One (Kind) Kindergarten

It's coming up on testing season in the early grades. Every time I hear the term "non-tested grade" I want to go crazy. We test, and test, and test these littles! In the span of a few weeks, my kiddos will best tested using Fast, MAP, text-leveled assessments, and WIDA ACCESS. In addition to needing assessed on kindergarten year-long skills at regular intervals PLUS 4-5 assessments in subject areas every week (grades for reading, writing,...

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At the beginning of this school year, I received some news from the state board of education. My evaluation score had errors, and the state refused to fix it. This led me down a rabbit hole of emailing people, being rerouted to new people, being disrespected, disbelieved, and down trodden. I discovered that the state commissioner of education had called kindergarten through second grade a "dumping ground" for weak teachers. I felt negative, like I...

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Do you use the IBRDS protocol for teaching phonics? It goes like this: I: Introduce the sound and spelling pattern B: Blend words R: Read sentences D: Decodable texts S: Spelling This process is a simple lesson design to teach a new sound or spelling pattern, and can occur in a daily or weekly cycle. To me, it seemed such a simple organization and quickly I adapted it to start teaching my kinders about vowel...

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Do you make resolutions each year? I look forward to it every December, when I reflect on my old goals and make five new ones to work towards. I also pick a word for each year. This year my word is venture. I have 5 goals this year: 1. Finish my master's degree 2. Dedicate 3 hours a week to One Kind Kindergarten (blog, TPT store, Youtube) 3. Find a new professional adventure 4. 100...

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