's that tripping over my bridge?" said the troll. "It's only me, the littlest Billy Goat Gruff." "Well be off with me (you)," said the troll.

The middle Billy Goat Gruff came . "Who's that tripping over my bridge?" said the troll. "It's only me the middle Billy Goat Gruff."

"You're not tripping over my bridge," said the troll. "But I am going to make myself fat," said the Billy Goat.

"There's another Billy Goat Gruff coming here - much bigger," said the billy goat. "Well go along," said the troll.

Trip. Trap. Trip. "Who's that tripping over my bridge," said the troll. "It's only me," said the billy goat. "I am the biggest billy goat."

"Well, I am coming to gobble you up." "Come along. I have a big horn and big hooves too and I can push you into

the water." "I don't care," said the troll. SPLASH!!! go-ed the troll so the billy goats got to go to the meadow.

And they got to be a family and make themselves fat.

So they all got to be very good.

Have you ever read The Three Billy Goats Gruff?

Notice how Madison even draws three faces so the reader can rate the book by circling his choice!

Another Standard Snapshot #4 (Science)

The final Standard Snapshot to go home to parents is a Science lesson. Each teacher taught a string of lessons about where food comes from. As part of this unit the classes visited a Publix grocery store and an ice cream shop to help them understand that while they can buy many food items that the items come from far away. Another lesson in this series is making butter to help students understand that the milk that comes from a cow can be made into many different things. This snapshot describes the students' experience with making butter at school. While we send home one standard student piece with a commentary, the parent also receives their child's work on the same standard attached to this piece. That way the parent can compare their child's work with a standard piece. It is up to the parent to assess how they think their child is doing.

In this standard piece, Imani predicts that butter comes from a cow that has been milked. She describes the process through a functional/ "how to" writing piece which begins with getting the ingredients. Imani describes putting the cream in the jar, adding salt and shaking it for a long time with the top closed. Finally she observes that the butter was wet and thick. The results of the experiment were that when it was all mixed together it made butter and "It was good."

This is a major piece of communication that helps us educate parents on what standard work looks like in Kindergarten.