It’s been a whirlwind of a few months! The last time I posted, I was pumped for my STEAM Camp (it went SO well!) and I was planning to homeschool my Kindergartener and teach classes at a homeschool co-op and in my home as a learning pod.
But that isn’t how it ended up working out. Instead, now I’m reflecting on my first two and half months as a Catholic school Kindergarten teacher. Life is so funny sometimes!
Number Sense
Coming into Kindergarten with an upper elementary background is one of the best things, I think, I could have done for my students. I’ve seen for two years now what happens when there’s a complete lack of number sense in students. As a Kindergarten teacher, I get to lay this foundation.
For my class, this looks like daily practice with subitizing and representing a number of the day in various ways (counters, snap cubes, number form, word form, number lines, tally marks, dice, number bonds, number sentences, ten frames, and base ten blocks). Then we get into the lesson.
This is quickly becoming one of my jams.
Phonics & Phonemic Awareness
I’ve been watching from the sidelines as the Science of Reading research has been given to the mainstream (and as the arguments unfolded). It absolutely made sense to me as a mother. Now, though, I see it in action and it is basically the number sense of literacy.
We’ve settled on our routine for this as well. For us, we practice rhyming, phoneme addition, substitution, and deletion, alliteration, blending, and segmenting.
I’m really enjoying coming up with chants for high frequency and heart words.
Science
I had forgotten just how much I love teaching science. Like, LOVE it. I’m sure it helps that I’m married to a science teacher, too. I just love the way students light up during science lessons. I’m just not loving a lot of the science resources, so I’m working on a year-long curriculum right now.
It’ll be hands-on and include some arts integration/STEAM stuff.
Social Studies
I’ve been integrating social studies into my literacy block. There’s also a little crossover between some of my social studies and science standards. I’m working on a year-long curriculum for this right now, too.
Religion
I am SUPER PSYCHED to be teaching in a Catholic school. As a Catholic myself, I am passionate about the faith and the rich traditions and celebrations within it, so I am over the moon that I can share it with my students. I can’t wait to share some of my creations for both my Kindergarten and 1st grade Religion classes with you guys!