This Week in Our Room: Special Edition: Our Top Ten Tips for a Successful Student-Led Conference April 25, 2022

Posted on April 26, 2022 by thekinderteam

The weeks fly by so quickly and here it is time again for our absolutely-best-ever-most-favourite day of the school year, Student-Led Conferences! We’re reblogging this post from April 2019 with our best suggestions for having a successful Student-Led Conference with your Kindergarten child.

Christy and I have been holding Student-Led Conferences (SLC) for many years; in fact, my first Student-Led Conference as a teacher was here in West Vancouver at Chartwell Elementary School in 1990 when I was teaching Grade 3. We’ve gradually refined our practises to make it perfect for Kindergarten but the core tenets of the Conferences has always stayed the same: to provide an opportunity for students to communicate learning to their parents in a meaningful format; self-reflection for students to identify their personal accomplishments, strengths and areas for improvement; give parents an insight into how their children learn; and an inside look at student work, their classroom and school.

We’ve written extensively about Student-Led Conferences at theselfregulatedteacher.com. You can use the search tool on our website to find our posts. You can also read about Student Led Conferences in my Grade 3 classroom during my Chartwell days in Evaluating Literacy: A Perspective for Change (1991) by Robert J. Anthony, Terry D. Johnson, Norma I. Mickelson and Alison Preece.

Our Kindergarten Student-Led Conferences are a twist on the traditional Student-Led Conference. In the years we were teaching Grades 1-4, each student would welcome their parents to his or desk, where a curated selection of work would be waiting in a file. A letter of welcome for parents, plus a class created agenda, provide structure for the Conference time.

In Kindergarten, however, we use a Centre approach, in much the same way we use Centres during the morning Activity Time or Math Centres. Parents can expect to see an Alphabet Centre, Math Centre with tasks and participate in the daily Calendar activities as part of our Student-Led Conferences.

Kindergarten is a special grade, the first formal schooling for most children, the first Student-Led Conference for most parents, and it’s important for us to set the tone and expectations for how the Conferences are conducted because you’ll be enjoying them for the next eight years while at Ridgeview. As one of two informal Communicating Learning opportunities, we want this to be a positive and successful experience for you and your child. The format will be different as you move through the grades, but its value is always the same: priceless.

Here’s our Top 10 tips for a successful Student-Led Conference:

Sign-up for your child’s Student-Led Conference. In Kindergarten, we have a limited number of families we will host in our classroom for each time slot. Kindergarten digital sign-up is through School Interviews. The link was sent to you via email last Wednesday, April 20.
Arrange for care for your other children, particularly toddlers and preschoolers, so you can focus on your Kindergarten child. Older children can wait outside on the playground.
Arrive on time for your Student-Led Conference and remember to bring your child with you. This Conference is for you and your child. We’ve had several instances where our students were left at home with a babysitter, on the playground or at the childcare centre.
Give praise and specific, positive comments to your child eg., “I like how you used a variety of colours in your drawing;” recognise that your child might find some tasks difficult so encourage them to keep trying their best.
Be mindful of your Conference duration and gently remind your child when it is time to move to another Centre; other families are waiting for their turn.
Keep socialising with other parents to a bare minimum. Your focus is on your child.
Be respectful of the SLC of other students and their parents by keeping your own child close to you at all times; students should not be socialising with each other.
Refrain from engaging your child’s teacher in a discussion about your child’s progress; the teacher is supporting all students during the SLC process and has many jobs to do. If you would like an interview, make an appointment on another day for a mutually agreeable day and time.
This goes without saying, but our cell phones are a distraction. Please support us by turning off and putting all electronic devices away. Please do not take phone calls during your child’s conference: it’s disrespectful of the preparation we’ve done with your children; the other families; and most importantly, your children who are very, very excited to be the centre of your attention to share their learning with you.
Please do not bring any hot drinks into the classroom. It’s not safe to be carrying a hot drink around with so many small children present, and for the precious schoolwork which we have out on the tables in case of spills.

Winter Beauty: This Week in Our Room: February 1-5, 2021

Posted on February 10, 2021 by thekinderteam

This week we wanted to highlight the amazing Winter artwork the children have completed over the past six weeks.

We’ve always taught a lot of Art classes in Kindergarten, but this year in particular we have been doing even more. Although the preparation can be immense, we see a need for the children to express themselves in creative ways and we are working to provide as many opportunities as we can.

The children are immersing themselves in the wonder of paint, glitter and pastel while furthering their skills in cutting and pasting, directed line drawings, painting, colour mixing and tearing paper. Everything is tactile and visual which heightens their sensory awareness. The children are also developing their patience and determination as they set out to do their very best each time we begin a new project. And these important qualities evolve in the wonderful social context of our classroom where sharing and turn-taking skills are tried, tested and refined with each paint palette or box or pastels.

Winter Snowglobes Mixed Media,
Inside a sparkling, watery winter world

Here, Near and There Paintings.
A winter study in perspective, inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

Snowman at Night paintings based on the
storybook by Caralyn Buehner

Snowy Owl Paintings. Based on the book
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

You might be wondering when all of these art treasures will be sent home. We promise it will be very soon. Right now we cannot bear to take anything down from the walls….

We want to wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend. The children and all their teachers work so hard each and every day to look after each others’ health and safety in the classroom and at school. You would be amazed at what five- and six- year old children can do and remember. From hand hygiene to physical distancing when they can, coughing and sneezing into their elbows, plus the added layer of mask protection, your children are learning and practising social responsibility at its true core. Please continue to be safe. We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday, February 16 as we kick off our Lunar New Year activities for the rest of the week.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

Thursday, February 11: Valentine’s Day Classroom Celebration

Friday, February 12: Reading Break – school is not in session

Monday, February 15: Family Day – school is not in session

Kindergarten Routines and Self-Regulation: This Week in Our Room: September 9-13, 2019

Posted on September 16, 2019 by thekinderteam

Thank you to everyone for attending our Open House and coming to “Meet My Teacher.” Mrs. Campbell and I were delighted to have met so many parents and grandparents, and for you all to get a glimpse into Kindergarten Life.

For your enjoyment, here’s one of our most popular posts, A Day in the Life of Kindergarten. It will give you further insight into what your child will be learning and thinking about during this very special year.

We’ve come to the end of our Gradual Entry this week. The children have learned about classroom Routines, (Self) Regulation and we’ve started some Language and Literacy activities, beginning with Alphabet work.

Routines

One of the first routines we’ve taught is Listen with My Whole Body. We have practised this routines several times a day as a whole class since school started, and are now using a self-regulated learning chart with picture cues for reference during meeting time and instruction.

Eye contact with your child is extremely important. We’re teaching the children that what they are looking at tells us what they are thinking about…if your children are making eye contact with us when we are speaking, we know they are thinking about us and what we are saying. If your children are looking at the pictures in the book we are reading, we know they are thinking about the story. Using their eyes to observe their teachers, or checking to see what the other children are doing (peer referencing) is a necessary and vital part of learning.

Self-Regulation

From the name of our website, you’ve probably surmised that self-regulation is a large part of our teaching practise; indeed, it’s the lens by which we view all student behaviour and it is the foundation of everything we do in Kindergarten. We introduced the “breathing ball” this week (it’s actually called Hoberman’s Sphere) and we use it as a tool to teach the children to use deep, slow breathing as a strategy to help them down-regulate from our fun and exciting recess time (yellow zone) so they are feeling calm, peaceful, focused and ready to learn (green zone).

Literacy

This week we started with reviewing the alphabet letters and introducing “a is an apple,” from Itchy’s Alphabet. We’re teaching letter names, letter sounds and the correct formation of each letter. We add a little alphabet craft for each letter we teach; each week we will send the letters home. and these can be collected and hung up at home for your own alphabet wall.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Kindergarten is now in session full-time.

First bell: 8:50 – children should enter their classroom/school building calmly and walking.

10:20-10:40 – Kindergarten children eat their snack

10:40-11:05 – Kindergarten children morning recess time (on their own with playground supervisors)

12:00-12:20 – Lunch (although we allow the children to eat until 12:30 with our Grade 7 monitors)

12:30-1:00 – Kindergarten children lunch recess time (from 12:45-1 pm on their own with playground supervisors)

2:55 Dismissal

As we move forward with our full days, the children need 1-2 snacks, lunch and a water bottle everyday. You can help your child by labelling and showing them what they should eat for morning snack and lunch; many children wanted to eat their lunch at recess time. The children have about 15 minutes to eat their snack, and 20-25 minutes for lunch so please plan appropriately.

We are not using the hallway water fountains currently; it’s more hygenic for the Kindergarten children to use their own water bottles (not all students know how to use a water fountain correctly), and the teachers or monitors will refill their water from the water bottle filler which has filtered water.

Thursday, September 19 Terry Fox Kick-Off Assembly for students

Friday, September 20 is a Professional Day. Students are not in session.

Thursday, September 26 Terry Fox Run (all students wear Canada’s flag colours, red and white, please). More details to follow.

Communicating Student Learning: Student-Led Conferences

Posted on April 22, 2019 by thekinderteam

This article was originally posted on February 23, 2015. We’re reblogging today with updates to reflect this current school year.

We communicate student learning in a variety of ways: through this website, our Remind texts, our Kindergarten curriculum overview, and the three formal and two informal reporting periods each school year. Our Kindergarten students receive their formal written report cards at the end of each term. Students received their first report card last December, the second report card was given out in March, and the third report will be distributed at the end of June.

The two informal reporting periods are a parent-teacher interview, held last fall, and this Spring’s Student-Led Conference.

There’s a lot of excitement and wonder surrounding Student-Led Conferences, and for good reason. Having your child lead the conference, not the teacher, is a shift in mind-set, particularly if this was not part of your school experience growing up. But we know this will be one of the most delightful learning experiences you will share with your children, as it will be for them to demonstrate their independence and leadership with you.

A Student-Led Conference is exactly that–a conference or interview for you and your child, led by your child. During the Conference, students assume the ownership for reporting and explaining to their parents what they are learning about and how they are doing in school. The teacher, who has supported the students in the selection of student work and practiced the conference with them, stays in the background during the actual Conferences.

During the years we taught from Grades One to Four, our students participated in a teacher-led discussion about the student work they would like to present at the Student-Led Conference. A brainstorming session of possibilities would ensue. There would be suggestions such as a polished piece of writing, the latest math test or a Science notebook; the class would vote on the ideas they liked best and those selections were included in their Student-Led Conference folder.

Depending upon the grade, sometimes we had a combination of “must-have” work and some student choices. A “gallery walk” around the school hallways, the latest digital learning project and a mini music performance were other fun choices to round out a Student-Led Conference.

A week or two before the Conference we had our older students write a letter inviting their parents to attend. The letter would highlight the learning and personal achievements students wanted their parents to particularly notice. This was a wonderful opportunity for student self-reflection of his or her successes.

For our Kindergarten students we organize our Student-Led Conferences by Centres. It’s a system the children are familiar with, and one in which we’ve used successfully with this age group.

In the weeks prior to the Student-Led Conference we review with your children the activities they enjoy most in our day and want to share with you. We also initiate some discussion on the learning we think you would enjoy seeing as their parents.

We typically include a Language Arts Centre which focuses on the children’s Alphabet and Writing Books; a Math Centre to create math patterns and showcase their Math Books; and a Scrapbook Centre to see some of the best work we’ve completed in Kindergarten this year, in the children’s individual scrapbooks. With the children’s help, we form an “Agenda” of the Centres the children will lead you through.

When you arrive with your child at our classrooms, your child will be given a personal copy of the Agenda and he or she will mark each activity with a sticker as it is finished. The Centres do not need to be completed in any particular order, but each one must be visited. We explain to the children that if they see there are many families at one Centre, then they should choose another until it’s less crowded.

During your child’s Conference, parents are able to enjoy looking at their child’s schoolwork and participate in the activities he or she has selected for you. As parents, giving specific praise and support recognises your child’s efforts at school. It is through your comments that you model what you value about your child’s learning.

This is a time for positive comments only to your child.

At the end of the Student-Led Conference we ask our parents to sign the Guest Book. It’s important for us to have a record of parent attendance and receive feedback every year. Over the years parents have always enjoyed the Conferences so it’s very rewarding to have the appreciation of your children’s, and our, efforts.

This year the Kindergarten Student-Led Conferences will be held on Wednesday, April 24.

All Ridgeview students will be dismissed at 2:00 pm, and the Conferences will begin immediately afterwards. You will have a 25 minute time slot with your child. A maximum of five-six Conferences will be held at once so families need to be prepared to speak softly. At the appointed time, we will ring a bell to signal the end of the Conference so that we may prepare for the next group.

Over the years, a few parents have asked why they cannot have an interview with the teacher instead.

To put it simply, the reason why you’re having a Student-Led Conference is because it’s an incredible opportunity and privilege to share in the learning of your child.

You will hear about your child’s learning from your child’s perspective, and have that deep insight into your child’s thinking, motivations and achievements. You will be engaged in a dialogue rich with the language of a young learner, share the joy of a job well done, and a sense of pride with every printed letter and cut out shape. And you’ll be able to share in the delight of your Kindergarten child as he or she begins the journey as a life-long learner.

Student-Led Conferences are one of our favourite days of the entire school year. From a teacher’s perspective, we couldn’t be any more proud of our students as they beam with pride at leading their mom and dad into their classroom to share the fabulous work they’ve completed at this point in the school year.

Please make arrangements for siblings so that your Kindergarten child can have your full attention during his or her Conference.

You can sign-up for your Student-Led Conference now outside of our child’s classroom.

The Self-Regulated Teacher

There are three formal and two informal reporting periods each school year. Our Kindergarten students receive their formal written report cards at the end of each term. Students received their first report card last December, the second report card will be given out on March 6, and the third report will be distributed at the end of June.

This year, the two informal reporting periods are a parent-teacher interview, held last fall, and the Student-Led Conference.

A Student-Led Conference is exactly that–a conference or interview for you and your child, led by your child. During the Conference, students assume the ownership for reporting and demonstrating to their parents what they are learning about in school. The teacher, who has supported the students in the selection of student work and practiced the conference with them, stays in the background during the actual Conferences.

During the years we taught from Grades One…

View original post 809 more words

Kindergarten to Graduation: We’ve Come Full Circle

Posted on September 6, 2017 by thekinderteam

Courtesy of Pinterest

This past school year was a particularly busy one for Christy and myself as we each had a child graduating from Grade 12. This Labour Day weekend marks a new beginning for us as parents as our children move on to University, no longer living at home. We hope that the foundation we’ve laid with them since they were young is solid enough as they experience new found independence, freedom and challenges. We’ve tried to teach them resilience and perseverance when faced with difficult times, establish a strong moral compass based on family values when it comes to doing the right thing, along with empathy, compassion and a healthy dose of common sense. We will see if our modelling and lessons on the beauty of our mindfulness to stay in the present, underpinned with a self-regulation structure has transferred now that they are out of the house!

Our own self-regulation certainly came into play as we navigated our way through the Grade 12 Graduation year. Beyond the regular classroom instruction was University applications, Scholarship applications, Graduation photos, Graduation events, performances of all kinds from musical theatre, choir and dance…and that’s just what our kids were involved in. University and Scholarship applications all have due dates and demand references which needs to be organised well ahead of time. Special events require early ticket purchases. It’s hard not to be constantly harping at your kids with reminders about when things are due, emotions on the rise. But for the strength of our husbands to “let the chips fall where they may,” that meant allowing natural consequences to happen. Truly, we found out that our kids are much more resourceful than we believed them to be.

Having now gone through the complete cycle of K-12 public education (twice for me with two kids graduated), we’ve been talking and reflecting on our roles as parents. We want to emphasise the importance and responsibility of our life-long commitment as parents to be involved in our children’s education and schooling, beyond the needs of shelter, nutrition and care. We might think that support doesn’t begin until Kindergarten or even Grade One, but it actually starts much earlier than we think.

For our University bound children we know there will be many opportunities and temptations that will present themselves. We can only send our kids off, confident in that as parents we have communicated openly about the issues and difficulties young people face today and the repercussions of those actions. Our Principal wisely reminded us that our young adults are able, and we should see and trust that they are able as they begin a new chapter in their lives.

Change, Routines and Self-Regulation

Posted on June 8, 2017 by thekinderteam

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a “normal” schedule. It’s probably going to be like this until the end of the schoolyear. We’ve had a lot of schedule changes this term and numerous special visits and activities which has thrown us off our regular routine. Well, it’s a very good thing for our Kindergarten cuties and their self-regulation: they’ve helped us to stay steady, grounded and in the green zone.

Now, don’t get us wrong. It’s been a very FUN time. We’ve been doing lots of interesting activities but when you are schedule, routine oriented people, as we are, it does require quite a bit of flexibility to change. When we fit in all of these extra events, we still have our regular classroom lessons to teach and projects to finish up with our students; we don’t let all of that go.

But it made us realise how much we rely on our timetable, which we know to be a good thing. A sense of structure, predictability and knowing what’s going to happen next is really important to help reduce uncertainty and anxiety. We see our children check the visual schedule in the classroom everyday, at most transitions. If we’ve made an error in the schedule, or forget to change it, they certainly notice and we are duly informed. The children want to know where we are in the schedule; it gives them a sense of comfort in counting down the activities until they can see their mom and dad at the end of the day.

When the children are aware of the expectations for themselves and others they feel calm and confident. They know what’s expected of them and what to do, so they can bring their focused attention to learning. This is a vital part of our self-regulation, being able to centre ourselves to be ready to learn. Being cognizant of what we need to do to down-regulate, whether through deep breathing, calming countdowns, or quiet activities such as walking, colouring or reading, is learned as we explore our emotions, how we’re feeling and connecting them to words and strategies. The Incredible Flexible You and the Zones of Regulation are two of the pro-social programs we use in our Kindergarten.

We practise daily strategies for self-regulation. Everyday we listen to calming music and feel our bodies relaxing. Then, we listen to the Zenergy chime and practise deep breathing to develop our mindfulness. Sometimes, we do stretches. We’re getting outside more as the weather has improved, and started our Forest Fridays, so adding some springtime walks is the next strategy to add to our repertoire.

While change is healthy and necessary for growth, we also know that too much change too quickly leaves one feeling out of control, upset and frustrated. This is why routines are such a necessary part of Kindergarten. We want the children to feel safe and secure during their day. When we do have to make changes to our daily schedule, we make sure we explain very carefully to our classes what is going to happen and why. We try to make certain that there are not too many changes in a day or week, although that can be difficult to control sometimes.

So when and where we can, we start with small changes and practise.

We might change the order of how we do things in our day.

We might change the children in the groups for Centre time.

We might change the way we print our name – in crayon or felt pen, rather than a pencil.

These seem like small things, but experience has taught us that we cannot expect five and six-year old children to accept change and adapt ”just like that,” or that “it’s good for them,” without practise. The teaching and scaffolding around changing set routines is necessary so that our children develop an understanding of why things change and the resiliency to cope with them. While we love our routines, we also want our children to learn to embrace change, without fear or hesitation. We’re looking to build strong, flexible students for a constantly changing world.

Year 2: Happy Anniversary to The Self-Regulated Teacher!

Posted on December 21, 2016 by thekinderteam

It was a quiet celebration, attended just by Christy and myself, but December 10, 2016, was the second anniversary of our website, The Self-Regulated Teacher. As of today, we’ve written 147 posts and been viewed 19, 257 times by readers from all over the world. Although it might not seem like much, we’re pretty proud as our main purpose was simply to provide an extra layer of parent-teacher communication for our classroom parents. The fact that other educators are reading our work is high praise and we’re delighted that they would also spend a few minutes from their busy day to drop by.

Last year one of our classroom parents was telling us how much their family enjoyed the website, and they loved reading about what their child was doing in class. They felt so informed about what was happening in the classroom, and could take the information we shared to remind their child about teacher and classroom expectations. But they also raised a really good question, which was did we regret starting the website? After all these months were we tired of writing? She was concerned it was taking a lot of time and we felt pressure to keep writing.

But we’re still very happy with our choice to create and write for a website. We want to share what we’ve done in our day with our Kinders, our thoughts and reflections about how things are going. The writing is fun and easy and with Google Docs can be done anywhere (yes, some of the posts have been written on an iPhone). We take lots of photos of our students’ work and classroom to try to show as much as we can of your child’s learning environment. Although we still have parent-teacher conferences, and lots of “hallway chats,” it’s wonderful to have a record, in writing and with pictures, of what happened in the magical year we call Kindergarten.

On our second anniversary, we’ve updated our About Us post to reflect where we are now in our teaching. It’s located on the menu on your right hand side of the home page; you can also read Our Story which is the story of how we became The Self-Regulated Teacher.

Summer is (Almost) Over Musings and Some Back to School Shopping

Posted on August 30, 2016 by thekinderteam

It’s been a gorgeous summer, filled with aquamarine skies and tropical waters, sandy beaches, barbecues with friends and families and lots of gardening. Although we’ve travelled to places near and far, there’s nothing quite like coming home and the comforts of your own space and bed. That’s probably more indicative of our age, but it’s a conversation that can be revisited at another time, cool drink in hand.

My dad used to always say that time goes by faster after your children are born, and in our families, that is certainly true. We don’t think just about the days and weeks anymore; instead, we find ourselves measuring time by years, holiday celebrations and the summer holidays.

This summer was particularly poignant as my daughter graduated from high school and so begins her next journey in education: University. It’s such an exciting time for her, and we’re so delighted as our own memories of University life are very special. Back at home, Christy and I each have a child going into Grade 12 this year so I’m back on the graduation wheel of special events but this will be it for me (apparently with a son it’s supposed to be simpler?). Christy’s youngest has a few more years in school so she will have a bit of a breather between her girls. It occurred to me that Christy and I are closing the circle as parents of school-aged children, and this will be reflected in our blog as we think about Kindergarten within the context, and as the foundation, of public education this year.

And now onto business.

Although many people don’t realise this, it actually takes a great deal of time to wind down the classroom, and ourselves, after a busy year of teaching. There is a lot to clean and tidy in a Kindergarten classroom and we are usually in school for another week or two, depending upon what projects we might be up to. When we’re finished, we definitely try to relax and “let it go.” But school is never really far from our minds, because in just a matter of days after starting our holiday we found ourselves out and about and shopping for some great resources for our classrooms this fall.

Whenever I go to Victoria, British Columbia, I love to visit my favourite teacher’s store, Schoolhouse Teaching Supplies. I’ve been shopping there for a number of years now and they always have such fantastic collections of books, teaching resources and supplies, stickers and classroom decorations. The lovely shopkeepers are happy to order things in for you, if you’re looking for something specific. We need to replenish our alphabet stickers, calendar pieces, birthday certificates and cloakroom tags every year, and sometimes a pretty new bulletin board border is just the perfect finishing complement to an art display.

Some of the treasures of our most recent shopping spree

On this particular visit to Victoria, we wanted to do a mini bookstore tour so we took a day to go to the downtown Chapters, Russell’s New and Used Books and Munro’s Books. We hadn’t been to Munro’s for a long time but our son’s English teacher had recommended he go there the next time we were in town. Munro’s is in a beautiful, high ceiling space on Government Street and very wonderful it is with not only a well-curated collection of books and fun “bits and bobs” for the literati (think cute book lovers’ tote bags, book labels, cards and papers) but they also have an outstanding children’s literature section. Naturally, we couldn’t leave empty handed so we came away with these beautiful new alphabet books:

And I had to buy this adorable tote:

I ❤ Darcy

Back at home, when we thought we couldn’t possibly buy anything else for school, we were having lunch in town with a colleague and walked past Vancouver Kidsbooks at their new Broadway location on the way back to the car. Although our usual neighbourhood haunt is our adored Kidsbooks in the Village store in North Vancouver, this larger store is pretty amazing. There are just so many beautiful books for children from infant to young adults, and toys, puppets and puzzles. We’ve been replacing and upgrading the learning resources for our classrooms so we decided to purchase some new puzzles for our classes:

We won’t tire you with the rest of the shopping we did, but let’s just say we’re going to need some help getting this stuff to our classrooms. The shopping bags are starting to pile up downstairs for our return to school this week, and there will be certainly be some unpacking to do. But in the meantime, we’re going to stay in this restful and relaxing state of mind, hopefully the same as you.

May the Self-Regulating Force Be With You!

Posted on June 17, 2016 by thekinderteam

We often wonder how our teaching of self-regulation strategies fare outside of the specific lessons. For us, the overriding question is whether or not the children are able to transfer what they know to a context outside of classroom instruction. We’ve been practising our deep breathing; creating calm, peaceful scenes in our minds while meditating; listening to soft music and focusing on relaxing and breathing when using the Zenergy chime. We’d have to say this was a pretty good week to test out the effectiveness of our teaching. Would the children be able to manage their energy during the long presentations this week? What would they do if they were feeling restless and wiggling in their seats? Do they know how to ignore distractions? Would they be able to self-regulate their own learning by reflecting on what their task was in each new situation?

One of the most exciting things we did this week was to welcome Kathleen, a scientist leader, from “High Touch, High Tech” to our classrooms to present the “Newton in Nutshell” workshop which focuses on Force and Motion. As physicists, the children would study things that moved and how they moved.

The children learned that scientists can do lots of things. They conduct experiments which are done in a laboratory, and for this special day, our classrooms were the labs. Kathleen reviewed the important safety rules such as wearing safety equipment like goggles and lab coats; walking in the lab and keeping things out of our mouths. Students must listen to instructions, note the order in which tasks are to be completed and take precautions in using equipment.

Kathleen asked the children to describe how objects move. They knew they could pull or push objects. Pushes and pulls are the forces to get objects to move; however, the objects have to follows rules or “laws” so Kathleen taught us these laws:

The first law of motion: An object in motion stays in motion. An object at rest stays at rest. Kathleen showed us with a long string of beads in a cup how once we start to pull the strand out of the cup, the rest of the strand would follow and it would not stop until it was finished. This motion stopped when the beads hit the ground.

The second law of motion: The bigger the force, the faster the motion. An object with a bigger force goes faster and further. Kathleen set up a series of dominoes to demonstrate what happens when we push hard or push slowly; and that by changing the position of the dominoes (closer, farther apart) it also changes the motion.

The third law of motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. A reaction happens after the action; for example, if pushing against a wall while wearing your skates (the action), the reaction is to go backwards. Using Newton’s Cradle, Kathleen showed how the number of balls she set in motion had an equal reaction in that the same number of balls on the opposite side would start moving.

Finally, we learned about the apple falling out of the tree. Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity. If you drop an object, it will always fall to the ground. Gravity pulls everything to the ground.

With their newfound knowledge, our children then embarked on a series of experiments and learning centres to practise what they had learned. They were able to drop a variety of objects down a vortex, race cars, fling pompoms in catapults, spin felt pen tops to make designs and test out the “spinning wheel” while standing on a moving platform. It was a very busy and exciting time.

We were happy we’d taught the expectations for centre-based activities and practised this process many times under a variety of circumstances from the regular activity time to Hallowe’en Centres to Math. The children were all able to rotate well through the stations and participate in their specific learning tasks. They walked safely from table to table. For the most part, they remembered the instructions to follow through on their activities in the correct order. For their age, and this being the first time for many of them to receive specific lessons in self-regulation strategies, we were really proud of our students for demonstrating patience, turn-taking and sharing cooperatively most of the time.

But we’ve also learned that self-regulation instruction is not a series of lessons, or taught only in the early years of Primary. In the past four years where we’ve made significant changes to our classroom instruction and classroom environment, we know that learning, understanding and using self-regulation strategies is a complex process. We’ve said before that self-regulation is a way of being, something that we have learned and developed over time. We know that our Kindergarten students are well on their way in their personal journey of self-regulation.

This Week in Our Room: June 13-17, 2016

Many thanks to Roseanne from the West Vancouver Memorial Library for showing us a variety of wonderful books and reminding us to register for the Summer Reading Program.

We enjoyed our delicious cookies from the Kindergarten Cookie Sale. Thanks to Mr. Blackburn and the Grade Six students for organizing this special event. Funds raised will be donated to Free the Children.

We loved watching our siblings and other Ridgeview Primary students perform at the Primary Talent Show.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Next week is the last week for Home Reading. Friday, June 24, will be the last day to take home a book.

Wednesday, June 22, is our Vancouver Aquarium Field Trip. Please return your permission form and cheque on Monday.

April 20, 2016: Talk With Your Kids About Money Day

Posted on April 20, 2016 by thekinderteam

“Don’t let money be the tool that trips them up” —Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Talking about money and finances has always been an open discussion at our house but has lately become the topic of urgency, because our oldest child is graduating from Grade 12 and starting University in the fall. She’s been accepted to UBC and we’re about to enter the world of the Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) and accessing those funds we’ve been saving for years now.

Today, the third Wednesday of April, has been designated as Talk with Our Kids About Money Day. Although it seems kind of early (we are Kindergarten teachers, after all) to be talking about money, we know it’s really important to start forming good habits and a healthy perspective about money at a very young age. Canada’s Task Force on Financial Literacy views that the improvement of financial literacy among young people should be a shared responsibility, a lifelong process and provided for in public schools. While Christy and I do not concur exactly with that perspective, we do think that some basic knowledge (attributes of coins and financial role-playing are part of the BC Kindergarten math content), financial “theory” (saving some money every month is important and necessary) and the application of money skills (bake sales) can be taught at school. However, our belief is that the actual teaching of financial literacy is the role and responsibility of parents because money reflects our personal and family values and morals, and is influenced by our cultural heritage.

So we were very fortunate indeed to hear Canadian financial maven, Gail Vaz-Oxlade, speak to parents at the Kay Meek Theatre in West Vancouver last May. Gail was invited to speak to the students at our three high schools and she also gave a separate parent session. Although Gail’s presentation was geared for parents of older students, her expertise and savvy in understanding and using money is applicable for all ages. Gail gave our audience some tough love; she asked sobering questions and made us reflect on our own financial literacy and money habits. With her usual wit and wisdom, here are some of the highlights from her talk.

“It’s our job as parents to teach financial literacy.”

This was probably the most important idea that we took away with us that evening. Gail does not believe that financial literacy should be part of the school curriculum: Teachers cannot give kids the money to create the real-life learning situations. Rather, it’s the parents who can give their kids the money and take it away. As parents, we need to learn, know and help our children smooth the rough edges of their money personality, whether it be hoarder, spender, or impulse purchaser.

Gail emphasised how as parents we need to take every opportunity of our lives to teach our children about money. Parents often want financial literacy in the school system because they are uncomfortable talking about it. But she reminded us that as the parents, you are your children’s best teachers: you taught them how to walk, how to use the toilet and how to talk. You can use each and every day to talk about money related situations.

“Love your children enough to let them learn the lessons properly.”

As our children are learning their lessons about money, our response to them is important. Sometimes, as a society we want to label children and teenagers these days as being entitled. But Gail suggests it’s not things, or stuff, that spoils kids. We spoil them by not having expectations. We need to clearly state our expectations to our children, what we will, and will not put up with, and allow the natural consequences of poor decision-making to happen, especially those decisions related to money. As parents, we want to be our kids’ saviours, saving them over and over again. But, our children have the right to make their own mistakes and to fix them. Kids only learn to spot mistakes after they have experienced making them.

So, how do you teach kids about money?

Gail recommends that children receive allowances–to put the money you would normally spend on them in their hands. Then, set expectations about what they will do with it. We can teach our children how we accumulate money for planned spending for predictable necessities in our lives such as car or house insurance. What kind of spending do your children need to plan for?

Some of you may be familiar with the “money jars” for spending, saving and sharing that Gail has discussed in her books and on her television show, “Til Debt Do Us Part.” Because money is an abstract concept, putting it into the jars makes it concrete. For more information about kids, allowances and the “money jars,” click here.

Children must learn to differentiate between “needs” and “wants.” As parents, we must use this vocabulary correctly and consistently. Do we always understand ourselves what we mean by needs and wants? Because language influences how we think about things and the way we spend our money.

“Financial literacy is what you do to move from being dependent to independent.”

We love Gail’s definition of financial literacy. She said that “being independent is the healthiest you will ever be.” Why would we then, as parents, not teach our children the financial skills they need so that they can begin the journey to independence?

Gail cautioned us about keeping secrets about money from our children. We need to teach our children about setting goals, planned spending, emergency funds, how interest and credit works, saving for the long term and bank fees, loans and mortgages, none of which should be a secret. Let’s talk openly with our children–we’re their parents! Let’s give them the benefit of our life experiences and teach them about financial literacy while they are young, so that one day they can be informed, knowledgeable, independent young adults making their way in the world.

Thank you so very much to Gail Vaz-Oxlade for continuing to inspire us!

We would also like to thank our Ridgeview colleague, Leanne Pruner, for suggesting these resources for you to consider when talking to your kids about money.

Save, spend, share, invest: How to talk with small kids about money

moneycoachescanada.ca

Money Smart Kid$: Teach Your Children Financial Confidence and Control by Gail Vaz-Oxlade