Kaleb is over nine months old. As I had returned to work, my blogging project got thrown to the side. I started working as the Pre- k teacher in a privately owned learning center. I have used many great resources online to help design an interesting and stimulating curriculum. I love the curiosity of a five year old, and I am amazed at how much these little people pick up in just a year. All of my students are ready for kindergarten, and I am proud to say I helped them get there.
My first year teaching meant a lot of trial and error. I tried journal writing or bookmaking with three or four approaches, and I still don't like how the way I am doing it. Each child has a stapled packet of 10 pages. They each have their bookmaking spot, and we do this daily. We talk about possible topics before we disperse. Then they can draw about anything they would like. My only requirement is that they need to use three colors on each page. I circulate to add the date and any words they want on the page. Sometimes I label items for them. Sometimes they give me a sentence or many sentences. Sometimes we make bubbles with words inside. Sometimes they just say one word. There is no right or wrong way to do bookmaking.
Some of the problems are that the books get roughed up. The pages are coming apart. We have book bins with a pencil, some crayons, journals, and books to look at when they are finished. The book bins were new this year, and many of them are breaking already. (We got them from Oriental Trading.) I am going to have to rethink the organization method for next year. I also want the students to start adding their own words. I want to do less of the writing, and I want them to use the word wall and the sight words we have been learning this year. This part of the process will need a little more thought by me.
Everything has a process. Maybe we need to do a mini-lesson on using the word wall for bookmaking. We need to teach them every little step along the way, and I think my kids are ready for the next step.
