So I've chosen the term "Kindergarteners" as a general context for 4-5 year old students. In some states of Aussieland, Kindergarten is preschool. This refers to the actual first year of school.
I currently have a class of students as part of my field placement (with their actual teacher). About 2/3 of the class are brand new (as in "starting school for the first time"). The remaining students are not. I also have one child with developmental delays and 2-3 other children with behavioural issues (one of whom we THINK is on the spectrum). Here's the rundown of the first week.
-One of the students I've been silently nicknaming the class comedian, although he does it when appropriate and otherwise follows instructions. The other day he was talking about a dragon eating pizza during storytime (even though the story had NOTHING to do with dragons eating or food!). He also gave me a hug this morning when I came in late for playtime and has admitted that he wants to sit with me on occasion. The highlight though was his backpack...now most of the kidlets in my class have appropriately-sized backpacks for their height/age. He has an adult size backpack...which is almost as big as him! I pointed this out to my mentor teacher and she burst out laughing. (from the back all you can see is head, arms and lower legs)
-A not-so-new kindergartener* is among the more highly developed students in the class. Yesterday she placed an order with the school canteen so I walked over with her. On the way I told her that I was ordering my lunch tomorrow (aka today) and she said she didn't believe me. Back in the classroom she told her friend that I was being "Naughty" for ordering lunch from the school canteen! (and yes teachers can do this)
-Our child with developmental delays is what I call "semi-verbal"-that is, he has SOME speech, but otherwise sounds like Mini-Me from the Austin Powers films (this is the best way I can describe this btw). Today I had to take a photo of him for the staff to be aware of him**, so I pointed the camera at him and asked him to look at me. The second I did that, he looked at me, squinted his eyes and said "cheese." I had him do it again without squinting his eyes though, but he follows instructions SO well in the classroom. Our other child with possible ASD also had photos taken and was such a little poser for the camera-it was cute.
-During maths exploration time, we gave the kids a bunch of maths resources (such as shapes, blocks, other counters etc.) and turned them loose in the classroom to explore. One of the more shy children proceeded to build a robot with a bunch of diamond pieces which was fine right up until he built the robot with long arms but short legs. (I should add that he did it by lining the pieces up point-to-point) He was quite giggly and cheery about it though. (he's made a few new friends) Poor guy did accidentally go into the wrong toilet this morning though
-Little kid logic for trying to get past the "stop" sign on our class tent: use it as a hiding place for cushions and toys since they can't understand "STOP." (Surprisingly the two children I thought would have trouble with it have had no issues at all, the children that DO have issues with it are very flighty!)
*-In previous years, you could start school the term after you turned five. This year they swapped to a single-intake system so only children who were born on or before a certain birthdate could attend school, the rest had to wait until next year.
**-The school is a combined regular and special school, with the early years (K-2) in two separate buildings (one mainstream, one special) and the upper years (3-7) mixed together. We have an area of the school that is heavily fenced off for certain special ed children as their ONLY play area (the ones who abscond frequently) but other children can access it freely if they wish.
I currently have a class of students as part of my field placement (with their actual teacher). About 2/3 of the class are brand new (as in "starting school for the first time"). The remaining students are not. I also have one child with developmental delays and 2-3 other children with behavioural issues (one of whom we THINK is on the spectrum). Here's the rundown of the first week.
-One of the students I've been silently nicknaming the class comedian, although he does it when appropriate and otherwise follows instructions. The other day he was talking about a dragon eating pizza during storytime (even though the story had NOTHING to do with dragons eating or food!). He also gave me a hug this morning when I came in late for playtime and has admitted that he wants to sit with me on occasion. The highlight though was his backpack...now most of the kidlets in my class have appropriately-sized backpacks for their height/age. He has an adult size backpack...which is almost as big as him! I pointed this out to my mentor teacher and she burst out laughing. (from the back all you can see is head, arms and lower legs)
-A not-so-new kindergartener* is among the more highly developed students in the class. Yesterday she placed an order with the school canteen so I walked over with her. On the way I told her that I was ordering my lunch tomorrow (aka today) and she said she didn't believe me. Back in the classroom she told her friend that I was being "Naughty" for ordering lunch from the school canteen! (and yes teachers can do this)
-Our child with developmental delays is what I call "semi-verbal"-that is, he has SOME speech, but otherwise sounds like Mini-Me from the Austin Powers films (this is the best way I can describe this btw). Today I had to take a photo of him for the staff to be aware of him**, so I pointed the camera at him and asked him to look at me. The second I did that, he looked at me, squinted his eyes and said "cheese." I had him do it again without squinting his eyes though, but he follows instructions SO well in the classroom. Our other child with possible ASD also had photos taken and was such a little poser for the camera-it was cute.
-During maths exploration time, we gave the kids a bunch of maths resources (such as shapes, blocks, other counters etc.) and turned them loose in the classroom to explore. One of the more shy children proceeded to build a robot with a bunch of diamond pieces which was fine right up until he built the robot with long arms but short legs. (I should add that he did it by lining the pieces up point-to-point) He was quite giggly and cheery about it though. (he's made a few new friends) Poor guy did accidentally go into the wrong toilet this morning though
-Little kid logic for trying to get past the "stop" sign on our class tent: use it as a hiding place for cushions and toys since they can't understand "STOP." (Surprisingly the two children I thought would have trouble with it have had no issues at all, the children that DO have issues with it are very flighty!)
*-In previous years, you could start school the term after you turned five. This year they swapped to a single-intake system so only children who were born on or before a certain birthdate could attend school, the rest had to wait until next year.
**-The school is a combined regular and special school, with the early years (K-2) in two separate buildings (one mainstream, one special) and the upper years (3-7) mixed together. We have an area of the school that is heavily fenced off for certain special ed children as their ONLY play area (the ones who abscond frequently) but other children can access it freely if they wish.
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