Tag Archives: Julie Diamond

Teaching Kindergarten: Where Did the Garden Go?

childrens-drawings-716340_1645

Finally, an amazing and much-needed Kindergarten Conference will be hosted at the Bank Street College of Education on April 21 and 22. If you’re a kindergarten teacher, work with kindergarten teachers or have a particular interest in kindergarten, I would encourage you to sign up for the conference ASAP!
Teaching Kindergarten: Where Did the Garden Go? Practice, Policy, and Advocacy

Join other kindergarten teachers, school leaders and policy makers as we revisit and celebrate the unique and vital role of Kindergarten in the life of the child. Inspiring keynote speakers will present current research on learning and development and its implications for Kindergarten practice.

Workshop leaders will engage you in interactive sessions on literacy, math, social studies, block building, family engagement, music and science, among others. All workshops will address working with English Language Learners, children with special needs, the rich diversity of our students and the Common Core State Standards. Participants will leave the conference reinvigorated and inspired to strive for what is right for all Kindergarten children.

Featured Speakers

Friday, April 21
Keynote: A Meaningful Kindergarten for ALL children | Dr. Derrick Gay
Guest Speaker: Who is the 5 year old? | Lesley Koplow
Guest Speaker: The Power of Song in Kindergarten | Betsy Blachly and Susan Harris

Saturday, April 22
Keynote: What is Happening to our Children’s Garden? Reflections on Kindergarten in a Changing World | Dr. Beverly Falk
Keynote: Transforming Kindergarten: Supporting Teachers to Strengthen Quality | Dr. Shannon Riley-Ayers
Special Interview: Joining with the Kindergarten Learner | Yvonne Smith interviewed by Julie Diamond

Morning Workshops

Upon Registration for the conference, you will be asked to select one morning workshop from the list below.

Morning Workshops Descriptions

1. Block Building Basics: Making the Most of Your Block Area | Facilitator: Rebecca Burdett
2. Creating Environments, Routines, and Curricula to Support Kindergarten Learning: Forging Links between Personal Content and Learning | Facilitator: Julie Diamond
3. Embracing Differences in Kindergarten | Facilitator: Dr. Derrick Gay
5. Facilitating Social-Emotional Development through Movement in the Kindergarten Classroom | Facilitator: Diane Duggan
9. The Importance of Family Engagement | Facilitator: Maimuna Mohammed
10. The Importance of Play in Kindergarten | Facilitator: Joan Almon
12. Museum Studies in Kindergarten | Facilitators: Margaret Blachly and Andrea Fonseca
14. Science Exploration in Kindergarten: Curiosity, Enthusiasm, and a Love of Learning! | Facilitator: Michael Ziemski
15. Storytelling/Story Acting: Bringing Vivian Paley’s Methodology into Kindergarten | Facilitator: Suzette Abbott

Afternoon Workshops

Upon registration, you will be asked to select one afternoon workshop from the list below:

Afternoon Workshop Descriptions

4. The Essential Role of Trips in the Kindergarten Curriculum | Facilitator: Salvatore Vascellaro
6. Finding the Courage to Bring Kindness and Compassion Back to the Garden | Facilitators: Kelly D’Addona, Laura Morris, and Dr. Cynthia Paris
7. Friendship, Fear, Fairness, and Fantasy at Five: What Makes Vivian Paley’s Kindergarten Vision So Stubbornly Relevant in All Settings? | Facilitator: Dr. Patricia M. (“Patsy”) Cooper
8. How Curiosity Drives an Investigation: The Wheelchair Study and the Aviation Project | Facilitator: Dana Roth and Renée Dinnerstein
11. Literacy and Art, Building the Bridge | Facilitator: Denise Prince
13. From Read-aloud to Retelling: Planting a Story Garden in Kindergarten | Facilitator: Nina Jaffe
16. What’s New in Children’s Books for the Kindergarten Classroom? | Facilitator: Mollie Welsh Kruger
17. Working with English Language Learners in Kindergarten | Facilitators: Tatiana Rosa and Antonia Bendezu

Register
April 21: 4:00 – 8:30 pm
April 22: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm

Bank Street College of Education
610 West 112th Street, NYC 10025
Register Now 

To pay by Purchase Order, complete a registration form for each participant and fax the PO and registration form(s) to 212-875-4777.
Partial SCHOLARSHIPS are available. Apply here. (Scholarships are reviewed on a first-come, first-serve basis until funds are depleated.)

Conference Fee:
$195* Early Bird fee (through March 15, 2017)
$265* Conference fee (after March 16, 2017)

1 graduate credit may be earned by paying the tuition fee, $1525 (includes conference fees)
*Includes Friday dinner, Saturday light breakfast
Earn 12 CTLE hours or 1 CEU included with conference fees

Register Now

To pay by Purchase Order, complete a registration form for each participant and fax the PO and registration form(s) to 212-875-4777.
Partial SCHOLARSHIPS are available. Apply here. (Scholarships are reviewed on a first-come, first-serve basis until funds are depleated.)

We wish to thank Community Playthings for their support.

Conference Location:
Bank Street College of Education
610 West 112th Street, New York, NY 10025

This conference was created and developed by:
Betsy Grob
Betsy currently advises students at City College of New York and served on the faculty of Bank Street College for over twenty years. Betsy has taught kindergarten, first grade, and Spanish in both New York City and Colorado and has worked with early childhood educators in many countries including Sierra Leone, Chile, Romania, Mongolia, and Azerbaijan. She is co-author of The Right to Learn: Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Work in High-Needs Schools (Bank Street College Occasional Paper Series) and is co-editor of Teaching Kindergarten: Learner-Centered Classrooms for the 21st Century (Teachers College Press, 2015). Betsy holds an MS and an EdM from Bank Street College.

Fretta Reitzes
Fretta, an educational consultant, was the founder and director of the Wonderplay Conference at the 92nd Street Y in New York City from 2006-2016. She was the director of 92Y’s Goldman Center for Youth & Family from 1990-2016 and was director of the Y’s Parenting Center from 1980-1990. Before her tenure began at 92Y, Fretta taught preschool, kindergarten, and first grade in New York City and New Jersey and trained daycare teachers and directors in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She is the co-author of Teaching Kindergarten: Learner Centered Classrooms for the 21st Century (Teachers College Press, 2015), Wonderplay (Running Press, 1995), Wonderplay, Too! (Running Press, 2005), and The Right to Learn: Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Work in High-Needs Schools (Bank Street College Occasional Paper Series).

Conference Registration
Register Now
Contact CPS to register with a PO
email: [email protected]
tel: 212-875-4707 or
fax:212-875-4777

An Inquiry-Based Classroom

screwdriverIt is not the answer that enlightens but the question.
Eugène Ionesco

I recently had the good fortune to view an early screening of the film Good Morning Mission Hill and to hear the director, Amy Valens, talk about the Mission Hill School and her experience of filming in their classrooms. Afterwards, I had a discussion with an administrator of a school in Brooklyn, New York where I am currently doing professional development with the kindergarten and first grade teachers. I have been trying to convince the early childhood staff that the children will learn more and be much happier if the teachers can embrace a culture of inquiry. Except for a few classes, it has been an uphill battle. Sometime, midway through our discussion, this lovely young administrator looked at me with frustration and said, “What do you actually mean when you refer to an inquiry-based classroom?”

We definitely had a failure to communicate. This confusion probably was due to my misguided assumption that I was laying down a strong foundation of understanding before encouraging teachers to make physical and instructional changes. I returned home perplexed and obsessed with thinking about this conversation. It kept me up for most of that night.

The next morning I sat at my computer and began to think about the concept of describing an inquiry-based classroom some more. I created an outline of what I might expect from a classroom where inquiry, exploration and play would intrinsically be the foundation for an early childhood curriculum. With the help of my two wise friends, Julie Diamond and Shelley Grant, I came up with a few bullet points that outlined some understandings that I believe a teacher should have in order to create an inquiry based classroom.

This outline is by no means complete. It’s a work that is very much “in progress.” I am hoping that my blog readers will comment and add suggestions for revising this list. I welcome your thoughts! In this time of standardized testing, evaluations, and finger pointing we need to redirect and bring the attention back to what children, teachers and schools REALLY need.

Some Characteristics of an Inquiry-Based Classroom

The teacher has an understanding that the child comes to school as a fully formed person, not as an empty vessel that needs to be filled.
∗ This implies respect for who the child is and for all the knowledge that the child brings to school from his/her background.
∗ The teacher will develop a curriculum that begins with what the children already know and builds on the child’s sense of wondering.

The teacher understands that as an educator of young children, it is important to be flexible and that the daily schedule is conducive to the age of the children being taught,
∗ Young children need large blocks of time for exploring, building, pretending, etc.
∗ Children shouldn’t be rushed from one activity to another.
∗ Inquiry and Choice time (or whatever you are calling the work/play time) should be at the heart of your program, particularly for pre-k, and kindergarten. Because of that, it needs to be scheduled early in the day.
∗ In the first and second grade too, Inquiry and Choice Time shouldn’t be left for the end of the day because children will be tired from a day of academics and, therefore, will most likely not get the most out of this rich part of your program.

The teacher understands that the child’s curiosity should be scaffolded and nurtured throughout the day.∗ There are opportunities for questioning and explorations all day, throughout the curriculum.

∗ As an example, if the teacher plans to teach the spelling of the sight word “it,” the children might be asked what they notice about the word, what will help them to remember it, etc. Perhaps one child might say, ”It starts with the same letter that Inge’s name starts with only it’s the small “i. ” The teacher acknowledges that as a valid strategy for remembering the word. Another child might add that “it” is a small word because it only has two letters.
∗ Rather than beginning with drilling the spelling of a new word, the children are encouraged to bring to the lesson what they already know and to share it with the class.
∗ Teachers are taking notes on observations throughout the day. These notes are reflected after the school day and used to plan new lessons and centers based on this valuable information.

The teacher understands that it’s important to be teaching the children not the subjects. There are many opportunities for children to engage in self-initiated experiences and for children to feel encouraged to innovate on an idea or project
∗ There should be an area in the room where children can keep on-going projects, for example an art project or a Lego construction.
∗ Children should be encouraged to return to a center another day to continue work on a project.
∗ The block center should be away from traffic and should be large enough for a group of children to comfortably work there together.
∗ The teacher makes sure that there are appropriate tools, materials, books and blank paper (even blank booklets) in each center.
∗ It should be clear where materials belong. Labels with drawings or photos can be taped on shelves to show children where to get and return materials.

Failure should be seen as a part of learning and as an opportunity to take a risk.
∗ If a child is having a behavior problem, the teacher should speak privately with the child. Public behavior charts are basically shaming charts. They are up with the expectation that someone will “be bad.” Children who don’t get their name moved to a “red light” are anxious about being good. Children who have difficulty with self-control become known as the naughty children. There’s basically nothing positive that comes of these charts (they might keep a class in check on the short term but they do so much damage and little teaching in the long term.) As Alfie Kohn writes, “ Reward charts — with or without punishments — shouldn’t be used because children aren’t pets to be trained. Rewards, like punishments, are basically ways of doing things TO people (to make them obey), whereas the only way to help kids grow into decent, responsible, compassionate people is to work WITH them (to solve problems together).”
∗ It’s much more productive to concentrate on “acts of kindness” where a child observe a classmate performing an act of kindness, shares this with the class and it gets posted on the bulletin board. This encourages empathy and community.

The children should feel part of a community and a member of a joyful class. The children should feel a sense of shared ownership of the classroom.
∗ Time is set aside for class meetings where children share their observations, questions, and the work that they have completed or works in progress.
∗ These meetings are opportunities for children to take part in meaningful dialogues.
∗ The teacher enters into the conversation both as a facilitator and as a model.
∗ The teacher never refers to himself/herself in the third person when speaking to a child or to the group. We are, as teachers, modeling social behavior. I don’t think that anyone would sit with a group of friends and say, “Mrs. Dinnerstein enjoyed that book.” Bring back the “I to class conversations!”
∗ The children and teacher decorate the room with the children’s work and not with commercial charts, borders and other materials that can better be produced in the classroom. Someone sitting in a factory in, say, Michigan, does not know the children in your class.
∗ It’s much more effective to have children and teachers collectively come up with class rules.
∗ Children can create number and color charts if it appropriately comes up in class discussions.
∗ Having their own work decorating the room, such as their own alphabet chart hanging across the front of the room, gives the children pride in their work and in their classroom.
∗ The room is organized into clear areas. (In my classroom, I integrated tables into each center, giving the classroom the look of a laboratory for learning and experimenting rather than having tables clustered together.)
∗ Children understand how to use the materials in each area because the teacher has explicitly taught how materials are cared for and where they are stored. The teacher also teaches the routines for going to centers or activities, and cleaning up when the period is ended.

Sharing!

Sharing our thoughts and ideas with friends is so important to all of us. I recently discussed an Amy Tan book that I had just finished reading with the members of my small book club. After reading the book, I thought that I had a pretty solid interpretation and opinion of the story but during our discussion, I realized that there were many aspects of the text that I hadn’t even thought about. When I got back home, I went right back to the book to reread particular passages that my friends referred to in our conversation. I needed to revise a bit of my original interpretation and assessment of the book!

Children too need time to share their discoveries, their artwork, their constructions and their dramatic play experiences. After Choice Time, it’s so productive and supportive of children’s ability to listen and respond to others experiences and ideas if we leave time for a group share meeting. Perhaps something unexpected or exciting happened at the art center or an exciting discovery was made at the water table. Was a new math game invented at the math center?

When the children and teacher meet for post-Choice Time-share children might be encouraged and enticed into choosing an activity the next day that they hadn’t previously considered trying. We are also reaffirming by sharing peer examples the idea that, during Choice Time, we honor and encourage innovation, collaboration and exploration.

As my good friend, Julie Diamond, wrote in a note to me, interest in trying new centers “can be further expanded when teachers find places in the room to display work after the meeting – time discussion”.

Keeping the discussed work up for a while allows children to continue this discussion, ask each other questions, think of what they might possibly do at the same center. It’s also a good idea to have areas of the classroom where Choice Time projects can be displayed…an empty shelf, a bulletin board, even a homemade shelf. My colleague, Connie Norgren, created shelves for her children’s woodworking projects by using pieces of cardboard and string. She hung these temporary display shelves on a pegboard. (see photo)

In some ways, Choice Time follows the workshop structure that is used by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. We begin at a group meeting with a brief ‘minilesson’, then the children have time for their ‘independent’ play and explorations, and we bring closure with our share meeting. It’s absurd to have to justify exploration and play for young children. However, if you have difficultly ‘justifying’ this very important part of the early childhood curriculum, you could call it “ Investigative Workshop” or “Exploration Workshop” instead of Choice Time. If that’s what it takes to make it work for you, go for it!

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