The first weeks and Kindie Highlights

We are ending the first complete week of school with students. I love this time of year... once I am finally finished mourning the loss of my summer, sleeping in, and morning workouts. The start of the school year to me is a time when there are endless possibilities, and that is so exciting. I love allowing the creative, dreamy side of my brain to wonder and think of new ways to improve, create, and innovate.

 My very first week with students is spent repeating the expectations and guidelines for the class. This is also known as my stand up comedy routine; because I always try to balance laughter with the serious. 

Now that I am finally rounding out to seeing classes for the 2nd week, we are starting to get to the learning. I was super excited to have kindergarten this morning. I start the year talking about different vocabulary such as monitor, cpu, keyboard, mouse, laptop, desktop. We compare laptops and desktops, identify the different parts and then... We make a laptop out of paper. It is a great way for them to start understanding the parts, and I get to see how their brains work. Some put lots of detail, almost always is there a picture of their favorite computer activity on the screen, and some design new parts. Today I had a student design a trash button, another shortcut keys to favorite games, and another reminded us all that computers all have a power button. Its a fun little activity. Its a great way to use the vocabulary, and best of all- I get to go from table to table and create with kids. Having those little moments to bond and chat with kiddos is a definite perk to the job.

 Below is my half- made laptop and an example of our first activity from the first day of Tech. We take pictures on photobooth. It helps me to learn names and faces, and its a great mommento for parents as a picture from their first days of school. I didn't realize how much this meant to parents until last year. A  child in kindergarten was having a really rough time adjusting to school. She cried everyday. We were all giggling and laughing and making silly faces with a camera and she joined right in. I print them all and hand them out in week 2 of class. She took it home and the next day her mom thanked me and had tears in her eyes. It was the first time her kindie came home excited and proud of something she did at school. Its a good reminder that one little thing can be so big to someone else. I hope your first days of school are full of excitement, possibilities, and lots of laughter.