The First Days of Kindergarten Are an Instructional Starting Point
August 2, 2010 - The schedule is different for the newest students entering kindergarten in Wake County. Teacher Mary Elizabeth Armstrong works with a student on literacy assessments. |
You can view the video Welcome to Our Newest Students to see students during kindergarten staggered entry and first day assessments. |
You can view photos of the kindergarten classrooms of Durant Road Elementary teachers Mary Beth Covington and Mary Elizabeth Armstrong. |
 Teresa Winstead is principal of Durant Road Elementary. |
You can listen to Principal Teresa Winstead discuss kindergarten staggered entry and assessment in this audio podcast 9 minute mp3 file |
Teachers schedule kindergarten students in a staggered entry so that small groups of students arrive at school in the first week.
Durant Road Elementary Principal Teresa Winstead says staggered entry benefits students, teachers and parents.
“They come in and they experience a full day of kindergarten, from signing into the classroom to experiencing what its like to go through the lunch line in the cafeteria to recess to checking out at the end of the day,” said Winstead. “Included in that staggered entry day is time for the classroom teachers to do some basic assessments with each of our children.”
Staggered entry is easier on parents, too. They come into a classroom with only several other families and have time to make sure their child feels comfortable at school that first day.
Teacher Mary Beth Covington says her Durant Road Elementary kindergartners have time to become acquainted with the new experience.
“It gives the boys and girls an idea of what kindergarten is all about,” said Covington”. It’s not so overwhelming to them. We’re in a small group. We run through the whole day exactly how it would be, centers and lunch and recess and specials and they get to experience all of it in a small group setting.”
While students are at work in different areas of the classroom, teachers work individually with the children to assess their literacy and math skills.
In Covington’s classroom, she brings out a book and talks with one of the children. The boy points to different parts of the book, as the teacher asks about pictures, the front page, or the first word in the book. Another child is asked to point to words on a page as the teacher reads. When Covington puts down flash cards with letters, children are asked to identify the letter, make the sound and identify a word that starts with that letter.
“Children develop at different rates,” said Covington. “So we would love for them to come in knowing all their letters, to be able to write their name, to be able to count to 100, to be independent. But we know there’s going to be some, a handful that can do that. And we know there are some that are not going to be able to do that. And some are going to be somewhere in between.”
Teacher Mary Elizabeth Armstrong is working on math assessments with her students. One student is asked to count as high as he can. He looks surprised and notes that it will take a long time. He’s right. He does a good job and the teacher stops him after 120. Another student is asked to turn over his paper and write down his numbers and later to identify different shapes. Another set of skills are tested with cubes. Students are asked to make different patterns with the cubes.
“Patterning is the very basic level of algebra – believe it or not – and we just kind of see what their abilities are, whether they are visually able to distinguish between one pattern or another and whether they can continue a pattern,” said Armstrong...
One of the day’s exercises is to use crayons to color a rocket ship, use scissors to cut it out and use glue to paste the drawing onto cardboard. The task helps teachers see how well children can work on an extended, multi-step task, how well they follow instructions, as well as motor skills.
Students learn the culture of their classroom. Armstrong calls them together in one corner where they listen to a theme song that calls them to gather before the teacher. They discuss the coming day. One student is sent to look out the window to observe weather conditions. As a group they decide it’s partly cloudy and choose the best picture to post on their weather board. Later, they investigate centers, finding collections of blocks, a book rack and computer work stations.
Covington says the staggered entry days culminate in the first day when all students are in the class together.
“That’s an interesting day because we have 24 of them,” said Covington. “A lot of it is just initial, basic things like learning how to follow directions. Some of them have trouble staying in their chair, staying at their center. So we are learning procedures and through the procedures we also do some fun activities. They do a lot of playing. We do a lot of socializing, a lot of talking. From there, we’ll start building on those basic skills that they have.”
By this first day of class, Armstrong has used the data she’s collected to plan her instruction.
“I’ll use the data that I collected during our initial assessments to determine some small reading groups and things like that,” said Armstrong. “Some children are ready to read. Some need more work on their letters and their sounds. And I’ll kind of group them on their ability and start pulling them day one to start working on those skills that they need a little bit more push with.”
Winstead said the staggered entry gives teachers the time to get to know students and prepare for the differentiated instruction they will require.
“We have to know pretty early in the school year the skill set that the child brings with them to kindergarten,” said Winstead. “Some of our children have been in organized pre-school programs with an academic level to them and some of our children come to kindergarten already knowing how to read. Some of our children have not had those experiences and so it’s important for us to know what they know when they come in so that we can tailor our instruction around their level.”
The use of staggered entry and individual assessment allows kindergarten teachers to identify their students’ needs and prepare for them, so each student will be challenged and helped to move forward academically.
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