After being in the schools for two weeks and really getting to be with the kindergartners I have really been able to see what a great job all of you are doing with your children. I always knew my nieces and nephews were smart (and this includes the Madsen kids) but I never understood just how smart. I have always been around kids that are able to sound out words written on a piece of paper OR work on a puzzle I would have thought too hard for them to understand. But after getting into the school and seeing them at the half way point of kindergarten I am truly amazed at what you have accomplished.
We were working on simple sentences last week and we were trying to get the children to tell us if they were complete sentences. We have one kid in my class who can read and the rest either ask him or one of us for help and that's OK, in fact they all, for the most part, are where they need to be. But with that said you all have managed to accomplish this before they ever started school. For me it has really been a testimony of the importance of a stay at home mom. I know that it's not possible in all situations but it really does make a difference for the children.
One thing that I learned this week was the power of silence. We talked in my psychology class about how teachers are quick to bail out the students. What I mean is when a child is asked a question and they look at us and shrug their shoulders hoping that we will bypass them or if they say "I don't know" totally anticipating us to move on. We talked about how if a teacher will sit in silence and not accept the "I don't know" response the students will answer. I was testing the students the next day on their math and would ask them to write a number. I found that even in kindergarten they have picked up on the shoulder shrug and they know it works. I stood my ground and sat there waiting for a response...sometimes waiting for several minutes until I got one, and I was really surprised at how often after waiting for a real answer the students would get it right. I am sure this is common knowledge to parents but it was an eye opening moment for me.
This is for those who are not on facebook. Last week I had one of the children come back and work on his alphabet with me and as he sat down he said, "I know who you are." I was a little taken back by this, so I said, "Oh yea, who am I?" He then said, "You are an actor." I was taken back a little further, I replied, "Really! What have I acted in?" he then said, "You are the guy in Toy Story Two who takes Woody away." For those of you who haven't watched Toy Story 2 in a long time, here it is I hope you get as big of a kick out of it as I did! I am Al from Al's toy barn!
