When I first began my placement in Kindergarten this semester, I felt a little bit like a fish out of water.  The kids were really sweet, and I really liked getting to know them, but Kindergarten was so different from the fourth grade class I left (and loved), I wasn’t sure if I was going to ever warm up to being in that grade.

Now that I have been in Kindergarten for a month, I can honestly say that I am really happy.  Although the kids are at a much different level than my fourth graders, and I can’t do all of the same activities that I used to do with the older kids, a whole new world of teaching and in class projects has opened up. 

One of the things that I really enjoyed doing with my kids was through a phonics lesson.  The students had learned about the letter “P” for the entire week, and on Friday, I decided to dress up as Patty Parker – an expert on the letter “P.”  I created an outfit all around the letter “P” – I wore pink and purple, my hair was in pigtails and held with polka-dot ribbon, I had pink and purple gems on my cheeks in the shape of the letter P – and I brought in a big, pink bag with all of my favorite P things (popcorn, pictures, a pink purse, and perfume). 

This kids loved it!  They loved going through the bag of things that I had brought, they loved “Patty” and they were even really excited to do the craft project after the lesson (making a peacock and writing a word starting with a “P” on each feather.)  I was so happy to see how excited they were about all they knew about the letter “P” – and to see how much information they retained because they were so interested.

Dressing up was definitely a great strategy, and I am looking forward to doing something like that again at least a few times before the semester is over.