Where the Wild Things Are

In honor of Halloween, I present you with WILD THINGS!! My class adored making these puppets. They were so enthralled that it was almost silent for once! In a room made for 20, but stuffed with 27 kindies, that is a rare moment. One of my students commented “It’s quiet in here! I can hear myself think for once! Let’s keep this up!” We read the book for a week and then as a final project, made the puppets. As they were cutting, drawing and creating sharp teeth and claws, some of them whispered, “They roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws” (Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak, 1964).

These are easy to make, not too expensive and so fun! All you need is brown paper bags, googly eyes (or students can draw them or make them out of construction paper), an assortment of colored construction paper, cotton, fur (optional), and any other random craft materials that could be used to make wild things! Like craft sticks, felt, or paint! We used markers and lots of glue. I modeled for my kids an option of how to make one and a few kids copied mine exactly, but most of them added in their own creativity or completely made their own type of monster! These were so fun; I’ll definitely make them again with my class next year. Happy Halloween!!

The Beginning!

It all started when I had a practicum experience in a kindergarten classroom during undergrad. The joyful chaotic learning of kindergarten grabbed me and never let go. I taught a small group lesson to six boys and girls and was observed by my college mentor. It was the first real lesson I had ever taught and I passed out whiteboards and markers and wrote “at” on my board. “What rhymes with –at?” The children were to rhyme and write down words in the “at family” on their boards. “Hat! Bat! Cat!” “My cat lost a tooth!!!” And so it derailed into an at least five minute conversation on teeth. Losing teeth, brushing teeth, how many teeth do you have? The enthusiasm was catching. Although I was reprimanded for letting the students go off on a tangent like that in the middle of a lesson, I still knew I had found my calling. There isn’t any therapy like a room full of 27 five year olds growing and learning. And now I know that the conversation was aiding their oral language and social skills, so I’m not too worried if my students take a few minutes to have a conversation.

I am so lucky to have a career that I look forward to going to every day. From digging up worms to writing letters in shaving cream, there is never a dull moment in kindergarten. Teaching is hard. It is always different and usually challenging, but every day is full of joy, laughter, and love. Here I will share my insights, lessons, stories and joys from my kindergarten classroom.