Play is the Work of the Child

 
Peek into any kindergarten classroom at my school during whole group instruction. One of my kindergarten teacher colleagues claims she teaches her whole group instruction to more arguing feet and butts than faces. As any kindergarten teacher can tell you, it is hard to keep five and six year olds actively engaged for a whole group lesson. They have short attention spans, wiggly bodies, and a natural drive to socialize. 

Kindergarten students have less time for developmentally appropriate play in the classroom as instruction becomes more rigorous, despite research that play is how young children learn best. Minnesota has recently released more rigorous math and science standards as well as signing into law the new science of reading READ Act.  A push in many states is that all students are ready for kindergarten at the age of five. Research though says that school readiness mainly depends on the development of the children's ability to regulate their emotions and control their attention. More than ever, we need to find ways to put play back into the classroom to offset the rigorous curriculums. Study after study says the way for young children to learn is through play-based learning, often referred to as purposeful play.

Young children are very tactile and sensory seeking. In my classroom I have a large sensory table. Many think of sensory tables as a giant sandbox, with little importance in an elementary classroom. Even my most reluctant readers and writers are willing to engage in learning when it involves the sensory table. Reading and writing task cards are printed on engaging colorful cards and hidden in tubs of black beans, crinkled paper, of even dirt. The children forget that it is work as they complete their tasks. In this task, students were harvesting carrot high frequency words and recording them on their clipboards. 

The sensory table is always available during free choice time and my friends that need a tactile sensory break are naturally drawn to the sensory table. 

Purposeful play and fine motor skills go hand in hand. Fine motor skills and fingers are strengthened in kindergarten. Tiny hands and fingers easily become fatigued. Instead of just writing with pencil and paper, we use shaving cream to practice our letters, numbers, and spelling. It quickly becomes a game instead of an avoided task.

Moving an activity from the table to the floor and putting it on a work mat can turn any activity into play. Peek into any Montessori classroom and you will see shelves of tactile objects that are attractive to a young child. Examples includes moveable alphabet pieces for spelling words, tiny objects for counting, buttons for math work, and eye-catching cards. When work is turned into play, children are willing to do the activity again and again, strengthening their knowledge and understanding.  All of these activities were incorporated into my traditional kindergarten classroom.

Moveable alphabet and short i. Child spells short i words, reads the words aloud, and writes them. Two person work practicing positive relationships and turn taking.

 Word building -at family. Student arranges picture cards and then spells the word with the cards. Words are then written with pencil and paper and read aloud to a peer and teacher.

Decorating gingerbread. Ordering numbers 1-20, and counting buttons for one to one correspondence

    Baking ten frame. Children practice subitizing and counting, identifying numbers, and number words.

Pigs in the pen. One to one correspondence of teen numbers and identifying the pattern of adding one to a number.

This Little Piggy Went to Market Addition. Using pigs to add two groups of numbers.

One of the children's favorite aspect of play-based learning is getting socialize and to work with friends. They are able to work on socializing, building relationships, problem solving, and practicing social emotional learning skills.  

Number Matching Game. Students take turns flipping cards and making matches. 

The Beauty of Movement

There used to be a saying that kindergarten has become the new first grade. Just recently I have read that kindergarten has become the new second grade. As schools adopt new reading curriculums that are based on the science of reading research, it seems that what we know about the development of our kindergarten students is thrown out with the old curriculum. Five-year-olds were not designed to sit at a desk for a 45-minute lesson on reading. This is where I have been incorporating Montessori philosophy successfully into my public kindergarten classroom. 

One of my favorite pieces found in a Montessori classroom that I use in my traditional classroom is the idea of purposeful movement. I add transitions into work time for students to get up and move their bodies. In my classroom, each student has a small pencil basket on their desk that they take out each morning. 

Instead of keeping supplies in chair pockets or on the table, all our supplies are located on a back counter or shelf away from the student tables. 

When an activity calls for coloring, they get up and walk across for the supply that is needed and put the one they were using away. If they are using colored pencils, they go and collect three colored pencils. By using three, it helps them from having too many supplies that they struggle to put away. When they need a different color, they get up and walk back across the room to exchange them for different colors.

While it sounds like a lot of commotion, it has the opposite effect in the classroom. The students are able to sit still and focus on their work because they have built in continuous little movement breaks to get their supplies. One or two students might quietly be up at a time. It also teaches independence and responsibility. All supplies are located in different areas of the room for the students to retrieve one item at a time including papers, glue, paints etc.. At the end of the day, students practice autonomy by having daily jobs to make sure that each supply shelf is stocked, tidied, and ready for the next day.

During centers, I incorporate work where they are up and moving around the room. For any of this to work, there is a lot of modeling and reteaching. Students are able to self-assess. My favorite phrase that I use as a reminder as well as acknowledgement is “self-control!” One of the student’s favorite works is doing a write the room activity with a clipboard where they are roaming the room looking for words to record on their sheets.

When purposeful movement just isn’t enough, the focus becomes being able to self-regulate. My favorite item in my classroom is our trampoline. Students who are having a difficult time sitting in their sear or on the carpet, or friends that are running across the classroom get pointed to the classroom trampoline for 10, 20, or 15 jumps. They are regulating while practicing their counting skills. Throughout the day the trampoline is available for students to use without teacher direction. As with all classroom activities, there is preteaching that happens: one person at a time, hold on to the bar, step off instead of leap off, and come back to the group quietly. The trampoline has a huge impact on my students that need frequent sensory breaks or a quick reset. It has also become a favorite place to work with a friend.

How did we get here?

I often consider myself an "accidental educator". I always knew I wanted to work with young children, but I never saw myself going into teaching.  Many years ago, I started college at the University of Minnesota's world-renowned Institute of Child Development, which is consistently rated #1 as the top developmental psychology program in the United States.  The institute has directed policymakers, educators, practitioners, and parents. I was fortunate to have my classes taught by renowned researchers in their field including Dr. Alan Srouf, Dr. Ann Masten, Dr. Byron Egland, and Dr Megan Gunnar.  I vividly remember my very first class that happened to be taught by Dr. Alan Srouf and being swept away in theory and scientific research. 

As I neared graduation, I had the option to add on a semester of student teaching and acquire my kindergarten teaching licensure with my degree. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford a semester of unpaid student teaching and didn't pursue my licensure at that time. Looking back, while not the easiest route to teaching, I appreciate the life experiences I gained down my unintentional journey to teaching.

During college I had many amazing internships with several organizations. I worked with children in a state residential treatment facility, children who had experienced severe trauma that came through the Minneapolis Police Department child abuse unit, and children who were placed by parents in the crisis nursery. But it was when I was a DARE officer teaching full time in the Minneapolis public schools that I realized teaching was where my heart was. 

I was able to use my credentials and teach at a private Christian school in early childhood as well as become the school's director. I continued on my journey and spent the next 12 years teaching in a public Montessori charter school that served early childhood-6th grade. I spent most of my time in Children's House which is a mixed age preschool/kindergarten classroom. Through amazing mentors and professional development, I fell in love with the Montessori philosophy of following the child. It aligned with all that I had learned in developmental psychology. 

My last three years at the Montessori school, I taught special education to kindergarten-6th graders with learning disabilities.  It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with my students, focus on being creative in differentiating my instruction and meet my students where they were at. 

Four years ago, I left the Montessori school to follow my heart and teach kindergarten. The move put me in the public school system for the first time. Everything about it was so different from the Montessori charter school. What was most evident, was the beliefs held by my colleagues about Montessori and charter school education. They was a stigma and unwillingness to consider that there may be pieces of Montessori that could fit into the public-school curriculum. My heart ached knowing that as educators we need to be open minded and continue to look at how to best educate our learners. 

Since starting in the public schools, I have completed my science of reading LETR's training as well as acquired my teaching certification and master's degree in elementary education. I am hoping to use this blog to share my experiences teaching in multiple settings to best meet the needs of all our young learners.