Guest Blogger

Tonight's post comes from Christina B.......

Apples, sugar, cinnamon, crust, flour, peppermint, cherries, oranges, cotton candy, and applesauce. Bake all of that at 50^oF for 10 minutes. Any idea what you get? No? Let’s try again. How about apples, cinnamon, flour, butter, seeds, crackers, crust, water, and salt, baked at 5^oF for 3 hours? Ok last one; flour, cinnamon, seeds, apples, butter, and noodles, baked at 3^oF for 10 minutes?

All three of these were recipes for apple pie of course! Last week in my kindergarten classroom, we learned all about apples. My students got to taste test different colored apples, we graphed our favorite one, and we learned about apple seeds. Then, we made our own apple pies (out of construction paper, tissue paper, glitter, and cinnamon) and wrote our own recipes! I was very excited to teach this unit, and when I realized my students were just as interested as I was, I knew it was going to be a wonderful week.

At the start of this program I never would have thought about using glitter in my classroom, terrified of the mess we would have made. I wouldn’t have wanted to do a unit too involved with my students either, since they could barely sit and listen to a story. In the beginning, anytime my students were writing they were up out of their seats, asking how to spell words, and frustrated that they couldn’t do the work.

Today, while my students were making apple pies and writing their own recipes my room was quiet. Well, as quiet as a room with kindergarteners can be. My students waited nicely in line to sprinkle glitter and cinnamon on their apple pies. My students worked hard on their recipes, and tried their best to sound out words on their own. My students seemed completely different than they were when we started this program, but then I realized that it wasn’t my students that had changed, it was me.

This program has taught me more than I ever thought it could. I went in pretty confident with my classroom management skills, ready to take on a new classroom of students. I soon realized that classroom management is not exactly universal. What worked with my third graders during student teaching did not always work with my new kindergarteners. I adapted quickly, took advice from Amy and Dr. Roberts, and soon my students were learning and playing in a controlled and fun manner. I’m so thankful I have the opportunity to work with this amazing program, and I can’t wait until we start up in the fall. I shed a few tears on our last day of Carpe Diem, but they were tears of joy. My kids have grown up a lot in the past few weeks, and I couldn’t be more proud.

What tremendous progress Christina has made with her students! I can't imagine the leaps she will make with her students next year! 

Now.....didn't those recipes sound delicious?? I think I will go try them out!

Carpe Diem!

-Amy