Loose Training???

Autumn, Day 2.

More training.

This time it is Science training. The district is implementing a new science program called Loose In the Labs. I am attending a training of trainers session. After the training today i will need to train the other Kindergarten teachers on our campus how to properly use the kits and the lab materials.

This training thing could actually be pretty good. I went to training one day last week and taught for four days. This week I have training today and Early Release tomorrow. Three and a half days teaching and one and a half going to training. Not bad.

I don't know what I'll do next week. No training and five days teaching.

It'll work. It's a job and I love it.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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It's Going To Be A Beautiful Day

I don't go to work today.

I have to go to training.

I have been selected as a "designated diabetic trained" representative for our campus. It happens that since our campus does not have a full-time nurse we must have personnel trained to deal with students that may be diabetic. This includes training in testing, giving insulin injections, and all of the various side effects and symptoms.

This is all well and good. I understand the need for training of personnel. This is serious. Especially when a young child's well-being is at stake. I understand why I was selected to be part of the designated diabetic team. After all I am just across the hall from the nurse's office which makes it handy for me to have access to the supplies.

What I don't understand is why I have to go to the training. After all, I am a diabetic. I know how to test. I know how to determine the correct amount of insulin needed and how to inject. I know how to test for ketones.

Oh well.

I suppose I'll look on the bright side. I have a day away from class. I don't have to get up as early. I get to go home earlier than normal and I will be closer to home. I will also have longer for lunch.

Now the down side. I had to prepare for a substitute. This is a real pain because you have to over prepare and plan.

It's still going to be a great day to be alive though and I am a happy man. Have a great day. I plan on having one.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Intense, Insane, Interminable

Twice a year at our school we have an I³ Day or I -Cubed Day. At this point I really can't remember what the three I's stand for. It could stand for Initiating Intelligent Interaction or maybe Introducing Integrated Information. However, yesterday it felt like the three I's stood for Intense, Insane, Interminable.

Let me explain what I³ Day is. The entire campus teaches various skills and objectives, all centered upon one theme or literature selection. Each teacher is provided with a lesson and all supplies needed for the lesson. Homeroom teachers then teach this same lesson throughout the day as other classes rotate into their classroom. Yesterdays selection was "June 29, 1999". This is a story about a young girl who is doing an experiment for school using vegetable plants. Her experiment is to send plants aloft and see if there is any change in them. Weeks later gigantic vegetables start falling from the sky. Where have they come from? (Go to Blue Sunflower Associates and buy "June 29, 1999" find out.)

I teamed up with a fellow Kindergarten teacher and we both did a lesson on shopping for vegetables at the grocery store. The students were supposed to shop, pay for, and get the appropriate change for their selections. The only problem was we only had 30 minutes for each lesson and 17 - 25 students per rotation into the room. We occasionally modified the lesson and challenged the students to shop for vegetables and try to hit a target amount and not go over. The amount we chose was $3 - $5 depending upon the grade level. Some students did quite well, others broke the bank.

Don't get me wrong. The day is great. Teachers get to see a different set of kids every 30 minutes. (This way we all get to see what the other teachers have to deal with on a daily basis and they see what you deal with.) As a Kindergarten teacher I love it because I get to see my previous students and get to interact with them once again. I also get to see what wonderful students many of them have become.

Now the Intense, Insane, Interminable part. It doesn't really have anything to to do with the lessons, the story, the students, or anything like that. It has to do with the music that our Instructional Specialist chose to signify that it was time to rotate; which is what my head began to do after hearing the same music and chorus over and over and over and over. You get the idea. It was something about vegetables and every time I heard it began to feel like someone was taking a hot poker and sticking it in my head. It really was Intense, Insane, Interminable. Maybe Kathy will write in and tell me the name of the song so I can share it with all of you. After all, you need an I³ day also.

PS: A Google search for June 29, 1999 yielded many scholarly articles. However none are related to what we taught. Goodness knows that we could have done some great lessons on "Neurotoxic Lesions of Basolateral, But Not Central, Amygdala Interfere with Pavlovian Second-Order Conditioning and Reinforcer Devaluation Effects". © 2008 Barry T Horst


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Honesty, You Gotta Love It

As you know I teach kindergarten. When you have a classroom full of 5 and 6 year olds you never can tell what will happen or will be said. The other day I had a student come to my teaching table while I was teaching reading. He insisted that he needed to tell me something. I tried to have him go back to his station and continue working but he would have none of that. After all, he needed to tell me something. I finally relented and asked what he need to say to me.

He began to apologize and say, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I did that. I didn't mean to."

Now I'm curious. Real curious! I told him, "That's okay, but what did you do?"

His reply was, "I peed on the wall!"

Now this got my attention. I asked him what he said, and he apologized again. I then told him to show me what he was talking about. We went to the restroom and sure enough, there it was on the wall, on the seat, and on the floor.

I then had to ask how. So I said, "How did you do this?"

"I don't know it just happened."

Honesty! You just gotta love it!

© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
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Did I Mention.......?

Teaching is great. It gives you a good feeling to know that you are imparting knowledge to the little ones who will eventually lead our country. Only problem, many of our kids don't get the supervision and rest they need.

Yesterday morning during our morning circle time we were discussing attributes of various blocks and sorting them. During this time several students were taken out for TPRI testing. I looked across the rug; one of the boys (Let's call him Hugh) was asleep. Hugh always tries to go to sleep during the morning. I woke him up and sent him for a drink of water. Then I had him stand up. We continued the lesson. I looked a few minutes later., Hugh was sitting down again sleeping. Two or three others were laying down also. I decided that we would go to the hallway and take a walk up and down the hallway. This would surely wake them up.

Back to class and begin Voyager. Nope! The same ones are down again. Wake them up and continue lesson. Finally we get to stations and groups. Yes. Now I start getting the inevitable, "I'm hungry. When is lunch?" "Pretty soon!", I say. We finish Voyager go to lunch and come back to the room for recess. Recess has been in the room this week because the older students are having 9 weeks tests and we don't want to disturb them. We work on floor puzzles. My kids love to do puzzles. They get excited when they finish one.

Yesterday was PE day. The kids came back tired. It was rest time. By the end of rest time and beginning of snack time 8 students were sleeping. No, we don't take naps in kindergarten. We rest and then have a snack; if we stay awake. Center time was next and half of us were still asleep. It's hard to wake up the little ones sometimes. By the time we started Science we were up and were learning about soil, rocks, and water.

Last week we picked up rocks from the playground. After we picked them up we weighed them, sorted them, and described them. Yesterday we added them to the Kindergarten Rock Garden. I suppose you could call it "der kindergarten felsen garten." I suppose that would be a close approximation. The kids enjoy it. They know each of their rocks, even when they look the same to us.

Did I mention the student that went to sleep sitting cross legged, leaning over with his forehead resting on the floor? No! That'll have to be another post.


© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.