This week I have been administering my pretest for my action research. Mrs. Barnhart, Mrs. Lemon, and I grouped the students into three math ability levels based on my pretests and the kindergarten inventory results. My only concern is that I should have made my pretest a bit more difficult for my students. Most of the students have higher mathematical abilities than I thought fourth day kindergarten students would have. I believe that I am ready to begin my stations on Tuesday. The stations are already setup and ready to go. Tomorrow I am going to introduce my students to the math stations that they will be going to on Tuesday. I think that my math stations will be successful as long as I am organized and that I communicate well with Mrs. Barnhart, Mrs. Furguson, and Mrs. Lemon. I am so excited for my first week of research next week.
I completely agree with Mrs. Morris in that my best resources are the teachers in my kindergarten classroom. I have had a wonderful experience in kindergarten due to these teachers. They have welcomed me into their classroom and are always willing to help me. Of course the students are a joy. : )
I know that most people think that Kindergarten is all play, but things have changed. We have to follow our set of CSO's too. I only had Kindergarten for half a day. I think we put too much pressure on our little ones. But as you said they have already adjusted to our schedule. You have to have many activities to keep their attention. You should look at what our students are expected to do in First Grade to see why we have to cover our CSO's. These students are great. You may have to up your activities for some of our students, but that will be easy to do. Keep track of their progress and adjust accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIt is still true that some teachers think that what K-teachers do with their students is eat and play. I have found that K-teachers are the most creative and flexible and hardworking, as it's a nonstop challenge.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned in your AR about the pre-test performance and wanting it more difficult. Keep this in mind when you write up the results, as you'll see a lower range of improvement from pre to post. Looking at changes on pre/post is one way of demonstrating performance. Another way is looking at how each student learns over time and identifying math concepts/procedure issues. I find this to be more important for you as a teacher.