Kindergarten Practicum
For my last practicum, I had the opportunity to teach Kindergarten at Sibylla Kiddle. Through this heavily play-based program, I learned more about differentiated instruction, how to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge into division 1, and many other skills necessary for my future practice.
Take a Look
The philosophy of the Kindergarten team at my practicum school was heavily influenced by play-based learning philosophies. Below are photos from the centres that we included within the classroom.
Emotions
Pre-Assessment Centre
This centre pre-assessed the students on whether they were able to identify the emotions of happy, sad, , and surprised. By using blank face mats, students could add stones, leafs, hearts, gems, and other materials to create the faces and then describe how they feel within the body. As a way to further students exploration, the I showed pictures of faces to prompt students. My partner teacher and I assessed for learning to provide lessons that were relevant to each students knowledge level.
Orange Beaded Hearts Lesson
As a way to teach Indigenous culture and to acknowledge orange shirt day, I taught a lesson around creating beaded hearts. This lesson interdisciplinary explored students ability to compose quantities of 10 while exploring the importance of Indigenous children and that every child matters.
"Ten Snowflakes Up on Top" Work Job
This project provided students with the opportunity to delve into the outcome of quantities up to 10 through engaging challenges, fostering a sense of productive struggle as they collaborated on a class book. Drawing inspiration from Dr. Seuss's "Ten Apples Up on Top," I crafted a story titled "Ten Snowflakes Up on Top," which I shared with the students. Their task involved contributing a page to our collective class book, featuring a display of 10 snowflakes affixed "up on top" of themselves and two friends.
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Each student selected a photo showcasing themselves and two companions, each of the three individuals with 10 snowflakes. The creative freedom extended to how they distributed the 10 snowflakes, allowing them to artistically represent the quantity of 10. Alongside the visual representation, students were encouraged to articulate the allocation by writing about the number of snowflakes positioned "up on top" of their friends' heads.
School Display Case Lesson
Each grade team has a month that they display student work in thew main en try area. The kindergarten grade teams month was February. For a pink shirt day display, kindergarten students will create pink t-shirts that have compliments on them. Once decorated and written, they will be displayed throughout February, as an extension of our unit about belonging.
Celebration of Learning Plan
During the month of February, kindergarteners learned and performed Indigenous greetings, a land acknowledgement, a retelling of The Little Hummingbird by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, and sang the song "We Can Make a Difference" to the school community and parents to incite change. Below is the lesson plan for the day of the celebration of learning.
Which TQS points I hit within my kindergarten practicum
1. Fostering Effective Relationships
2. Engaging in Career-Long Learning
3.Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge
4.Establishing Inclusive Learning Environments
5. Applying Foundational Knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit
6.Adhering to Legal Frameworks and Policies